American Express earns mostly from fees when its cards are used, and spending kept growing in the first nine months of 2026. The question is whether richer rewards and services, plus merchant surcharges, will erode what it keeps.
When someone taps a card at a restaurant or books a flight, the payment may run on a network few people think about. American Express gives cards to consumers, small businesses and large companies. It also runs the network those cards travel on. Because it sits on both sides, it earns when a shop accepts the card and again when a cardholder pays to carry it.
Two groups pay. Merchants hand over a cut of each purchase, which the company calls discount revenue. Cardholders pay card fees, plus interest when they carry a balance. What they buy is a promise: rewards, travel and lifestyle perks, and a card that is welcome where they spend. Cardholders keep paying while the benefits feel worth more than the fee. Merchants keep paying because those cardholders spend. Keeping that promise is the main cost. The others are marketing and losses on balances that are never repaid. Fees are the main engine, and lending is a large second one. Imagine a flat card fee while the perks it pays for cost more each year: the company keeps less.
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