Thread: Secret to get your credit card annual fee waived!

Want to know how to waive credit card annual fee? My rewards card from Citi started charging an annual fee and it was for annual spending not reaching a certain level. I like Citi and the card is good meaning I am not interested in canceling it. What I don't want is the new fee that comes with it. What do I need to say or do to have them waive the credit card annual fee?

I had this occur with my Spirit card and I was given the option to downgrade to a no annual fee version. It earned half the points but it was a way for me to keep my account open with the points I had earned without paying an annual fee.

Annual fees are the new revenue generator in the credit card world in the post-reform era. Not every issuer will negotiate but for those that cannot waive the annual fee outright, reportedly some will issue bonus points or rewards to offset the cost for a year if you threaten to cancel.

Good luck,
CreditCardGuru

These are useful tips, though unfortunately they do not always work, (but are worth a try). Here's an archive from one of my past attempts:

Note: Inside brackets are my edits.

Hi (Mr. Complainer),

Unfortunately we are unable to offer a waiver of the annual membership
fee at this time.

Thanks for being a (complaining) customer.

Regards,

(Complaining) Online Banking




Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Account ending in: XXXX

I have recently obtained a MasterCard from a competing organization. Not
only are the benefits very nice, but they also do not charge an annual
fee.

I would like to inquire if (Complaining Bank) could waive my annual fee on my
Gold card, other wise it seems best to me to just cancel it outright.

Thanks in advance.

Nice letter! short, sweet, to the point, but in the end, money is sometimes more important than the customer... though usually they will negotiate I hear, I have yet to close a card or ask to waive a fee

Thats not true, if you are an established member with excellent payment history, they won't want to loose your business. Be adamant that you are going to cancel as you see no further use in the card because the annual fee and they will almost certainly offer something to offset it if the company won't outright cancel. You may need to be on the phone for thirty minutes, talk to multiple people and they almost certainly will "toss" you around, but always maintain you will cancel because you don't need a card with a fee. Should Work No problem.