Thirty-two million credit cardholders in the United States haven’t changed their preferred credit card in at least a decade while another 21 million have never switched, according to a new CreditCards.com report.
“If you never change credit cards, you miss out on a big opportunity to rack up rewards. It’s as simple as that,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst. “These offers have never been more generous, so now is the time to act.”
The market is fragmented between people who haven’t changed their favorite credit card in a long time and those who recently signed up for a new one, with few cardholders in the middle.
Forty-two percent have selected a new go-to card within the past three years versus 38% who have never swapped their favorite card or haven’t done so in the past decade. That leaves 19% who last made a substitution four to nine years ago.
When asked why they signed up for their favorite credit card in the first place and why they continue to use it most often today, cardholders cited rewards points/cash back ahead of other choices such as low interest rates, widespread acceptance, low fees and customer service. Oddly, just 2% of cardholders said a sign-up bonus spurred them to sign up for the card they use most often.
“I find that strange because if you like rewards – as most cardholders do – then you should really like sign-up bonuses,” Schulz added. “This is another reason to compare cards ASAP if it has been a while. It normally takes a lot of spending to accumulate 50,000 points/miles, so accomplishing that with a single sign-up bonus is pretty incredible.”
Older millennials (27-36 year-olds) are the biggest points/miles junkies: 62% say rewards are their favorite credit card feature, versus 35% of all other age groups.
Many credit cards offer free perks such as rental car insurance, extended warranties, purchase protection and price protection, but about one in four cardholders doesn’t know if his/her favorite card is among them.
SOURCE: CreditCards.com, 9430 Research Blvd Bldg 4, Suite #400, Austin, TX 78759