Plastic choices: Consumer usage of bank cards versus proprietary credit cards

Using survey data from retail and gasoline cardholders, we examine the substitution of general purpose (bank) cards for proprietary cards and how issuers can predict which consumers are most likely to substitute. Convenience and rebates are the primary reasons for using a bank card. However, consumers use their proprietary gasoline cards to keep purchase records and proprietary retail cards to obtain better service. These results help explain the growth in popularity of "co-branded" cards.