There's many rewards cards that require an annual fee (which encourages a high spend to recoup the fee with rewards). But there are plenty of 1.5%-2% cards with no annual fee. You just need a good credit score.
The second and third tier Delta cards come with a $250 and $650 Annual fee.
The second tier card (Delta Platinum) has an annual fee of $350. But it comes with a $150 Delta Stays credit for hotels and one round trip an economy companion pass - basically buy one get one free - for any place in the US, Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean.
The higher end Delta Reserve comes with similar benefits. But a first class companion pass. If you never use either card except for the credit, the benefits more than offset the annual fee. The Reserve also comes with airport lounge access
I have three Delta cards just for those benefits.
I could explain the Amex Platinum, Gold, Green, every cobranded hotel card, the high end Capital One cards the same way.
The credit card companies as the article says are betting that the typical customer will use credit cards in a suboptimal manner. They are banking on most credit card users not to be like the typical r/creditcards users who carry 6-8 credit cards including “sock drawer” cards that are just held for the outsized benefits to annual fees and aren’t their primary cards.
My wife and I travel a lot and yes I have nine cards and $2700 worth of annual fees. Most of those cards are “sock drawer” cards that are just used because the “coupons” make travel cheaper.
(I am not affiliated with this site in any way)
They know exactly how many do this. The people who churn are just free advertising for them.
Just from the cash savings of my card setup, I would say it’s worth $3500 that offsets the $2700 in annual fees.
Then take into account the points I earn from everyday spend is worth another $3000-$5000 depending on how I choose to redeem them (see r/awardtravel).
Then take into account sign up bonuses and churning, I’m planning on doing over the next year worth around $5000.
It’s the only way that I can balance our travel hobbies with my goals of maxing out my 401k including catch up contributions (I turn 50 this year), max out my HSA and not use it and “retire my wife” so she can enjoy her hobbies.
This hobby isn’t just for people with above average incomes. If you are steeped in the culture, you can lean more toward churning and legal manufactured spending
https://frequentmiler.com/manufactured-spending-complete-gui...
In the UK you can still cancel and re-apply after 24 months. It used to be 6 months but those good days are long gone...
But there is still Chase, CapitalOne and Citi. The Chase Ink Business cards you can churn as much as you want and most of the other cards have either a 24 or 48 month rule
All of these things were items I was already using or would have purchased anyway and the discounts stack on top of any available merchant coupons too since they are credits coming straight from AmEx.