What Should Cardholders Do If Issuers Modify Card Features?

Credit cards serve as financial tools that allow users to make purchases. While beginners often start with basic cards, they soon seek better advantages to maximise their benefits. Premium and co-branded credit cards offer superior rewards and privileges that go beyond standard card features.

Your credit card experience improves when you choose one that aligns with your lifestyle or complements a brand you already use. But what should you do if your provider removes or changes certain card features? Here are some of the steps you can take.

Compare Key Features

The card company needs to provide official confirmation about their upcoming changes before anyone should start taking action based on unverified information. The official communication requires you to create a single document which contains all the modifications that were mentioned. You should evaluate the changes against the original features which the card company provided.

The starting rewards for your card included 5 points per Rs 100 spent and 5X flight booking rewards and a 5:4 Airmiles conversion rate but the new terms would give you 4 points per Rs 200 spent and 4X flight booking rewards and a 5:1 Airmiles conversion rate. The real question that you should be really concerned about is how such changes would impact you.

Users should adopt new credit card features to maximize their card benefits while making sure their card suits their financial targets.

Evaluate The Change

The evaluation of feature change impact requires a monetary analysis of benefit variations. You can evaluate the monetary value of all changes by comparing how reward points earning and reward-to-mile conversion and charges have changed. A monetary evaluation will reveal the amount you will lose through card feature modifications.

Cardholders need to review their credit card statements to verify correct implementation of changes and to understand how these changes affect their financial situation.

Switch Your Credit Card

You should close the card if it has taken away any of its main features which made you choose it in the first place. You need to compare your new feature with existing cards from the same market segment before you can think about exiting. Choosing a new card depends on which one offers better features that match your needs. If your existing card provides superior benefits than other credit cards in the market, then you should keep using it.

Wait Before Closing The Card

You must also look at the side effects of closing your credit card. You will lose your complete financial history and payment records when you close a credit card account that you have had for a long time because these details show your creditworthiness. However, if the charges on your credit card are much higher compared to the value that it delivers, you may close such a card immediately.

Transfer Reward Points

You need to use your accumulated reward points before closing your credit card account. Also, check all the outstanding bills and clear them before closing the card. Your card transactions need to stop for a period of 1 to 2 statement cycles before you cancel your account. Your credit card account might stay active even though you asked for cancellation because recent transaction charges might not show up on your statement. So, make sure that all the charges are paid before you close your card.

Before closing your credit card, confirm the impact by checking your credit report. Card issuers sometimes devalue benefits temporarily as they prepare to introduce new features. Verify whether the changes are short-term or permanent before deciding to close your card.