Yes and no. Essentially, card processing fees (paid by merchants), interest charges (paid by cardholders who carry a balance), and annual card fees (for some c

Yes and no. Essentially, card processing fees (paid by merchants), interest charges (paid by cardholders who carry a balance), and annual card fees (for some cards) are income to card issuers. Points, cash back, and paying interest on purchases from cardholders who do not carry a balance are expenses to card issuers. I expect income is rather static at scale. Which is why card issuers are always tweaking the expenses side. The numbers have to add up somehow, and if you go from all cardholders redeeming points for a real value of $100 to their doing so for a real value of $300... they won't. Sign up bonuses (the easiest part of the hustle) are the hardest to gauge from the card issuer's side, as a hustler looks like a regular customer. There have been attempts by some issuers to track this in a more detailed way (e.g. Chase's 5/24), and I'd expect to see more issuers moving towards doing so. It's essentially the same problem Vegas has.