A Proprietary Card is a card issued by a financial institution to its customers for access to their credit or deposit accounts. Proprietary cards also called Private Label Cards may be visa debit cards or credit cards are issued under a contractual agreement between financial institutions and third parties, usually large retailers, for the purpose of consumers transacting business with that entity.
Top 5 Credit Cards Trends1
Less signing when consumers make purchases
New fraud prevention policies at cards checkout or innovative technologies have lowered numerous cumbersome steps for consumers when purchasing goods or services.
More chip technology
According to Cayan LLC, in comparison with 2016, there was a slight 18 percent growth in credit card purchases on Black Friday 2017 with chip technologies. It would be a positive signal marked a transformation in consumer behavior of American cardholders. Fraud protection for payment cards seemed to get a further step as well in this way.
More metal cards
Unlike a plastic card, a metal card plays a significant role as a status symbol for who uses it. So as to meet the demand of top customers and high spenders on being distinguished from the crowds, credit cards providers issue metal cards. Besides, the special cards also provide their holders with similar rewards as regular plastic cards - travel rewards or cashback. Not only convenient but also fabulous - Why not?
More rewards for balance transfers
Instead of merely offering the basic benefits for balance transfer consumers such as low APR rate or even no balance transfer fee, nowaday, credit card issuers have started changing their tactics by featuring appealing reward programs. E.g. in 2018, the Amex EverydayⓇ Credit Card from American Express lengthened its % intro period from 12 months to 15 months AND offered a 0% balance transfer fee for transfers made within 60 days of account opening. These actions, in fact, have brought a win-win relationship to both consumers and credit card issuers. In other words, they can be considered as remarkable efforts from the issuers in coming up with more unique selling points to win their market shares.
More emphasis on mobile wallet
In spite of impressive statistics reported by Apple PayⓇ - doubled its users in 2017 - or Starbucks with a 10 percent increase on its Mobile Order & Pay service in the same year, mobile payments are just a small portion of credit card payments. However, on the other end of the spectrum, the credit card and technology companies may perceive it as a motivation to keep pushing their R&D up since smartphones are still consumers’ top choices when buying mobile phones (e.g in 2017 around 1.54 billion smartphones were sold worldwide2)