Don't Forget to Make This Call if Your Credit Card Has an Annual Fee

Many credit cards come with annual fees. Typically, the fee appears on your statement once a year, and you have to pay it out of your bank account when you send in your credit card payment.

Cards with an annual fee can be well worth it. They often provide generous benefits, like access to airline lounges. But it can still be a bummer to have to pay this added cost each year. That's why it's important to make a simple phone call when your card has an annual fee.

Calling your credit card company could save you money

In some cases, it may actually be possible to get the credit card company to waive the annual fee that it normally charges.

It's not a given that your card issuer will do this if you call, but there are many situations in which people have had success by simply asking for a fee waiver before they are charged the annual fee. In fact, I have done this myself in the past and I have been able to successfully have my fee wiped out so I saved the $99 that my card would have otherwise charged me during the year.

To give it a try, simply call the customer service number on the back of your credit card and ask before your fee is charged. If you do not have success the first time, you could even try to call a few times to see if you get ahold of a customer service person who is more willing to help you.

Here's how to ask for an annual fee to be waived

If you want to try to get your credit card's annual fee waived, there are a few techniques you could try to convince your card issuer not to charge you.

One option is to point out how good of a customer you have been. If you charge a lot on your card and you have never made a late payment, you can point that out and ask if the card company is willing to work with you to waive the fee. The more you charge on the card over the course of the year, the better your chances of success with this strategy.

You could also point out a competitor's card that offers similar perks with no annual fee if you can find one. If you can show you'd be able to get close-to-comparable benefits and not have to pay the fee, the card issuer may be willing to waive it in order to avoid losing you as a customer.

A third tactic would be to see if your card issuer is willing to waive the fee if you agree to spending a certain amount on your card within a set period of time. You'll want to make sure you can meet the spending threshold it sets for you if you go with this approach.

Finally, if all else fails, you can threaten to cancel your card. You may be sent to the cardholder redemption department, where a customer service representative may be more willing to waive the fee. This isn't a guarantee, though, so there's a risk to this approach if you don't actually want to shut the card down.

It's worth at least calling to ask for a fee waiver in every situation, though. If you can potentially save money by making a simple two-minute telephone call, why not give it a try?