Every year I like to make a list of predictions, I just took a look at my predictions for 2018 and the results were ugly so here’s hoping I do a better job this year (or a worse job depending on the prediction and what we actually want to happen).
Other bloggers
Below is a list of other sites that have made predictions for 2019 in this space. If you’re a blogger and have made some predictions, let us know in the comments so I can add it here.
- Frequent Miler
- No Home Just Roam
- Milenomics
- Points Hogger (Canada)
- Proud Money (video)
- The Points Guy
- Traveling For Miles
- Windbag Miles
My Predictions For 2019
American Express Will Continue To Refresh Its Card Portfolio
American Express made some major changes to cards last year (e.g business gold, personal gold, business platinum). It’s already rumored that they will be making changes to the green card as well in early 2019. This trend will continue, this isn’t so much a prediction as I know it’s something American Express is heavily focusing on internally.
Focus Will Shift From Sign Up Bonuses To Ongoing Value Propositions
More and more focus is being put on lifetime customer value and trying to focus on acquiring long term profitable customers rather than just mass acquisition. This is another trend I think we will see continue, especially from American Express. Expect more category bonuses & monthly offers (e.g GrubHub credit). Don’t get me wrong, we will still see strong sign up bonuses because card issuers are hesitant to let new card member numbers drop too low.
Sign Up Bonus Rules Will Continue To Tighten, More Work Arounds Will Appear
I think it will become more and more difficult to get sign up bonuses from all of the major issuers. Last year saw the Chase 5/24 rule expanded and early 2019 we’ve already seen Bank of America introduce a new rule. I think we will see more rules/restrictions added, but I also think we will see more ways to by pass these rules as card issuers begin to experiment more with finding profitable customers that ‘fail’ those basic rules (think Chase in branch pre-approval offers).
Basic Savings Rates Will Hit 3% APY
Basic saving rates are currently at 2.5% APY, last year I said we’d see rates hit 2% APY and by the end of 2019 I suspect we will see rates hit 3% APY. When high yield savings rates start getting this high then we need to start considering how valuable 0% introductory APR + no balance transfer offers are as arbitrage becomes a real possibility.
Capital One Will Introduce A Premium Card
Think of something that competes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve/American Express platinum. Traditionally they have focused on those with no/bad/middle credit, but with the introduction of airline transfer partners I can see Capital One making a play for high value personal cardholders.
Final Thoughts
For once I’ve forbidden myself from making a prediction about mobile wallets, because it seems I’m incapable of getting that one right. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings, feel free to comment on the predictions I made or make your own in the comments below.
