More than $850 billion flowed through Canadian credit cards in 2025. That works out to approximately $2.3 billion every day, $97 million every hour, and more than $26,000 every second.
Whether it’s tapping a phone for a morning coffee, paying for groceries, booking a vacation, or subscribing to a streaming service, credit cards have become deeply embedded in everyday life. What was once primarily a borrowing tool has evolved into the default payment method for millions of Canadians.
Yet the story behind those transactions is changing. Consumers are carrying higher balances than ever before. Mobile wallets are rapidly replacing physical cards. Merchants are becoming increasingly sensitive to processing costs and interchange fees. At the same time, eCommerce continues to expand, driving more spending onto credit card networks every year.
This report covers the latest Canadian credit card statistics for 2025, including transaction volume, spending patterns, card ownership, consumer debt levels, merchant acceptance, mobile wallet adoption, eCommerce trends, and payment processing economics.
Canadian Credit Card Statistics: 2025 Fast Facts
| Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Total credit card spending | $853 billion |
| Credit card transactions | 8.1 billion |
| Average transaction value | $105 |
| Active credit cards in circulation | 117 million |
| Canadians with a credit card | 30.2 million |
| Adult credit card ownership rate | 89% |
| Average cards per cardholder | 2.7 |
| Monthly spend per cardholder | $3,530 |
| Mobile wallet users | 18.4 million |
| Share of payment transactions made by credit card | 33% |
| Cardholders carrying revolving balances | 37% |
| Total outstanding credit card debt | $128 billion |
| Merchant credit card acceptance rate | 89% |
| Estimated processing fees paid by Canadian businesses | $11.4 billion |
Taken together, these numbers reveal a simple reality: credit cards remain one of the most important financial products in Canada. Consumers rely on them for convenience, rewards, security, and flexibility, while businesses depend on them to facilitate sales both online and in-store.
Credit Cards Processed More Than $850 Billion in Canada During 2025
Walk into almost any retail store in Canada and you’ll see the same thing: customers pulling out phones instead of wallets. What looks like a simple tap has become one of the largest financial networks in the country.
In 2025, Canadians generated an estimated 8.1 billion credit card transactions, representing approximately $853 billion in payment volume.
| Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Total credit card transactions | 8.1 billion |
| Total payment volume | $853 billion |
| Average transaction value | $105 |
| Daily credit card transactions | 22.2 million |
| Hourly transactions | 925,000 |
| Transactions per second | 257 |
That last number is particularly striking. Every second of every day, Canadians complete more than 250 credit card transactions.
Nearly 9 Out of 10 Canadians Own a Credit Card
Credit cards have become almost as common as bank accounts. In 2025, approximately 89% of Canadian adults owned at least one credit card, while the average cardholder carried 2.7 active cards.
| Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Adult credit card ownership | 89% |
| Cardholders | 30.2 million |
| Average cards per cardholder | 2.7 |
| Active credit cards | 117 million |
| Premium rewards cards | 24 million |
| Business credit cards | 6.8 million |
Many consumers now separate spending across multiple cards, using one for travel rewards, another for cash back, and a third for recurring household expenses.
Canadians Charged More Than $40 Billion Per Month to Credit Cards
One of the most interesting shifts over the past few years has been the normalization of putting everyday spending on credit cards.
Canadians spent approximately $3,530 per cardholder per month on their credit cards during 2025.
| Category | Average Monthly Spend |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $645 |
| Restaurants | $285 |
| Travel | $410 |
| Gas & transportation | $255 |
| Retail shopping | $735 |
| Online purchases | $710 |
| Other | $490 |
| Total | $3,530 |
Contactless Payments Became the Default Way Canadians Pay
Ten years ago, tapping a card felt innovative. Today, inserting a card into a terminal almost feels outdated. By 2025, an estimated 73% of all in-person credit card transactions were completed using tap or mobile wallet technology.
| Method | Share of Credit Card Transactions |
|---|---|
| Contactless tap | 56% |
| Mobile wallet | 17% |
| Chip & PIN | 24% |
| Swipe | 3% |
Combined, contactless and mobile wallet transactions represented nearly three-quarters of all in-person credit card purchases.
Mobile Wallet Adoption Surged
Perhaps the most important trend in payments isn’t credit cards themselves. It’s where those cards live.
In 2025, more than 18 million Canadians regularly used Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Wallet, or another mobile payment platform.
| Mobile Wallet Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Mobile wallet users | 18.4 million |
| Share of adults | 54% |
| Mobile wallet transactions | 1.6 billion |
| YoY growth | 24% |
Canadians Carried Record Levels of Credit Card Debt
The convenience of credit cards comes with a downside. While transaction volumes continued to climb, credit card balances also reached new highs.
| Debt Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Revolving cardholders (people who don’t pay their credit card balance monthly) | 37% |
| Average revolving balance | $5,180 |
| Total outstanding credit card debt | $128 billion |
| Average interest rate | 21.4% |
| Serious delinquency rate | 1.0% |
For the first time, total Canadian credit card balances likely exceeded $125 billion.
Credit Cards Dominated Canadian E-Commerce
ECommerce continues to be one of the strongest drivers of credit card growth.
In 2025, Canadians spent approximately $118 billion online, with credit cards funding the majority of those purchases.
| Metric | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Online retail sales | $118 billion |
| Online purchases paid by credit card | 62% |
| Credit card e-commerce volume | $73 billion |
| Canadians shopping online monthly | 71% |
Credit Card Processing Fees Cost Canadian Businesses Nearly $16 Billion Per Year
Most consumers never think about what happens after they tap a credit card. The transaction is approved in seconds, the purchase is completed, and the customer moves on. Behind the scenes, however, a complex network of banks, card networks, and payment processors share a portion of every sale.
For Canadian businesses, these fees add up quickly. In 2025, Canadians spent an estimated $853 billion on credit cards. Based on an average effective merchant processing cost of approximately 1.85%, Canadian businesses paid roughly $15.8 billion in credit card acceptance costs.
| Credit Card Processing Statistics (2025) | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Canadian credit card spending | $853B |
| Average effective processing cost | 1.85% |
| Total annual processing fees | $15.8B |
| Average fees paid per day | $43.2M |
| Average fees paid per hour | $1.8M |
| Average fee on a $100 purchase | $1.85 |
Put another way, Canadian merchants collectively paid more than $43 million every day to accept credit card payments in 2025.
Sources & Methodology
This report combines data from Payments Canada, Bank of Canada, TransUnion, J.D. Power, industry reports, public filings, and Clearly Payments analysis to provide a comprehensive view of Canadian credit card usage during 2025.
