What does it mean for a credit card to devalue? How to protect your rewards

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Credit cards that offer rewards play a significant role in U.S. spending, accounting for 92% of all card transactions, per the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s December 2025 Report to Congress. This makes the concept of credit card devaluations all the more relevant.

While credit cards that earn a transferable point currency are most at risk of experiencing devaluations, cash back is not immune. Further, credit card devaluations are seldom announced far in advance and can often blindside people by reducing the value of stockpiled rewards.

It’s most common to see credit card devaluations through a rewards program, but there are other ways issuers are reducing card benefits or making them more difficult to use. CNBC Select takes a look at the common ways credit cards are devalued and how you can protect the value of your rewards.

A credit card devaluation is a reduction in the value of benefits or rewards provided by a credit card. This can be something as straightforward as removing an earning category or as subtle as making it harder to use statement credits or increasing the points required for a redemption.

In some cases, consumers may feel these changes resemble “bait and switch tactics,” or when the value promised upfront doesn’t match what’s received. The CFPB identified these types of concerns in its May 2024 Issue Spotlight.

With rewards credit cards continuing to grow in popularity, as they have steadily since 2015, the potential for these issues to persist or expand may increase.

Not all credit card devaluations are created equally, from the way they affect a card’s features to the overall impact on its benefits and redemption value.

Stricter welcome bonus rules

Credit card sign-up bonuses typically offer a large lump sum of rewards when you apply for a credit card, are approved and meet the spending requirement. These limited-time welcome bonuses usually carry great value, but credit card issuers are becoming more strict over how often you can qualify for them.

American Express has long followed a once-per-lifetime bonus rule, stating that you “may not be eligible” for a welcome offer if you’ve previously owned the card you’re applying for.

Chase, on the other hand, recently tightened requirements for certain cards. When Chase relaunched the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) in June 2025, it updated the language attached to the welcome bonus, limiting it to once per lifetime — a shift from its previous 48-month waiting period.

While it’s not unheard of for issuers to attach such a clause, the more issuers that follow suit, the tighter the market around bonuses becomes.

Reduced perks or benefits

The most obvious form of credit card devaluation is when a credit card removes or undercuts certain rewards or benefits, and airport lounge access, in particular, has taken the brunt of the devaluations

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a good example. The card currently allows authorized users complimentary airport lounge access, but this benefit will be removed Feb. 1, 2026. After that date, Venture X cardholders will have to pay $125 for authorized user access.

In February 2025, American Express tightened lounge access requirements for certain cards, including the American Express Platinum Card® and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. Cardholders now receive a limited number of complimentary Delta Sky Club visits each year (instead of unlimited complimentary visits) and must spend at least $75,000 on the card in a calendar year for unlimited complimentary access.

Rewards programs have also gotten stricter. Toward the beginning of 2025, U.S. Bank made some changes to its U.S. Bank Smartly™ Visa Signature® Card. Previously, you could earn a flat 2% cash back on purchases, plus an additional 2% when you have a qualifying balance greater than $100,000 in a U.S. Bank deposit, trust or investment account. Now, those funds must be held in a U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking or Safe Debit account to qualify, and the additional 2% is limited to your first $10,000 in eligible purchases each billing cycle. Not only are the requirements more strict, but your total earnings potential drops as well.

Changes to transfer values

Many of the points that premium credit cards earn are transferable, meaning you can move them to hotel and airline programs your card partners with. Rewards typically transfer at a 1:1 ratio but can also transfer at higher or lower ratios. In fact, it’s very common for card issuers to adjust the rate at which points transfer, either increasing or decreasing the value cardholders receive.

As of Jan. 13, 2026, Capital One devalued the transfer ratio for Emirates Skywards. Instead of the previous 1:1 ratio, points now transfer at a 1:0.75 ratio, losing 25% of their value. In a more extreme example, Chase dropped Emirates as a partner altogether in October 2025, removing the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the airline.

For cardholders, these adjustments can mean fewer flights, fewer hotel stays or less overall value for the same number of points.

Fluctuating rewards value toward travel

Beyond transfer ratios, issuers are also changing how points are valued when redeemed directly through their own travel platforms.

In 2025, Chase introduced Points Boost, a dynamic pricing model that replaced the previous fixed 1.25X or 1.5X points boost on travel booked through Chase for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred® (see rates and fees) and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees).

Now, instead of a guaranteed, fixed travel redemption value, higher point values through Chase Travel depend on whether a booking qualifies for a Points Boost offer — and may be lower than under the prior structure.

Over-saturated rewards market

Travel rewards aren’t nearly as niche as they were even just a few years ago. According to a December 2025 Consumer Credit Card Market report from the CFPB, there was just over $26 billion in earned credit card rewards in 2019, spread across three categories: cash back, miles and points and “other.”

In just five years, that number grew by almost 80% to over $47 billion in earned rewards in 2024. As more people actively earn rewards, competition for limited perks and redemption options could be intensifying, putting pressure on availability and value.

This over-saturation can appear in a few different ways. For example, award flight seats have become more competitive in recent years, often requiring more points to secure. Many airport lounges have also faced crowding issues, sometimes implementing time limits on lounge usage or having to turn away customers due to a lack of space.

You can’t control when issuers charge their credit card offerings, but you can take steps to reduce how much those changes affect you. Here are a few tips to consider:

Don’t hoard your points

“The best time to use your points is always now,” Tiffany Funk, co-founder and president of travel search platform Point.me, told CNBC Select.

Funk noted that you earn points based on whatever the current value of the dollar is when you’re spending. “Otherwise, your points are not going to keep up with inflation,” she said.

Many travel credit cards offer welcome bonuses where you can earn a large sum of points at once, which is great if you have a trip on the horizon. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering a 75,000-point bonus after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months. The Ultimate Rewards points you earn can be transferred to 13 hotel and airline transfer partners, including Hyatt, which is known for providing great value for your rewards.

Consider what type of card you need

One often overlooked aspect of choosing a credit card? Making sure you’re earning rewards you can actually use.

Funk advises consumers to really sit down and consider whether a card offers perks you can easily earn. “The lounge credit doesn’t matter if you’re not at an airport in a terminal that has a lounge,” she said.

It’s easy to overestimate how often you’ll use a card’s perks. The best card is the one that aligns with how you already spend or travel, for example — not how you think you might someday.

Funk also noted that, if you like to save and collect a lot of points, a travel credit card might not be your best fit.

“If you’re thinking of saving your points, you’re truly better off using a cash back card… and investing those savings into a mutual fund and using that to purchase travel in 10 years. That is a better return,” said Funk.

The Citi Double Cash® Card earns a flat 2% cash back on all purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. This can be a great alternative to more complex points systems or cards that require you to spend in certain categories to earn elevated rewards. With the Double Cash card, you earn cash back in the form of Citi ThankYou® Points, which have a wide range of redemption options (most worth 1 cent per point).

Be intentional with your rewards strategy

While many people are enticed by large welcome offers or high earning rates, what matters most is that you have a plan for how you want to use your rewards.

“Be conscientious about why you’re earning these points… because if you’re just earning points for the sake of earning them, and you don’t have that redemption, or that goal or that plan in mind, that really defeats the purpose,” said Funk.

She stressed that your redemption plans don’t have to be incredibly detailed or set in stone. “The intention doesn’t have to be, ‘I’m earning points because I want to go to Italy in the summer of 2027,'” said Funk.

Simply having an overarching objective and understanding your goals can make it easier to feel confident about your spending decisions.

For example, if you travel frequently and consider yourself an American Airlines loyalist, look for cards that check those buckets in terms of rewards and redemptions. The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card earns up to 6X points on flights, and Citi is currently the only issuer to offer American Airlines as a direct transfer partner.

A little upfront planning can go a long way toward helping your rewards work for you, rather than sitting unused or losing value over time.

At CNBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. For this story, we interviewed Tiffany Funk, co-founder and President of Point.me

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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