High AF's

[Dustink]

What do you think of high fee cards. Do you feel it is ever worth paying for a credit card?

I have always been against AF's. Never thought it would be worth paying for a card when banks should be rewarding us.

Well....I gave into the 100k AMEX offer. I will give that $450 AF a try for the first year.

[CreditScholar]

I find them to be of incredible value if you spend and travel enough. If you don't then it's probably not worth it.

[MrShush]

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@Dustink wrote:

What do you think of high fee cards. Do you feel it is ever worth paying for a credit card?

I have always been against AF's. Never thought it would be worth paying for a card when banks should be rewarding us.

Well....I gave into the 100k AMEX offer. I will give that $450 AF a try for the first year.

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I only got a 25K upgrade bonus, but whatever. I like the card and I'm not a heavy spender (on that one anyway) nor do I travel a lot. But, when I do travel, it is a great card to have. I pay the rental car fees and hotel security fee on it. If any thing goes wrong, I would hope for $450 a year they'd have my back. Airport lounge around this forum doesn't get any respect and I don't know why. Getting away from the craziness in the common areas of the airport makes travel so much easier and pleasant. Not to mention free drinks. Choose the airline that you want reimbursements for and more free drinks and snacks on the plane. Free wifi and blankets and headphones. The nickel and dime stuff adds up. I feel it's worth it.

[visorboy1974]

I don't see any issue with paying an AF if there's a benefit that comes with it.  I have the MileagePlus Club card and it comes with a $395 AF.  I'm OK with it because lounge access is normally $475 per year.  If you're talking about something like a Orchard Bank where there's a $79 AF for owning the card, then I'd say no reason to have it.      

[bs6054]

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@visorboy1974 wrote:

I don't see any issue with paying an AF if there's a benefit that comes with it.  I have the MileagePlus Club card and it comes with a $395 AF.  I'm OK with it because lounge access is normally $475 per year.  If you're talking about something like a Orchard Bank where there's a $79 AF for owning the card, then I'd say no reason to have it.      

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Right, with the caveat that the benefit ideally is one that you would use anyway.  So in some cases, particularly with cashback, it is easy.   When the Amex BCP didn't have a cap, since I buy a lot of groceries anyway, the $75 was much more than justified, I've got back more than $1200 this year.     For stuff like Amex Plat, it can again be easy if you know that you will use the lounge access and other benefits, particularly if you are already paying for it.  

For some other stuff it is harder.  If I accumulate X miles on airline Y, then I can take a business class flight to ,,,, which normally costs $4500.  And since the AF is only $125, that's a bargain!  But in reality, you would probably have never taken that trip at $4,500 so the actual value of the card becomes more difficult to determine.

[Dustink]

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@bs6054 wrote:

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@visorboy1974 wrote:

I don't see any issue with paying an AF if there's a benefit that comes with it.  I have the MileagePlus Club card and it comes with a $395 AF.  I'm OK with it because lounge access is normally $475 per year.  If you're talking about something like a Orchard Bank where there's a $79 AF for owning the card, then I'd say no reason to have it.      

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Right, with the caveat that the benefit ideally is one that you would use anyway.  So in some cases, particularly with cashback, it is easy.   When the Amex BCP didn't have a cap, since I buy a lot of groceries anyway, the $75 was much more than justified, I've got back more than $1200 this year.     For stuff like Amex Plat, it can again be easy if you know that you will use the lounge access and other benefits, particularly if you are already paying for it.  

For some other stuff it is harder.  If I accumulate X miles on airline Y, then I can take a business class flight to ,,,, which normally costs $4500.  And since the AF is only $125, that's a bargain!  But in reality, you would probably have never taken that trip at $4,500 so the actual value of the card becomes more difficult to determine.

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That's a very good point. It's only a value or savings if you were going to spend the money anyways.