The MasterCard Holiday Shopping Insights report found that nearly three out of four consumers (74 percent) think Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest time for holiday shopping. However, information from billions of payment card transactions over the past several years indicates that it is unlikely to be the case. Last year, for example, “Black Friday” did not even rank in the top five busiest holiday shopping days, while the Sunday following Thanksgiving has been the least busy day of the holiday shopping season for the past two years.

The report also found that, contrary to popular belief, there will not be a huge surge in online shopping on “Cyber Monday,” the Monday after Thanksgiving. But as it did last year, online shopping might peak exactly one week later. Only 10 percent of those surveyed said they will conduct their shopping on Cyber Monday. In 2005, Cyber Monday ranked as the ninth most active online shopping day in terms of transactions processed. The next Monday – Dec. 5, 2005 – was the most active online shopping day of the season.

“MasterCard is uniquely positioned at the heart of commerce, and as such we have a tremendous amount of insight into the spending patterns of consumers,” said Larry Flanagan, chief marketing officer for MasterCard Worldwide. “There are 31 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we expect to see consumers use every bit of that time. According to our data from the last few years, we anticipate the day before Christmas Eve, which falls on a Saturday this year, will be the busiest.”

The MasterCard report offers several insights into how consumers will shop this holiday season, predicting heavy levels of e-commerce, strong popularity of prepaid gift cards, the continued displacement of cash and check, and a growing reliance on debit as a preferred means of payment.

Among the survey’s key findings were:

• Nearly three out of four people plan to shop online during the holidays, with 26 percent saying they will shop online more this year than they did last year. On average, these consumers will plan to spend 41 percent of their total holiday expenditures online.

• Consumers said they planned on spending an average of nearly $700 this season with nearly $300 of that amount to be spent online for holiday gifts.

• While consumers will spend the majority of their in-store holiday budgets this year on clothing and related accessories, gift cards are moving past many traditional items on shopping lists. For example, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed anticipate buying gift cards or gift certificates, while only 42 percent plan to purchase toys, games, or sporting goods.

• Gift cards are as popular to receive as they are to give. Three out of four people surveyed said they like to receive prepaid cards as gifts. The most desirable types of gift cards are those that can be used everywhere payment cards are accepted, such as MasterCard gift cards, rather than those that can only be used at one specific retailer.

• Plastic is displacing paper-based forms of payment. Only 18 percent of respondents said they would most often use cash or checks for holiday shopping, opting instead for credit or debit.

• Debit cards are likely to be very popular this year, largely because they help consumers stay within their budgets. Three out of four consumers agreed that shopping with their debit cards helped them manage their holiday finances.

• About half of consumers (48 percent) plan to travel this holiday season, with 80 percent doing so to be closer to friends and family. Three out of five travelers will use credit cards as their primary payment method when booking travel. Half will use credit cards and 30 percent use debit cards for other holiday travel expenses.

MasterCard is looking to reward cardholders for their increased use of plastic this holiday season. Earlier this month, the company announced the MasterCard A Home for the Holidays™ Sweepstakes. Cardholders in the U.S. who use their MasterCard-branded payment cards anytime between November 1 and the end of the year will be automatically entered for a chance to win $350,000 toward a home.*

As always, MasterCard encourages consumers to spend responsibly and offers robust consumer education programs that are specifically designed to help consumers develop sound money management skills. The MasterCard Debt Know How program offers free, easy-to-understand debt management tools and a variety of online resources designed to help Americans successfully manage and reduce debt. For additional information go to www.debtknowhow.com.

The MasterCard Holiday Shopping Insights Report was commissioned by MasterCard Worldwide and was conducted online by Ipsos Insights, an independent research company. Interviews were conducted between October 4, 2006, and October 10, 2006. A total of 1,638 online interviews were conducted. The respondents owned both a credit and debit card. Subgroups were stat-tested against each other at the 90 percent confidence interval.