Credit Cards Poised to Power 2025 Holiday Spending, TransUnion Study Finds

More consumers plan to use their credit cards this year to pay for the items on their holiday shopping lists, according to a new study from credit bureau TransUnion. The company’s findings are likely to please credit card issuers seeking to pad their revenue figures before the year comes to a close.

The holiday shopping season will soon be in full swing. And research from TransUnion indicates that shoppers will be busy during the final days of November. 

The credit bureau said 33% of U.S. consumers plan to shop in stores between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday while another 41% intend to shop online that weekend, according to its news release on 2025 holiday shopping.

TransUnion reports that 42% of holiday shoppers have named credit cards as their payment method of choice this year, an increase over the 38% who favored using their credit cards during the same period in 2024.

More than 40% of consumers in the U.S. have plans to shop online this year during the time between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.

We caught up with Charlie Wise, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Research and Consulting at TransUnion, to learn more about the credit bureau’s findings. Wise told us that people with higher incomes are using their credit cards this holiday season to access the rewards they offer.

“At the other end of the income spectrum, you have the higher risk consumers who are also looking to use their credit cards more to finance their holiday spend this year, and that’s likely based out of necessity,” Wise told us. “These are consumers who may be facing continued cost of living strains.” 

This year hasn’t been a particularly easy one from a financial perspective for many Americans. A number of companies reduced their staffing levels in 2025, and more layoffs may be on the way.  

Christopher Waller, who sits on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, recently said that corporate executives have told him they are now making plans for layoffs at some point in the future, according to a report from Reuters.

Regardless, TransUnion’s study points to resilient consumers who aren’t planning to hold back on spending while they prepare for the holidays.

The credit bureau’s findings reveal that 57% of U.S. surveyed participants expect to spend as much, or more, this holiday season as they did last year. 

Credit card issuers may have concerns about the effects that rising prices will have on some consumers’ ability to spend on the holidays this year. A recent report suggests that tariffs have caused retail prices to go up overall this year. But even price hikes aren’t likely to stifle consumer enthusiasm for holiday shopping in the coming weeks. 

Wise also told us that, in recent quarters, he’s seen year-over-year declines in delinquency rates, which can give issuers more confidence in lending.

“People don’t like the fact that prices are high,” Wise said. “But if you give consumers a little bit of time, they figure things out. And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”