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In Brief: Credit Cards Online: Visa Versus Amex.(Brief Article)

American Banker January 12, 2006 | Wolfe, Daniel Visa’s credit cards are the most popular online, but American Express cards used there are the champions in average annual charges, Jupiter Research says. go to web site american express online

Still, most online shoppers prefer to use debit cards, Jupiter said last week in a report on an August survey.

Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed said they prefer to use a Visa credit card for online purchases, but 31% said they prefer debit cards. Next came three rival credit card brands: MasterCard at 19% and American Express and Discover at 7% each.

American Express’ online shoppers are the most affluent, the report said. Thirty-six percent of them claimed household income of more than $100,000 — and 37% said they spend more than $800 a year online with their Amex card. here american express online

Online consumers said that rates and reward programs are important, but that ease of use is more so; 28% chose a card they had used before simply because they did not want to retype their card information.

Jupiter, a division of Jupitermedia Corp. of Darien, Conn., said the big untapped opportunity for card issuers online is in security programs. Twenty percent of the respondents said they decided which card to use after evaluating its online security features.

Wolfe, Daniel