CARPENTERIA, Calif. All general purpose credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. (both consumer and commercial) generated $4.202 trillion in purchase volume at merchants in 2012, up 7.8% over 2011, according to new data released by The Nilson Report.
General purpose credit cards issued in the U.S. carry the Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover brands, according to Nilson, and collectively accounted for $2.226 trillion in spending at merchants in 2012, up 8.5% over 2011. General purpose debit and prepaid cards carrying the Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express brands, as well as the brands of EFT networks such as Interlink, Star, Nyce, Pulse and Accel, collectively accounted for $1.976 trillion in spending at merchants, up 7.0% from 2011, The Nilson Report said.
Combined consumer and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued by JPMorgan Chase accounted for $593.58 billion in spending at merchants in 2012, including transactions handled on the Visa, MasterCard, and regional EFT networks. “Chase has been the top general purpose card issuer in the U.S. for five years,” noted David Robertson, Publisher of The Nilson Report. “Cards issued by Chase accounted for 14.13% of the $4.202 trillion in general purpose card spending at merchants last year for cards issued in the U.S.”
