5 Credit Card Trends to Watch for in 2026

Last year was kind of a lot. Once-secure federal government jobs were slashed, and that was before the longest government shutdown in history. The labor market cooled. Economically speaking, 2025 was a tough year for many.

And though interest rates were reduced three times, credit card interest rates remained high, hovering around an average of 22% all year.

Let’s briefly look back at some of the other big credit card headlines from 2025:

• A major consumer watchdog was neutered. Beginning in February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s power — and staff — was cut way back. Some of its actions from the end of the Biden administration got reversed, including a planned cap on credit card late fees and the removal of medical debt from credit reports.  

• A massive merger was completed. Capital One officially acquired Discover in May, making it the largest credit card issuer in the U.S. While a change of this magnitude will continue to roll out slowly, so far Capital One has moved its debit cards to the Discover payment network. 

• Credit cards upped fees and embraced “coupon book” rewards. Last year saw the trend really take off, beginning in March with Chase’s co-branded United Airlines cards. Then, in June, Chase unveiled major changes and a big annual fee bump to its highest-end Sapphire card. American Express soon followed with changes to its Platinum card. Triple-digit annual fees were once rare, but now even some “midtier” options charge $150, while many premium cards are around $500 and up.

We’re a few weeks into 2026, and it’s not looking any less dramatic compared to 2025. Here’s what we may see coming up in the world of credit cards.

1. Increasingly complex credit card rewards programs

In a world where everything is more expensive, consumers want value. Many turn to rewards credit cards, juggling a few to maximize how many points they can earn with each purchase.

But as more consumers squeeze maximum value out of rewards, issuers face rising costs. “They’re trying to figure out how to make it feel like [the rewards are] still really valuable while still controlling their economics,” says Matthew Goldman, founder of the financial technology consulting firm Totavi, who estimates he’s worked in the credit card industry for around 15 years.

Issuers pack on perks you may or may not ever use, but they can tout their cards’ potential total value in marketing materials. For cards with ultra-high annual fees, benefits like merchant credits are a way for cardholders to chip away at that cost. But they take work, requiring you to remember where and when you can actually use those credits.

Reward values, too, aren't static. We’ve seen this with Chase’s Points Boost, where rewards can be worth more than their baseline value for specific travel bookings through Chase, but aren’t always. Ever-changing travel deals make it harder to know what your points are worth.

In January 2026, financial technology company Bilt — famous for its card that earned rewards on rent payments — unveiled three new cards with rewards that are unparalleled in their complexity. The cards offer two rewards currencies, each redeemable in different ways (one of which can be redeemed to earn more of the other one). Plus, you must choose between two different ways to earn rewards in the first place. Basically, they’re the credit card equivalent of that recurring nightmare where you missed math class all semester and are woefully underprepared for the midterm exam.

As brands encourage more spending within their own ecosystems, consumers have significantly more hoops to jump through to maximize their rewards.

2. More intelligent artificial intelligence

Credit card companies have used AI for decades, for fraud detection and prevention, underwriting, customer service and more. But agentic AI, a version of AI that can act autonomously within pre-set parameters, is going to become more commonplace.

"I don’t want AI to take over writing or art. Those are passions that people have that they want to do,” Goldman says. “I think we all want AI to fold our laundry.”

Imagine, then, dispatching an AI agent like you would a personal assistant with access to your credit cards. It can pay your monthly bills, buy holiday gifts or book a vacation.

“For example, you could say, ‘Buy me a baseball ticket when the price drops below $150,’ or ‘Plan a trip, book the flights and hotel, and handle payment when it meets my criteria,’” says Sam Baird, a payment specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Beth Robertson, managing director at Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm, imagines a world in which agentic AI can help you make sense of complex credit card rewards programs.

“AI can manage different redemption options and alternatives, learning from purchasing patterns or asking users about preferences. Instead of cardholders digging for opportunities, AI can surface them and ask for a simple yes or no,” Robertson says.

Visa and Mastercard are setting the foundation for businesses, including banks and retailers, to offer agentic AI to customers. Visa Intelligent Commerce launched in April 2025, while Mastercard Agent Suite will launch in the second quarter of 2026. According to the news release announcing Agent Suite, Mastercard anticipates that a “significant percentage” of customer interactions will be supported by AI agents by 2030.

3. The Gen Z consumer comes of age

It's time to stop thinking of Generation Z as teenagers. “Gen Z is approaching 30 and becoming the predominant younger-adult population, which feels like a moment when the way consumers interact with payments and shopping could shift,” Baird says.

According to Taylor Price — Gen Z personal finance expert and founder of the financial platform Priceless Tay — younger consumers are less likely to stick to one way of paying for purchases. Instead, they pick and choose depending on the best deals or the best way to manage their cash flow, switching between credit and debit cards, digital wallets, peer-to-peer payment apps, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans.

“Gen Z is payment-fluid in a way older generations aren't,” Price said in an email. “Economic pressure has made us strategic shoppers by necessity, not choice.”

Younger consumers have especially gravitated to BNPL. NerdWallet’s 2025 Holiday Spending Report found that 18% of holiday shoppers planned to use BNPL to buy gifts. But broken down by generation, 35% of Gen Z holiday shoppers said they’ll use BNPL for gift buying, compared to 25% of millennials, 13% of Gen X and just 6% of baby boomers.

And forget in-person shopping, or even using now-old-fashioned search engines to shop around. “We don't go to stores to browse anymore. We go to TikTok, get influenced, click a link and check out in 30 seconds,” Price said. “Social commerce is massive for our generation.”

4. Crypto credit cards return — and HELOC cards emerge

Cryptocurrency credit cards peaked in 2021, hit a valley from 2022 to 2024 following a crypto crash, and came back last year thanks to crypto-friendly legislation like the GENIUS Act, which established regulations for payment stablecoins in the U.S.

“Crypto will have its ups and downs, and people who believe will continue to believe,” Goldman says. “And the companies that provide it are so much bigger now, and they have the sustainability. Building a credit card program is hard and expensive, and you need a certain user base, and these companies have it.”

Goldman offers another prediction: more home equity line of credit (HELOC) cards, which are backed by your home equity instead of being unsecured. He noted two startups, Aven and Trovy, that offer such products. “There are all these people who have these 3% fixed mortgages and they want cash, but they don’t want to refinance because they don’t want to pay 6%,” he says.

5. Credit card interest rate caps are a big maybe

At the start of the year, President Trump shared a social media post expressing his support of a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates. It began a frenzied back-and-forth — supporters lauded the chance for consumers to spend less on interest payments, while opponents cautioned that banks would be forced to severely limit access to credit.

So far, no interest rate cap has materialized, and the rapidly shifting news cycle could pull the president’s attention to other matters. But with proposed legislation in the House and Senate calling for a 10% limit, this idea may not quietly disappear.