The golden era of credit card earning is over
The Chase Sapphire Reserve kicked off the golden era of (US) credit card rewards. You could earn essentially 4.5% on anything remotely related to travel and dining as long as you were happy to use the "cash" to buy more travel via their portal. Competitors increased their earning rates in response and came out with new products to compete with the newly reinvigorated "premium" travel card market which had previously been entirely owned by American Express's Platinum card.
At some point market leaders Chase and Amex got tired of paying for guaranteed earn rates that were higher than the fees they collect on each transaction and started increasing their fees to compensate. They justified the higher fees to customers by adding "perks" which were essentially coupons for discounts or promotions by marketing partners.
One of the latecomers to the premium card party was HSBC USA. They came out with a me-too product called "HSBC Elite" which was initially not very attractive, especially if you didn't already bank with them. But then a couple of years ago, they upgraded the earnings rates so you could essentially earn a 7.5% return on anything related to travel. And it was structured such that if you were happy to book flights via their portal (which used to be Priceline), they would give you statement credits that essentially offset all of the annual fee.
If memory serves me correctly, they made these too-good-to-be-true changes right before Chase announced a devaluation in their points earning scheme for their flagship card. I remember thinking at the time that I wondered how long HSBC's too-to-be-true card would last.
This week, I found out the answer...the party is already over. It actually ended this summer when they unceremoniously devalued the program via a tiny notice on the last page of the monthly statement. And thus the sun set on the golden era of US credit card earning. The future belongs to those interested in clipping coupons and transferring points to airlines. Alas, it is not for me.