US General Purpose Card Brands through 3Q 2022

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American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards issued in the United States combined generated $7.055 trillion in purchase volume for goods and services from January 1 through September 30, 2022. This was an increase of 14.4% compared to the first nine months of 2021.

Purchase volume on credit cards was $4.009 trillion, an increase of 22.8%. Credit cards accounted for 56.8% of combined credit and debit card purchase volume, which compared to 52.8% for the same period of 2021.

Purchase volume on debit cards increased 5.1% to $3.047 trillion. Debit card purchase volume on Visa cards was $122.78 billion higher in 2022 over 2021, up 5.9%. Debit card purchase volume on Mastercard cards increased $24.26 billion in 2022 over 2021, up 3.0%.

Purchase volume on Visa credit cards was $369.21 billion higher in 2022 over the same period in 2021, an increase of 21.4%. For Mastercard credit card purchase volume was up $193.87 billion over 2021, an increase of 25.1%. Purchase volume for American Express increased $156.14 billion over 2021, up 24.5%, and purchase volume for Discover grew by $24.17 billion in 2022, up 18.5%.

Visa’s share of credit card purchase volume declined to 52.22% from 52.80%. Mastercard’s share increased to 24.13% from 23.69%. The market share at American Express increased to 19.78% from 19.50%. Discover slipped from 4.01% to 3.87%.

Purchases transactions for goods and services reached 103.55 billion, an increase of 8.54 billion transactions (up 9.0%) over the first nine months of 2021.

Mastercard and Visa debit cards accounted for 60.14% of combined debit and credit card purchase transactions, a drop from 63.12% in 2021. Credit cards with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover brands generated the remaining 39.86% of purchase transactions, an increase from 36.88%.

Visa debit cards accounted for 43.40% (down from 44.96%) of combined credit and debit purchase transactions. Visa credit cards accounted for 22.19% of all purchase transactions, which was up from 20.77%.

Mastercard debit cards accounted for 16.75% (down from 18.16%) of combined credit and debit purchase transactions. Mastercard credit cards generated 9.89% of all purchase transactions, which was up from 8.92%.

American Express cards accounted for 5.20% (up from 4.72%) and Discover cards had a 2.58% share (up from 2.47%).

The average purchase amount of a credit card transaction was $97.13, up 4.2%. The average purchase amount of a debit card transaction was $48.92, up 1.2%.

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