What if popular credit card rewards programs like cash back and travel points vanished?
That could happen if the Credit Card Competition Act of 2022, a bill quietly introduced this summer by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), passes.
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The bill promises to enhance competition by directing the Federal Reserve to ensure that giant credit card-issuing banks offer a choice of at least two networks over which an electronic credit transaction may be processed.
Now, the credit card networks and their lobbyists, unhappy that competition is being forced on them, are sounding the alarm bells.
They're waging a grassroots campaign to stop the law from being passed. A lobbyist for the card companies told me last week that credit card rewards would "go away" if the Credit Card Competition Act becomes law.
So here's this week's question.
If credit card rewards disappeared tomorrow, how would that change the way you travel? Would you spend money differently? Would you travel less? How would it affect your loyalty to a particular airline or hotel?
The comments are open. I realize people can get quite passionate about rewards programs, so please be nice to each other.
Our roundtrip business class flights to Helsinki this year would have cost $15,000 without our mileage points. No Go. Using points we paid less than $100 total and had lovely flights on Finnair. We use our points for international business class travel because 10 hour flights in coach, in our retirement years, are ordeals we don't want to handle. So, if our points go away we will no longer travel internationally.
As a follower of your advice, I got rid of all my airline credit cards. I’ve noticed that the rewards these cards offer has less value over time.