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Consumer Payments Transformed as Visa Check Card Marks 10th Anniversary

Visa USA today marked the 10-year anniversary of the integrated marketing campaign that enabled an innovative, ground-breaking product to transform the way people pay for goods and services throughout the country - the Visa check card.

In September 1995, with fewer than 2 percent of American consumers using any type of debit card, Visa launched a memorable campaign to introduce the Visa check card.  The campaign's advertising component featured celebrities including Bob Dole, Daffy Duck and James Bond to educate millions of cardholders on the value associated with this "new" form of payment. Today, some 167 million U.S. consumers carry a Visa check card. After all, if Bob Dole needs identification to write a check, so does every other consumer.

Since then, Visa's efforts to educate consumers about the benefits of debit cards over checks, including speed, convenience, acceptance, money management assistance and security protections, have propelled a drastic shift away from cash and checks and toward electronic payments.  In just the first six months of this year, American consumers used their Visa check cards 5.1 billion times to pay for a wide variety of purchases. The growth and popularity of the Visa check card is further substantiated by the number of financial institutions issuing the card -- 2,792 in 1995 compared to more than 9,000 today. 

"Over the last ten years, the Visa check card has grown from a great idea to common currency for millions of Americans," said Stacey Pinkerd, senior vice president, consumer debit products, Visa USA.  "Visa and its Members committed to a strategy to bring debit cards into the mainstream, and create a payments tool to enhance and streamline consumers and merchants' everyday activities.  As a result of these sustained efforts, millions of consumers now use and benefit from the convenience, reliability and security of Visa check cards."

The Visa check card offers unmatched security benefits in comparison to checks. Visa's Zero Liability policy ensures that cardholders do not have to pay for any unauthorized purchases and requires all financial institutions offering Visa check cards to provide replacement funds for losses from unauthorized card use within five business days of notification. Many Issuers replace the funds within 24 to 48 hours.

Consumers Speak 

A new poll of Visa check card users illustrates how popular the card has become to Americans in 2005:

• Sixty-three percent named the Visa check card as their "preferred method of payment," up from 46 percent in May 2002.
• More than three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) have used their Visa check card for Internet purchases, up from 44 percent in May 2002.
• A majority of respondents named the Visa check card "as important or more important" than these other innovations of the past 10 years:
  • The iPod (84 percent)
  • Flat panel televisions (81 percent)
  • Satellite TV (78 percent)
  • Cell phones (65 percent)
  • Laptop computers (64 percent)
  • Hybrid cars (61 percent)
• A significant majority (72 percent) of respondents agreed that they use their Visa check card whenever they can.
• Eighty-four percent said they now write fewer checks since they started using their Visa check card.
• Visa check cards are increasingly being used for everyday purchases:
  • 94 percent used their Visa check card at a grocery store
  • 84 percent at a gas station
  • 65 percent have used it to pay bills
  • 58 percent used it at a fast food restaurant

Strengthening Financial Institution Relationships

As consumers increasingly recognized the choice, convenience and security presented by the Visa check card, they began to use the card more frequently, enhancing their relationships with financial institutions.  Today, the strength of these relationships is illustrated through:

• The fact that more than 73 percent of those who have a checking account with a financial institution that issues Visa debit products - carry a Visa check card
• The 9.1 billion transactions conducted on Visa check cards in 2004
• An increase in the average number of monthly transactions per Visa check card to 12 in the first half of 2005

Economic Impact 

It is not surprising that consumers have embraced the Visa check card, as the tide has been turning toward electronic payments for the last decade.  In fact, a 2004 U.S. Federal Reserve study reported that for the first time in history, the number of electronic payment transactions exceeded the number of check payments in the United States. This same study found that debit cards have become the fastest growing form of payment in the U.S. - growing at a rate of more than 23 percent annually.    

If all the Visa check card transactions completed over the past year were paper checks, they would weigh 7,135 tons -- and place a huge drag on the way America does business. 

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About Visa USA

Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs.  Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance, and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payment system - Members, cardholders and merchants. Through its 14,000 Member financial institutions, more than 482 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United States.  Last year, U.S.-based financial institutions relied on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.3 trillion in transactions with unparalleled reliability.

Worldwide, cardholders in over 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.

Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, anyway.