YES! ...and if some kickback, cashback, miles or other rewards are present on your card, then you either pay a higher interest rate or have other hidden 'costs' to receive them.

This example is more clearly seen in bank accounts or mortgages that offer mileage to sign up. The interest you earn is lower in the first, or the rate you get quoted is slightly higher in the second.

In the case of credit card purchases, it is true that the price of products may be the same no matter what card you use, but the merchants are sometimes agreeing to pay into the ability to let this all happen too, so in the end, because they therefore raise their prices to the consumer, you are paying for the miles there as well.

Examples of this are like when you go to CVS stores and they print you a ton of coupons on the end of your receipt that give you all sorts of savings on future visits. If you go to the el cheapo pharmacy, the prices are lower and you get no coupons. It's a trade off. One version is about people who play the game.

Your credit score also plays into this: It makes you a viable candidate to play or not. You still have the choice to play...

...but it is clear that if the game does not like you if you have low scores or bad credit, that they conversely DO like those with higher scores and good credit because they know they can rely on these people to spend more money./

they will PAY for this data. Our playing gives them data. Investors love data.

Now for you, the consumer, what the use of award miles really is, is a very intricate method to do a pre-paid, self-financed flight. You paid into the system little by little day by day in tiny amounts here and there in order to build up to receive what it takes to fly. It is as if you paid off tomorrow's flight with a few pennies per day from day 1 to today.

oh yes, you paid for it.
now they MUST deliver!

and what I signed up for was the acceptance to play THAT game.
I did NOT sign up for any part of it that purposely fails to play its part in spite of if I do mine.