Mexico Card Payments Exceeded 10 Billion Transactions in 2025

Debit and credit card payments in Mexico reached a record 10.6 billion transactions between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, according to the latest report from Mexico’s central bank (Banxico). The annual compliance report on the Law for Transparency and Ordering of Financial Services highlights a sustained shift in consumer behavior toward digital payment methods for everyday spending.

The total value of card transactions during the period reached nearly MX$6.2 trillion, representing an 18.4% increase in transaction volume and a 12% rise in real monetary value compared with the previous year.

A Decade of Sustained Growth

The report identifies a steady ten-year expansion in card usage. Between 2015 and 2025, the number of transactions processed through point-of-sale (POS) terminals grew at an average annual rate of 16.9%.

This long-term growth has been driven by the increasing use of cards for micro-payments and low-value daily purchases. As a result, the average real amount per transaction fell from MX$903 (US$50.53) in 2015 to MX$580 in 2025, indicating a structural substitution of cash in routine consumption.

Post-Pandemic Acceleration

Although card usage has grown consistently over the past decade, the sharpest acceleration began in 2021. According to Banxico data, transaction volumes have more than doubled in four years:

• 2021: 4.402 billion operations

• 2022: 6.117 billion operations

• 2023: 7.468 billion operations

• 2024: 9.007 billion operations

• 2025: 10.662 billion operations

Over the same period, the total value of card payments rose from MX$4.3 trillion in 2021 to nearly MX$6.2 trillion.

Financial Transparency and Consumer Trends

Despite the emergence of newer electronic payment alternatives, debit and credit cards remain the dominant non-cash payment instruments in Mexico. Banxico attributes this resilience in part to improvements in transparency and regulatory oversight of card-based financial services.

A key development during the year was a public consultation to reform the methodology for calculating the Total Annual Cost (Costo Anual Total, or CAT), a core consumer protection metric that consolidates all costs and fees of a credit product into a single percentage.

The proposed changes seek to simplify CAT calculations for advertising materials and credit card statements, ensuring the indicator remains relevant as financial products evolve. Proposed measures include:

• Establishing specific calculation methods for revolving lines of credit exercised through fixed-term dispositions.

• Requiring institutions to base CAT calculations on insurance premium quotes provided by the client, provided they meet standard requirements.

• Extending CAT disclosure obligations to debt-based crowdfunding institutions.

The report also notes a continued decline in credit-related commission income, a trend first observed in 2015. Implicit commissions on general credit fell from MX$0.7 to MX$0.4 per peso lent between 2015 and 2025. In the mortgage segment, these costs were halved over the same period, declining from MX$0.2 to MX$0.1 per peso.

While cash remains the most widely used payment method in Mexico overall, the more than 10.6 billion card transactions recorded in 2025 indicate that the formal financial system is capturing a growing share of domestic retail activity. Banxico’s findings suggest that the integration of card payments into the everyday spending habits of Mexican households now represents a consolidated structural shift rather than a temporary, post-pandemic trend.