Avoiding Credit Card Fees Has Never Been Easier

Experience will tell you that it benefits to reach out to your credit card provider when charged with unwanted fees and high interest rates.

Exactly 87 percent of credit cardholders who asked for a late fee waiver were able to get one, and 69 percent who requested a lower interest rate received one, based on a new report from CreditCards.com.

The study reflects that no more than one in four cardholders make any one of the requests; added together, only half of consumers have been recorded making any request entirely.

If you’d like a closer look at that study, click here.

In actuality, various premium credit cards charge an annual fee for their desirable rewards and perks, and those fees are negotiable as well. More than half of cardholders in the U.S. who asked, were able to get their annual fee waived completely-meanwhile 31 percent who asked were successful in bringing down the fee to a lower amount.

“People have far more power with their credit card company than they realize. Competition among card issuers is incredibly high these days and customer retention is a priority,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst. “Don’t be afraid to ask for fees to be waived or higher credit limits because, quite often, you’ll actually get it.”

As it happens, almost 9 out of 10 cardholders received a higher credit limit when they asked their credit card issuer. Older millennials were actually more likely to ask for a higher limit overall, as well as receive one.