Russian bank cards with miles lose their appeal

The high cost of servicing bank cards with cashback miles, the difficulty of paying with bonuses in the current situation, and the narrowing of their scope make such products of Russian banks unattractive for Russians. Experts believe that credit organizations themselves are reducing mile projects, now it will be difficult for them to support the work of such cards, most likely, not without additional costs and the introduction of a separate fee either for opening or for servicing, reports “Gazeta.Ru”.

“Historically, debit cards with a bonus program for air travel gained popularity even before the appearance of cashback cards in rubles. The basic principle of this product: the client paid for air travel with this card. Under the condition of purchasing 6-8 flights per year, on vacation, purchasing expensive tickets, the consumer paid the expenses in full or in part with the miles accumulated on the card. Due to the fact that miles are indifferent to both domestic and foreign flights, the cardholder could get a double benefit,” says economist Andrei Barkhota.

According to him, today the share among all cardholders, as well as the number of banks that have a separate specialized product in their product range, has decreased. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, debit cards have become very popular, where the accrued cashback is directly converted into rubles. This trend finally took shape with the advent of the phenomenon of post-COVID inflation and the limited choice of tourist routes in 2021-2022.

The largest issuers of such cards today are such credit organizations as Sberbank, Otkritie, Tinkoff.

“The success of such card products will depend on the possible diversification of bonus programs and the ability of the card to automatically adapt to the owner, who now rarely flies. Perhaps citizens should make a choice in the direction of some basic products of banks, for which they can get more attractive cashback conditions,” continues Barkhota.