Credit card annual fees for points collectors are a fact of life. If you want a card that will earn you the most points, you’re almost certain to have to pay a fee with the card. But are there any ways to waive the annual fee?
The answer is ‘yes’, but more often than not, you’ll be left to pay the fee once your first year is up. There’s no harm in asking your bank if there are any account retention offers available to you before the fee is charged.
This guide helps build a crowd-sourced list of banks, credit cards and tactics you can employ to help get your annual fees reduced or waived entirely. It’ll help you to understand and take advantage of if you decide to do the same.
What are my chances of getting my annual fee waived or reduced?
A key factor in your value to a bank is how much you use a card. Logic would dictate that the more you use a credit card, the more you are worth to a bank in merchant fees paid by the retailers you shop at. Although there’s no evidence of specific retention offers to back this up, that has to be a factor in how much a bank would want to keep your custom.
So if you have a card that you want to keep for the benefits or points earn into subsequent years after you’ve first signed up, you’ll probably have more chance of the bank wanting to keep you if you’ve actually used the card.
What should I consider before I call?
When it comes to actually requesting a fee waiver, this would normally be done at the point of requesting a cancellation on the card, which is almost always over the phone.
(Instead of over the phone, you could also try using secure messaging in your bank’s message area to ensure the communication between you and your bank is clear. However, more often than not, I’ve found that the bank will just ask you to call them anyway.)
You’ll need to decide before you get on the phone whether you are willing to go through with a card cancellation there and then, or whether you are just testing the waters.
Some of the main factors that would determine if you’re willing to go through with the cancellation are:
- How tied to the bank you are: do you have multiple products or a mortgage package which can’t be unbundled, for example (in which case, the rest of this guide is probably not so relevant)
- How close to the annual fee you are: the closer you are, the less time you have to make a decision
- How many points you are owed: if using a bank rewards program you will lose the points if you cancel your account, so transfer them out. If you are on a monthly direct-sweep card, you should wait until as soon after the account has swept the points over — or ask the phone agent if they can tell you whether cancelling your account will stop the next points sweep
- Whether you’ve used all your benefits: free flights, extra hotel nights and other travel benefits should be used before you cancel, if you can
- Are you relying on insurance included with the card: if so, consider the cost and act of taking out your own policy if you decide to cancel the card
- The inconvenience of cancelling: how many direct debits you have with the card that will need changing, and how much time you have to administer the changes
What do I ask the bank?
I’ve heard from many people about how they have dealt with their bank, and invariably being polite, clear and concise is the way to go. I’d suggest something like this gets the conversation off on the right foot:
My annual fee is due soon and I’m considering the various credit cards I currently hold. Before I make a decision to cancel this card, could you let me know if you can offer any incentives to keep it?
Express clearly that you are considering cancellation, and could be willing to go through with it. Be clear about the reason why you are considering cancelling, if asked.
Have the card’s features changed since you originally applied for it, or the rewards program no longer preferred? If the bank doesn’t get good feedback, they don’t know why they are losing a customer.
You should also consider clearing the balance on your card before you call. This means you should be ready to go through with cancelling your account if you decide to do so.
The new rules that came into effect in 2019
Note that since 1 January 2019, credit card rules have become stricter for lenders. They must provide an ability for credit cards to be cancelled online. In addition, the credit card provider is obliged to assist the cardholder in any of their requests. However, requests for fee waivers can still be made.
So, for example, if the cardholder says, ‘I wish to close my card,’ then the provider must reasonably assist in doing this, meaning that they cannot proactively offer bonus points to retain the cardholder’s business.
However, if you say, ‘I’m thinking about closing my card, but would like to explore if you have any offers available to me before I decide to close,’ then a bonus retention offer is still okay.
What should I expect from the bank?
Your bank will usually be able to tell you immediately over the phone if they have an offer available to you. However, you may be transferred to someone whose job it is to handle cancellations specifically. An offer might include:
- A retention bonus, instead of a fee waiver (for example, bonus points or a balance transfer offer)
- Discounted annual fee or fully-waived annual fee
- A combination of the above
- No offer at all*
*No retention offer at all is quite common, so don’t get too disappointed if your bank doesn’t want to help you out and keep you as a customer.
Summing up
The most important thing when approaching a conversation with your bank about your annual fee is to be prepared.
Firstly, you’ll need to do the maths so that you can determine whether or not it’s worth keeping the card at the full annual fee, a reduced one or only if it is completely waived.
Next, you’ll want to make sure you have used all of the available benefits attached to the card, such as free flight benefits or lounge passes. You’ll also want to consider transferring all of the points out of your account and paying off your balance.
Finally, when you do come to call the bank, be clear in your request. Make sure it invites the bank to offer you something, using language like, ‘I’d like to explore if you have any offers available to me before I decide to close this card’.
Are you in the market for a new card? Check out our current rewards card offers, or our table of all the current points earn rates on every rewards card.
Have you successfully been awarded a credit card retention offer in subsequent years?
In the comments below, many have shared their experiences to help others know what their chances are in getting a fee waived or reduced for a specific card.
Everyone’s circumstances with their bank differ, but it should give some idea on the various policies and offers that are out there. Feel free to share your experiences too!
21/4/22: I’ve just called ANZ to see what they could do about my ANZ platinum QFF reward 2nd year fee as I suspected I could get better value elsewhere. They said they couldn’t offer anything. So cancelled on the spot.
Thanks for writing this article! I followed your advice & was able to reduce my Qantas Premier Platinum card to half the annual fee for my next renewal.
It didn’t take much. I just said I was looking at changing cards to one with a lower fee and if they could waive or lower the annual fee and they sympathised with me, saying they know it’s been financially difficult for many people this year and how about they offer 1/2 annual fee?
If your annual fee has already been charged, they can also offer to refund half of it back.
I called ANZ this evening and asked them to waive the annual fee which they were more than happy to do and it was no bother. The only thing I said was I haven’t been able to travel due to Covid / lockdowns in Melbourne and could they please waive the fee. Out of the $425, they refunded the $370 and I paid the $55 Qantas component.
Glad I came across this site before I cancelled my card! Had never considered asking for a waiver or reduction before.
Have the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature card. 100k QFpoints on sign-up and reduced annual fee of $295 for the first year. Further 30k QFpoints after 12-months but increasing to the standard $395 annual fee. Rang NAB and said I was considering cancelling as I was no longer able to justify the high annual fee. Without any hesitation they offered up $100-off (by way of refund after I’ve paid the $395) and confirmed that it will have no impact on the ‘2nd year’ 30k QFpoints offer. Not a complete waiver but I’m still pretty happy with that for my first time.
Thanks for sharing your experience Stephen 🙂
Bank of Melbourne Amplify Signature Visa may not have the highest earn rate, but happily has been a fuss free product to hold; no gimmicks, no email spam and 100% acceptance everywhere. They cheerfully waived the annual fee on my 2nd year to retain my business.
Over the past few years we’ve seen decent no annual fee card offers evaporate – and with the current situation I’ve decided not to pay an annual fee for products with ‘potential future rewards’. Hopefully this will all swing back in consumers favour as everyone tightens their belts.
Not sure if anyone has already pointed this out, but not about to read all posts. It’s not obviously going to be suitable for everyone.
I have home loans with ANZ and hold a few shares. As such I am entitled to the breakfree package for which I pay about $390 annually. Within that, I get a discount on interest for all loans (benefit depends on loan size) generally .25-.5%, no bank fees on one account ($120) and no annual fee on one credit card. Consequently, I have a black FF card. Yes, I have to pay the $390 but it works out well for me.
Hi all, I’m on a Qantas Premier Platinum credit card and coming up to my 1st anniversary. I got 70K points on sign up and get another 30K points when I pay the annual fee ($299 I think). I’m unsure what to do with this. If I ask to waiver the fee I will likely not get the bonus points. Should I put up with the fee for this year and change next year, or look at swapping to a new
Credit card with a high sign up bonus?
Hi Elyse
Unfortunately, by law, I am not able to provide you with any specific answer here, as I don’t know your personal financial situation and whether the Qantas Platinum Premier card is still the most suitable card for you in the future.
Please refer to our credit card guides, which include all current offers, and you may wish to speak with your accountant or a finance professional to help you with this decision.
I had the Qantas Money (Citi) Premier Platinum card for two years. I signed up for the points earn rate (1 QFF point per $1 up to $10k) with $0 annual fee for the first year. My monthly spend was consistently around $2.5k and Westpac had become uncompetitive.
On the first year annual fee anniversary date (10/18), I called Qantas Money and asked them to waive the annual fee which they offered me 2k QFF points OR a full waiver of the $299 fee. I jumped on the waiver.
The second year not so good! I deliberately had my account in $5 credit so called and the call center offered me half price annual fee. I played hard ball, knowing I’ve had it waived before with this provider and numerous others and went right to the brink of cancellation, asked again… no dice. Duly closed on the spot. The feedback I got from the representative was that he “could see I was a “loyal and profitable customer but can’t offer anything more with the current campaign”
I opened an HSBC Platinum Qantas Visa a couple of days later and am still on the 1 point earn rate, albeit now capped at $2.5k earn.
Rang Amex a few weeks ago to discuss my impending $99 annual fee for a David Jones black Amex card. I pointed out that they had halved the reward points (I was on the Qantas option) but retained 100% of the annual fee charge. I asked, but no annual fee waiver was possible.
So I cancelled the card.
Once I had gone through the process of agreeing to cancel the card, I was offered 30,000 Membership Rewards points as a “Loyalty Bonus”, at which point the card cancellation was stopped.
30,000 Membership Rewards = 15,000 Velocity or 15,000 Krisflyer points, for a $99 annual fee. It’s a pretty good card and worth keeping at that price. I’ve switched to collecting Membership Reward points now that Qantas points are twice the price.
Not sure if this is the way to place my comment however I managed to have my annual $240 ANZ CC card fee waived 29/8/19. I started off requesting to cancel my card with the intention of doing so if they would not waive the fee. I think this is the key, you have to be prepared to cancel if they don’t want to help. In the course of the conversation I mentioned I was cancelling due to the high annual fee. Just before cancellation I asked if there was any way to waive the fees. Bingo fee cancelled. They did however charge me for the frequent flyer program which they don’t have control over??? Big deal my total fees came down from $295 t0 $55. Thanks for the tips. Good luck.
Thanks for the feedback Mark
This approach does not always work, but you have proven that it definitely does sometimes!
Hi Mark, I called ANZ retention and pointed out that I was not happy with the high annual fee I had to pay last year. I said i wanted to confirm when the annual fee was due for this year as I was looking around at cheaper options. They confirmed my annual fee was due 8/4 and would be $295 ($240 + $55 for QFF). I did say I was a long time customer that spent at least $2.5k per month and I was happy to hear if they could look at remove the fee as I saw others with no fee. The came back with 50% discount ($147.50. I said I would consider this and get back at end of week. After reading your comment I’ll see if they prepared to offer $55 as that is the QFF and prob a hard cost for them. I would be happy with that and think it’s fairer rather than trying to get zero. I’ll let you know how I go 🙂
I was with Westpac, originally for their co-branded “kris flyer” card, however when that commercial agreement ended, westpac offered to move me to their black card with no fee in the first year. I accepted, and every year since – I think about 5 – I’ve been able to have the fee credited/ waived in total or in the majority.
This year, no way Jose. I rang to discuss and they said that as a result of changes in banking regulations they can not offer me an inducement to remain with them. ( I think that’s incorrect, but that’s another story ).
End result, I cxled the westpac card and took a supplementary card on my wife’s Commonwealth diamond card for the grand sum of $20..
The stupidity of the westpac decision is stunning. I was spending around $50-80K per year on the card any they let me walk for the annual fee of $250. I’ve no doubt their cost of customer acquisition is way higher than that per customer, not to mention the say 1% commission they miss out on with the merchant.
And I cleaned out every altitude point I had by transferring over to SQ 🙂
I was using a ANZ Platinum Rewards, I went to the bank to swap to the Travel Rewards card and they countered with 100K Bonus if ANZ Rewards Points, if I signed up to the Rewards Black instead. I was pretty happy with this outcome.
Macquarie Black VISA (with Macquarie Rewards @ $249/yr) holder of just under 4 years ($80K/year spend).
I highlighted to the “customer relationship manager” that my $spend is trending significantly upwards after ditching an AMEX Platinum Edge card (formerly used for groceries/fuel -> R-I-P a former bargain card!).
Unhappy ending: I was offered a “credit of 3000 Macquarie Rewards Points” (i.e. having a gift-card value of $15.59).
Bye-bye Macquarie Bank.
Thinking about signing up to ANZ’s Rewards Travel Adventures Card currently offering of 80,000 bonus points with an annual fee of $225 p.a on offer til March 14
I’m new but reading the above comments
Is it normal for the annual fee to be waived on sign up if you push or when it’s your anniversary date?
If you do decide to cancel the card before the anniversary date, are you normally charged a fee?
Once you’ve claimed the bonus points, do you have to use them before the anniversary date?
I know each provider is different but just looking for general answers
Cheers
Hi Liam
Annual fee waivers are not generally given when signing up to a card. Previously, the bank had discretion to waive an annual fee on renewal if you had indicated that you might wish to cancel the card, however with the regulatory changes that took effect on 1 January 2019, banks must immediately process any request for to cancel a credit card, so that option has in effect been removed.
No fees are charged for cancelling a card. In some cases, annual fees may be pro-rata refunded, however policies differ among providers.
If bonus points are transferred to a frequent flyer account, then they will be subject to the terms and condition of the frequent flyer program. If they are credited to a bank’s reward program, then they are subject to the bank’s terms and conditions, including any applicable expiration dates. Make note though that if the points sit in a bank reward program, then make sure to use them before you cancel your card, or you will forfeit the points.
Amex told me that under banking regulations they are not able to offer me anything! I had the Amex Explorer and now with all changes to redemptions it’s just not worth keeping.
I missed the date for annual fee charge date for HSBC Qantas Visa. I called and asked to cancel and request the waive the fee. They said no and I would be have to pay the fee regardless. Can I do anything about this?
The bank has the final say, so sounds like a no.
Hi
If anyone can answer me
I have westpac black altitude and the offer is waived 1st year and 250 after
So I am currently in my first year and used it so frequently
Can I asked them to waived 250 before my year finished!
If I canceled before 1st year finished do they have the rights to take 250 or not!?
Supposed no point there and no any debits
We always recommend finishing out the first year on a card and then calling the bank to see what they can offer you for the second year.
If they don’t accept waiving, can I canceled it before 1st year finished without any consequences because I received offers from another Bank
I would suggest seeing out the full year. There is no benefit to cancelling beforehand.
Hi there, how did you go with this? I have the same card and just got hit with my first $250 fee plus $50 quanta point fee?!
I wanted to cancel so i didnt get the fee but it might be too late 🙁 did they help you out???
Tara
I rang up amex to have my plat edge annual fee waived, they said they couldn’t’ do it but they offered me 1500 points to stay. I would have asked for more but I took considering they have been good with me and I’ve already used my travel credit.
Both Westpac Altitude Black and ANZ FF Black cards due to expire (10 months in). Last month, rang each bank to cancel, both offered full waiver of annual fee. Still cancelled as had switched to another provider, however appreciated the gesture.
However, last year Commbank was a different story. I accidentally let annual fee roll over. Rang to ask for fee waiver or retention offer, as was a good client with multiple accounts and had been there for 2 years. They only waived the fee subject to me cancelling the card entirely. Very surprised at this!?
Thanks for sharing!
That’s good news for me, I’ll be calling and about my anz black ff annual fee this week. 🙂
Just rang up to cancel my Westpac Altitude Black cards as I don’t like the upcoming changes for the fee they charge. Also there are some other cards I’d look at for the sign up bonus.
They offered to waive the entire annual fee saving me $395 dollars. I had used the card pretty extensively last year so that might have turned things my way. Who knows?
Decided to keep the card as a backup and will probably cancel later in the year.
Hey Scotty,
I’m in the same boat with exactly this same card. Just wondering whether they offered to waive the annual fees for the life of the card or just for one year. When I asked Westpac they said the new Amex card is processed by Amex so they have no way to waive the annual fee. Is this consistent with your experience?
They just waived the annual fee for 1 year for the Altitude Black. The new Westpac Amex will be a separate card so not included in this deal for me. I doubt I’ll apply for it anyway. The offer I got is not that great for the extra fee I’d have to pay.
So just the 1 year waived but still a significant saving and I’ll keep the card for a bit.
I had my annual fee waived this time last year for the Jetstar Platinum card, i called up today to do the same and was only offered 1000 qantas points. Needless to say i cancelled.
Called Amex to request an ugrade of my current card, Gold charge, to the Platinum edge or Velocity Platinum. Was told I had to make a new application online, which is exactly what I didn’t want to do. After asking a few more questions to see if there was anything else they could offer me, they then asked if I would be happy to keep my current card if they credited me with some bonus points. I thought it would be a minimal amount, but to my surprise I was offered a cool 50,000 points. Obviously I took the points and went happily on my way.
Hi Keith,
Do you know if bonus rewards points are cancelled if you cancel your credit card before the first year? E.g. some credit cards are giving 80,000 bonus points on new sign ups if you spend a certain amount within the first few months.
So, if I sign up spend the required amount within the time frame and cancel my card within the first year will they cancel the bonus points?
Thanks heaps 🙂
There is not a specific requirement to keep the card for the whole first year but it might be a good idea to do so as credit card providers don’t generally look favourably on churning and burning cards quickly. When you get to the card’s anniversary, that’s when you need to make a decision as to whether the annual fee is worth it for a second year.
I generally agree with Matt regarding give consideration to holding the card for a year, particularly if it provides you with sufficient reason, but that also delays the time when your penalty period waiting to reset commences (ie how long until you can apply, quality under T&C, and receive the signup bonus again for that card / issuer combo).
I’m sure I will bump into it soon, but I haven’t yet hit the burn / churn denial bin and I’ve been cycling 2-6 cards per year since the days of interest rate stoozing. FF points are better deal for me now.
Most cards have a grace period of weeks to months (varies per bank & card) on redeeming or sweeping your reward points after closing the associated credit card. If you’re concerned about it, just make sure you redeem / transfer your reward points prior to closing and ensure there are no nasty claw-back conditions in the T&Cs (very unusual to see them).
Rang up Westpac and asked for closure of my Altitude Black card with the recent rewards reduction and my annual fee coming through the statement. They didn’t even offer to waive the fees or try to keep my custom, they just put me straight through to the closure department. I went through with the closure as these guys don’t seem to budge at all with providing their customers any loyalty retention offers
Thank you for the tips in this article. I have a Qantas FF black credit card and was recently charged $240 annual fee and $55 reward program fee. I’ve been using my NAB rewards card and forgot to cancel this card which hadn’t been used for 6 months or so.
Called up the cancellations team with the intention of cancelling the card, was asked why, to which I explained that the fees vs the rewards on the card (after the withdrawal of the AMEX points) were too high. The guy on the end of the phone asked to hold the line for a couple of minutes and came back with an offer to credit all fees back to my account. No loss to see me so I accepted and I’m now $295 better off…phew.
I thought because I had been charged I was screwed but if anyone is in the same position, just give them a call and see what they can do.
CBA Diamond holder, no other accts. Currently ~$5K/mth spend.
Migrated from Platinum so Annual Fee is usually $249/yr. AF retrospectively waived last 3 or 4 years when calling to cancel but not too much travel those years. A lot more travel this year.
Called a few months early, usual routine of comparing other cards at Black level from Westpac, AMEX etc. Advised couldn’t waive AF in advance try again after posted to acct, got 10K bonus points offer, took that.
Called them again after AF posted, not prepared to waive, only $50 refund, accepted that.
Have current travel insurances, very large balance to migrate via SPG > Marriott (or best value transfer / redeem if that’s not possible), and product insurances so will swallow it for this year. AF can be refunded if cancel within first 3months of the cycle, but after that it will be hit and miss.
AMEX Qantas Premium: Just called to cancel, she did it in 2 minutes, no offer to stay what so ever. Hassle free – yes, but was hoping for some more incentive to stay when my new ANZ Black is giving 1 QFF point per dollar. Nothing lost, really.
Amex wasn’t able to waive my Platinum Edge, but they offered me 10,000 pts to stay and an extra 3,000 if I signed up for a free supplementary card. Decided to take the offer and stay as I already had travel insurance tied to it. Definitely going to cancel immediately after the trip’s done so I can be eligible for the Explorer sign up bonus in the future! 1.5 years is a long wait time tho..
I’ve found CBA to be really stingy. Although I have spent an estimated 200k in 4 years on a non-award credit card (just a mistake), they offered nothing when I threatened them to closer the card. Needless to say, I closed all the accounts including saving/transaction during the phone call.
After the changes made to the ANZ QFF cards That are coming into place mid year, I decided once I had made my last payment I would cancel the card (I had the entry level QFF card with ANZ). The customer service rep on the phone asked me to wait a moment, and then offered to upgrade me to the platinum visa for no extra cost, and offered me a $150 credit to my account.
I rejected the offer on the basis that there are still a heap of better offers and issuers out there, and I kind of just wanted my relationship with ANZ to come to an end (they haven’t made me too happy recently).
Anyone else had instances of being offered cash/credit to their account?
ANZ FF Black, 10 months in. Called to waive upcoming annual fee, 50% waiver offered. Was prepared to cancel so, I cancelled anyway. Figured paying half of the annual fee is still way too much considering they’re doing away with AMEX and the lack of priority support for Black customers. I ain’t paying $425/year to wait for someone to answer my call.
I should also mention that I signed up for the card with no fee for the first year, so 50% is still pretty good. From what I’ve read, ANZ would outright reject those waiver requests.
Been getting annual fee waivers for my Citibank emirates card for the past three years, even though I don’t use it at all. Just call to cancel and you don’t even have to kick up a fuss. They offer you straight away.
Bankwest Qantas World MasterCard was a different story. Called to cancel, initially they said no waiver, but I was busy at work so I said I’d call back to cancel. The following day I called back, got transferred to another person who happily waived the annual fee. I guess you have to really threaten to go through with it before they escalate.
I have had a standard ANZ Qantas FF card for many years which I use to pay for pretty much everything I am able to. About 2-3 years ago they offered to upgrade my card to Black level but with NO increase in annual fees etc. Is this a good deal? Or is it standard practice? I have no other accounts with ANZ.
CBA Diamond rewards, Just rang to cancel as I have Bankwest Qf FF card with my mortgage and couldn’t justify paying to have the CBA card. As I had previously held mortgage with them I was only paying the Platinum card rate $250 instead of $350. 2 months earlier I had called and they gave me $50 ( or $100- can’t remember now) worth of points and when I rang to cancel they offered me $50 off my annual fee and $50 worth of points. Unfortunately I still couldn’t justify the $200 out of pocket cost at the moment as Im on maternity leave.
I was looking to cancel my AMEX Velocity Frequent Flyer card which had no fees. I had the card for about 5 years. The reason for cancelling was that I stopped using the card in favour of the AMEX Platinum Edge card. I was offered 24000 Velocity points to keep the credit card in my wallet and happily took the offer!
Hi All,
Anyone have any information on AMEX Charge card?
I got it but it wasn’t easy! I spend ~$75k month on my plat charge card (mostly travel, restaurants and fx spend) and they wouldn’t give me a reduced fee when I phoned a few months back after having the card and paying full annual fee for 12 years. I was offered Centurion for the 4th time but again with full joining and annual fee.
I called back to cancel and said I’d take my spend to Citi Prestige where my annual fee has been waived already and they eventually gave me a $600 discount. I must say though I’ve had my fair share of insurance claims, hotel / airline complaints etc over the years and they have always come through with full refunds and even stumped up for things which weren’t their fault in order to keep my custom. Customer service is brilliant once you escalate an issue above call centre staff.
I have a Virgin Velocity High Flyer card which gives two accesses to the Velocity lounge and I also have a Velocity Gold card which gives unlimited access to the Velocity lounge. I wont use the two access passes from the Visa card. Has anyone had any luck getting trading off the Visa passes for points or fee reductions. I also have an Amex card with two free lounge passes too but I have used them. I will try and bargain something with them when the card is up for renewal.
Bankwest World MC – Called to cancel card citing devaluation of rewards program, high annual fee & lack of benefits compared to other cards on the market. The customer rep. was really understanding and mentioned that many customers had similar issues. Nothing offered to retain me apart from switching to their $0 annual fee card with no rewards program, just an assurance that my feedback would be relaid to those above. I hold multiple accounts with BW and generally find them really on the ball with their products and services. Shame after 10 year I have now gone to Westpac for my credit requirements.
I had my NAB QANTAS Platinum card due for renewal. $250. Called up and said I wasn’t overly happy in paying the fee and I spend approx 8K pm on the card (granted I don’t pay any interest) and they must be making money off me. I was polite and spoke to a nice person in their retention team. He waived the fee for me and then also waived the fee for another card I have which has the annual fee ($95) due in 6 months time. I didn’t even ask but he said he did and it is noted on my record that it will be waived. Thought that was great. A 5 minute phone call saved me $345. Value for money? I think so!
I called AMEX “looking to cancel” my Qantas Premium card. When asked why, I said that the annual fee is coming up and finding it hard to justify $249. They offered to either transfer me to the no annual fee Discovery card, with lower points earn and no lounge passes, or give me an extra 23,000 FF points to stay. Very happy to take the points. My partner was offered 16,000 points a few weeks earlier.
ANZ Frequent Flyer Black – medium user – $425 annual fee halved on threat of cancelling card. I cancelled anyway.
Does anyone know if there is any getting around the terms that you can’t get the bonus points on new cards if you have been a customer of the bank in the last 12 months?
Yes, they don’t check, it’s not automated!
are you sure they can`t check? I cancelled a black qff points card in dec 2016 and applied for a black rewards card in March 2017. I now want to reapply for the anz black qff card. Do you think I will get the bonus points?
ANZ Frequent Flyer Black- $425 annual fee halved to $212 on request for waiver due to employment redundancy. Still deciding whether to accept or cancel the card though so might get a better offer if I go to cancel.
Current spend $5k/month.
Anyone have any information on Qudos Visa Platinum? (Qantas credit union)
I have had mine for about 18 months or so and loved it, but am looking to cancel within the next 5 months….
Annual fee going up to $249 (was $189), and capped/tierd 1:$1 at 2500 per month (1:$2 after that).
Have put about $70K on the card in the last 12 months. But as James said that doesn’t necessarily mean much, as I’ve always paid closing balance in full.
Will ring and threaten to cancel before annual fee is due, but doubt I’ll get offered anything as it’s still pretty much a credit union.
Anyone with info on their experience with Qudos??
My wife has an Amex discovery. Has had it for 3 years. Probably only spent about $60 a month (as she spends majority on her ANZ cards). I think the sign up bonus was about 7000 QFF points. She kept the discovery because it had no annual fee, and she has her amazon and e tag accounts linked to it.
Convinced her to cancel the card so she can begin the 18month waiting period of no amex issued cards – to get a sign up bonus in the future. She rang up and requested to cancel the card, they offered her 8000 QFF points… she took the points. They got credited to her yesterday. What would be an acceptable wait time before she actually cancels it?
Nice win. Wait time – totally up to you really.
Seems like there’s a bit of confusion here about how the economics actually work for card issuers.
First of all, just because you make a lot of transactions using your card doesn’t automatically make you a profitable customer. Yes, issuers will earn interchange on your transactions, but this is commonly used to offset (or more realistically, partially offset) the cost of the rewards points that you’re earning on those transactions. So just because you’re spending a lot on your card, doesn’t mean your issuer is making much money out of you.
Interest income is a much greater driver of credit card profitability, but Rewards customers have a much lower propensity to revolve a balance. Instead, they’re very transactional – this makes sense when you think about it – what’s the point in pumping a bunch of spend through your card, if the benefit you receive in points is wiped out by interest being charged?
S0 – a low spending customer who revolves a balance and is charged interest, could quite easily be MUCH more profitable to an issuer than a high spending customer who pays no interest at all. Hence the disconnect when customers who see themselves as “high value” aren’t necessarily rated that way by their issuer’s retention algorithms, and aren’t offered fee waivers and such.
That being said, there are always exceptions, and not every issuer has a sophisticated retention policy and/or system. At the end of the day, if you don’t ask, you won’t get!
I agree with and can confirm that after 10 years of being a commonwealth bank (diamond awards card) customer I have not paid an annual fee due to having a home loan with them. I also have never paid a cent of interest. I have however claimed thousands of dollars in vouchers through the points earned, so am definitely a low value customer.
Issuers must be hoping on average that people mess up and spend beyond their means. Because I don’t think the differential between ‘points’ and ‘merchant fee’ is that large. For example, Coles or Woolworths would have to be paying AMEX/CBA a %1.3 merchant fee, which I roughly calculated to be the discount if I use AMEX and convert the points into vouchers.
The day you realise you can no longer pay off your credit card (especially the high interest rate rewards variety), you should cancel it and approach the bank for a personal loan or a redraw on your home loan.
I’ve just switched our home loan to Westpac (to go from %4.52 to %3.99 rate) and am about to cancel the CBA credit card, I wonder what they will offer if anything to stay..
Citibank’s getting really tough these days, even putting through AUD$ 180k annual spend they won’t waive any of my fee and only offer 2000 points to keep me! time’s are getting tough, looking to cancel the card and get on with other Visa infinite options!
Commbank diamond award – last 120 days spent $13k
Annual fee is coming up – called and asked for a waiver, rejected by the cust. service rep initially but full waiver by the retention team upon threatened to cancel cards. This is the 3rd year (commbank also runs 1st year free for new customers promo at present) with full waiver on this account. Accepted offer.
ANZ FF Black – last 120 days spent $23k
Annual fee charged last week – called and asked for a waiver/refund, rejected by both cust. rep and retention rep. Retention team won’t budge so cancelled card accordingly with full annual fee & reward fee ($425) reversed.
The annual fee for my Citi Signature card was coming up, ($395 plus $49 Qantas fee plus additional cardholder) so I got put through to the customer retention people. They basically flatly refused to waive the fee or offer me any alternative sweeteners, so I cancelled the card. Oh well.
I forgot to mention that I use the card a fair bit, about $6k per month. Didn’t seem to matter. ¯(°_o)/¯
Woolworths Platinum Frequent Flyer – after requesting a waiver, being refused, reminded about card benefits, threatening to cancel…. had full 2nd year $139 annual fee waived.
AMEX Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer –
Spoke to cancellation team about my end dates and fees. annual fee is $349 (originally came with 100000 ff points) never threatened to cancel as this isnt something i wanted to follow through on if bluff was called
Asked straight out if they could waive or reduce fee, was told that that dont offer that option..
Was reminded about the great benefits on the card….. which are pretty decent. 2x lounge passes and 1 free domestic return flight per year (i go to Canberra which usually cost me $440 anyway)
But kept mentioning that it originally came with points and the anniversary coming up that wouldn’t give me any new points or new benefits
Again told about ‘amazing benefits i have access to’
So basically just asked if they have any incentive for me to retain that card. anything to sweeten the deal exact words used
after a 5 minute hold i was offered 8000 FF points as an incentive to keep the card
I’m not a huge spender. maybe $10k a year?
Happily took them. not a huge bonus but certainly something…
NAB Qantas Frequent Flyer Card low to moderate user – Got my annual fee waived for life!
I had a Virgin Money Velocity Flyer Card since May 2014, with first year no annual fee.
I was successful in getting annual fee of $129 waived in May 2015 before anniversary.
They have since changed their offering, so new card members have to pay 1/2 annual fee in first year.
When I tried to get annual fee waived today in May 2016, the best they could offer was also 1/2 annual fee to keep me on (~$65).
Not bad, considering one of their changes was to introduce an annual $129 Virgin airline credit. However, this was not for me, and I cancelled the card.
The tactics I used were to mention that I have other cards without annual fee, that the point reduction they’d introduced recently makes the card a less appealing prospect at that annual fee rate, but I would continue to use the card if the annual fee could be waived for this year.
Westpac Black Card,
Held for 1 year, spent about 150k over the year. Only offered half the annual fee to keep the card, accepted it.
NAB Qantas Platinum,
1 year user, spent approx 20-30k during the year. A 8k transcation was done at the 11th month. Offered me annual fee waiver.
Commonwealth Bank Platinum Quantas Frequent Flyer Card, called to cancel, they offered me 5000 points to postpone the cancel decicion. As I still had a couple of months left until they first year is over, took the points and will cancel later.
Cancelled my ANZ Black visa over the phone last week, the lady accepted the request very quickly, didnt ask why. Short and quick. She said it would take 1-2 days to cancel, which I assumed was code for the retention people will call me. Nope, zilch, nada. Account is now dead.
The circumstances that may have influenced ANZ not to retain the business may be that my custom was mortgage broker introduced, and ANZ policy is not to interfere with those customer but I wouldnt have thought this extended to cards, particularly that my home loan was refinanced away last year. The clue to this is that she handled the closure so fast, I dont think she would have had time to assess anything else.
Other things that might have helped, is that my first Annual fee was due in a couple of weeks, maybe that get so many cancels in that period that they cant be stuffed.
My spend was about $3000pm for about 10 years, not so high, and no late payments.
Hi Keith,
Regarding the Citibank Platinum Rewards, did you have to spend a lot (card usage) to get a waiver every year ? Thanks.
I called Westpac to get my black card’s annual fee waived after spending about 70k in 11 months. The lady who initially answered my phone call was particularly unhelpful and grumpy. She refused to offer any concessions!
I then asked the card to be cancelled on its anniversary. She transferred me yo a guy from the “retention” section. The guy offered me the half of $395 annual fee. Since the girl pussed me off, I asked the account to be cancelled. Now I have the ANZ black rewards. No annual fee for the first year, will see how I will go on the 2nd year.
Yesterday I called ANZ to try and get the annual fees that I payed one week ago credited back from my Rewards Black and was told not possible. So I asked to cancel the card and thus get the annual fee refunded pro-rata (like I have with several other cards over the years). They said they don’t refund pro-rata and I should read the t&c. Was told that the only thing I could do is change to a cheaper annual fee card and then they would credit back the pro-rata refund to that new credit card. New credit card cost me $40 but I will get back about $400 from the cancelled cards’ annual fee. I’m planning to cancel this card too after I get my refund as it doesn’t seem ANZ cares about retaining customers. I spent about $80k on that card.
I imagine not many members would have a Diners Club card do I hope someone finds this useful. I just had my $399 annual fee waived today. I called up and told them the only card I was getting to use for spend was the MasterCard with greatly reduced scope for using my Diners card so it’s essentially a MasterCard that sometimes earns more points so should have a lower fee. They waived my annual fee. I spent about $200k in the last 12 months.
Thanks Alberto!
Could I please check that if you cancel a card (ie ANZ FF Black) before the 1 year anniversary you don’t have to pay the annual fee? thanks
That should be the case – check the specific date for you with ANZ directly though.
I just called Citi as my Prestige annual fee has come up.
I was transferred to a relationship manager as I was “considering my options” and wanted to give Citi a chance to retain my business as my other bank was courting me to move my business.
I asked what they could do to retain me given I’ve put through alot of spend and the tenure of my relationship with Citi.
They offered half price fee @ $350 and on pushing a little more 10,000 Citi rewards points.
Pretty happy. Best card on the market IMO.
That’s a great win!
Another HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card fee waived. Thank you for putting this together. Great resource.
Great, glad it helped!
Im in my early 40s and have been a Westpac customer since my teens. Had a home loan with them for a year, but switched to ING. In the year that we had our child, and many, many expenses, as also coincided with an interstate move and new home purchase – Westpac offered me a fee free for life Black card. Been very happy with the product. Never paid a cent of interest; almost never use cash, use Amex for everything unless they dont accept it in which case use the MC; get several hundred dollars of store vouchers a year. Happy Westpac customer.
I have an ANZ FF Black card. I called them up to waive the $375 annual fee. Inspite of my high usage of the card, the rep advised they would not waive the annual fee. I got the card with a promotional offer of 50,000 points and first year waiver of annual fee. I’m considering cancelling as they do not seem to want to retain their customers.
ANZ Platinum, high user, advised I was planning to cancel, no fee waiver. They offered to switch me to a lower card.
I’ve cancelled.
Got the ANZ FF Black card 12 months ago for the 50,000 points. I closed off my ANZ Platinum card (which I had a grandfathered $150 yearly fee) at the same time.
2 days before my anniversary date (ie would have had to pay $425 annual fee) I called them up to cancel the card. IE Negotiate for a better deal.
They would not waive the fee and would not (or could not) give me back the old $150 fee for my ANZ Platinum (it is $295 nowadays). I have now cancelled the card and after an 18 year Credit card relationship and I might just cancel my entire (since 1988) savings account relationship with them as there is no need to stay with them anymore.
Called ANZ, mentioned that cancelling the card due to the Annual card fee $395.
Mentioned as well that Westpac Black card, giving a free annual fee for the first year.
Rep put me on hold and waive my account fee for 1 year.
Thanks Nick, which ANZ card?
ANZ Black Qantas Flyer
ANZ QFF Black card coming up on annual renewal. Called to cancel, citing the upcoming hefty annual fee. They offered to switch me to another card with a lower annual fee, but no offer to waive the fee on my current card. So confirming the information you have above about ANZ.
Thanks! I’ll add.
Got the renewal fees waived on my Amex Platinum Travel credit card in India by calling in, requesting it and insisting on it.
Initially they were offering me 50% discount on the renewal fees, after me bringing in “cancellation”, Amex agreed to waive it completely if I add two utility bills payment as a standing instruction on the card
I agreed and got it waived
Macquarie Platinum card – I also had the annual fee reduced from $200 to $100 when I said that I intended to cancel.
I threatened to cancel (with the actual intention of cancelling) with NAB on my Qantas Rewards Card and they waived the annual fee and offered me 5000 points to stay with them. This is despite the fact that I had hardly used the card all year because I tended to only use my ANZ one connected to my main banking.
I then called ANZ who wouldn’t match the fee waiver despite the fact this was my regular spending card. They only offered to waive one part of the the $95 fee so I’d get the card for $40. NAB had the same benefits so I cancelled my ANZ and started regularly using my NAB one instead.
I have had a Commonwealth Rewards Gold card for years with a decent credit limit which I used for everything. I changed all of my spend onto a HSBC card for the better Qantas Points and I also slashed my credit limit on the Commonwealth card to a third of what it was. Less than two months later a shiny Commonwealth Platinum reward cards turns up in the mail as complimentary upgrade. So I get the platinum card for the price of a gold. The banks are obviously watching. Once I got the platinum card I tried to negotiate a better points earn rate on the Mastercard to match the (old) HSBC but they wouldn’t budge.
Was talking to AMEX sign up staff about how to waive CC annual fees. You call up write down date, time, staff name & ID (upon request) then ask for this to be escalated as to supervisor or manager (also record time, staff name & ID no). If you are a high spender of the card they will most likely to retain you & waive the annual fees. If they won’t waive the fees & you choose to cancel, always give a “good” reason why you are cancelling the card. So for future reference if you do sign up again they may offer you incentive to keep you again.
Thanks Ian!
I had my platinum ANZ freq flyer waived..thank you
Well done 🙂
Westpac Black – asked for the sign up bonus again at renewal – Triple points for 3months and 12 months interest free. Paid the annual fee but saved much more in interest on the mortgage by not having to pay the card off for 12 months.
Thanks for this, great outcome!
I have a NAB Velocity Platinum cards for a few years. Called to cancel and got the annual fee waivered for 1 year, I told them that I would just call back in a year to cancel so then they waivered the annual fee for the life of the card.
Thanks for this!
For what it is worth, I have the Citi Prestige and its predecessor for the last 6 years. Every year when the annual fee hits my account, I make the phone call and within 24 hours the full fee gets waived. As an indication, my spend is about 150K AUD per year
Thanks, will include!
I called HSBC. I didn’t threaten to cancel the card as I recently just signed up for citiprestige and got a big hit on my credit score, and I knew I’m not in the position to apply for a new card yet.
So all I did was saying I was disappointed with the change and many of my friends (ie. you guys!) got their annual fee waived. So they waived it for next year! As it’s not my primary card now as I have the citiprestige, I’m happy to just let my parents use it for another 12 months. Once my credit score recovers, I’ll just sign up something else better and cancel this one.
Virgin money flyer card similar to above. I called 3 months ago to cancel, citing the reduced value of the 2for1 flights. They offered to refund the annual fee, and post 10000 velocity point to my account, which I accepted.
I did the same on the Virgin Flyer. Except only got 5000. Will push harder next year, but have shifted most spending to Amex Plat Edge.
We has a Citibank Gold Card long term and rang up to cancel last week, advised due to taking up ANZ offer of $0 annual fee 50k points. They offered to upgrade us to Signature Qantas card with zero ann fee for life, which we still said no, they then offered 50k points as well which we took up as Citi card is 1:1 on spends. On receiving new cards and activating we were told that we would receive 2ok points after first spend then 30k after spending $10,000 over 3 months which most people would not do. We advised that was not what was offered and I also advised I had recorded the conversation at time of sign up which definately said (twice) you will receive 50k points after first spend. Finally got a nice girl who said they would check and stick to offer of 50k points after first spend. Recorded that to, so will have to wait and see if we get the points. So my tip when dealing with flash sign on offers record it for future reference.
I used to work for American Express and, though I wasn’t in the department and am not familiar with their actual tactics, there is a dedicated team called Save a Card. If you request to cancel your card, you are referred to this team so they can convince you to stay, especially if you are a “high value card member” (ie., you use your card a lot). I imagine that an annual fee waiver would be one of the enticements available, particularly if this is the reason you give for wanting to cancel.
I worked at Westpac up until recently, the policy around fee refunds on credit cards was fairly loose as the waiver didn’t affect the branch. Generally I would say if you are on good terms with your banker and you have other banking with the bank or offer to bring over other banking you may have some success.
Signed up the Macquarie platinum card last year $99 with 40k bonus and 2 Qff passes now I heard about HSBC cap I decided to stay so I threatened to cancel and got 1/2 price $200 down to $100 good I guess as there aren’t many cards with a large cap
Virgin Money Flyer card – when they bumped the annual fee and devalued the free flight (from “free” to “reduced” where you still have to pay taxes and no longer able to book flexi fares); called with the phrase “I’d like to cancel because the reduced benefits are not worth the increased annual fee”. Waived. Repeated a year later. Will see this year because I’ve moved all my automatic bills off to another card (that doesn’t have a monthly spend limit) so its usage is significantly lower.
When I go for a sign up bonus with no intent of future use I typically cancel with “I am moving overseas indefinitely and didn’t get around to switching my accounts over…” Have found it streamlines the process significantly.
After pushing $35000+ through my NAB Velocity AMEX (1.5pt – $1) in an 11 month period i wasn’t offered an annual fee wave upon threat of cancellation BUT my father, with the same card who would have been lucky to push $5000 through had his annual fee waved upon requesting a cancellation. ~2 weeks between calls and both card annual fees were due around the same time. No logic whatsoever 😀
I was approved for 2 ANZ credit cards – 1 was Qantas FF, the other was ANZ Rewards Platinum. The ANZ Qantas card came with a $95 annual fee, whilst the ANZ Rewards Platinum was $0 for the first year.
After receiving my bonus points on the Qantas FF card, I decided to cancel it but keep my Rewards Platinum until I made minimum spend. ANZ acknowledged that I had paid the $95 annual fee on the Qantas card, so they pro rata refunded/credited that $95 fee to my Rewards Platinum card! Bonus!
End result is that both cards were virtually $0 annual fee for the first year. Not quite a fee waiver but still something to be aware of/worth asking for if multiple cards are kept with the same bank.
Westpac Black and Qantas Altitude cards are $395 per year but if you have a home loan with them then the fee is waived.
that’s standard practice for any bank to waive credit card fees if you have a home loan with them.
HSBC Platinum: paid the fee the first year to get the 50k QFF points and 2 QC invitations. 11 months later called up to cancel (primary card use) and they offered to waive it if it kept the card (and received 2 QC invites). A year later after no more use, I called up again to cancel, they offered to waive the fee again, so I didn’t and received 2 more QC invites. Another year later, the same again – they waived the fee and I got two more QC invites. 6 months later, now, and using it a bit more for the firs time in ~2 years, I got a letter saying that they were downgrading the max points, overseas spend points and no more QC invites, so I rang up to cancel and they did.
So in total, I only paid the $199 fee the first year (for 50k QFF points), and received 2 QC invites that year, and paid no fee for the next 2.5 years for a total of 6 more QC invites.
Thanks for sharing!
Wow! That’s great! I’m sure there will be lots of people calling to cancel now the benefit is hardly worth the annual fee.
But if they are happy to offer it for free, then I might as well keep it just as a secondary card for my parents to use.
Thanks for sharing! I’m about to call them now, in regards of asking to have my fee waved as they have downgraded my point earn and QC memberships!! I used to love this CC but now not so much. I’m only going to keep this card if they wave my yearly fee! (but even then i’ll probably be switching to another card anyway)