CARPINTERIA, Calif. – America’s continuing fondness for credit cards shows no sign of slowing down, according to the latest numbers from The Nilson Report, which show that purchase volume at merchants for general purpose-type consumer and commercial credit, debit and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. totaled $4.91 trillion in 2014, up 8.4% from 2013.

Credit cards also increased their market share in purchase volume, compared to debit and prepaid cards, to 53.59% in 2014, up slightly from 52.95% in 2013.

Credit cards carrying the Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover brands generated a combined $2.63 trillion in 2014, up 9.7%. Debit and prepaid cards carrying those brands – as well as the brands of EFT networks such as Accel, Interlink, Nyce, Pulse and Star – generated a combined $2.28 trillion, up 6.9%.

Of the top 10 card issuers, three gained market share in 2014, led by JPMorgan Chase, whose cards combined to generate $703.32 billion in purchase volume in 2014 and accounted for 14.32% of all spending at merchants. Other companies to see increased share were Wells Fargo and Capital One. The remaining seven issuers among the top 10 all lost market share slightly. Overall, American Express remained the largest issuer based on credit card purchase volume only while Bank of America continued as the largest issuer based on debit and prepaid card purchase volume only.