Payment Services

The coronavirus pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, caused an economic slowdown in 2020. Business lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus triggered a decline in consumer spending, which in turn decreased the payments processed by payment services companies. At the same time, the economic uncertainty led many consumers to make purchases using credit cards and debit cards. The market research group IBISWorld predicts that consumers will continue to forego making purchases with cash and continue to use credit cards and other electronic payment services in the coming years. This will lead to higher transaction volumes for credit card processing and money transferring companies. The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 will boost the economy and consumer spending will increase post pandemic. As of late 2020, the credit card processing and money transferring industry in the U.S. was valued at $70 billion, with 4,106 businesses and total employment of 149,628 people.