If you had a $100 windfall, what would you do with it?
Annual Credit Card Fees
Those who leave money outstanding on their accounts throughout the year already pay enough in interest don't they? So it’s rather insulting that many card issuers also impose annual credit card fees that can range from $10 to over $200 for some top of the range ‘prestige’ cards.
Here's what to do. Write to your card issuer saying that you’re thinking of switching to another lender because of the annual fee. It’s as simple as that, no beating about the bush. In perhaps half of all cases your card issuer will waive the annual fee immediately.
Why? In most cases they may not be prepared to lose a customer for the sake of an insignificant fee. Their real profits come from the customers who let their accounts ride with large debts on them at high rates of interest. These annual fees are just blatant profiteering. They are the jam on top of their already healthy profits.
Their decision whether or not to waive the fee depends upon how much they value you as a customer and how much they want to retain your business. In other words, the more often you have more money on your account the more likely they are to accept your request. Regular users are more likely to be successful with this ploy than infrequent users.
But it only costs the price of a stamp to try. If they refuse, you have two options.
1) Some annual fees are automatically waived if you spend more than a certain amount over the course of the year (e.g. $5000). So if you have more than one credit card it may be possible for you to route all of your normal spending through the one card in order to eliminate the annual fee.
2) Just carry out your threat and move on to a new credit card. There are always plenty of offers out there, and many of them have no annual fee!
Whatever happens, don’t let force of habit cost you money!
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