Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit from Sterling Payers

Basically, with revenue limited from interest-paying customers, they need to go after the “free-riders.” (The industry apparently also calls people like us “deadbeats”!) So will the 2%-cash-deposited-same-month-with-no-annual-fee Schwab card last? My theory on this card is that Schwab runs the credit card business around break-even (at least currently) as a means of customer acquisition, since giving a straight and immediate 2% is a lot. 

So my take is that as banks add annual fees or reduce perks, people will just start moving to the free cards with good perks from banks still willing to run these programs. At least that’s my story for how Schwab will keep this card going.