After slowing down for two years, growth in VISA and MasterCard debit cards gathered more steam in 2004. Last year, Americans charged $686 billion on nearly 229 million signature debit cards. The growth in dollar volume is up 19% over 2003. Over the past five years, signature debit volume has produced a compound annual growth rate of nearly 27%, compared to a compound annual growth rate of approximately 8.5% for VISA and MasterCard credit cards. Growth in the number of cards-in-force also picked up last year, growing about 15% to 228.7 million cards. This is the highest rate of growth since 2001. Compared to 2000, signature debit card volume has more than doubled as the number of cards-in-force has risen about 68%, according to CardData (www.carddata.com).
| VISA & MASTERCARD SIG DEBIT HISTORICAL |
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| Year | Volume | Y/Y | Cards | Y/Y |
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| 2000 | $301.8b | +37.9% | 135.9mm | +18.2% |
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| 2001 | $420.7b | +39.4% | 157.9mm | +16.2% |
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| 2002 | $496.4b | +18.0% | 174.9mm | +10.8% |
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| 2003 | $576.6b | +16.2% | 199.0mm | +13.8% |
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| 2004 | $686.0b | +19.0% | 228.7mm | +14.9% |
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| Source: CardData (www.carddata.com) |
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