The number gives a dimension of the central role that the instrument has gained in family consumption, in a movement that heats up the fight between issuing banks and fintechs for granting credit that backs plastic.
Every minute, Brazilians made, on average, just over 40 thousand credit card transactions last year, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Credit Card and Services Companies (Abecs). The number gives a dimension of the central role that the instrument has gained in family consumption, in a movement that heats up the fight between issuing banks and fintechs for granting credit that backs plastic. According to market projections, there is still room for expansion in the short term, but the increasingly fierce competition should challenge the sector to structure more aggressive strategies to retain customer loyalty.
In 2025, credit card transactions generated R$3.1 trillion in Brazil, an increase of 14.5% compared to 2024, according to Abecs. The jump is much greater than that recorded by the stagnant debit card, which registered a slight positive variation of 0.2%, at R$1 trillion.
The figures are supported by a record volume of 243 million active credit cards at the end of the first half of last year, according to the most up-to-date statistics from the Central Bank. The count, therefore, is more than one active card per person, in a country of 213.4 million inhabitants, according to IBGE estimates.
The scenario means that financial institutions will have to compete for the attention of a demanding public that already has multiple options. The competitive environment can take the segment to a point of saturation, in which the most important will be the main one, says the partner and president of Boanerges & Cia Consultoria, Boanerges Ramos Freire. “Consumers may have several cards in their wallet, but there will always be one that focuses on their main relationship, used most frequently”, he explains.
Issuers bet on launches
Keeping an eye on the trend, the main issuers have been expanding the granting of credit to encourage account holder preference. The four largest publicly traded banks in the country – Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco, Banco do Brasil and Santander Brasil – closed 2025 with a credit card portfolio totaling R$373.7 billion, an increase of 11.5% compared to December 2024.
For traditional institutions, the focus is mainly on higher-income clients, given the greater difficulty in monetizing users in lower salary ranges. The strategy is marked by the incorporation of exclusive services, access to pre-sales for shows and VIP lounges at airports.
Itaú, for example, launched its version of Visa Infinite Privilege, aimed at the public that represents 0.1% of the richest in Brazil. Bradesco, in turn, announced new cards in partnership with United and the Marriott hotel chain. At least seven issuers have also confirmed their intention to offer the Mastercard World Legend, positioned above the Black category. For the middle class, banks offer options free of annual fees and with the possibility of an additional card. This is the case with FREE, from Santander, which also eliminates fees without requiring minimum expenses.
Nubank promoted an aggressive round of increases in credit card limits, with the help of artificial intelligence tools that help identify the size and beneficiaries of the adjustments. According to the fintech CEO, David Vélez, a reflection of this movement is the increase in the volume of unused limits, which increased from US$18 billion to US$28 billion in one year.
In the high income segment, where it offers Ultravioleta, Nubank claims to have 40% of the consumer base with a monthly income of more than R$12,000. “But they are not using our card as their primary card, often because we gave lower limits initially,” said the digital bank’s CFO, Guilherme Lago. “We need to improve the product’s value proposition, which we have been doing in recent quarters.”
Close to saturation
Despite the growing offer, the card’s primacy in consumption gained a strong competitor with the popularization of Pix. The integration of the payment system with credit, called Pix Parcelado, should increase competition and could threaten the sovereignty of plastic, according to an analysis by Fitch Ratings. At the end of last year, the Central Bank gave up regulating the product and left the market free to define rates, deadlines and charging methods.
For Fitch, issuers and brands will have to adapt by creating differentiators that generate a better value proposition for the cards. “The new product could reduce the market share of credit cards in payments, especially in “interest-free installment” transactions, potentially at lower costs for both consumers and merchants,” says the agency.
Partner and member of the financial services practice at consultancy Bain & Company, André Mello, does not yet see the credit card market at a point of saturation, but assesses that there is room for another two to three years of growth in the sector “It is not there yet, there are a lot of opportunities, but the volume of card transactions is getting close to a saturation level”, he says.
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