Suntrust Sunsets Unlimited Earning on the Delta Debit Card

As I've written about before, my Suntrust Delta Debit card has been a fantastic source of miles over the past few years, netting Mrs. Pointsninja and I close to well over half a million miles.  However, it has recently been reported on Flyertalk and elsewhere that Suntrust is altering the deal:

Well, I got the dreaded letter today.  As of July 25, 2015, Suntrust is hamstringing the card, limiting monthly mileage earning to 2,000 miles.  To add insult to injury, the earn rate is dropping from 1 Skymile per $1 spent to 1 Skymile per $2 spent.  PLUS, the annual fee is going up to $95.

This means that in a best case manufactured spend scenario, the card could earn 24,000 miles in a year at a cost of $128.12.  That's .5CPM, a good (Ed.: But not great!) price for Skymiles.  So I may not cancel the card, but the thrill is gone.  Sigh.

P.S.:  The one conceivable upside is that this handicapping could possibly result in the Suntrust Delta Debit Card becoming available to new cardholders sometime after July 25.  Even at the reduced rates, there are people for whom this product could be useful.  Particularly if Suntrust offered a sign-up bonus as a sweetener.  The only evidence I have to support this pie-in-the-sky scenario is that Suntrust didn't kill the card entirely, which I have long expected them to do.