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More than  currently have a credit card in their name, and an estimated 18 million cards are held by Arizonans. Nationally, nearly 3 out of 4 retail sales are transacted via a credit card 鈥� accounting for $6.5 trillion in total purchasing volume in 2024 alone.

Convenience alone may help explain why so many shoppers are choosing to use credit cards. Now, a new analysis conducted by the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) suggests credit may be a preferable alternative to cash for many merchants and retailers, also. 

鈥淐redit cards are the most secure and convenient way for consumers to make a purchase and for small businesses to accept payment,鈥� said EPC spokesman Nick Simpson. 鈥淭his new data shows the benefits save businesses money, increase sales and help families by providing fraud protection and create valuable rewards to help offset the rising costs of every day purchases. Credit cards are essential to our modern economy.鈥�

Consumers using credit rather than cash tend to spend more, according to the EPC. In fact, when a merchant first begins accepting credit card payments, they experience a  in their average transaction amount.

Costs associated with using a credit card are well-known 鈥� amounting to 2-3% on a typical transaction, in order to pay for the infrastructure that enables secure and instantaneous electronic transactions. Less understood are the expenses associated with using cash. 

Cash transactions are more labor-intensive than credit, as well as vulnerable to losses due to theft or accidental miscounting. On average, according to the EPC analysis, it costs merchants approximately 9% of the purchase amount to handle and process a cash transaction. Those expenses add up: based on total transaction volume, EPC estimates U.S. merchants鈥� cash handling/processing costs total approximately $121 billion each year.