It doesn’t take an industry insider to know that credit cards in America are big business. Odds are, you’ve been using credit for years as a method of paying for things. Most Americans do — as of March 31, 2013, there were over 278 million Visa cards in the United States alone. The rest of the globe collectively carry about 522 million Visa cards, meaning that Americans account for about a third of all Visa card holders worldwide.
But credit usage is actually even more widespread than that statistic implies. Below are some fast facts that will open your eyes even more as to just how big the credit industry is getting, and why protective measures like state-of-the-art chargeback protection can make all the difference. As you’re reading, try to imagine how difficult it would be to shop online or with a credit card if secure payment systems were not in place.
- Customers in the United States spent $4.6 trillion with their credit and debit cards in 2013 alone. Total consumer payments were tallied at over $8.6 trillion.
- Mobile purchases in the United States are projected to surge by 2019, with top experts estimating that the current annual share of total purchases made, currently at about $52 billion, will nearly triple.
- Only 3/5 of those surveyed admitted to being concerned about credit card and debit card fraud when shopping online, with many of the others reporting that they were confident in chargeback protection technology and trusted the companies that they were shopping from.
- In 2014, the Forrester Research Survey predicted that online shopping retail sales will grow steadily to reach $370 billion by 2017, up from $231 billion in 2012.
- A study conducted in 2015 found that, during the year 2013, 191.1 million citizens in the Unites States were considered online shoppers, having at least browsed products, compared prices, or made actual purchases from online retailers. This number is expected to surpass 200 million by this year.
If you’ve got some online shopping to do, say a private “thank you” to the companies keeping your identity safe online. As you can see from the numbers above, it certainly isn’t an easy job!