Visa says e-commerce debit card volume hits $8.9 billion

The continuing growth of electronic commerce is helping to drive up use of debit cards, which deduct funds directly from a cardholder`s checking account, Visa says. During the first six months of this year, consumers used Visa debit cards to spend $8.9 billion on the Internet, it says. "With the growth of e-commerce, more American consumers are choosing their debit card as the way to meet their payment needs on the Internet," said Stacey Pinkerd, senior vice president for debit and prepaid products.

Visa adds that use of its debit or "check" cards for online purchases grew even faster in the second quarter than in Q1. It said e-commerce volume on Visa debit cards in Q2 was 7.5% higher than Q1. It declined to offer further details.

MasterCard International declined to offer comparable figures for its debit cards.

Online commerce sales in the second quarter totaled $12.5 billion, or 1.5% of all retail sales, compared to 1.2% in the year-ago period, according to the Department of Commerce. E-commerce sales for all of 2002 totaled $45.2 billion.