No one wants to pay more than they have to on their credit debt, so finding new ways to cut back on costs is a reasonable idea. One method of cutting back these costs is to waive the annual fee that some lenders or creditors charge. It’s not always viable, but well worth the trouble.

Annual fees aren’t a great amount- sometimes as cheap as $45 or less. You wouldn’t necessarily turn down a credit card based on this alone, but when you put it into perspective it seems more unfair. By spending $300 a year on your credit card, about 15% of that total is going to the annual fee- and that isn’t counting interest! Credit card annual fees don’t seem so innocent or inexpensive now, do they?

So we have proven annual fees can be costly. So why do we pay them? One reason is that the borrower doesn’t have a great credit history. Lenders will use the “Your credit isn’t good enough” excuse to help milk more money out of your bank account when they can. Sadly your only way out of this mess is to increase your credit rating or find a new lender.

You probably noticed that there are credit cards that allow for rewards to be obtained. These rewards have to be paid somehow- and much of the time it is with an annual fee. In this instance it is justifiable if you use your credit card a good amount. When used correctly, you could still be making your money back with compensation in rewards.

So there might be a few reasons where an annual fee is expected- but don’t give in yet! Lenders are so competitive in the current market that you won’t have much trouble going to another lender and finding that they don’t charge an annual fee. In fact, most of the major credit companies won’t do so. Consumers have clearly won the war on annual fees through the process of natural selection.

Sometimes all you need to do to get what you want in life is to ask for it. If you don’t want an annual fee, ask for it to be waived. Lenders are more desperate than you realize in having your business, and odds are they will agree, albeit with a smidgeon of hesitation. If they don’t agree, its’ time to go back to square one.

In Conclusion

Whether or not you pay an annual fee is ultimately up to you. There are cases where you can justify doing so, but you certainly won’t have to. In times like these, we can thank the competition among the financial industry for making the fee optional.

Learn more about no annual fee credit cards and student credit cards.