2026 Credit Card Predictions: Will Consumers Win Or Lose?

This year has been the year of the luxury credit card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® and American Express Platinum Card® both added new perks in exchange for higher annual fees (now $795 and $895, respectively). And Citi re-entered the high-end credit card market with the debut of the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (annual fee: $595).

Some people cheered the added benefits and casually overlooked the increased fees, while others mourned the widening gap between the cards they can afford and those they can’t. Whatever your response, rest assured that card issuers made the changes with their own bottom lines in mind… and whatever they do in 2026 will follow the same playbook.

So will luxury cards continue to dominate as K-shaped trends pervade the economy? Or will banks decide to sweeten the pot for middle-earners who want a piece of the credit card benefits pie? Will regulations force banks to make decisions that help or hurt consumers? Only the year ahead will tell, but I do have a few predictions.

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This year has been the year of the luxury credit card, but what will 2026 bring for the industry? Bankrate?s Ted Rossman shares his credit card predictions ahead of the new year.

♬ original sound – Bankrate

Have a question about credit cards? E-mail me at [email protected] and I’d be happy to help.

Annual fees haven’t peaked, but 2026 won’t see many changes

It won’t be long before one of these cards introduces an annual fee of $1,000 or more, but that’s not likely to happen in 2026. Product refreshes often occur on a four-to-five-year cycle. The higher fees announced in 2025 could lead to a wave of cancellations and downgrades in 2026 as existing cardholders reach their annual renewal dates, so the sticker shock will hit at various times throughout the year. While 2025 was the year of the luxury credit card refresh, 2026 might be the year that many cardholders balk at the higher fees and seek alternatives.

I’ll be interested to see what Capital One does with its luxury travel card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, in 2026 (and beyond). Among major issuers, it’s the most affordable premium card by a wide margin. Its $395 annual fee is essentially free after you subtract the annual $300 Capital One Travel credit and the 10,000 bonus miles (worth $100) that are awarded each year you renew the card.

The aforementioned Chase, American Express and Citi cards include various sweeteners that help offset their annual fees as well, but none has as neat and tidy of a comparison. It takes a lot of DoorDash, Uber Eats and streaming credits to cancel out an annual fee of $750+. The Venture X offers the best and most straightforward deal in the premium cards space.

But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine for Venture X cardholders either… especially for families.

Families are getting priced out of airport lounges

Starting on Feb. 1, 2026, the Venture X’s airport lounge access guest policy will become much more restrictive. Most primary cardholders will no longer be able to bring two complimentary guests into Priority Pass or Capital One lounges. Depending on the type of lounge and the age of the guest, the entrance fee will be $25-$45 per visit. Cardholders can retain their free guest privileges by spending $75,000 or more on the card in a calendar year. Additionally, authorized users, who previously received their own lounge access with guest privileges, will need to pay $125 per year to maintain their access to airport lounges (and no guest privileges).

This tells us two things:

1. Heavy spenders are most welcome. That’s further evidence of the K-shaped economy (essentially the idea that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer).
2. Most families are out of luck. A family of four with one Venture X card would pay anywhere from $75-$135 for a single trip to an airport lounge. Even with an authorized user, the per visit fee would be $50-$90 and that’s on top of the annual $125 for the authorized user.

The Amex Platinum already has an authorized user fee ($195) and a restrictive guest policy. The Sapphire Reserve also has a $195 authorized user fee, although its guest policy is more generous. Still, between the primary cardholder’s annual fee and the authorized user fee, you’re looking at an annual outlay close to $1,000 to get between two and four people into airport lounges via the Sapphire Reserve. I have a family of four, and I find cash back credit cards much more attractive for my lifestyle.

Cash back cards, though, have their own problems.

Category caps probably won’t budge

As much as I love earning cash back on my family’s many everyday expenses, I have a bone to pick with credit card issuers: Their spending category caps are too low. For example, my go-to grocery rewards card is the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. It awards 6% cash back on up to $6,000 in annual spending at U.S. supermarkets (then 1% back after that). What bugs me is that the $6,000 cap hasn’t changed since 2013. Adjusted for inflation, $6,000 in 2013 equates to $8,365 today, according to USInflationCalculator.com.

My family tends to hit the cap around mid-year, so I would love for it to be raised. But I have low confidence that my biggest credit card pet peeve will be solved in 2026. This is an issue across the industry. Popular rotating category cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Discover it® Cash Back haven’t raised their spending caps in a long time either (with activation, both offer 5% in quarterly rotating categories up to $1,500 spent, then 1%). We’ve dealt with so much inflation in recent years that I feel like issuers would have already raised the caps if they wanted to. Remember what I said about bottom lines? It’s in their interest to keep caps lower from a profitability standpoint.

Devaluations will continue

Keeping caps lower is essentially a stealth devaluation. We’ve seen plenty of other examples in recent years, such as trimming guest airport lounge access and requiring more points or miles for the same award flight or hotel stay. This all highlights why you shouldn’t hoard rewards. Card issuers change things all the time, and usually not in consumers’ favor (there’s that bottom line consideration again). It’s best to earn and burn rewards strategically. Don’t accumulate a ton of cash back, airline miles or hotel points. Remember to redeem your rewards periodically.

I don’t mean to sound overly gloomy or cynical. Credit card rewards programs are still very worthwhile, provided you pay in full to avoid interest. But many of these programs have become more complicated and less generous in recent years. There’s still value, you just need to work harder for it.

If you’re carrying debt, the average credit card rate is 19.83% as of early December, so don’t be among the 72% of credit card debtors who are chasing rewards. Knock out the debt first (perhaps using a balance transfer card with a generous 0% interest promotion) and focus on rewards later.

Rewards funding will remain mostly intact

Rewards lovers dodged a bullet with the recently announced settlement among Visa, Mastercard and merchant groups. Retailers have bemoaned interchange fees for years (the processing fees that merchants pay card networks and issuers every time consumers use their cards). Visa and Mastercard recently agreed to lower these fees slightly and make a few other adjustments. None of this, though, do I believe will significantly change the landscape for consumers.

That’s mostly a good thing since the U.S. has the most generous credit card rewards framework in the world, funded mostly by those interchange fees. Countries with strict interchange caps (such as most European countries, Canada and Australia) tend to have much less lucrative rewards programs.

The bottom line

There has been a ton of economic uncertainty in 2025, including tariffs, the longest government shutdown on record and conflicting signals regarding the health of the economy. Maybe my crystal ball is just cloudy, but my gut feeling is that there won’t be a lot of change in the credit card market in 2026. Card issuers courted a high-end audience in a big way in 2025, but remained cautious about extending credit to people with lower incomes and lower credit scores. Big changes could remain on the sidelines in 2026 as the industry takes a pause to digest the path forward for consumers and the economy.

The information about the Chase Freedom Flex® has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.