Waive annual fee on 1FBUSA Visa?

[dowel911]

I've had a 1st Financial Bank VISA for about 8 years now. I started with a $300 CL and am currently at $3000. I try to use this card very little as it has a very high APR of ~29% and an annual fee of $55.

I would hate to cancel this card as it makes up a good portion of my overall available CL on all my cards. This card was targeted at college students when I got it, and as such, is my oldest account history, so I keep justifying the $55 annual fee to keep that long account history. My question is: Is there a way to get them to waive the annual fee and lower my intrest rate?

[pizzadude]

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@dowel911 wrote:

I've had a 1st Financial Bank VISA for about 8 years now. I started with a $300 CL and am currently at $3000. I try to use this card very little as it has a very high APR of ~29% and an annual fee of $55.

I would hate to cancel this card as it makes up a good portion of my overall available CL on all my cards. This card was targeted at college students when I got it, and as such, is my oldest account history, so I keep justifying the $55 annual fee to keep that long account history. My question is: Is there a way to get them to waive the annual fee and lower my intrest rate?

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You can call and ask them to waive the AF ~ tell them that you are a long time customer, many years of on~time payments.   They may or may not waive it but it is worth a try.  If they won't budge on the AF then ask for a reduction in interest rate.  

If you do decide to close the card it won't hurt your FICO score unless your revolving utilization increases as a result of losing the CL.

[dowel911]

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@pizzadude wrote:

You can call and ask them to waive the AF ~ tell them that you are a long time customer, many years of on~time payments.   They may or may not waive it but it is worth a try.  If they won't budge on the AF then ask for a reduction in interest rate.  

If you do decide to close the card it won't hurt your FICO score unless your revolving utilization increases as a result of losing the CL.

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I'm at about 22% overall utilization today, and well on my way to <10% by the end of 2012. I guess I don't care about the interest if the card is paid off, so maybe my short term focus should paying that card off and getting them to axe the AF.

[Topher227]

I was in the same situation as you... i've had them for years and didn't want to close the card and affect AAoA, but didn't want to pay the AF.

I called the regular CS (phone # on back of card) and simply asked the representative if the AF could be waived, she immediately said yes and completed that refund. She also told me that I could call every year and have it waived. Good luck!

[pizzadude]

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@Topher227 wrote:

I was in the same situation as you... i've had them for years and didn't want to close the card and affect AAoA, but didn't want to pay the AF.

I called the regular CS (phone # on back of card) and simply asked the representative if the AF could be waived, she immediately said yes and completed that refund. She also told me that I could call every year and have it waived. Good luck!

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AAoA is not effected by closing a card ~ cards are factored into AAoA regardless of whether they are closed or open.

[dowel911]

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@Topher227 wrote:

I was in the same situation as you... i've had them for years and didn't want to close the card and affect AAoA, but didn't want to pay the AF.

I called the regular CS (phone # on back of card) and simply asked the representative if the AF could be waived, she immediately said yes and completed that refund. She also told me that I could call every year and have it waived. Good luck!

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Call CS at first in an attempt to get a lower interest rate, which they absolutely would not budge on even after escalating the call to a supervisor. Was very easily able to waive the annual fee though. 

[Anonymous]

That buys you a year to replace the card with something better   Just put it in the sock drawer to make sure you are not tempted to use it and risk that interest rate.

[dowel911]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That buys you a year to replace the card with something better   Just put it in the sock drawer to make sure you are not tempted to use it and risk that interest rate.

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I had it PIF in December but had to make an emergency cross-country flight in January... Still have a few hundred charged to it. Like you say, proably worth paying off next month and focus on other things.

[laz98]

We have one as well.  I sent them a message via the secure messaging feature & asked about the AF.  They said I can call every year & ask to have it waived.  Our APR is also 29.99% so we don't use it anymore but maybe once every 6 months.  They wouldn't lower it either.  They were pretty nice about the AF though.

[Topher227]

Glad you could get that AF waived.

This is a bit off topic... but this card used to have some pretty good benefits when i first signed up. It was 0% interest if a purchase was under $300, and i believe that was NOT an intro offer. Any purchases over $300 were a high rate, something in the low 20%'s. Being that this was my first credit card (got the offer 2 days after my 18th birthday), and the CL was $300, it was a amazing starter card. Unfortunately, in 2008 they ended that 0% > $300 rate, and raised my purchase rate to a flat 29.99%.

Its been in the sock drawer ever since, only being used for a couple emergencies.