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Why this matters: Increased credit card borrowing reflects growing consumer confidence. But that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 not entirely without risk. Credit card interest rates are higher than ever, which could make paying back debt more challenging. The average rate is 24.52% as of July 10, according to Forbes Advisor.

This highlights the popularity of the credit card鈥檚 investment feature and should continue to bring in more cardholders

Baby boomers are the most likely to use savings and credit cards to pay for unexpected expenses. Over 60% of respondents said they鈥檇 do either. Gen Xers and millennials follow mixed strategies鈥攂oth are most likely to use savings and credit cards to cover surprise expenses, but each would more readily consider getting an extra job or asking friends and family for money.

And Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU) is developing a digital lending infrastructure, including plans for a co-branded credit card with QR-code-based onboarding, aiming to streamline applicant efficiency and expand customer accessibility within Texas.

Powered by cloud-based APIs, modern card issuing leapfrogs traditional issuer processing to help non-financial services companies launch and customize card programs. Here鈥檚 where their offerings will be most disruptive.

More Gen Zers said card-linked plans are better for shopping than fintech offerings.

And I think a lot of these travel companies, credit card companies are going to have big promotions around discounts on travel. And as Paul pointed out, half of the country, regardless of outcomes of the election, are going to want to leave and be somewhere else. And I think that travel is great way to spend your dollars this shopping season. And of course, that's a service.

We may therefore see more credit card programs offer perks in these categories to draw in cardholders. For example, American Express鈥檚 member week in October included limited-time offers like presales to live events and a virtual performance by Olivia Rodrigo.

Canada is behind other Western economies in digital payments adoption, but new technologies are finding footing against cards. Diving into usage among different demographic groups foretells how adoption will progress.

The $11 trillion US payment card network is developing new strategies to turn threats from fintechs, homegrown networks, and rising regulatory scrutiny into growth opportunities.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode of The Banking & Payments Show, we do a deep dive into Maria Elm鈥檚 蘑菇AV report, The Bank in 2030. In the 鈥楽tory by Numbers鈥� segment, we find out how banks will promote their brands to consumers in the future. We argue nicely in the 鈥楩or Argument鈥檚 Sake鈥� segment about the end of banks as we know it and if it鈥檚 true that 90% of consumer-serving banks and credit unions won鈥檛 exist by 2030. Listen to the conversation with host, Rob Rubin, and analysts Maria Elm and Tiffani Montez.

By the numbers: Major US credit card issuers highlighted a consumer borrowing resurgence in their Q2 2023 earnings. Wells Fargo鈥檚 credit card point-of-sale (POS) volume reached $30.1 billion in Q2, up 16% year over year (YoY), versus 3% YoY growth last quarter. JPMorgan Chase鈥檚 combined debit and credit card sales volume grew 7% YoY to hit $424.0 billion, down from 10% last quarter.

Right now, only debit cards and select credit cards powered by RuPay can use the UPI. RuPay has issued more than 700 million cards in India and dominates the country鈥檚 debit card market, but it lags behind Visa and Mastercard when it comes to credit cards. What鈥檚 in it for Visa and Mastercard? Connecting to the UPI would be a huge opportunity for Visa and Mastercard.

Card ownership rates are at least 95% across age groups, thanks to regulation requiring the largest UK banks to offer fee-free basic accounts to unbanked consumers. Credit card growth is driven by rising adoption and higher-income users. The opportunity: UK consumers charged 拢136.07 billion ($167.67 billion) on credit cards in 2021.

The news: American Express will extend its generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to enhance the customer experience across its credit cards and bank offerings, per VentureBeat. Amex will use AI to analyze customer sentiments and predict consumer finances. It doesn鈥檛 plan to roll out its own large language model (LLM); instead, it will rely on partnerships.

Airlines and card issuers are raising redemption thresholds on loyalty perks as travel demand roars back.

The move can bring in more volume on PayPal鈥檚 cards and enhance consumer loyalty

The service targets financially underrepresented consumers who want to build their credit. And this subscription trend has extended into the credit card space as well. The TD Clear card is a subscription-based credit card that doesn鈥檛 charge interest. The takeaway: BNPL is reimagining how consumers access credit as providers explore new fee and interest models.

But BNPL firms are struggling to create a value proposition to compete with credit cards. Affirm and Afterpay both shut down their rewards this year. And Affirm now boasts that interest-bearing loans鈥攑reviously anathema to the BNPL conceit鈥攎ake up 73% of its product composition. Affirm also hiked its maximum interest rate to 36% last year, well above the 24.7% national average for credit cards.

This includes money management accounts and credit cards for merchants. It could also extend to buy now, pay later installment and financing options for their customers鈥攁nd more. Such additions can further strengthen merchant engagement and open more revenue streams. 3 leading digital commerce platforms process merchant payments in-house.