Metro leavers had higher baseline card spend than retained customers
Median total card spend across all merchants in June–August 2025, grouped by the customer’s outcome through July 2026
Median three-month card spend
Source: YipitData U.S. debit/credit card panel. Baseline Metro bill payers n=36,284. New-carrier destination cells: T-Mobile n=278, Verizon family n=96, other prepaid n=101, and Cricket n=47. The small destination groups make their exact median-spend values estimates.
Chart data
| Series | Median three-month card spend |
|---|---|
| Retained by Metro | 2628$ |
| No visible carrier | 2785$ |
| Other prepaid | 2937$ |
| Cricket Wireless | 2957$ |
| T-Mobile | 3018$ |
| Verizon family | 3645$ |
Where did Metro customers with a new visible carrier payment go?
Of 36,284 customers who paid Metro from June through August 2025, 3,258 had no Metro bill from September 2025 through July 2026. Among the 522 who then paid a carrier absent from their baseline wallet, 278 paid T-Mobile, 96 paid a Verizon-family brand, 101 paid another prepaid carrier, and 47 paid Cricket Wireless. The Verizon-family group included Verizon, Visible, and Total by Verizon.
Does higher card spend mean Metro lost more profitable customers?
Not necessarily. The measure is total spending across the household’s observed cards, not Metro revenue, bill size, income, or profit. A new carrier payment could also reflect an added household line rather than a one-for-one replacement. The result shows that visible leavers, especially those later paying Verizon, had larger observed card wallets before leaving Metro; it does not show why they left or whether a different offer would have retained them.
Assumptions & Methodologies
We used YipitData’s U.S. debit/credit card panel. The baseline included 36,284 customers with a Metro bill in June–August 2025. A leaver had no Metro bill in September 2025–July 2026; a destination counted only a carrier absent from the baseline wallet. The visual compares median total card spend across all merchants during the baseline. Cash, retail refill, stored-value, ACH, and off-panel payments are missed, so no visible carrier is not category exit. Destination groups of 47–101 customers are small, so exact medians are estimates; card spend is not Metro revenue or income.