Payments Index April 2024: A Deep Dive into Digital Payments

Welcome to the three-year anniversary edition of the Payments Index! Consumer spending, mainly with debit cards over credit cards, remained steady for March 2024 amidst other strong economic indicators that may dampen near-term Fed rate cuts. In the April 2024 edition of the Payments Index, we also revisit a Deep Dive into Digital Payments.

Key takeaways include:

• For March, growth rates for debit activity continued to remain stronger than growth in credit activity. Debit purchases were up 6.6%, while credit purchases were down 0.3%. Debit transactions were up 5.8% and credit transactions were up 2.2% year over year.
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) increased 0.4% in March, while the 12-month rate of inflation was 3.5%. Shelter and Gasoline again contributed to more than half of the increase. Excluding the volatile Energy and Food sectors, the core CPI index increased 0.4% from February, putting the 12-month Core CPI index at 3.8%.
• As digital payment transactions continue to grow, digital payment purchases represented over half of overall purchases for both credit (54%) and debit (51%) cards. While physical card activity softened, contactless cards “tap and go” activity continued to grow, now representing 19% of all credit card transactions and 14% of all debit card transactions, up from 12% and 9%, respectively, in 2023. 
• Apple Pay is maintaining its market share dominance in the digital wallet space, representing 93% of digital wallet debit transactions and 89% of digital wallet credit transactions.
• Balance transfer usage was down during what is traditionally the seasonal peak month of March. The growth in the number of balance transfers was down 41% year over year, impacted by factors including rising credit card delinquency rates, liquidity concerns and higher interest rates. The average amount of balance transfers was up 6%, or $236, at $4,187.

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