Bank of America Credit and Debit Card Data Shows Continued Growth in Consumer Spending, up 9% year-over-year in May

The Bank of America Institute today released its findings from the latest Consumer Checkpoint, which aims to provide a holistic and real-time estimate of U.S. consumers' spending and their financial well-being, leveraging the breadth and depth of Bank of America proprietary data from its 67 million consumer and small business clients

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Highlights of the publication:

• Aggregated Bank of America credit and debit card spending was up 9% in May¹ year-over-year; within this, credit card spending rose by 16% year-over-year, while debit card spending increased by 4%.
• Total payments growth across all channels was up 6% year-over-year in May, from sources like wire payments, Automated Clearing House (ACH), cards, Billpay, etc., while overall transaction volumes were up 8% year-over-year.
• Gasoline spending as a share of total card spending surged to 7.8% for the week ending May 28, up from 6.4% in February; lower-income consumers (<$50k/year), average share-of-gas-spending rose to 9.5%.
• Spending per household increases varied by region, with the South outpacing the rest of the country while the Midwest lags on a year-over-year basis. For example, compared to the 4.3% year-over-year increase in average of spending per household throughout May on a national basis, Miami residents' spending increased 6.8% while Chicago residents' spending increased per household rose by 1.4%.

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"Our card data shows continued growth in consumer spending, but inflation is challenging households' purchasing power," said David Tinsley, senior economist for the Bank of America Institute.  "That said, spending on services like travel and entertainment remained strong and households continued to have higher savings than they did before the pandemic. Overall, we still remain cautiously optimistic for the U.S. consumer."