Credit Card Apps: Boosting Spending and Simplifying Disputes with Digital Tools

Mobile banking applications have long served as comprehensive platforms for managing personal finances. However, a new generation of credit card features, exemplified by services like Capital One Shopping, is emerging with a clear singular focus: encouraging greater consumer purchasing.

A recent study by Keynova Group reveals that credit card issuers are strategically enhancing their mobile app capabilities across the board. This includes integrating sophisticated digital shopping tools on the front end to stimulate card usage and spending, alongside streamlining crucial back-end processes such as billing dispute resolution.

“Issuers are fortifying the mobile credit card experience on all fronts,” explains Beth Robertson, managing director at Keynova Group. “They are expanding digital shopping tools that not only enrich rewards programs but also act as powerful marketing and retention agents. Simultaneously, they’re adding deeper transaction details designed to reduce resource-intensive disputes.” Keynova’s comprehensive study analyzed the offerings of ten leading credit card issuers.

Digital Shopping Tools Drive Increased Card Volume

The Keynova Group’s Q4 2025 Mobile Credit Card Scorecard traces the evolution of digital shopping tools. These tools initially appeared as independent programs, such as Rakuten Rewards, PayPal Honey, and Wikibuy. Capital One’s acquisition of Wikibuy in 2018, transforming it into Capital One Shopping, marked a significant shift. The report highlights a surge in the popularity of these platforms, particularly during the pandemic.

Credit card issuers are now deploying various programs that connect consumers with merchant products and services. Keynova’s research focused on digital browser extensions and mobile apps that automatically deliver coupons and discounts as consumers shop online. Once enrolled and authorized to monitor shopping patterns, these services proactively identify deals, eliminating the need for shoppers to manually search for opportunities.

“Beyond installing the extension, once you navigate to a shopping site, the extension typically alerts you to opportunities for rewards or to activate specific savings codes,” Robertson notes.

A key appeal of these programs is the ability to offer “stackable rewards.” This means that in addition to the immediate savings, cardholders can often still earn their usual cashback or other benefits when using their associated credit card.

In contrast, another common type of program, not extensively covered in this report, involves merchant offers presented directly on issuers’ digital platforms, like Chase Offers. With these, cardholders must actively review and sign up for each desired offer. Such activations generally last about 30 days and require manual renewal to continue receiving savings, according to Robertson. Keynova found that four out of five large issuers offer these types of programs.

Capital One Shopping, for instance, collaborates with over 100,000 merchants and is accessible even to non-Capital One customers. The bank generates commissions from merchant sales and benefits from increased brand visibility and goodwill. This exposure can also lead to pre-approved credit card offers, keeping “Capital One’s brand continually in front of you,” as Robertson observes.

Other financial institutions link their digital shopping services directly to card usage. Citibank’s Citi Shop requires qualifying cardholders to register their card to access deals from over 5,000 merchants. Similarly, U.S. Bank has offered U.S. Bank Shopping Deals, providing savings and additional rewards like points or cashback from more than 1,000 merchants. U.S. Bank is now consolidating Shopping Deals into its broader Cashback Deals program, citing higher demand and engagement from cardholders, a move scheduled for the end of January, which will include features like merchant favoriting and single-click activation.

Enhanced Transaction Records Reduce Disputes

The frustration of an unrecognized charge on a credit card statement is common. While some instances may indicate fraud, often the transaction is simply forgotten or made by a joint cardholder. For card issuers and merchants, managing disputes is a costly and time-consuming process.

A few years ago, some issuers introduced app functionality allowing cardholders to photograph physical receipts and link them to corresponding transactions. While “designed both to facilitate expense reporting for business users and to reduce the number of transaction disputes,” as the Keynova report explains, customers often found this two-step process cumbersome.

Now, more than half of the issuers studied by Keynova have adopted a more sophisticated digital approach. They provide enriched digital receipts that leverage merchant transaction data to clearly identify what was purchased and where. This deeper detail helps customers quickly recall legitimate purchases, significantly reducing the volume of unnecessary disputes.

Going a step further, less than half of these issuers offer the ability to differentiate transactions made by individual users on joint card accounts. This valuable capability can further assist cardholders in identifying specific purchases, thereby minimizing potential dispute activity.

For genuine issues, the process has also improved. Nine out of ten issuers now allow users to file disputes directly through their mobile devices, with transaction details automatically pre-filled. Furthermore, two-thirds of these issuers enable users to track the status of their disputes within the app.

Robertson highlights other beneficial practices, such as providing detailed merchant addresses and phone numbers for transactions. Some apps even integrate mapping functions to show the merchant’s location, aiding in recalling purchases from a busy week. Capital One enhances this by, where possible, directing users to the merchant’s own website to view transaction specifics.

“These features can be incredibly helpful for jogging your memory and can facilitate initial contact with the merchant,” Robertson comments, noting that issuers typically advise cardholders to speak to the merchant first before escalating a dispute.

Keynova’s separate research indicates that this trend of providing comprehensive purchase details is also expanding among debit card issuers. While Bank of America was the sole provider of actual digital receipts as of Q3 2025, Keynova anticipates broader adoption across the industry.

Source: TheFinancialBrand.com