Debit and credit card rewards programs being changed significantly

Even as they work to reduce debt on associated accounts, many consumers are still hoping to pile up rewards points to counter their credit card debt. But these days, that may not be as easy as it was in the past due to the changing financial landscape.

Many financial institutions are now changing, reducing or even eliminating their debit and credit card rewards programs in an effort to cut their operating costs, according to a report from the Tulsa, Oklahoma, television station KJRH. Some are even erasing all the points consumers have accrued on existing accounts if they cancel a card because it has been stolen.

Debit rewards programs are the most likely to face the axe, the report said.

The cost of offering consumers bonus points for all consumer spending on a debit card will likely be too high to bear if a proposed rule from the Federal Reserve Board goes through. That new regulation would cut the amount banks can charge for processing a transaction by about 70 percent, making it more difficult to turn a profit on such an account.