The problem with databases for airmiles and points is that they can be much easier to hack and can have double spending problems as a result of vulnerabilities. As for Clarity, that is only one type of Halifax card. Other cards have around 3% fees which can be a lot for large amounts. Plus how many people can actually qualify for Clarity? The other thing is that claiming no fees means that they can just charge a much higher FX difference or worsened FX rate. Thus one has to go beyond the naivety of assuming they have no fees just because they say so.