Spending on Visa cards hits $721.1 billion in 1999
FOREST CITY, Calif., March 13 (Reuters) - Credit card network Visa U.S.A. said on Monday people and businesses spent $721.1 billion through Visa cards last year, up 18 percent from 1998, fueled by the country's ongoing economic boom.
``Every day, more consumers and businesses are choosing to use their bank cards ... to purchase everything from cheeseburgers to office furniture,' Visa U.S.A. president and chief executive Carl Pascarella said in a statement.
Visa, a card system owned by major U.S. banks, said it processed 40 billion transactions last year, amounting to 1,268 transactions every second of the year. December 24, Christmas Eve, was the busiest day, when transactions topped 3,500 a second, it said.
Credit, debit and business card use is now at an all-time high, Visa said. Consumers spend 26 cents of every $1 in discretionary purchases on plastic, with about half of that on Visa.
``We are forecasting Visa alone will surpass $1 trillion in physical and electronic commercial transactions in the United States within two years,' Pascarella said.
Its online unit, e-Visa, estimated 2 percent of 1999 volume -- or $13 billion -- came from transactions made over the Internet. It expects that about 10 percent of Visa's annual volume will come from Internet-related transactions by 2003.
The Visa check card, which draws funds from a customer's bank checking account, was behind the growth in overall 1999 spending, the network said. The amount of money spent on Visa check cards jumped 36 percent to $183.8 billion in 1999.
There are now more than 84.5 million Visa check cards in the United States, it said.
Visa cards are also increasingly being used at nontraditional venues, like movie theaters, bowling alleys and fast food restaurants, as well as for phone bills, Visa said.
Moviegoers spent $195 million on their Visa cards last year, up 107 percent from 1998, while $616 million was spent on Visa cards at fast food restaurants in 1999, it said.
Visa card spending to cover utility bills rose 22 percent and to pay cable and pay television bills rose 76 percent, Visa said. Volumes spent at florists and nurseries rose 86 percent, and for day care rose 33 percent.
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