Consumers take on more credit card debt, boost Visa profits

Consumers in the U.S. have taken to using their credit cards more often in recent months, spelling a huge surge in profits for the world's biggest payment processing network.

Visa recently announced that it saw profits surge by 40 percent in the fiscal third quarter of the year to $1 billion, beating analyst estimates, according to a report from Bloomberg News. This change was largely the result of U.S. credit card spending ticking up 9.8 percent during the three-month period, as consumers charged $224 billion worth of transactions.

However, the company also believes that the new swipe fee regulations for debit card transactions will likely cut into its profits going forward, the report said. The U.S. made up about 59 percent of the network's total sales last year, but Visa chairman and CEO Joseph Saunders says the company wants to make it a 50-50 split with international markets by 2015.

Many consumers these days haven't been able to get out of debt because of the rising prices for many necessities like food and gasoline, which has overextended their personal budgets.