There are tea leaves in nearly every flavor, for someone attempting to read what direction the economy’s headed in. But for at least two of the biggest credit card companies, the news seems to be that things are picking up, or at least their customers — the ones using credit cards — are convinced it’s okay to start saying “Charge it,” again.
According to Barrons, Visa just had “an upbeat earnings report that topped analysts’ estimates.” This was due to “higher card spending by their customers amid improving economic conditions.” Visa also handles transactions for banks that issue cards to customers, and saw additional profit there, all of which indicates that more customers are now getting more credit.
And a glance at Bloomberg’s business section reveals that Discover — the 4th largest of the consumer cards — similarly “reported a second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as customer spending increased.” According to the company’s CEO “Discover’s strong overall results were driven by profitable growth in direct banking and continued improvement in credit.”
Of course, Discover is also in the private and student loan business, so not all aspects of their company are tied in to customers’ use of plastic, but they also reported that credit card write-offs declined, meaning the indicators there also report a stabilizing economy, and enough consumer confidence to start charging again.
Which in turn means for you that the increased consumer confidence should be greeted by an increase in payment options, whether you need to make sure both the on and offline aspects of your business take credit, or whether you’re ready to expand to mobile processing, or increasingly popular prepaid card options, as well.
After all, which should Discover and Visa be the only companies happy about their quarterly profits? Your company deserves to be, too! As a step toward getting there, call AVPS today!
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