Credit card companies posted $176 billion in income in 2020, down from $178 billion in 2018. Interest fees accounted for $76 billion and interchange [merchant] fees accounted for $51 billion in 2020.
Interesting to see that this has only changed, fairly (last 2 - 6 years), recently and the profit from merchant vs interest fees has pretty much flipped!
https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/credit-card-company-earnings/
This source suggests interest, fees and charges account for well over 50% of income
True! Fed data corroborates this, and it appears the gap has only widened since.
(Image from 2022 CC profitability report)
So I was wrong. Thank you for the heads up. I’ll correct it shortly.
Interesting to see that this has only changed, fairly (last 2 - 6 years), recently and the profit from merchant vs interest fees has pretty much flipped!