Cash and checks are things of the past when it comes to buying things….at least in the terms of volume.  A recent report measured the different types of cards used in 2014 when consumers purchased goods from merchants.  Credit, debit and prepaid cards issued in the United States accounted for $4.910 trillion worth of purchases, an increase of 8.4% from the 2013 figures.  The most popular – credit cards.  Credit cards made up 54% of the market share in purchase volume, with the most used brands being Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover amounting to $2.631 trillion.

So who is leading the pack?  Here are some details from the report:

The Nilson Report also broke down figures by the top issuers, which showed that JPMorgan Chase is still leading. JPMC produced $703.32 billion in purchase volume across its consumer and commercial credit, debit and prepaid cards in 2014. In fact, Chase cards made up 14.32 percent of all spending at merchants last year. Wells Fargo was also highlighted as it increased its share to 7.41 percent, and Capital One increased its share to 4.13 percent. But the other issuers that are in the Top 10 had declines, the report said.

American Express dropped to 13.43 percent; Bank of America dropped to 11.55 percent, Citi dropped to 5.02 percent; U.S. Bank dropped to 3.21 percent and Discover dropped to 2.35 percent. Nilson’s report also confirmed that American Express still remains the largest issuer as it relates solely to credit card purchase volume. Based on debit and prepaid card purchase volume only, Bank of America is the largest in those categories.

Purchase_Vol_at_Merchants