With Travel Spending Nearly Grounded, Visa Looks to Online And Contactless Payments as Bright Spots

Visa Looks to Online And Contactless Payments as Bright Spots

“After strong growth in January and February, payments volumes dropped precipitously in the second half of March as lockdowns went into effect across the U.S.,” chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu said in reviewing March and April U.S. data during a conference call with analysts.

Falling the farthest was travel spending, off 80% from year-earlier levels. Volume in retail, automotive, health-care, education, and government categories fell anywhere from 15% to 50%. Through April 28, U.S. payment volumes are down 19%—only 6% on debit cards but 31% on credit cards, which consumers typically use for more discretionary purposes.

Debit spending crossed into positive territory in the last two weeks of April as the first wave of government stimulus payments hit consumers’ pocketbooks, but Prabhu cautioned against reading too much into that. “It is too early to tell if this uptrend in the second half of April is the start of a recovery, a new plateau, or will fade in a couple of weeks,” he said.

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