Credit Card Annual Fee Due? Remember To Ask For A Retention Offer Before Cancelling

As people look to reduce expenses one of the things worth doing is looking at your credit cards with annual fees and cancelling ones that don’t make sense to keep. Before you cancel, it’s worth asking for a retention offer to keep the card. We’ve got a full guide on retention offers here. Keep in mind at the moment a lot of cards offer benefits that are of no use, for example the American Express Platinum card offers centurion lounge access but those lounges are currently closed. This is leading to some higher than normal retention offers and also offers on cards where they normally wouldn’t be offered.

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Schmekel
Schmekel (@guest_1138528)
February 3, 2021 05:18

i’ve called Capital One a number of times with my Venture and Savor coming due.

They always waived my annuals – now in Covid times they won’t.

They state no options to waive – if available – will show up until it posts on the statement.

Once it posts on the statement, if one wishes to downgrade to a no fee card there will NOT be a refund of the annual fee that posted.
(Verify this with a super – otherwise one will receive incorrect info that it will be waived).

40 days to cancel card and receive a refund from the date it is billed on the statement.

Tim
Tim (@guest_949442)
April 1, 2020 08:04

I posted last week about CSR and a retention offer. I got a message from Chase stating I will get $100 statement credit from them. Essentially meaning the annual fee increase is delayed until 2021

CryptoChrist
CryptoChrist (@guest_948786)
March 31, 2020 09:54

USBank Altitude Reserve – Annual fee hit 03-12, called 03-30 and received either 12% APR for 6 months or 5,000 point ($50 cash) retention offer for ANY statement activity in the next month. Thanks for the reminder for the extra 5,000 points!

P.S. USBank claimed that travel credits reset on the 23rd of whatever month your anniversary is, no matter when your statement cuts that month. Learned the hard way. I’ll contact them later when I’m not seeking retention offer to ask for fine print.

Thomas
Thomas (@guest_987626)
May 27, 2020 19:37

I just called about mine. They offered me 1,000 points. Not quite as nice as 5,000, but I guess they must’ve caught on that I was going to keep the card anyway.

CongestionChargd
CongestionChargd (@guest_947275)
March 28, 2020 00:25

No offer on my Amex Biz Plat, just asked if I wanted to downgrade.

David
David (@guest_945634)
March 25, 2020 17:28

Might be a longshot, but I just had an AMEX Plat renewal come in this week. I’m going to shoot for asking for the full fee to be waived.
1) Hard economic times, got more important bills to worry about and uncertain employment
2) No way I’m traveling anytime soon – likely not even within this year. Thus the $200 airline incidental is useless, and priority pass + lounges are useless.

Tommy
Tommy (@guest_946252)
March 26, 2020 11:57

I didn’t get my whole fee waived on my Amex Plat but was given the offer of 50K MR or $500 credit with no spend.

Justin
Justin (@guest_945587)
March 25, 2020 16:50

Amex Plat: Automatic 50,000 MR or $500. Went with the points.

David
David (@guest_945651)
March 25, 2020 17:39

What do you mean “automatic” ? As in, you didn’t have to get on the phone with a CSR? Or that you didn’t have to do a minimum spend with it?

Paolo
Paolo (@guest_945419)
March 25, 2020 15:15

Anybody has retention offer on the Chase United Explorer Business card? Thank you in advance!

Tommy
Tommy (@guest_945392)
March 25, 2020 15:05

With the CSR, does Chase allowed you some time after the annual fee hits for you to downgrade and get a refund? I think it’s usually 30 days for Amex

Susan
Susan (@guest_945330)
March 25, 2020 14:10

Called for my Bonvoy Brilliant $450 AF which hit today (kinda worth it if I’m getting the free 50k night and maximizing the $300 Marriott reimbursement which is usually easy to do with work travel now completely halted). Data point: no retention offers, but suggested downgrade to $95 AF version.

Grant
Grant (@guest_945248)
March 25, 2020 11:20

I called US Bank today and explained that paying $400 for a travel reward credit card right now when no one is traveling was a bad idea. I also shared that I have a few other travel rewards CCs with US Bank and a checking account (thx DOC) and the rep offered 5,000 FlexPoints. I just need to make a small purchase to trigger the bonus.