Verizon unveiled their first consumer credit card with Synchrony Financial and it points to a growing trend in card rewards; the Verizon card will offer 4 percent back on grocery purchases and 3 percent back on restaurant spending, including takeout and curbside pickup; JPMorgan Chase has also recently offered five times the amount of points on groceries with their Sapphire Reserve card; Matt Schulz, a credit card industry analyst at LendingTree, tells American Banker in an email, “I think these changes tell us that card issuers don’t expect things to get better very soon. Many of these changes probably aren’t permanent, especially the ones made to high-end travel cards, but they’re significant enough that they’re not going to be gone in a month either.”; Synchrony President Brian Doubles predicted the shift in early April during the company’s Q1 earning call when he said partners have the ability to be flexible to change with customer behavior; Verizon’s card is only available to existing wireless customers and the company will offer incentives on buying Verizon related products. American banker
