I worked in CC loan and processing for a period of time. Issuing cards is really a form of hedging. They make money on some and lose on others. The point is

I worked in CC loan and processing for a period of time. Issuing cards is really a form of hedging. They make money on some and lose on others. The point is to win more than you lose. That's all. There are secondary and tertiary ways of making money off of the cards too. They can sell the pool of underperforming cards for a smaller sum of money, and they can write off losses to help with other ventures. Just a couple of examples.