NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Credit Cards in 2026: Big Card Changes Are Rolling Out — Here’s What to Re-evaluate Now

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Find out  which credit cards shine in 2026 and how to avoid rising fees, APR surprises, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) traps. How can you change your spending to better match your values? How do you choose the right credit card in 2026 as perks shift, fees rise, and “buy now, pay later” spreads? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss values-based spending and the credit card landscape to help you make purchases that fit your priorities. They begin with a discussion of aligning money with values, with tips and tricks on auditing your statements for “idle” spending, shopping around for companies and banks that match your priorities, and building accountability so your goals stick. Then, credit card expert Caitlin Mims joins Elizabeth to discuss credit cards in 2026. They cover buy now, pay later and card-based installment plans, what to watch as card perks and annual fees change, and how NerdWallet chose its Best-of Awards winners. Our Nerds researched 280 credit cards, narrowing down to just one winner per category: https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/awards-credit-cards-2026?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=cm_organic_011226_podcast_sm_desc_allepisodes_best-of-credit-cards  Card benefits, terms and fees can change. For the most up-to-date information about cards mentioned in this episode, read our reviews: American Express Platinum Review: Top-Notch Lounge Access, Big Credits  Chase Sapphire Reserve Review: A High-End, High-Maintenance Card  Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: Strong Option for Travel Rewards  Capital One Venture Review: Easy Earnings, Effortless Redemptions  Citi Strata Premier: Big Rewards Across Top Spending Categories  Southwest Priority Card Review: Pay More, Get More  Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card Review: 2% Cash Back With a Bonus  Citi Simplicity Review: 21 Months of 0% to Whittle Down Debt  5 Things to Know About the U.S. Bank Split Credit Card  Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new year is a time for change and affirming what you want from your life and your money. So what are you willing to do differently to ensure your spending really aligns with your values? Well, I'm willing to check my credit and debit card statements and see where it doesn't align. I think that's a good start. There you go. Well, I'm going to hope that folks can actually make some big changes to how they spend their money on a broad scale. And we'll see if that's possible. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them,

with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. This episode, we're going to go deep into credit cards in 2026, how you can make the most of yours and which credit cards are the best of the year. But first, as I cryptically alluded to at the top, we're going to talk about change. On smart money, we talk a lot about living your values

and aligning what you do with your money and what you really care about. So we're going to talk about how we're going to change our spending in the new year to better align it with our values. Sean and I are going to choose one thing we're going to spend more money on this year. One thing will spend less money on. And then one thing will keep spending about the same amount of money on in the new year so that we're putting more on what reflects our real values.

All right, Sean, you're up first. What are you going to spend less money on this year? I'm going to spend less money, I think, on wedding planning in particular. Because guess what, my wedding is behind me. But no, seriously, I'm going to spend less money on billionaires. I think they have enough of our money. So I'm going to do what I can to keep my money in my community. And that's going to be a perpetual work in progress.

I think a lot of us have tried to do this over the past few years. But just recently I've been making a few changes that are steps in that direction. I recently moved from Spotify to Title. And I made that change because Title supports artists more. It pays a lot more to artists than Spotify does. Also, Spotify has been doing some shady political things that I'm not too keen on. So that was a small, but to me at least symbol. significant step. I'm also going to try to stop using services from companies that are funding and expanding our AI-driven surveillance states. So, you know, all these dystopian things that we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis, somehow, some way our money is going into them that can be through our investments or our day-to-day consumer spending. And yes, while we all have to make compromises as consumers, I'm just trying to be better about not funding evil things and companies and people. I'm not going to lie, that is pretty inspiration.

Sean, and I say that because there is a lot of talk about doing exactly what you're doing, but I don't tend to see the action behind it or how people are doing it. So I'm curious actually how you came to these actionable steps in terms of how you're going to support that value goal with your money. Yeah, that's a really good point because I think we talk about living your values, spending your values a lot, and it can seem kind of mushy, but in fact it's actually super tactical and practical. So I, the Spotify, for example, I looked into what they were doing with their money, what the owners of the company were doing with their money, and wasn't too happy about it. And so I looked around at alternatives. I considered Apple Music. To me, their interface is just

horrible. So I said, no, thank you. And title just best aligned with my value. So it can take a little bit of research. I mean, think about it, like how you shop around for a financial product, but you're shopping around for any sort of service or investment that aligns with your values. I also recently switched to a high-old savings account at a bank that has a more economic. friendly commitment than my previous bank. So that's another example of how you can sort of live your values through the products and services that you're using. And then just one more thing on that. You said you looked into how they were spending their money. Was there a particular document you looked at? Was it like their earnings report or spending report or what? There are plenty of

news articles that detail how Spotify and their management have allocated their money. I'm not going to go too deep into that. But just look at the news, everyone. I like that. I like that. So what about you, Elizabeth, what are you going to spend less money on this year? Well, not quite as radical as you, Sean. Childcare, complete other end of the spectrum. I would like to spend less money on child care. I spend quite a bit because I'm in single mom. Any time I want to go on date nights, when I want to travel, especially quite a large chunk because I'm paying for child care over a series of days. So I like to spend less on that. Do you know how much you spent in total on child care in 2025? I would not like to know, Sean, but I do get a glimpse.

Several hundred? No, thousands. I do get a glimpse, yeah, during tax season, because I do get some tax breaks, which make a tiny, tiny difference in the drop of the ocean. But that doesn't account from a date nights and stuff like that. It's just, you know, when he's off of school and half terms and things like that. But something I have been thinking about that I started doing and completely forgot about are looking into babysitting co-ops.

And apparently they're not as popular as they used to be, but it's where parents gather together and they essentially take turns babysitting each other's kids for free. So maybe I can create one in the suburb. Building community. Yeah, that's like a nice, that's mutual aid in your area. Have you, you haven't done it yet, but you're just looking into it? I'm looking into it. And now that I'm out of my introverted bubble, I'm like, hey, why not create one? You know, but there's so much, I guess, things you have to think about around it, like safety and getting to know these people. Right. But I think it would be worthwhile and save me a lot of money. I like the idea. So keep us posted on how that actually pans out because, yeah, I would worry about like who these people are.

You want to make sure I.O. is safe. That's right. That's right. The second thing, maybe a little bit similar to what you're talking about is online shopping. I realize that I tend to sometimes when I'm just idly shopping online, one, spend more. And two, spend more money on things that don't matter to me. And three, it's not great for the environment, you know, buying, I don't know, toothbrush from Amazon when I can just drive. or walk up to Walgreens around the corner or whatever store and get it without harming the planet and, you know, things like that.

Yeah, I mean, you said the word, like, idly shopping. I think that's super important. Like, idly versus intentionally shopping. If you're just shopping as a form of entertainment, of course, you're not going to be super satisfied with what you're getting because you're just doing it for a dopamine hit, basically. That's right. So I find myself nowadays going to the store more if I need something versus looking online

first and just the process of having to get in my car and drive to the store makes me think do I really need this thing before I actually go and buy it. If it's a toothbrush, I'm going to say yes. That was not a great example because yes, please brush your teeth people. We need the toothbrushes. Get some floss while you're at it. Yeah. And a tongue scraper. And Sean, what are you going to spend more on in 2026? Okay, my more category is kind of the inverse of my less category. I'm going to try to spend more money supporting individuals and organizations that have been marginalized and targeted by oppressive policies over the past 12 months or so. So that might be, so that's going to mean increasing the amount that I donate monthly. I already have regular donations to food banks

in my local area, but now I'm going to try to find organizations that help immigrants and trans people because guess what, they are being targeted in ways that are painful to see and I want to do something, whatever I can to try to help people. I also want to be more generous with one off contributions and GoFundMe. We're seeing a lot of families that need support. Maybe if their family was torn apart by an immigration rate or something, they don't have a support system as much anymore, how can I use the income and the resources that I have to help people who aren't as fortunate? So that's going to be my more category. It's just being more generous. Loving these altruistic ways of using your money, Sean, mutual aid is so important. It's always

important, but even more in the times that we're living in. And as you said, GoFundMe, it tugged a heartstring for me because I'm such a fan of GoFundMe's. My favorite things to do now, crying, you know, with strangers on the internet, is follow these pages where the influencers find people who are in need of mutual aid and they do fundraisers for them and raise thousands or millions of dollars to help them out of a difficult place. I think finding a trusted influencer or other resource can be really key here because some folks take advantage of people's generosity and there are plenty of GoFundMe's that are straight scams. So don't be indiscriminate. You want to vet people and whoever you're donating to, but yeah.

On a more fun note, one area that I want to spend more money on is, of course, gardening and gardening supplies. I'm looking at getting some new trees, some conifers for my yard because, you know, pine trees, conifers are huge in the Pacific Northwest and we somehow don't have any in our garden. So I might be getting a few this year and I'm excited to see wherever I put them because the garden is always a work in progress. Well, are we going to get more gardening pictures, Sean on social media. Can we see more of your garden? Yeah, I mean it's January, so the garden's pretty sleepy right now, but yeah, come spring, more's on the way for sure. As you're talking, one more thing that I would like to spend money on is, I think since we're on this topic of feel good things,

is giving random gifts to people in my life just because gifts. I know it's easy to give birthday gifts and when there's a special occasion, but isn't it such a great feeling when you just receive a gift out of nowhere just because of nothing because someone just loves you? That's so sweet. I love giving really thoughtful random gifts to people. So like whenever I travel, I try to pick up something for a friend if it reminds me of them. And I won't hold on to it until Christmas or their birthday unless it's like less than a month away. But I will just send my friends random things and just say, thinking of you, love you, miss you, and then they get to enjoy whatever random trinket I pick up. So I love that. It's very sweet. Very sweet. And I'm realizing now that I have all of these

financial goals for this year, I'm getting needs lots of buckets for them. I mean these giving goals and things like that. So I'm going to open more account, Sean. There you go. You're coming over to my way of doing things. I love it. It's all about saying organized, right? That's the whole purpose, is you want to make sure that you're saving enough for each distinct goal and not just taking from one account to fuel another and then kind of muddying the waters a bit. Not being loosey-goosey, as you say. Yes, Lucy-goosey, exactly. What else are you going to spend more money on this year? One of the things, I guess I'm going to double back to what you were talking about earlier is just, I guess, the spirit of random acts of kindness is giving more to people in need. So you know that I mentioned

for my birthday celebration that we put together gift bags for homeless people. And I think it just opens something in me to want to do that more regularly. So I would love to put some of my funds into that and also just do more fundraising for people in need and give them things randomly, not just on the holidays or my birthday. We are such good people. Also, let's hold each other accountable because we have all these altruistic things that we want to do. But let's make sure we actually do them, Elizabeth. So let's check in every few weeks because it's easy to say you want to do these things. Actually doing them is a different thing.

Not that I doubt us at all, but it's good to have an accountability partner. Yeah. Okay. And now let's turn to what we want to spend the same amount of money on, roughly the same amount of money on this year. What's yours, Elizabeth? Travel and food. You know, I looked at and sometimes I'm like, hey girl, you might have eaten out a lot of times this week.

And do we want to change that? And I'm like, hey, girl, absolutely not. So I'm still going to be eating out. It's still in my budget. I enjoy eating different food. I don't want my food that I cook every single day of my life. And travel's always going to be a love for me. I just want to do a better job at budgeting for my travel this year

because I'll just be like, hey, I want to go on a trip and I'll have surplus in some account. And then, you know, but I think it's nicer to actually save towards a trip. I do not do that. Well, let me tell you, as someone who saved a lot for my honeymoon and wedding and didn't have to go into any debt for all of that. It felt great knowing that I wasn't going to feel bad at the end of it because I had all that money tucked away ahead of time. I did a pretty good job last year. You know, I did lots of thrifting and co-assignment stores

of focusing on quality clothing. I do like to shop so I don't feel like I have to stop myself from shopping, but it's just doing budget-friendly shopping. So I'm going to keep doing that this year. Yeah, I love that. Well, I'm kind of following you two around going out to eat. I'm planning to spend about as much and maybe even a little more on going out to eat a restaurant. I mean, Portland is a food haven. We have so many incredible restaurants here. And I really cherish the time that I spend having a good meal at a great restaurant with the people that I love. And I think it's one of the best investments that I can make in developing my relationships and having quality time with the people that I love in my life. So I view it as a really important part of my day-to-day

life. So I'm just going to keep throwing money at all these restaurants and I'm going to keep, keep tipping well because I know it's worth it. Do you have any restaurants in mind that you would like to tackle this year or it's just randomly coming up with ones or researching or TikTok? Are you TikTok influenced? I'm not so big on TikTok in part because my ADHD brain gets too sucked into it. So I'm not on TikTok at all. But there was just a list put out by the Oregonian, the local newspaper, of the best new

restaurants in Portland. And one of them is a good ramen spot. So I'm going to go there. and then one of my favorite restaurants in town, Cocaine, kind of a fancy place, just opened an oyster bar right next to their restaurant. So I'm going to check that out. Sounds good.

I love oysters. Sean, I don't know if you love oysters too. Do you love oysters? I love oysters, yes. Another thing we have in common discovered in 2026. Next time we get together, IRL, we got to get some oysters. We got to get some oysters. And we'll film some content and you guys can watch it.

Don't ask me how yet, but you'll watch it of us eating oysters together. I'm adding it to the list of things that I need to. to do in 2026. Thank you. In a moment, we're going into the next installment of our series about your money in 2026. This time, it's all about credit cards. But before we get into that, listener, think about your values and how you'll spend your money this year. What are you going to spend more on or less on? We'd love to hear from you. So leave us a voicemail or text us on the nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730 nerd or email us at podcast at nerdwollet.com. And while you're at it, send us your money questions.

Do you not know how to set some goals for yourself for the new year? Do you need some help? Do you need some accountability? We can answer whatever questions you have. Just send us an email or call us. All right. Let's get to this episode's Money Question segment. That's up next.

Stay with us. We are back and continuing our series about your money in 2026. So far, we've covered investing in housing, and now we're moving on to credit cards. The plastic money millions of Americans use every day, including myself. We're going to chat about how you can use them efficiently, what direction interest rates are going in, and also how you know the best ones in the market. Now, as we've been doing in this series, we will also explore NerdWallet's Best of Awards for, of course, credit card products. Now, I can't do this alone, so to help us navigate the world of plastic money, I'm joined by a credit card nerd, Caitlin Mims. This is your first time on smart money, Caitlin.

It is. I'm happy to be here. Welcome, welcome. We're happy to have you. All right, we're going to start with an icebreaker because Elizabeth loves a good icebreaker. Now, Caitlin, if you had to describe credit cards in 2025, what one word would you use? Chaotic, for sure. That's one of my favorite words, and now I need to tell you why credit cards were chaotic in 2025. Yeah, issuers seem to be refining who they've used as their ideal customer. big changes to basically every class of card we cover. Several cards for fair and bad credit launched last

year and others updated key features, but we saw the most changes with travel credit cards. Just about every suite of airline card made major overhauls. And we had huge changes to general travel cards like the Amex Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Yeah, I have both of those cards and I am sorry to say that I did see those price increases and no, I didn't get rid of my cards. So, any other expense for me. But I think it's worth it. All right, Caitlin, what were a couple of highs and lows that the credit cards industry experienced in 2025? Yeah, we're seeing a lot of issuers add perks, increased rewards, and just provide a lot of consumer-friendly benefits. One of the things that I've really loved is that issuers are by and large adding the ability to see if you're

approved for the card before you actually apply. But along with this, issuers, are increasing fees like we just talked about and offering a lot of niche perks that might not be relevant to everyone. I know. I think, I don't know if it's the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the MX Platinum, but I just remember they were offering like a Peloton membership and I'm like, I'm not gonna use a Peloton bike and I'm not gonna start using it

just because I wanna use the membership. So I think it's important for people to think about whether they really are gonna use the niche benefits. Yeah, definitely. And a lot of those benefits don't even cover the full cost of the actual. membership. You see? Caitlin is educating us. All right. Can you talk about consumer patterns with credit cards in 2025, maybe as it relates to things like spending, debt, and consumer behaviors? And also,

did anything stand out to you? Yeah, we've noticed that a lot more people are using buy now, pay later options for just general purchases. And not even just on specific companies like a firm and afterpay, but we're also seeing more installment plans on credit cards. U.S. Bank even launched a credit card recently where every purchase is automatically put into an installment plan. These programs can offer some flexibility when you need it, but they can also encourage overspending. Yeah, that's my main concern, the overspending element, because sometimes you tell yourself, hey, if I am able to pay this off in four or in six, then I have more time to pay it, but then you start buying more things and then you're just paying things for a long period of time.

and doing what you call Buy Now Pay Later loan stacking. Yep. Now, something I noticed towards the end of 2025 is that Buy Now Pay Later was becoming standard on many credit cards, as you mentioned. So can you talk a bit about how this works and whether it may be a helpful feature for consumers to lean into in 2026? Yeah. Every issuer's program is a little different, but generally any program or any purchase

over $100 is eligible and you can choose a payment length of anywhere from three to 12 months. And it can be really great for one-off purchases. I moved cross-country last year and used this on my credit card. I was able to purchase some items for my apartment during Way Day and Prime Day without having to pay off the balance right away. But just like standalone companies, it's not really a sustainable option to use all the time. The monthly fees will be lower than interest most of the time, but payments will still add up like you were talking about by now, pay later stacking and really it's just not going to be a sustainable solution. If you feel like you need to use these programs for everyday purchases, I'd highly recommend looking at your budget and seeing if you

can cut any expenses first. I love that. And I love that you mentioned that, you know, sometimes there is a really huge payment and it will be cheaper to use a buy and now pay later loan rather than put it on a credit card and get charged all that interest if you can't pay it off in one month. But I think what you said, budget is the key word there. So even when you're using these by now pay later loans, you still need to bake those payments into your budget. Totally. And, you know, if your expenses are significantly higher than your income, sometimes that can't be helped. But again, by now, pay later will come back in the end and just be unsustainable. Absolutely. All right. So credit card debt has ticked up since the pandemic.

Experts predicted this would be the case. So it's no surprise. Things like cost of living pressures, economic uncertainty, and less than impressive job reports are factors that may have pushed more people to rely on credit cards. What were debt and delinquency rates like in 2025, and how do you think they'll change this year? Yeah, I mean, credit card debt has increased, but we're not seeing it increased at the same rate across all income brackets. According to the Fed, debt for low and middle income earners has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but it's actually stayed pretty steady for people who make above $121,000. But interestingly, we've seen credit card delinquency rates drop slightly.

This could be because more consumers are paying at least the minimum, or it could be that issuers are less willing to approve applications for risky borrowers. Or people are listening to our podcast and they're applying our advice. Yes, or reading the wonderful articles that you're writing, Caitlin. The Fed cut rates multiple times last year, and do you think, that made a dent in the APR on credit cards. I know some people assume that the Fed cuts will dramatically decrease their APR. Meanwhile, the needle doesn't tend to move much. So most credit cards have a variable interest rate that is tied to the Fed's interest rates. So issuers will generally

lower rates in tandem with the Fed. But issuers don't always lower APRs immediately, and they don't always lower APRs at the same rate. Even if they do pass on the full amount, though, consumers might not feel much of a reprieve because interest rates are just significantly higher on credit cards than on something like mortgage rates. If your APR drops from 20% to 19.75%, you're looking at maybe a few dollars saved over the course of several years. Caitlin, what do you think will happen this year as it relates to APRs and consumer credit card debt? Could we see people pull back on spending and balances go down? I don't want to speculate too much just because there's so many factors at play like job loss, inflation, and general economic uncertainty that a lot of people are feeling right now. But regardless of what

happens in the future or what the Fed does, consumers with credit card debt should be proactive and make a plan to pay it off. For consumers carrying credit card debt into 2026, what are some options they can explore to minimize that debt? My first recommendation would always be to get a credit card with a zero percent balance transfer offer. It sometimes seems counterintuitive to get another credit card for credit card debt, but this really is the best way to pay off your debt without accruing interest. You can also look at credit cards you already have.

A lot of them will give existing cardholders a 0% interest rate as a retention offer on balance transfers. But it's important to know that you generally can't transfer a balance from one card to another with the same issuer. So if you have debt on a Capital One card, you'll want to look at a card on a different issue, like city or Wells Fargo. And if you can, try to pay more than the minimum payment. Even if you can

only afford a couple of dollars each month, that will help you get out of debt faster. Another option is you could look into a debt consolidation loan. You will be charged interest, so it's not my first choice, but it will still likely be lower interest than you're paying on your credit card. Let's talk about fees now, Caitlin. We've seen many major credit cards substantially increase their annual fee amount, as you mentioned earlier. I have the Amex Platinum. and the Chase Sapphire Reserve, as I also mentioned, and both have raised their annual fees to ridiculous amounts. Now, while they're allegedly adding more value in rewards

in exchange for these higher fees, some consumers simply can't afford or justify paying $800 to $900 every year for a credit card. Do you think we'll continue to see increases in 2026? I'm crossing my fingers and my toes, and I'm hoping that's not the case. It's really tough to say. We saw a lot of annual.

fee increases last year, particularly with premium travel cards and airline cards. But issuers only tend to raise annual fees every couple of years, and other card categories have remained relatively stable. One area I'm personally watching is travel cards with an annual fee under $100, so cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Capital One Venture. These cards and their competitors have all had very stable annual fees over the last several years, but both the Sapphire Preferred and the Venture lost some benefits last year, which tells me that issuers might not think that their current annual fees are sustainable. I like what you're saying about tracking cards with stable annual fees, because it really does feel like heartbreak when your fees go up and you realize you have to

pay more for the card. All right. How should consumers approach weighing out whether it's worth keeping a card, especially if fees go up again this year? For me, there are really two factors to consider value and effort. A lot of issuers have been adding what we call coupon book benefits to credit cards in exchange for these higher fees. So instead of general yearly credits on certain spending categories, we're seeing a lot of specific credits that are doled out monthly or quarterly. Some of these credits can be extremely valuable, but it also takes a lot of effort to use. If these credits take so much effort for you that it's unsustainable, it's probably not adding much value to your life. I also have the amex platinum, and when the annual fee increased

from $695 to $8.95. One credit they added was $100 quarterly credit to any restaurant on Resi. I live in a big city and I already eat at restaurants on Resi. So this new credit easily added a net value of $200 for me after factoring in the annual fee. But if you don't eat out often or you won't spend at least $100 per quarter at Resi restaurants, this credit isn't that valuable for you because you'll just lose the amount that you're not spending on Resi restaurants. I love that you bring that up towards the end of 2025. Me and my boyfriend were on a mission to spend our Stubhub credit from the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

And we love going to concerts. So we're like, let's look for a concert to go to so that we could each use that credit and it doesn't go to waste. So that's a really good point. Yep. I don't go to concerts that much. So that benefit really doesn't have much value for me. You see? Yeah.

So if these benefits already match your spending like Resi does for me and Stubhubb does for you and you can afford the higher annual fee, don't be scared to keep the card. But if the benefits don't add much value for you or maximizing the card as becoming too much of a stressor, just consider getting rid of it or downgrading it to another product the product that issueer offers. You can also contact customer service, tell them you're considering closing the account, and ask about any retention offers. They might offer you a temporary fee reduction or bonus points. This doesn't always happen, but it is worth asking.

Well, speaking of which, some people may be looking at getting new credit cards this year and ditching the old ones. Now, your team did a best of credit cards roundup, which I think will help consumers make an informed decision, which is what we're trying to do here at NerdWallet. Talk us through the work that went into compiling this list and the metrics that you use to choose the winners. We take both an objective and subjective approach to picking winners on credit cards. Throughout the year, my team reviews products and gives them a star rating, which considers things like fees, rewards rate, and perks. Our star ratings are a really helpful guide, but they capture a cards value today, not what it will be tomorrow or a year from now.

The credit card landscape changes very rapidly, and our winners need to hold up throughout the year. So we use our star rating as a jumping off point for cards we would consider for each category. Then we have several team discussions about consumer spending, credit card trends, and And whether any card or its issue or brand has any concerning changes that point to less value in the future. So one example from this past year is Southwest made sweeping changes in 2025, including adding baggage fees and getting rid of open seating that just went into effect this year. Boo. Sorry.

Yeah, I love me some open seating. But so their suite of credit cards, changed as a result of those changes. And the Southwest priority now offers seat upgrades when available. That's a great benefit and could be a lot better than the card's previous four upgraded boardings because it's unlimited. But right now, it's mostly untested. We don't know how often cardholders will be able to use it or if there will be such high demand for upgraded seats that cardholders rarely get the, rarely get the option to use it. So right now it doesn't make sense to consider that perk when we're looking at winners. Thanks for explaining that and giving us insight. So what were

the top credit cards and did any make the list that you underestimated initially? So we have more than a dozen winners, which you can find at NerdWallet. But some of the winners I think most listeners would be interested in is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which won our all-purpose travel category. The Wells Fargo Active Cash, which won our all-purpose cash back category, and the city simplicity, which to earn the award for best balance transfer card. But you asked if anything was surprising. I think the thing that's most surprising to me is that even though the credit card landscape

changed so drastically in 2025, we picked the exact same cards that we did last year. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was pretty surprising to me when I looked at the list. Several cards closed the gap, but they just didn't really pull ahead. One example would be in our all-purpose travel category.

The Chase Sapphire preferred used to have a one 0.25 redemption rate on all travel booked through Chase. That was a huge benefit that Chase got rid of. And at the same time, the city strata premier added American Airlines as a transfer partner, which makes it significantly more valuable. It's the only issuer to have American Airlines as a transfer partner. But even though the Chase Sapphire preferred was no longer a shoe-in for the award, it still had enough perks to keep winning, like primary rental car insurance, which is boring, but frankly, my favorite perk on the card. And multiple great transfer partners like United and I had. Okay. Well, now that we talked through last year and looked ahead to this year,

we want to leave listeners with words of wisdom, Caitlin. There are always lessons that we can learn from the past. And what are some lessons that credit card users can carry forward from 2025? Pick the card that's right for you, not the one that's trendy or making headlines. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is such a great card, and it's my personal favorite card that I have. but if you don't travel, it's not going to be that valuable for you, and a cashback winner might be better. Also, remember that if you're not paying off your balance in full each month, any reward you earn is going to be canceled out by interest. If you're in a financial situation where you need to carry a balance, a card with a long 0% introductory APR on purchases is going to be a much

better option. Caitlin, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about credit cards in 2026. Thanks for having me. All right. And that's all we have for this episode. Join us next time as we continue our series about your money in 2026. We're going to talk all things insurance during the next episode. But before then, we want you to follow smart money on your favorite podcast app. That's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and IHeartRadio. And we want you to automatically download your episodes in the process. And here's our brief disclaimer.

We are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy information is provided for general, educational, and entertainment purposes. and it might not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode is produced by Tess Figland, Hillary Georgie, help with editing, Nick Kirstami mixed our audio, and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all of their help. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.