A proprietary card is a card that allows customers of a financial institution access to their credit or deposit accounts. These cards are typically issued by the financial institution directly to the customer. Proprietary cards, which are also known as Private Label Cards and can come in the form of visa debit or credit cards, are issued to consumers in accordance with a contractual agreement between financial institutions and third parties, most frequently large retailers, for the purpose of consumers conducting business with the third party.
The Five Most Recent Trends in Credit Cards1
fewer signatures required when customers make purchases
Consumers have experienced fewer cumbersome steps when purchasing goods or services thanks to recent developments in fraud prevention policies at card checkout as well as innovative technologies.
More technologies based on chips
According to research conducted by Cayan LLC, there was a modest increase of 18 percent in the use of chip technologies for credit card purchases made on Black Friday in 2017 when compared to 2016. It would be an encouraging sign that marked a change in the purchasing behavior of American cardholders. Protection against fraudulent use of payment cards appeared to advance as a result of this action as well.
More metal cards
A metal card, as opposed to a plastic card, has a significant role to play as a status symbol for the person who uses it. Metal credit cards are issued by credit card companies in response to the demand of their most valuable clients and customers who spend the most money to stand out from the crowd. In addition, holders of special cards are eligible for rewards that are comparable to those offered by standard plastic cards, such as cash back or travel rewards. Not only practical, but also absolutely fantastic – why not?
Extra incentives for the transfer of balances
Credit card issuers have begun shifting their strategy in recent years, moving away from simply providing the standard benefits for consumers who make balance transfers, such as low APR rates or even no balance transfer fees. Instead, credit card issuers have begun emphasizing the attractiveness of reward programs. For example, in 2018, American Express extended the introductory period on its Amex Everyday Credit Card from 12 to 15 months and waived the balance transfer fee for transfers made within the first 60 days of opening an account if they were completed within that time frame. In point of fact, these actions have brought about a relationship in which both customers and credit card issuers come out on top. In other words, they can be considered to be remarkable efforts made by the issuers in devising more distinctive selling points in order to win their market shares.
Increased focus on use of mobile wallets
Despite the impressive statistics that have been reported by Apple PayR, which saw a doubling of its user base in 2017, and Starbucks, which saw a 10% increase on its Mobile Order & Pay service in the same year, mobile payments still only account for a relatively small percentage of total credit card payments. On the other hand, on the other end of the spectrum, credit card and technology companies may view it as a motivation to continue pushing their R&D up since smartphones are still consumers’ top choices when buying mobile phones. This could be the case due to the fact that consumers are increasingly reliant on their smartphones (e.g in 2017 around 1.54 billion smartphones were sold worldwide2)
