PSCU Reports Higher Debit, Credit Sales During Holidays

PSCU Reports Higher Growth During Holidays

PSCU, the payments credits union service organization (CUSO), reported significantly higher year-over-year growth than expected during the holidays, with a 7.86 percent increase in debit and credit sales among its owner credit unions (CUs). That’s a big upswing from the 4.1 percent market rate reported by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

In line with recent findings showing consumers’ preference for debit, growth of that payment method outpaced credit growth among owner CUs.

Debit sales volume grew by 8.76 from last year and debit transactions grew 7.4 percent, while credit sales and transactions both grew by 6.4 percent.

Scott Wagner, executive vice president and chief revenue officer, said the growth reflected their efforts to boost their credit unions’ portfolios and maintain top-of-wallet status.. “Despite six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2019 than in 2018, PSCU owner credit unions saw nearly double the year-over-year market growth rate in sales,” he said.

To calculate the data, the company’s data analytics teams compiled stats from their owner credit unions from the holiday seasons of the last two years.

In addition, they observed that 18 percent of total spending calculated during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Super Saturday took place at retail stores. Of that number, there was a 9.5 growth on debit and a 10 percent growth on credit during that period. During the overall holiday period, the average online transaction amount grew by 10 percent on debit and 11 percent on credit.

Use of mobile wallets also surged, with an increase of 116 percent of consumers using services like PayPal, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, the press release stated.

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tom Gandre said they would utilize the data to continue to provide the most relevant, effective solutions for their CUs’ members. PCSU leverages data from billions of transactions annually to assist their Owner CUs.

Holiday spending trends have been sluggish for traditional retail, but consumers have been embracing new trends like buy now, pay later. And brick-and-mortar stores have seen an upswing in the number of transactions bought online and delivered to physical locations in order to save on shipping costs.