Largest Credit Card Networks

Credit card networks provide the infrastructure for digital and credit card payments around the world. Within the US, debit cards also carry network branding that allows the card to be able to be processed through those networks through offline or signature debit. These networks collectively process trillions of dollars annually.

This report will take a closer look at the largest credit card companies in the US—the four major credit card networks—and how they compare.

Key Findings

• Visa remains the largest credit card network in terms of transaction volume, cards in force, and outstanding balance in 2023.
• Visa accounted for over 60% of all transaction volume in the US in 2021.
• American Express saw the highest net revenue in 2023 with $60.5 billion, although it also had the highest operating expenses.
• Mastercard holders were the most likely to have delinquent accounts in 2021.

What Is A Credit Card Network?

Credit card networks provide the connective infrastructure for credit card payments, allowing merchants to process transactions with card issuers. Card networks determine where credit cards can be accepted. They also provide some of the secondary benefits credit card holders have access to, like rental car insurance and warranty extensions.

Credit card networks are responsible for setting interchange fees, which partially determine how much money the transaction costs the merchant (or is passed on to the consumer).

What Merchants Should Know About Credit Card Networks

Merchants that want to accept credit cards for payments may want to have a general sense of how expensive it is to use a network-branded credit card, and the network’s strategy for accepting customers. For example, American Express transactions tend to be more expensive than other networks.

However, American Express cardholders are highly curated and tend to spend more per card than the cardholders of other networks. Figuring out if the trade-off is worth it for your particular business is an important part of your payments strategy.

The Four Major Credit Card Networks

If you’re swiping, dipping, or tapping a credit card in the US, you’re probably using one of these four credit networks:

Visa

San Francisco-based Visa Inc. is, by many measures, the dominant credit card network in the world. VisaNet, Visa’s global network, processed over 212 billion transactions in 2023, earning $32.6 billion in revenue that year, with around $21 billion in profits, the highest of any network. Visa does not issue its own cards, preferring instead to offer its branded services to third-party institutions that then issue Visa-branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards. Visa is a direct descendant of the BankAmericard credit card program, the first of its kind.

Mastercard

Purchase, NY-based Mastercard Inc. is typically mentioned in the same breath as its competitor Visa. In fact, it’s quite rare for a business to accept only Visa or Mastercard rather than both. Like Visa, Mastercard does not issue its own cards, instead offering its branding to third-party issuers for credit, debit, and prepaid cards. Mastercard saw over $25 billion in revenue in 2023. Mastercard is descended from Interbank, a regional bankcard alliance formed to compete with the BankAmericard program.

American Express

Manhattan-based American Express Company employs a pretty different strategy than Visa or Mastercard. For starters, it’s one of the largest credit card issuers as well as a card network, with most American Express cards being directly issued by Amex. American Express’s flagship cards also tend to be charge cards rather than credit cards. Though this distinction means less than it used to, charge cards don’t typically have a spending limit but are meant to be paid off in full every month. American Express had the highest revenue of any network in 2023 at $60.5 billion and also the highest operating expenses at $45 billion, putting it in second place for profits. American Express tends to target wealthier clientele and has the highest average spending per cardholder.

Discover

Riverwood, IL-based Discover Financial Services is, perhaps, the most diversified of the major credit card networks, offering online banking, personal, home, and student loans in addition to issuing and licensing credit and debit cards. While Discover doesn’t process the volumes of its competitors, its card network operations are the second most efficient, with just $6 billion in operating expenses to earn its $15.8 billion in revenue. Discover Financial Services is descended from Dean Witter Financial Services Group, Inc., a former subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.

Credit Card Network Purchase Volume

When it comes to purchase volume–the amount of money passing through the network to buy goods and services–Visa had 39% of the global credit card market share in 2021. Within the US, Visa was even more dominant, representing a majority of all credit and debit transaction volume at 61.7%.

Mastercard, Visa’s primary competitor, accounted for around 25% of both the domestic and global markets, putting it in the number 2 position in the US and third, behind China’s UnionPay network worldwide. American Express and Discover were active primarily within the US, accounting for 10.6% and 2.2% of the market, respectively.

Credit Card Network Transaction Volumes (US)

Transaction volume includes both purchase volume and cash access/advance transactions over the network. Visa retained an overwhelming lead in US credit card company market share in 2023, with $6.6 trillion in transaction volume, up 2% from 2022. Though Mastercard processed less than half the transaction volume of Visa with $2.8 trillion, the network did see a greater rate of growth at 5.9%.

American Express saw the most growth in its transaction volume, relatively speaking, at 8%, followed by Discover at 7%. The success of American Express’s network is often attributed to its curated and affluent customer base, which Amex claimed spent an average of $24,059 per card in 2023.

Credit Card Network Transactions

Transaction volume can vary greatly from network to network depending on the wealth of the cardholders, so it's also useful to have a sense of how frequently cards are used regardless of the amounts being transacted.

In 2023 over 212 billion transactions were made on the Visa network worldwide, again marking it as the dominant player in the industry. That said, Mastercard holders appear to use their cards more frequently, with around 67 annual transactions per card compared to 51 with Visa. Also noteworthy is that Discover, despite having a lower transaction volume than American Express, processes more transactions.

Credit Card Network Cards In Force

There are over 4.1 billion Visa-branded cards in circulation globally in 2023, around a third more than Mastercard. Visa and Mastercard cards are typically issued through banks, including banks issuing branded cards on behalf of retail brands like Amazon. While American Express and Discover do allow some third parties to issue their cards, they also directly issue cards to consumers. Around 52% of American Express's cards are direct issues, for example.

Credit Card Network Average Interchange Fees

Credit card networks earn money through a variety of channels that include late fees and interest on carried balances. Additionally, these companies charge merchants a fee per transaction called an interchange fee. These fees can vary depending on the level of risk associated with the transaction or the rewards programs offered by the card.

American Express is typically the most expensive card to process, with average card brand fees ranging from 1.8% to 3.25%, while Visa is generally the cheapest, ranging between 1.3% to 2.6%.

Credit Card Network Revenue

While Visa dominates most of the metrics our report looked at, when it comes to revenue the network to beat is actually American Express, with a jaw-dropping $60.5 billion in revenue in 2023, 46% more than Visa's $32.6 billion.

As noted above, American Express's interchange fees are the highest of the four major networks. While merchants tend not to want to spend any more than they have to on credit card transactions, Amex's reputation for bringing big spenders to the table is often considered a worthwhile trade-off.

Discover saw the most YoY revenue growth in 2023 at 19.3%.

Credit Card Network Operating Expenses

American Express's high revenue does come at the cost of higher operating expenses. Amex's lucrative rewards programs account for almost $15.4 billion of its $45 billion in operating expenses in 2023. That's more than the entire operating expenses of Visa ($11.6 billion), Mastercard ($11.1 billion), and Discover ($6 billion).

Operating costs for Visa and Mastercard grew around 11% in 2023, with Amex and Discover up 9.6% and 15.3% respectively.

Credit Card Network Outstanding Balances US

According to the Nilson report, there were $932.85 billion in outstanding balances on credit cards in 2021. American Express saw the highest outstanding balances per card at $2,153, but had the lowest percentage of delinquencies among accounts that were carrying a balance.

On the other hand, Mastercard holders had the lowest outstanding balances per card at $1,065 but the highest rate of delinquency among the four networks at 2.06%, marginally higher than Visa's 2.04%.