comScore has published its annual Online Credit Card Report, which delves into the US online credit card industry for the preceding year.

The results show a swelling interest among mobile users to engage in online and mobile banking platforms.

20% of all mobile phone owning cardholders report using their handset to manage their bank accounts during the past twelve months.

16% of mobile users access their card issuer’s site through a mobile browser, while 13% do so via mobile application.

“As we see consumer economic sentiment improve, we’re also seeing a corresponding increase in retail and e-commerce spending along with increased card shopping, especially among those in the subprime sector,” said Sarah Lenart, comScore vice president of financial services.

“With shopping and card applications expected to continue to increase in 2011, consumers are likely to place even greater emphasis on competitive card features and offerings as well as enticing rewards programs,” Lenart adds.

As card issuers continue to develop websites and mobile applications as a way to engage with cardholders, a noticeable shift can be seen in consumers’ use of these channels as opposed to more traditional channels, comScore notes. In 2010, for example, 76 percent of cardholders reported accessing their accounts online, up 5-percentage points from a year ago.

While mobile applications and sites are not used to the same extent as other channels, they are, without question, gaining popularity.