Report: Card spending up in July

Atlanta A report released Wednesday by First Data Corp. found that after three consecutive months of decelerating growth, July 2010 card spending growth increased.

The First Data SpendTrend analysis cited easy year-over-year comparisons for the improvement; same-store dollar volume growth was 8.5% (8.2% excluding fuel) and transaction growth was also higher at 9.2% (9.1% excluding gas) in July, compared with June’s growth of 6.8% and 7.3%, respectively.

Discretionary card spending growth increased in July, according to the report. Hotel same-store transaction growth was 5.7%, a significant increase over June’s growth rate of 2.2%, as many consumers traveled over the July 4th holiday. Food Services/Drinking Places (including Restaurant/QSR) transaction growth was 7.0%, marking its highest year-over-year growth in over 18 months. 

Signature debit surpassed all other card types for the second consecutive month in July with transaction growth of 13.2%, which was its highest year-over-year growth rate for 2010. Dollar volume growth for signature debit was also strong at 13.7%, an increase over June’s rate of 11.7%.

Average tickets continued to decline, decreasing -0.7% (-0.8% excluding gas stations) and marking the largest year-over-year decline since January.