$34 Billion Vanishing: How AmEx, Chase, and Capital One Are Quietly Robbing You
Written by Bill Brocius
The Silent Erosion of Your Rewards
Banks are more than happy to let you rack up rewards, but what they’re not telling you is this: those points you’re so proud of? They’re worth less today than they were last year. If you had 100,000 Capital One points in 2020, they’re only worth 82,600 now. That’s an 18% drop in value. And you can thank inflation for that.
But it’s not just inflation that’s stealing from you. Dynamic pricing, especially with airlines and hotels, ensures your points lose purchasing power as time goes on. Since 2019, the number of points required to book flights has skyrocketed by 28%, according to aviation consultancy IdeaWorks. The longer you hold onto those points, the less they’ll buy.
Sign-up Bonuses: The Bait-and-Switch
Banks love to entice you with massive sign-up bonuses, and why wouldn’t they? These bonuses are their carrot, dangled in front of customers who believe they’re getting a great deal. What they’re not telling you is the real problem: even if you collect more points, the value of each point remains stuck at a pathetic baseline. For years, credit card points have hovered at around one cent per point, but in today’s inflationary environment, that cent has never been worth less.
Make no mistake—this isn’t a glitch in the system. It’s a deliberate strategy. These financial institutions know exactly what they’re doing. They continue to pump out sign-up bonuses while knowing full well that their points are becoming less valuable by the day. Meanwhile, customers keep hoarding devalued assets, under the false belief that they’re building towards a valuable reward.
The Real Crisis: Your Rewards Are Shrinking
Let’s get one thing straight: the $34 billion worth of unspent rewards is not just a liability for the banks, but a ticking time bomb for you, the customer. These points, once marketed as valuable perks, are now financial traps. Every day you hold onto them, you lose. Every month you wait, your buying power shrinks.
Think about it: if you gathered 100,000 points with Capital One in 2020, they’re now worth the equivalent of just 82,600 points. That’s an 18% drop. And in an economy where prices for everything are rising—groceries, gas, rent—the last thing you can afford is to sit on devaluing rewards.
Act Now: Redeem or Lose It All
If you’ve been sitting on a hefty balance of rewards points, it’s time to wake up. The banks aren’t going to raise the value of your points. In fact, they’re going to continue raising the number of points you need to make redemptions. The $34 billion in unspent rewards is a massive red flag that should have every consumer scrambling to cash in while they still can.
These rewards aren’t perks anymore—they’re decaying assets. And letting them sit untouched only benefits the banks, not you. You earned these points, but if you don’t use them now, they’ll continue to evaporate in value until they’re worth next to nothing.
The takeaway is simple: redeem your rewards now, or prepare to watch your hard-earned points slip through your fingers. The financial giants aren’t going to save your rewards, but they are banking on you letting them rot.
And if you’re tired of being at the mercy of these institutions, there’s still time to act. Protect yourself from the looming collapse of traditional banking. Download my free ebook, “7 Steps to Protect Your Account from Bank Failure”, and learn how to safeguard your assets before it’s too late. Join my Inner Circle for deeper insights and exclusive strategies—because the clock is ticking, and the big banks are counting on your complacency.
