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Credit Cards

How You Might Be Able to Get Your Credit Card Annual Fee Waived

Updated Jun 14, 2023   |   2-min read

Rewards cards can be a great way to earn points that help you gain a variety of travel awards, but these cards can come with high annual fees. The cost of the annual fees can turn away a lot of customers. After paying for the annual fees, the travel rewards and benefits may not seem like they are as good of a deal.

For example, cardholders are not really saving anything if they have to pay a $200 annual fee to get $100 savings on a hotel or flight. Not all rewards cards have annual fees, but the cards with the best rewards packages usually do.

Many companies, however, do waive that annual fee for customers who call and ask for it. Even if the company is not willing to waive the annual fee, they will typically offer some kind of incentive for any cardholder who calls and asks for a fee waiver. That offer may be extra points you can convert into immediate travel savings. The policies are a little different at each company, but all simply involve a phone call.

Annual Fees by Company

American Express

American Express cardholders can start by calling the customer service phone number on the back of their card, or the American Express retention department at 888-452-3945. Let the representative know you are considering canceling the card and would like to know if there is any way they can waive the annual fee.

Although American Express is generally unwilling to provide a complete waiver of the annual fee, they may offer bonus points or a statement credit for a portion of the annual fee.

There are also several American Express rewards cards that do not charge an annual fee.

Chase

If you have a Chase credit card you can call the customer service number on the back of the card or call 877-469-0110 to speak to a Chase customer service representative. Let the representative know you are thinking about closing your account and want to know if there is a way to get the annual fee waived.

Chase offers several rewards cards that don’t charge annual fees.

Capital One

To speak to a Capital One representative, call the number on the back of your card or the customer service hotline at 800-227-4825. Ask the representative if they can waive your annual fee or provide some other benefit for renewing the card again for another year.

Capital One does offer several cards that do not have an annual fee, but the annual fees on Capital One rewards cards are relatively low compared to Chase and American Express.