In America, Canadians Outspend U.S. Consumers On Debit Cards

When Canadian shoppers come to the United States, they spend significantly more on their average debit card transaction than their U.S. counterparts spend while shopping at home. That information comes from a report on cross-border PIN-debit transactions between December 2007 and March 2008 from NYCE Payments Network LLC and Acxsys Corp. Canadians spent an average of more than $68 per cross-border debit transaction, 45% more than the average U.S. debit cardholders spent while shopping at home in the U.S. during the same four-month period. NYCE, a Secaucus, N.J.-based PIN-debit network, and Acxsys, which designed Canada's Interac debit service, three years ago formed an alliance called the Cross-Border service. The service enables Canadians to pay with their debit cards at U.S. retailers that accept NYCE-branded cards. NYCE attributes increases in Canadian buying to holiday shopping and Canadians vacationing in the southern U.S. states to escape Canada's winter. However, two states that border Canada–Washington and New York–accounted for most of Canadians' U.S. debit card transactions, according to the announcement.