Americans paid nearly $128 billion in household bills on credit and debit cards last year. The figure for this year, which includes insurance, rent, cable TV, home phone and mobile phone bills may top $161 billion, or about 26% higher than 2004. Americans also charged $22.5 billion to their credit and debit cards in quick service restaurants last year. QSR volume has been running about 60% higher than last year and may well top $36 billion for 2005. VISA reported that cardholders paid $69.9 billion in household bills with its debit and credit cards last year, a 25% increase over 2003. VISA also noted that its volume in the utilities segment increased 44% during the same period.
| Consumer Bills on Cards |
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| 2000: | $49.6 billion |
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| 2001: | $60.4 billion |
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| 2002: | $79.6 billion |
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| 2003: | $98.4 billion |
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| 2004: | $127.8 billion |
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| 2005: | $161.1 billion |
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| SOURCE: CardData (www.carddata.com) |
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