Credit Card Rewards Are Becoming a Household Budgeting Tool
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Credit card rewards are more than a travel perk. For hardworking families across the country, they are part of how households manage the budget.
As retailers project another expensive back-to-school shopping season, new analysis from the Electronic Payments Coalition shows consumers redeem rewards as cash back to help manage everyday expenses, with redemption rising in July and August as families make back-to-school purchases.
Recently released research from the Electronic Payments Coalition shows Americans redeemed $60.9 billion in credit card rewards in 2024 — including $7.2 billion redeemed by households earning under $65,100. Cash back made up $27.8 billion of that national total, more than any other reward type.
“Cash-back rewards matter to working families and help offset the high financial costs of sending kids to school, helping pay for clothes, backpacks and computers,” said Richard Hunt, Executive Chairman of the Electronic Payments Coalition. “Unfortunately, there are politicians in Washington who want to change the way credit cards work and eliminate this important financial tool.”
According to the National Retail Federation, families with K-12 students are expected to spend an average of $146 on school supplies this year, with total back-to-school spending projected to increase nearly 10 percent over last year. Those higher costs come as some of the nation’s largest retailers continue reporting strong revenue growth and commanding trillion-dollar market valuations.
Working families redeemed an average of roughly $294 in credit card rewards in 2024 – roughly 2.0 times what a family spends on school supplies for the year, or about 2.5 weeks of groceries.
Rewards provide meaningful financial value across the income spectrum. Working families redeem rewards at virtually the same rate as higher-income households. Expressed as a share of income, the boost from rewards is three to four times larger for working families than for the highest earners.
The findings also underscore what’s at stake as Congress considers legislation that would reshape the credit card marketplace. At the very moment families are relying on rewards to help stretch household budgets, policymakers are weighing proposals that could reduce the revenue that helps make those rewards possible.
Note to editors: “Working families” refers to households in the second income quintile, covering $34,510 to $65,100. Rewards figures are from the Electronic Payments Coalition’s 2024 consumer credit card rewards analysis, covering approximately 12 issuers including co-branded cards. Back-to-school spending figures are from the National Retail Federation’s 2026 Back-to-School Survey and are reported per family with a K-12 student. Grocery comparison uses U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey data on average household food-at-home spending.
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SOURCE Electronic Payments Coalition
