Both of these predictions stem from American Express' plan to revamp a majority of their credit card products. And recently on an earnings call, Amex CEO Stephen Squeri pointed out how monthly credits are actually helping increase card users - despite the mixed feedback among the points community.

1. The Everyday cards will be brought back with 1.5x back on everything after making 30 purchases/month. These will be Amex's catch-all cards that follow the previous format requiring multiple purchases. There will obviously be more updates and maybe credits as this one update would be too similar to the previous cards. 

2. The Green card will be refreshed with an addition of a monthly credit which will push a higher annual fee. This follows Amex's targets for high net-worth/high spending individuals. We can expect this to still be travel focused - however holders of the Gold and Platinum cards likely still won't get it as they can't get the sign-up bonus. 

3. With the end of the Lyft partnership, Chase will have to find another partner to bring value to cardholders. Maybe they’ll partner with a streaming or fitness company. In the past Chase has brought benefits to cardholders from brands they work with in other financial areas of JP Morgan Chase (e.g., Peleton, Instacart, goPuff) so a new partner will likely stem from that as well. 

4. According to many sources, Chase will likely be the issuer of the Apple card - which was with Goldman Sachs previously. Other possibilities are Synchrony Financial and Capital One. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out as the only positive aspect of the Apple card is the UI - which wouldn't integrate well into Chase's app. 

5. There are rumors Capital One will reintroduce the previous Savor card as the Savor X to compete on dining and groceries against the Amex Gold card. Since these two categories are likely the largest credit card expense for most Americans, it makes sense to capture the people leaving the Amex Gold. With more perks, they might go up from the previous $95 annual fee to maybe $125 or $199. 

6. Capital One will beef up their travel portal - maybe with redemption bonuses like the Chase Travel portal. With more ways to get Capital One miles now with their shopping portal update and increased credits on the portal, I can see them continuing the trend of giving extra perks for redemptions and bookings through their travel portal. 

7. The general consensus in the points community is that Citi ThankYou points will have the ability to transfer to American Airlines miles. This feature was actually available in the past at a 1:1 rate, making Citi ThankYou points very lucrative since AA miles have some great sweet spots - like 60K points to fly business to Japan. Having this 1:1 transfer again will make the entire portfolio of Citi cards more lucrative.

8. Citi trademarked “Strata Elite” and it is rumored to be their new premium travel card to compete with the Chase Sapphire Reserve/American Express Platinum. This isn't really new news as it's been talked about even before the Citi Strata refresh. Some say it'll be a revamped version of the Citi Prestige with a higher annual fee, but better travel credits and perks. 

9. After entering the transferrable points game with six partners, look for more to be added. Virgin Atlantic, and Emirates are partners with all the other banks. And then they might add Alaska and Hyatt through their partnership with BILT. With more transfer partners and the no annual fee autograph card, a Wells Fargo set up could be a cheap and lucrative alternative. 

10. For BILT, it will be a make it or break it year - highly dependent if they can give rewards on mortgage payments.  Each month BILT seems to be devaluing their program, though it can still be very useful to have. They did lay out a solid strategic plan for the future including mortgage payment, but it'll remain to be seen whether that can be activated AND provide enough revenue to make up for the huge loss on Wells Fargo's end. 

11. Barclays will add on a casino co-branded credit card (e.g., Wynn, Bally's). We've seen the growth/appearance of more casino credit cards (and gambling cards) that are a hybrid of hotel/resort cards and store/spending cards. MGM is with FNBO and Caesars is with Bread Financial, so Barclays who seems to like partnering with smaller brands, might take on of them on. 

12. Barclays will add more regional co-branded credit cards (e.g., Avelo Airlines). For the same reasoning as above - they already have co-branded cards with Breeze Airways, Frontier, and JetBlue.

13. As stated in press releases, Barclays will lose the American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines portfolio - likely mid-2025. 

14. In addition to the new premium Alaska Airlines credit card coming out, Bank of America will also make Alaska Airlines a travel partner you can transfer points to. This is admittedly my biggest stretch prediction as Bank of America has been pretty tight on keeping their points in-house through their preferre rewards program. However, one can dream as Alaska is open to point transfers - as seen through BILT - and with their larger portfolio from acquiring Hawaiian airlines, maybe Bank of America can use this as a jumping off point into the points game!

15. With more no annual fee credit cards adding Global Entry/TSA Precheck credits (e.g., Fidelity) Bank of America will follow suit, especially for their Travel Rewards card.  Having this credit on cards has become table stakes even for non-travel cards. So for a card with the word "travel" in it, it better get with the program!

16. With the successful launch of their new Smartly credit card which introduces a tier system similar to Bank of America’s preferred rewards, US Bank will implement this rewards system on current and future cards. It makes sense for them to encourage users to use more of their credit card products - making the cost seem less and the benefits more worthwhile. 

Robinhood

17. Robinhood will increase Gold membership price. With their ongoing promotions to get Robinhood Gold subscribers and the proliferation of their 3% credit card, they'll need to support those perks. And it'll either be the nerfing of 3% back on everything on increased fees. 

Cardless

18. Cardless will continue to capture unique co-branded travel cards (e.g., Norse Atlantic, Japan Airlines). They seem to have a specific target/strategy so I expect them to partner with more international airlines to help form their US-based credit card.