After tinkering with their credit-card rewards programs for the past few years, banks are now placing renewed attention on travel cards. Experts say the moves are partly a response to recent regulation. The Durbin amendment, which went into effect in October 2011 and is part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, lowered the fees banks receive from merchants when consumers swipe their debit cards, but didn’t impact the fees for using credit cards. In response, many banks cut back on debit rewards while making credit cards more attractive by comparison.
