Originally Posted by kdm31091

I think it's basically a case of "why should we keep the benefits?". Once you have a customer base, you can slowly chip away benefits until you see that people are no longer renewing the card. It's typical bean counters trying to squeeze out as much profit as possible. Cards start out generous and get less generous over time as companies want more profit.

Of course, yes, sometimes that corresponds with super generous cards being used by too many people, or abused, or both, but I think sometimes it's just the company being greedy. Either way, it's a pattern for sure.