In the beginning of 2022, I released my predictions for 2022. 

But I never predicted that my predictions will be as predicted. I actually predicted that my predictions will not be as predicted. So basically, I can now say that “as predicted, my predictions were not as predicted:)“.

Let’s review my predictions and see how wrong I was.

Prediction #1 - Amex will release a higher than 2% cashback card

I predicted Amex will fight back the Capital One Spark Plus and Chase Ink Premier, and issue a card that will beat them both with even more than 2% cashback. 

I was wrong – this card never materialized. But the thing is that the Chase Ink Premier card was released (publicly) late 2022 instead of what they originally said, early 2022. I think a new, unlimited 2% Amex card will still be coming, and that I was just wrong with the timing.

Prediction #2 - Chase will release a luxury business card

I was wrong on this one as well. A Chase luxury business card was never released. Will it still come? Yes, I think so (but I’m no longer predicting it:).

Prediction #3 - No annual fee cards will be losing benefits

I predicted that more cards will be losing benefits in 2022, especially the “no annual fee” cards. 

We did not see any such major trend actually happen. I’m wrong again here as well.

Prediction #4 - Annual fees will be going up on many cards

Banks have started raising annual fees before the pandemic but then mostly stopped during the pandemic. I predicted that those annual fee increases will resume in 2022. 

You can’t miss every time you try so here I was finally right. We did see annual fee increases on many cards during 2022.

Prediction #5 - Many more Fintech apps will be releasing credit cards

I predicted that in 2022, we will see many more Fintech apps popping up and offering new ideas in the credit card space. 

We did see some pop up in early 2022 but then, surprise! Interest rates went up and Fintech apps lost access to their free money and started dying like flies. That put a dead end to my prediction!

Prediction #6 - More debit cards will offer rewards

Amex did release a debit card in 2022 that earns a small amount of points. But this prediction pretty much ended up with the same issue as prediction #5. Free money has stopped and so did these creative Fintech companies that where trying to promote a trend of offering debit cards with cashback.

2022 was an awesome year

Stay tuned for my predictions for 2023

If you think I’m stopping my career of predicting then think again. I’m not giving up, I’m going to make more predictions for 2023. Stay tuned! And prepare a grain of salt:)