Higher Fees, Digital Wallets, and Debt Mark a Pivotal Year for Credit Cards

From groundbreaking new product releases to emerging technologies, the credit card landscape in 2025 shifted in many ways that would have been difficult to predict when the year kicked off. And the CardRates team was there to cover key stories as they unfolded, keeping our readers up to date on the latest developments in the industry.

The end of the year is often a time for reflection, so we sat down recently with a number of prominent players in the payments ecosystem to hear their thoughts about the trends in the world of credit cards in 2025. 

Many companies released new or enhanced versions of their premium cards in 2025. Chase revamped its Sapphire Reserve card for consumers and rolled out a business version of the card in June. The following month, Citi launched a new high-end rewards card. 

And in September, American Express made available the latest versions of its consumer and business Platinum cards. While the new cards come with exclusive benefits, they also carry fees that cost cardholders hundreds of dollars per year.

Dave Grossman, Founder and CEO at MilesTalk and Your Best Credit Cards, told us that some consumers may be growing tired of the annual fees issuers attach to premium rewards cards.

“I think, more than ever, I’ve run into people that have said that they’re going to close a card from one issuer or another because the combined annual fees have gotten to be a lot,” Grossman told us. “At the same time, plenty of people are happy to carry all of the premium cards due to the value they get out of them.”

Some consumers may prefer to avoid rewards credit cards with high annual fees, even if the cards offer them exclusive perks.

Many companies also offered cryptocurrency-related benefits through credit cards this year. 

“A few of the things that stood out to me this year are just the huge emergence of fintechs and crypto-related credit cards,” Matthew Goldman, Founder and Managing Member of Totavi, told us. “A lot of the crypto cards offer straight cash or crypto back, and they’re not very expensive.” 

While crypto cards can serve a different audience than the latest premium cards from American Express and Chase, they may evolve to offer more exclusive benefits as time goes on.

Digital wallets aren’t new to the card space, but they are growing increasingly commonplace. A recent report indicates that mobile wallets have become standard for many people, with 77% of respondents to a survey saying they had used at least one wallet from either Apple, Cash App, or PayPal during 2025’s third quarter.

Doug Villone, Head of US Cards and Partnerships at Barclays U.S. Consumer Bank, told us that a credit card’s position within the mobile wallet sphere is vital.

“Ensuring that new and existing customers can seamlessly load their card into the wallet of their choice and making sure that you are high up in their wallet preferences is important to everyone in the industry,” Villone said. 

“Your virtual wallet can be infinite in size, theoretically, but ultimately there’s one or two or three products that you tend to default to,” he added. “So you want to be high up in that hierarchy.”

Card-not-present transactions may occur with greater frequency as digital wallets grow in popularity.

Tokenization is a key piece of the puzzle in making card transactions through digital wallets more secure. It also can allow cardholders to continue transacting with their card accounts in the event they misplace their physical card.

“I think the continued tokenization of cards, with the additional data elements that are included with tokenized cards, will continue to change business and move it from a card-present solution to a secure, card-not-present solution,” Ken Musante, Founder and President of Napa Payments Consulting, told us.

The ups and downs of the economy affected different segments of the population in the U.S. in contrasting ways in 2025. On one hand, the stock market’s performance through the first eleven months of the year raised the net worth of many investors who didn’t pull their money from the markets at the first sign of trouble.

But inflation and concern over a tight labor market led others to keep a more watchful eye on their household finances. Many people likely turned to credit cards to help them weather financial storms, which may have contributed to increases in overall levels of revolving credit.

“Revolving debt in the United States has passed the $1.3 trillion mark,” Brian Riley, Director of Credit Advisory Services and Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, told us. “It’s a landmark for the industry, but it’s both good news and bad news. It kicks off a lot of revenue, but it also indicates that households are really stressing in a lot of ways.”

Credit cards are not a one-size-fits-all financial product, which is why a market exists for products such as the new premium cards that came out earlier this year as well as those that offer fewer perks.

“There are different types of ways people use different credit cards,” Riley said.

This year has been an unpredictable one for the credit card industry. And the trends that played a part in shaping the credit card landscape in 2025 won’t disappear once the calendar flips to 2026. 

We’ll be there to cover all the news on the credit card front next year, and we’ll bring you fresh takes from industry leaders so you stay connected to the latest insights.