Christmas Shopping To Be Put On Credit Cards

[jeffrey]

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, Americans will charge nearly $108 billion in retail purchases on general-purpose credit/charge cards, signature debit cards, and store credit cards, about 6.2% more than 2003. According to CardWeb.com, consumers will rack up $2.6 million per minute on payment cards during the 29 shopping days. Households with at least one credit or debit card will charge an average of $1,285 over this period., not including groceries, gasoline, restaurant, and travel expenses.

Consumers in California are expected to use credit and debit cards to charge $15.4 billion in retail sales while New Yorkers will pull out plastic for $9.0 billion. Floridians will charge $7.8 billion, Texans $6.1 billion, as consumers in Illinois say "charge it" to $5.5 billion in retail sales.

The busiest full week is expected to be December 13-19 when Americans should charge more than $27 billion of retail sales on payment cards, or roughly one-fourth of the total sales anticipated during the holiday season.Signature debit cards continue to capture more of holiday spending, nearly 20% of retail sales on cards this year. Overall purchase dollar volume on VISA and MasterCard signature debit cards is growing at an annual rate of 16%. Gift cards are also emerging as a significant player in the payment card market with sales expected to top $10 billion during the holiday season. Gift card sales currently average $4.5 billion per month, according to CardData.

Holiday spending may add about $6 billion to overall revolving credit in January. Last year Americans added $5.4 billion to revolving credit in January and $4.5 billion in January 2002. Approximately 60% of the $86.4 billion expected to be charged to major credit cards and store credit cards during the holiday season will likely be paid-off in full, and without interest charges, during the January billing cycle. Therefore, about $35 billion in retail charges on general-purpose credit cards and store credit cards may accrue some interest next year.