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Kendall Little · Senior Writer, Credit Cards Updated Fri, December 19, 2025 at 3:01 AM GMT+8 7 min read While 2025 offered plenty of opportunities for cardholders to score a huge new welcome bonus or maximize incredible rewards, it also brought rising debt balances and lingering high interest rates.
As we approach 2026, we’re keeping our attention on a few credit card trends that could affect your rewards, APRs, benefits, and more. Here’s what to know for the year ahead:
Read more: 2026 financial forecast — What to expect in mortgages, investing, banking, and more
Interest rates
The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points three times this year, bringing the target federal funds rate from 4.25%-4.50% down to 3.5%-3.75%. As a result, variable APR ranges on credit cards have decreased slightly; some ongoing APRs have shifted by about half of a percent over the last few months of 2025.
Of course, that’s not enough to ease the high-interest debt burden for cardholders carrying card balances. Average credit card interest rates are still upwards of 21% and more than 22% for those paying interest on balances.
Rate cuts may be a bit more unpredictable in the year ahead. In the press conference following December’s FOMC meeting and rate cut, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, “...the fed funds rate is now within a broad range of estimates of its neutral value, and we are well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves.”
Overall, “I think rates, from an APR perspective, will continue to remain high for consumers,” said Anil Goyal, CorServ CEO and payments leader. But having a strong credit history and a great credit score can help you avoid the highest APRs. You’ll have a much better chance of qualifying for the low end of an issuer’s APR range when you practice good credit habits.
“If you have good credit, you will qualify for a lower-rate card versus a higher rate,” Goyal said. “So it is expensive to have a poor credit rating.”
And if you already have high-interest debt, don’t wait to get started on paying down your balances. Any future rate changes won’t make a significant difference, and waiting can leave you with even higher mounting debts.
Read more: Best balance transfer credit cards
Annual fees
2025 was a big year for annual fee hikes on premium rewards cards. The American Express Platinum Card® increased its fee from $695 to $895 (see rates and fees), and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® annual fee increased from $550 to $795.
While those higher fees also came with an increase in overall potential value and a ton of new benefits, higher fees are still significant hurdles for new and existing users. So far, it may be too soon to tell whether other issuers will follow suit with similarly ultra-high-fee credit cards in the new year. Tiffany Funk, co-founder and president of point.me, said she expects a “wait and see” approach.
In the meantime, a new mid-tier rewards credit card option may become more common in 2026. In some ways, these cards are what we might have considered in a higher tier a few years ago: travel credit cards with solid rewards and benefits for travelers. “I think we will see a lot more in that market, that $250-$375 range,” Funk said.
With any credit card annual fee — whether it’s $250 or $895 — make sure you’re actually getting enough value from the card to make up its cost. If you’re only using a benefit because it’s available and not because you would have spent money on it anyway, it may not be adding real value to your wallet. It’s more important than ever to actually look at your card’s benefits and evaluate them with a critical eye, Funk said.
Read more: Best credit cards with no annual fee
Up next
Loyalty programs
Your rewards card’s loyalty program is another thing to watch this year. “Programs are always refreshing and evaluating the market,” Funk said.
In 2025, one of the major loyalty program overhauls we saw came from Southwest Rapid Rewards. Not only did the airline get rid of its famous free checked bag policy and establish assigned seating on flights (which will officially start in January 2026), but it also completely revamped its Rapid Rewards credit cards.
Similarly, the merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines resulted in this year’s new suite of Atmos credit cards and the Atmos Rewards program for frequent flyers.
In the year ahead, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more loyalty program refreshes from other travel brands as well as issuer rewards programs, such as Amex Travel, Chase Travel℠, and Capital One Travel.
“I think we’re going to keep seeing more there and have those expanded,” Funk said, citing as one example Chase’s recent revamp, including adding The Edit by Chase Travel curated hotel collection and even trip packages for eligible cardholders. “The way that these credit cards are really trying to position themselves is as their own loyalty programs.”
Airport lounges
Airport lounges and access to them may be another big headline in the coming year. If you’ve been to an airport lounge lately, you already know that they’re more popular than ever.
“There are more leisure travelers traveling than ever in human history,” said Funk. “...Lounges weren’t really designed to have this kind of capacity. They were designed in a time when it was primarily business travelers who were spending lots of time at airports.”
As a result, many airlines and issuers are rethinking lounge access for flyers; some are limiting cardholders to a certain number of visits per year, while others are limiting the number of guests a cardholder can bring.
In early 2025, for example, Delta limited the annual number of SkyClub visits for cardholders of both the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and American Express Platinum Card, unless they meet a certain spending threshold.
Capital One also scaled back lounge access for those with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card in 2025 and will implement changes for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card in February. You’ll still be able to enter Capital One Lounges at a rate of $45 per visit, but you won’t get complimentary access for your guests. If you have an additional cardholder on your account, they will also lose complimentary airport lounge access, but primary cardholders can pay an additional $125 annually per additional cardholder to keep their airport lounge access.
In addition to the cards above, here are a few additional credit card options with airport lounge access today:
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Chase Sapphire Reserve®
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Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® card
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Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
Balances and delinquencies stabilize
Even as interest rates fall, credit card debt balances and delinquencies continue to rise. The most recent report from the New York Federal Reserve on Household Debt and Credit shows that Americans have an outstanding $1.23 trillion in outstanding credit card balances, 5.75% higher than a year ago.
Credit card delinquencies have improved slightly over the past year. The delinquency rate on credit card loans was 3.19% a year ago, but has inched down to 2.98% today, according to Fed data.
But the 2026 Consumer Credit Forecast from TransUnion predicts a relatively stable year ahead for growing card balances and delinquencies. The credit bureau projects credit card balances will increase by just 2.3% year over year by the end of 2025 (down from 4.4% last year and much lower than the projected 18.5% growth in 2022 and 12.6% in 2023 ). Delinquencies are expected to remain pretty much flat, which TransUnion attributes in part to issuers wanting to manage their own risk with tighter lending standards.
Read more: Credit card balances projected to tick up by smallest amount in years in 2026
Interchange fees
Interchange fees remain a hot topic among banks and merchants that take payment via credit cards. These “swipe fees” are paid by merchants to credit card networks to process each card transaction.
Credit card networks — the largest in the U.S. are Visa and Mastercard, though American Express and Discover are major networks too — tend to update these fees regularly. While fees charged by card networks may not always directly impact you as a cardholder, they can end up costing you if merchants raise purchase prices as a result. On the flip side, these fees may be used by issuers to offset the cost of rewards and benefits.
The Credit Card Competition Act, first introduced in Congress in 2022, could impact swipe fees in the future. It would require credit card issuers to allow transactions over at least two networks (and only one of those can be Visa or Mastercard). There’s been little movement on the bill in 2025, and its future remains uncertain.
Related: Credit card fees explained — 8 types you should know
Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to the Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
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