Debit Grow

The bank card networks have weighed in with their latest earnings reports, and operating statistics within them show debit continues to boom while the unprecedented, recession-induced creditcontraction over the past year may be nearing its end.

At Visa Inc., which reported late Wednesday, U.S. debit payment volume hit $238 billion in the first fiscal 2010 quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, up 15.4%from $206 billion a year earlier. Debit payment transactions rose 17.1% to 6.38 billion from 5.45 billion in fiscal 2009’s first quarter. At the same time, payment volume on U.S. Visa credit cardsdeclined 1.1% to $201 billion from $203 billion, and credit payment transactions fell only 0.4% to 2.37 billion from 2.38 billion. At a conference call with analysts, Visa executives indicated thatcredit trends turned positive in December. (In a break from past practice, Visa is now reporting most operating statistics on a current rather than quarter-trailing basis, making comparisons withMasterCard and the other card networks easier.)

For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Visa posted U.S. debit payment charge volume of $883 billion, up 7.9% from $818 billion in calendar 2008. Respective debitpayment transaction volumes were 23.9 billion, up 13.8% from 21 billion. On the credit side, payment volume fell 7.3% to $764 billion from $824 billion, and transactions declined 2.4% to 9.04 billionfrom 9.26 billion in calendar 2008.

At MasterCard Inc., which reported early Thursday, U.S. payments showed similar patterns, although the No. 2 network’s credit decline was steeper and its debitincrease was not as great as Visa’s. U.S. credit card purchase volume came in at $123 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, off 7.8% from $133 billion a year earlier. Credit card purchasetransactions fell 4.9% to 1.52 billion from 1.59 billion in 2008’s fourth quarter. Debit card purchase volume rose 9.9% to $85 billion in the fourth quarter from $77 billion in 2008’s last quarter while...