American Express, Chase set a new precedent for credit card fees Daniel Kline April 26, 2026 6 min read AXP In many cases, when a market leader in a category raises prices, that clears the way for similar increases from its rivals. When Costcoraised its membership fees in Sept. 2024, for example, and did not see a drop in membership, that cleared the way for Sam's Club to do the same this year. The pattern is consistent.
When a market leader raises prices without losing customers, it often resets the ceiling for an entire industry. "The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power," Warren Buffet told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2010. "If you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business.
And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10%, then you've got a terrible business." Across industries, pricing leadership often functions less as isolated decision-making and more as a signaling mechanism that competitors quickly incorporate into their own pricing and product strategies. Raising prices allows rivals to raise prices That's a practice that has long been the case in the wireless phone space, although precedent has sometimes worked in favor of consumers. T-Mobile, for example, dropped contracts in 2013, and AT&T and Verizon had to follow not long after.
In fact, T-Mobile made a series of "Un-Carrier" moves, including dropping overage charges, offering unlimited text and calls, and offering prices that include taxes and fees, which its chief rivals had to follow. That's often true in the credit card space as well. "Offers get honed through the year… When Chase does something, Citi reacts.
Or when Amex amps up an offer, Bank of America antes up," Brian Riley, director of credit payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, said in industry commentary on credit card competition. Generally, however, when a company makes a move that its competitors all follow, that usually does not mean good news for consumers. That's why American Express raising the fee for its high-end Platinum card, and not seeing that hurt adoption, may pave the path for rival credit card companies to do the same thing.
American Express raised the fee for its premium card Companies rarely raise prices without trying to sell consumers that they're actually getting more value for their dollars. That's what American Express did in late 2025 when it raised the fees for its Platinum card from $695 to $895. Consumer Platinum Card® Members can now access over $3,500 in annual lifestyle benefits, including new credits on eligible purchases with Resy, lululemon, Uber One Membership, and enhancements to existing hotel and digital entertainment credits," the company shared in a press release.
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