Credit card annual fees

[workinmyplan]

I have several credit cards, about half of them have annual fees. I have already called all of them to ask for a reduction in my interest rate, with some success. I have paid all of them off or down to 10% or less and let that settle for several weeks. My FICO score seems to have reached the point I expected for now. 724+

So now I want to address the cards that have annual fees. My thought is to call them and ask to either have it removed or be switched to a product that doesn't have an annual fee.

My question is: will this be considered "cancelling" the card? I don't want to reverse any of the progress I've made.

Janet

[K-in-Boston]

Removing an AF on a card but otherwise keeping the same card would change nothing on your reports.  If you are doing a product change, you should keep the same card number and account history.  Depending on the change, you may see some change on your reports (such as Revolving Credit Card changes to Flexible Spending Credit Card with some lenders if you move from a normal Visa card to a Visa Signature card) but the account number, age of account and all of its history would remain.  Just ensure that before doing any changes that the account history will all move over with any changes you made.

[Anonymous]

Only if you close the account. If you get the fee waived or product change to another card you'll be find. And even if you close the account, it shouldn't have much of an impact either. 

[wasCB14]

It would help to know more about the cards in question. With some cards, it's impossible to switch to a no-AF card, and difficult to get the fee waived. With others, it can be easy. Knowing which cards you're contacting issuers about could help us advise you when to persist and when to take "no" for an answer and just consider closing the card.

[workinmyplan]

Thank you K-in-Boston, ALK11, and wasCB14

The cards that have annual fees are:

1) Credit One Platinum Visa - $8.25/monthly

2) Credit One Platinum MC - $60/yr paid in December for calendar year 

3) First Savings MC - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

4) Legacy (First National) Visa - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

[K-in-Boston]

What else do you have and what are the approximate ages on all of your cards?  Myself and others will likely tell you to close the Credit One cards.  I am not familiar with #3 and #4 but I Googled them and they both seem to have identical websites and be definite subprime cards.  That's $309 a year in annual fees and I am assuming your only real benefit is merely having the cards.

[fltireguy]

It looks to me like all of your cards were from predatory lenders. It might be pretty hard to get the fees waived on them, that is how these companies make a lot of money, and they almost never will remove the annual or monthly fee.

[MrDisco99]

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@workinmyplan wrote:

Thank you K-in-Boston, ALK11, and wasCB14

The cards that have annual fees are:

1) Credit One Platinum Visa - $8.25/monthly

2) Credit One Platinum MC - $60/yr paid in December for calendar year 

3) First Savings MC - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

4) Legacy (First National) Visa - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

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Yikes...

What are your scores like?  You're probably better off getting new accounts with better lenders to replace those than you would be hanging on to them.  Credit One in particular is known for being a subprime fee harvester, i.e. a card product that charges you fees for everything.  If you have decent scores, you shouldn't have to pay for credit.

[wasCB14]

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@workinmyplan wrote:

Thank you K-in-Boston, ALK11, and wasCB14

The cards that have annual fees are:

1) Credit One Platinum Visa - $8.25/monthly

2) Credit One Platinum MC - $60/yr paid in December for calendar year 

3) First Savings MC - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

4) Legacy (First National) Visa - $75/yr paid in November for December to November cycle

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Those are all garbage. Forget trying to get fees waived. Close them all and don't look back.

There's really no reason to ever have any of those cards. Those companies stay in business because some people don't know about secured no-credit-check cards from CUs with flexible membership requirements.

With 724+ FICOs you can probably get some unsecured no-AF cards with basic rewards (if you don't have some already).

[fltireguy]

I missed your score when I read your post for the first time when I replied.

Dump that crap. plain and simple.

Join a good CU, like PenFed. (You do not have to be a member to apply for a card, but if you are approved, you WILL have to join, but thats easy and well worth it)

Get an unsecured card from Discover, or CapOne. That should be easy to do. Chase Freedom, or FU is pretty easy to get approved for as well. They are all good banks to work with, with NO AF

And, IF you close those cards, it will NOT hurt your progress. They will continue to report as positive tradelines for the next 10 years.