Amex, Discover, Mastercard and Visa Card Spending Exceeded $10 Trillion in 2024

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spending for goods and services (purchase volume) on American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards combined reached $10.773 trillion in 2024. This was an increase of 5.9% over 2023.

Visa captured a 61.1% market share of all card spending compared to 25.8% for Mastercard, 11.1% for American Express and 2.0% for Discover.

Outstanding debt tied to credit cards totaled $1.346 trillion, up 7.9% over 2023.

“Spending generated by credit cards grew slower than debt outstanding on those cards, indicating that more consumers are paying finance charges on unpaid balances,” said David Robertson, Publisher of the Nilson Report.

Credit cards accounted for $6.136 trillion of all spending. Debit cards (which includes prepaid cards) accounted for the remaining $4.637 trillion. Debit cards accounted for more than 43% of all spending, which was an increase from the prior year.

The number of merchant acceptance locations in the US where cards can be used to make purchases of goods and services reached 34 million at the end of 2024. This includes in-store and online.

ABOUT THE NILSON REPORT
For more than 54 years, the Nilson Report has been the most respected provider of statistics and news about the global payment card industry. Available worldwide by subscription only, the Nilson Report does not accept advertising of any kind, nor can any company pay to be featured on its website or in its publications.

For more information or to request an interview with David Robertson, contact: Lori Fulmer, [email protected]. Visit www.nilsonreport.com to begin a free trial subscription.

Source: The Nilson Report