How Credit Card Companies Really Make Money (SEC Filings)

In nine months American Express paid Delta 6.9 billion dollars for miles, up 14 percent from a year earlier, according to Delta's own quarterly report. The video follows that money to the banks and card networks to show who really pays for card rewards.

In the first nine months of 2026, American Express paid Delta $6.9 billion, under a heading in Delta's filing called Sale of Miles. We follow one card swipe: where the fee goes, why rewards cards cost stores more (GAO), how much the bank hands back (JPMorgan Chase, about 82 cents of every dollar of interchange and processing income in 2025, by our math), where card profit really comes from (about 80% from credit, per the Fed), and what the Fed paper "Who Pays For Your Rewards?" found. Plus three checks from the CFPB and the FTC.

Watch next: https://youtu.be/NCKjORQOTWU

Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:04 The Swipe
3:11 What Comes Back
5:36 The Real Engine
7:57 The Miles Market
10:43 Who Pays
12:50 Three Checks

Sources
- Delta Air Lines, Form 10-Q, Q3 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/27904/000002790426000038/dal-20260930.htm
- Delta Air Lines, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/27904/000002790426000013/dal-20251231.htm
- United Airlines Holdings, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/100517/000010051726000023/ual-20251231.htm
- American Airlines Group, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/6201/000000620126000014/aal-20251231.htm
- JPMorgan Chase, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000162828026008131/jpm-20251231.htm
- JPMorgan Chase, Form 10-Q, Q2 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000162828026054343/jpm-20260630.htm
- American Express, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4962/000000496226000080/axp-20251231.htm
- Capital One, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/927628/000092762826000024/cof-20251231.htm
- Visa, Form 10-K FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1403161/000140316125000089/v-20250930.htm
- Mastercard, Form 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141391/000114139126000013/ma-20251231.htm
- GAO-25-107298, Payment Cards (Apr 2025): https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107298.pdf
- Federal Reserve, FEDS Notes, Credit Card Profitability (Sep 9, 2022): https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/credit-card-profitability-20220909.html
- Federal Reserve, Report to the Congress on credit card profitability (Nov 2025): https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/ccprofit2025.pdf
- CFPB, The Consumer Credit Card Market (Dec 2025): https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2025.pdf
- Federal Reserve, G.19 Consumer Credit (Oct 7, 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/20261007/
- Fed, FEDS 2023-007, Who Pays For Your Rewards?: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/who-pays-for-your-rewards-redistribution-in-the-credit-card-market.htm
- Boston Fed, Working Paper 20-13 (Dec 2020): https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/2020/wp2013.pdf
- Boston Fed, Discussion Paper 10-3 (2010): https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/ppdp1003.pdf
- CFPB, What is a grace period for a credit card?: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-grace-period-for-a-credit-card-en-47/
- CFPB, How to find the best credit card for you: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_adult-fin-ed_how-to-find-the-best-credit-card.pdf
- FTC, scams to lower your card's interest rate: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-scams-lower-your-credit-card-interest-rate
- CFPB, Credit card agreement database: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/
- CFPB, Credit Card Penalty Fees (Regulation Z), Federal Register (Mar 15, 2024): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/15/2024-05011/credit-card-penalty-fees-regulation-z
- CFPB, press release of Mar 5, 2024 ($32 to $8): https://www.consumerfinance.gov/archive/newsroom/cfpb-bans-excessive-credit-card-late-fees-lowers-typical-fee-from-32-to-8/
- N.D. Texas, No. 4:24-cv-00213, injunction of May 10, 2024: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-txnd-4_24-cv-00213
- N.D. Texas, Final Judgment of Apr 15, 2025 (ECF 150): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.387342/gov.uscourts.txnd.387342.150.0.pdf
- H.R. 7035, Credit Card Competition Act of 2026: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7035
- S. 3623, Credit Card Competition Act of 2026: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3623

Research and fact-checking: Wealth Filings. For information only, not financial advice.

Corrections and context
• Context: 16% = card accounts with an annual fee (Y-14 bank data); CFPB-cited surveys: ~35% of users pay one.
• Caption fix: at 1:10 the caption shows "the full 0." (narration: "the full hundred", $100); at 7:25 "a 0 million" (narration: "a million or more accounts").