Banks Use AI to Make Credit Card Rewards More Personal
Banks Use AI to Make Credit Card Rewards More Personal
Publish Date: 2026-03-12 04:01:00
Source Domain: www.pymnts.com
The strategy was simple. If a card was used most often, it would generate the most transaction volume and deepen the relationship between the cardholder and issuer.
However, that dynamic is beginning to shift. Consumers now move fluidly between credit cards, buy now, pay later plans, debit cards, and digital wallets, depending on context, cash flow and convenience. As payments choice becomes more flexible, loyalty to a single card is weakening.
As PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote Wednesday (March 11), consumers are increasingly managing spending across multiple payment tools rather than committing to a single card. In that environment, the challenge for issuers is shifting toward influencing the moment a consumer decides how to pay.
Banks and payment networks are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and transaction data to meet that challenge, using the technology to personalize offers, adjust rewards and tailor incentives around individual spending patterns.
The Offers Feed Becomes the New Battleground
Much of the innovation in credit card rewards is happening outside the checkout flow itself. Instead, the competitive frontier is shifting toward the offer ecosystems that shape purchasing behavior before a transaction occurs.
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“I think the real AI revolution in credit cards isn’t necessarily happening at checkout,” Jeanniey Walden, chief marketing and executive advisor at Rakuten Rewards, told PYMNTS. “It’s happening in the offers feed.”
Traditionally, rewards programs relied on broad categories, such as travel, groceries or dining. While those structures were simple, they were designed for a hypothetical “average” cardholder whose spending patterns rarely matched reality, Walden said.
AI is beginning to change that by analyzing large volumes of transaction data and behavioral signals to determine which merchants, discounts or promotions are most relevant to each cardholder.
“For years,…
