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The number of general purpose payments cards in the U.S. is poised to cross the one billion milestone within the next twelve months. At the end of the first quarter there were 954.7 million credit and signature debit cards running on the four major U.S. networks, a 6% increase over the year-ago period. Among the major networks American Express is expanding its cardbase the fastest, rising 9.2% in 1Q/06 compared to VISA's 7.3% increase and MasterCard's 4.6% gain, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). Discover, which does not publicly report its card numbers, is estimated to have about 50.6 million cards-in-force at the end of the first quarter. Over the past five years the number of general purpose payments cards in the U.S. has increased nearly 28%.