RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.—The waning days of summer saw a continuation of the credit and debit trends of recent months, reports CO-OP Financial Services, although the analysis found one surprising consumer spending trend: a growing interest in snowmobile purchases.
The latest analysis by the CO-OP SmartGrowth Team of CO-OP credit and debit portfolio data shows that debit regained its momentum in August, with the number of transactions down just 3% year-over-year.Debit transaction amounts were up 10%, driving a strong net interchange increase of 12%.
Credit posted a similar story in August, with transaction counts up by 4%, transaction amounts up 11% and interchange up by 7% year-over-year.
Below are the category-level spending trends for the month of August (data comparing Aug. 1-31, 2020, with Aug.t 1-31, 2019), according to CO-OP:
Online Bookstores (Amazon)
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Up 49%. Debit: Up 20%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Up 50%. Debit: Up 19%.
Airline Travel
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Down 74%. Debit: Down 67%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Down 74%. Debit: Down 64%.
Car Rentals
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Down 45%. Debit: Up 20%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Down 47%. Debit: Down 3%.
Political Organizations
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Up 199%. Debit: Up 174%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Up 350%. Debit: Up 302%.
Hardware Stores
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Up 34%. Debit: Up 25%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Up 38%. Debit: Up 39%.
Discount Stores
- Transaction Volume (#): Credit: Up 32%. Debit: Up 12%.
- Transaction Amount ($): Credit: Up 41%. Debit: Up 25%.
‘Curious Lifts’
“Lifts across several essential and popular merchant categories contributed to this positive trend, including hardware stores, grocery stores and discount stores,” CO-OP said. “Still, travel and entertainment continued to lag, with airline volume off by 74%, and car rentals off by 47% in credit card transaction count year-over-year. Despite a gradual reopening and the long-awaited release of a handful of summer blockbusters, movie theaters continued their streak of historically low transaction volume, suffering a 93% drop in both credit and debit year-over-year.
“Curious lifts were seen in niche merchant categories like political organizations – reflecting the impending November presidential election – and of all things … snowmobiles! In fact, recreation-related purchases have enjoyed strong growth throughout the summer, perhaps reflecting the public’s desire to get outdoors and escape pandemic-related cabin fever,” CO-OP said.