Rewards Credit Cards: How Top Trends and Innovations Impact Revenue and Customer Engagement Report

Report Overview

Affluent Consumers Are Driving Credit Card Spending

The aggregate share of consumer spending is heavily skewed toward affluent cardholders, who primarily utilize premium rewards products – and their share of total consumer spending continues to grow. This cohort drives overall spending growth as they allocate larger portions of their budgets to premium categories, with a significantly higher share of their total spending toward aspirational and discretionary travel and experiences compared to non-affluent users.

Key Themes Covered in this Report:

• Loyalty/rewards programs are the most likely factor when choosing which card to use when making a purchase.
• Affluent consumers’ share of spending – and share of credit card spending – continues to grow.
• Leading US card issuers are applying AI to rewards cards via agentic commerce and hyper-personalization

This report covers the US market for rewards credit cards, with an emphasis on quantifying rewards card usage, rewards earning and redemption value, value and use of rewards cards by currency type; the importance of rewards to consumers at the point of sale and within the context of card acquisition; and key rewards card trends and innovations.

More specifically, the report provides:

• Quantitative estimates for rewards card payment value share, amounts consumers earn in credit card rewards, usage prevalence and payment value estimates for general-purpose credit cards according to rewards currency, and related growth trends.
• Consumer interest in and usage of loyalty rewards at the point of sale, trended usage of airline and hotel loyalty programs by brand, and the importance of credit card rewards at the point of sale and within context of card acquisition.
• Analysis of the credit card market’s pivot to affluence, shift in consumer risk mix, pivot to annual fees, and how major issuers are harnessing agentic commerce and hyper-personalization within the card rewards space.

Demographic analysis emphasizes consumer/cardholder household income, net worth, credit risk, and generation. Household income is segmented up to $250K+, while net worth is segmented up to $2 million+.

Rewards Credit Cards Report Details

Pivot to AI and Digital Innovation

In 2026, we see leading US card issuers harnessing AI in two key ways:

• Agentic Commerce: Issuers are embedding payment capabilities into emerging AI ecosystems, allowing rewards assets to be discoverable and actionable on AI platforms.
• Hyper-Personalization: The use of AI for proactive outreach, such as expiring benefit reminders and personalized journey orchestration, is becoming a standard feature for premium member engagement.

Among card issuers:

• American Express is utilizing AI to make its premium rewards discoverable and actionable for both cardholders and their authorized AI agents.
• JPMorgan Chase is leveraging its vast repository of proprietary data to move away from static "one-size-fits-all" rewards toward real-time, contextually relevant engagement.
• Bank of America utilizes its AI virtual assistant, Erica, to drive deeper penetration of its BofA Rewards (formerly Preferred Rewards) ecosystem.
• Capital One is focusing its AI efforts on its flagship Venture X card by building a fully integrated, proprietary travel and shopping ecosystem.

Rewards Credit Cards Report Scope

This report covers the US market for rewards credit cards, with an emphasis on quantifying rewards card usage, rewards earning and redemption value, value and use of rewards cards by currency type; the importance of rewards to consumers at the point of sale and within the context of card acquisition; and key rewards card trends and innovations.

More specifically, the report provides:

• Quantitative estimates for rewards card payment value share, amounts consumers earn in credit card rewards, usage prevalence and payment value estimates for general-purpose credit cards according to rewards currency, and related growth trends.
• Consumer interest in and usage of loyalty rewards at the point of sale, trended usage of airline and hotel loyalty programs by brand, and the importance of credit card rewards at the point of sale and within context of card acquisition.
• Analysis of the credit card market’s pivot to affluence, shift in consumer risk mix, pivot to annual fees, and how major issuers are harnessing agentic commerce and hyper-personalization within the card rewards space.

Demographic analysis emphasizes consumer/cardholder household income, net worth, credit risk, and generation. Household income is segmented up to $250K+, while net worth is segmented up to $2 million+.