Best Strategies to Waive Credit Cards Fees

Have you ever contemplated cutting off your credit card entirely to avoid paying the full annual fee? What is seemingly a good idea for those of you looking to flake that annual fee, it really isn’t. I suggest readers to ask their banks to waive the late fees or annual fees attached before making any move that may be as detrimental as closing a credit card that you’d actually want to reap harder. Note that banks are more-than-willing to waive the fees for you in a sum of cases just as long as you ask prior.

Editor’s Note: It should be emphasized that your annual fee is not guaranteed waived with this guide and for credit card gamers/churners out there, you shouldn’t really expect this guide to help you very much.
 

Recommended Credit Card Bonuses:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
• Barclaycard JetBlue Plus MasterCard®

Waived Annual Fees In-depth:

When you ask for your annual fee to be waived, you either expect to get the fee waived entirely, or just a portion of the fee reduced. Assuming enough, most large credit-card lenders acknowledge such a request, however, companies keep the option a secret to prevent from more and more people from attempting to get their annual fees waived.

Usual contenders for the fee waiver are those with a good pay-on-time history, and uses their cards quite often, so POLITELY insinuating that you’ll stop using the card or closing it if the fee isn’t waived could push credit card lenders to give into such. We must take into consideration just how competitive credit-card issuers are for market shares in the credit-card market, which is the main reason for such flexibility in this area.

Below are some additional tips you should consider, very helpful, I recommend taking a good read:

1. USE THE CARD: Banks will give you better retention offers and the odds of having your annual fee waived is much more achievable if you use the card frequently. Note that banks value healthy bank-customer relationships and with that in mind, they’re looking for customers that actually make them money.
2. Be Polite. Considering that reps have to deal with nastily-angry customers every day, adding to the hostility will not help you in any shape or way. Be polite as possible because they do have the ability to vary the offer, and staying on their good side is something you’d like to achieve. Sometimes, you don’t even have to threaten to cancel the card or lie, just say straightforward that you don’t feel like paying the annual fee and see if they can do anything from there.
3. Do Your Negotiations By Phone. although there are plenty of other methods that take less time, you want to consolidate your claim in the most valid way possible and just contacting a representative by phone is just the more efficient way of making such a case.
4. Call Again, If You’re Not Satisfied With Offer. Some agents have less discretion than others, calling back and talking to a different representative may yield you a different picture.

Interest Rate

If you’re paying your bills in full each month, the interest rate shouldn’t matter, but we never know just exactly what the future may have in store for us. Asking for a lower interest APR wouldn’t hurt either. In fact, consumers have a better shot at getting issuers to agree to a lower interest if they have a history of paying on time.

Conclusion:

We do not guarantee that the annual fee will be waived with this guide, however, it may be worth contacting your credit card issuer if there is an annual fee on a card that you don’t feel the need to pay. Banks understand the situation at the get-go and would either offer you your annual fee entirely waived or partially. Of course, if you weren’t successful in grabbing the annual fee waive that you wanted, I recommend calling them back, a different representative can yield you a different answer. Be polite, and be persistent! Don’t forget to check out our complete list of Credit Card Promotions today!