Annual Fee For Your Credit Card Due? Don’t Forget To Haggle…

Is it approaching that time of year when your annual fee on your credit card is due? Are you debating whether the card is still providing you good value for the annual fee? Don’t forget to haggle…

I can haggle the annual fee on my credit card?

Yes! It’s no different from ringing up discussing the renewal price on your insurance, tv service, or other similar products! If you have an annual fee on your credit card and you feel, for whatever reason, you aren’t getting value from the card (or you want a better deal) you should haggle! We only have experience doing this with our American Express cards but there is no reason you couldn’t try with other card providers…

I have an annual fee credit card… How do I haggle?

American Express used to only offer a retention offer over the phone but in recent times you can obtain a retention offer over the live chat feature. Simply ring/open the live chat (when logged in to the website) and say you are thinking about cancelling your card. They will normally put you through to a ‘retentions team’ who will ask why you are thinking of leaving. This could be due to any reasons that are applicable to you e.g. can’t use the benefits, different circumstances, COVID, reevaluating the number of cards you have, etc.

What sort of retention offers can I get?

Based on personal experience you could things offered such as…

• Bonus points e.g. we were offered 50,000 membership reward points to keep our Platinum Card open which we did.
• Additional points on your spending for a time period. e.g. collect 2 membership reward points rather than one per £1 for the next 3 months.
• Your annual fee spread into monthly payments. e.g. £48 a month rather than £575 annual fee on the Platinum Card (works out to be £1 more expensive)

What if I say I want to cancel and they don’t offer anything?

Ask if there is anything they can do for you, name something you want e.g. points, bonus points on spending, or changes to the annual fees, etc to keep you as a customer. If you still want to cancel follow through with the request if you aren’t happy with what they offer. If you don’t want to cancel thank them for their time and say you wish to consider all your options before making a decision. You can also ring back in a week or two time and quite possibly get a completely different offer!

Conclusion

Whether or not you are serious about cancelling your credit card it’s always useful to utilise potential retention offers to your advantage. It’s a low-risk and potentially high reward game plan! Do you ring up your credit card providers and ask for retention offers?

Are you looking to kick-start your Avios with a huge 200,000 haul don’t forget to take a look at our guide to fast track yourself to a rather cool 200,000 Avios points – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/fast-track-yourself-to-2000000-avios-points/ – Enough to get a business class return to the Maldives!