According to TransUnion’s Q2 2021 Industry Insights Report, credit card balances have decreased by 4.1% year-over-year. Reduced spending meant that consumers were able to put more money toward paying down revolving credit balances. In fact, the average card balance among millennials declined to $4,277 this year, slightly less than the $4,471 average in 2020. A similar decline can also be seen among the Gen X and Baby Boomer generation. Gen Z was actually the only generation to see a slight rise in their average credit card balance in the first half of 2021; the number rose slightly from $1,522 to $1,616. [CNBC]
Companies are Hoarding Cash as the Delta Variant Takes Over the Globe
Big companies around the world are continuing to add to their massive piles of cash, a sign that corporations are increasingly nervous about how the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 could damage the global economy. The world’s largest nonfinancial companies had a record $6.85 trillion in cash on their balance sheets as of the end of the second quarter. Tech giants in particular are hoarding cash. Apple, Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet have a combined $460 billion in cash on their balance sheets. Amazon has nearly $90 billion. Facebook has more than $64 billion. [CNN]
Apple Pay Accounted for 92% of US Mobile Wallet Debit Transactions in 2020
Apple’s payments service accounted for 92% of all mobile wallet debit transactions in the U.S. last year. Pulse’s annual 2021 Debit Issuer Study shows about two billion mobile wallet debit transactions were conducted in 2020 using either Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay. That figure is up 51% year-over-year. The study found average ticket size increased 55% from $15 in 2019 to $23 in 2020. Consumers made fewer purchases but those transactions were larger, a change credited to pandemic spending patterns. Apple Pay’s success in 2020 can in part be chalked up to fairly wide retail adoption: 65% of all retail locations in the nation supported the service. [Apple Insider]
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