August 09, 2011 11:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Card Spending Growth Slowed Sequentially in July; Credit Growth Stalled
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend®analysis for the full month of July 2011 compared to July 2010. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.
“Despite rising input costs from inflation, many retailers have resorted to cutting prices in order to stimulate demand from an increasingly cautious consumer base”
Overall year-over-year dollar volume growth was 7.3% in July, a sharp slowdown from June’s 8.8% growth rate. Dollar volume growth was hampered by slower increases in average tickets. However, dollar volume growth at General Merchandise Stores, including Value Retail, rose 10.3%, the largest increase in 10 months. Value retailers increased merchant promotional activity and discounting to attract consumers.
Dollar volume growth on credit cards slowed from 10.7% in June to 7.4% in July. Several discretionary retail categories such as travel saw lower credit dollar volume growth. Higher-end consumers likely limited their credit spending due to the uncertain economic climate. Dollar volume growth was spread more evenly across all payment types in July.
“Despite rising input costs from inflation, many retailers have resorted to cutting prices in order to stimulate demand from an increasingly cautious consumer base,” said Silvio Tavares, SVP and division manager of First Data Information and Analytics Solutions. “This trend could have a negative impact on retailers heading into the peak of the Back-to-School shopping season.”
July Transaction Growth
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CHANGE
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July Dollar Volume Growth
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CHANGE
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| Credit | +5.3 | % | Credit | +7.4 | % | |||||||||
| Signature Debit | +7.8 | % | Signature Debit | +7.0 | % | |||||||||
| PIN Debit | +5.1 | % | PIN Debit | +7.5 | % | |||||||||
| Check | -12.3 | % | Check | -8.1 | % | |||||||||
Note: All transactions are same-store growth.
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For more information on First Data SpendTrend, visit www.firstdata.com/infoanalytics or call SpendTrend Customer Care at 800-430-0169. A supplementary podcast including further analysis of the SpendTrend July 2011 report is available here.
To participate in the SpendTrend conversation, please follow First Data at http://twitter.com/FirstData and join us at http://www.facebook.com/FirstData.
Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its vast product portfolio and expertise to drive customer revenue and profitability. Whether the choice of payment is by debit or credit card, gift card, check or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter, First Data takes every opportunity to go beyond the transaction.
First Data SpendTrend, a macro-economic indicator, is based on aggregate same-store sales activity in the First Data Point of Sale Network. First Data SpendTrend does not represent First Data’s financial performance.
Data is based on Ogilvy & Mather's Mobile Shopper survey. Five hundred U.S. online users selected as many brands as they wanted upon being asked, Who would you trust with mobile payments?
According to South Seattle Community College, this super common scam immediately starts off with some underhanded numbering. Millions of dollars go unclaimed every year but frequently have little to do with student financial aid! Instead, they actually refer to employee or member benefits, not money that could be legally snatched up by or distributed to college kids.
Financial Aid isn’t an infomercial product. Although the system undeniably needs some streamlining, opportunities to claim the money aren’t a "once in a lifetime" deal. Nor should students PAY anything up front. As soon as rhetoric starts requiring financial compensation or treating grants, scholarships and loans like Time Life retrospectives, back away quickly and run from a nasty little scam.
Legitimate Financial Aid venues do frequently ask for an application before dishing out the monies, but never require any sort of processing fee. Or any fee at all! Once again, any sort of payment up front — no matter what sort of excuse the company gives — pretty much denotes that something sinister is afoot.
Very rarely will free seminars targeting Financial Aid-seeking college kids genuinely offer the tips necessary to navigate the frequently foreboding large body of water metaphors. Typically, any events touting their ability to increase one’s chances of receiving money mask something a wee bit more commercial. Basically, if it starts sounding like a high-pressure sales pitch, it probably IS a high-pressure sales pitch.
As awesome as anxiety-free grants, loans and scholarships sound, they’re unfortunately not realistic. Plenty of worthy students fall through the cracks every semester because Financial Aid isn’t a perfect system enjoying unlimited resources. So anyone claiming that they can guarantee money obviously lies and doesn’t exactly deserve any further consideration.
Gerri Willis at CNN notes that legitimate scholarships always send letters of acceptance or denial through snail mail. Beware of any who prefer using the phone — and, by extension, those failing to provide adequate contact information. It’s a subtle sign that’s unfortunately easily ignored.
If a student never applies for a scholarship, grant or loan, but still manages to receive an approval (or pre-approval) notice, he and/or she should trash it. Such scams are pretty much the college equivalent of those "You may have already won $1 million!!" They’re about as obvious as a clown on fire, and yet people still fall for them yearly.
Rather than asking for money up front, some of the more flagrant scammers out there prefer bank account numbers and credit card information. Help themselves to a bit more than just "processing fees." Suffice to say, this isn’t exactly a Financial Aid "opportunity" worth pursuing, especially since it means a far more precarious fiscal situation than before.
When looking for Financial Aid advice — and even the most bureaucratic-minded kids and parents will need it at some point — there’s only two places to turn. Either the college or university in question or high school counselors’ offices, neither of which charge for their services. Anyone advertising their services as counselors or coaches helping students snag more money (for a fee, of course!) probably harbors not-so-honest intentions.
Along similar lines as "Financial Aid coaches" lurk organizations and individuals claiming to know top secret FAFSA information. Sure it’s a government bureau, but nothing that goes on there is necessarily clandestine or possesses some magical password for fiscal goodness. Once again, parents and students should consult with counselors at the high school or college level for free, updated guidance.
It’s already been established that anyone requesting money for Financial Aid or advice on how to land it have safely earned the "scam artist" label. Asking for cash rather than check, credit cards or any other method involving a paper trail is a sure sign that something’s completely amiss. Not that anyone but the student should get any money in the first place…
Once Financial Aid applications have been properly filled out, make sure to file them at 
Rather than charging fees, some scammers prefer packaging their alleged services along with something else. Useless counseling or seminars, usually, but they could just as easily charge for books. The details don’t matter, though — any organization or individual "offering" Financial Aid (or assistance getting it) and requiring students to buy isn’t worth anyone’s time or energy.
Endless Financial Aid forms and the accompanying migraine provide the dishonest with a perfect opportunity to prey on stressed-out students. Unfortunately, all perfectly legal, ethical grants, loans and scholarships require a right fair amount of work. Anyone purporting otherwise is probably…well…just read the article and figure it out.
Same tune as the "application fees" and required purchases, really, just from a different songbook. Any money up front, whether it be a direct payment or an "investment" should clue savvy students and parents in on what kind of nastiness is going down.
