Credit Cards Fees – My Annual Total 2024

When I first started really getting in to using credit card points and miles, I shied away from cards that had fees. There are so many cards with no fees… at first I didn’t understand why would I PAY a credit card fee?

BUT then I learned that if I reallllly wanted to use my points well, annual fees were part of the deal.
I don’t know of any cards with transferable points AND the ability to transfer those points (to great partners) that have no fee. If you want lounge access… there will be a fee on that card. BUT… really look into what you are getting from the fee and you’ll often find, it’s more than worth it! Especially year one when you get the welcome offer! Every year I evaluate my cards and either Keep, Downgrade or Cancel.

Here are the cards I currently have WITH annual fees…

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Annual fee: $95
Learn more
Am I keeping it? Yes
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • Chase has only THREE cards that allow you to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward points and of the 3, this is my favorite. I HAVE to be able to transfer my Chase points, so I can’t go without this card.
  • This card comes with some great travel protections like trip interruptions, trip cancelation, lost baggage protections. And my favorite is the primary car rental insurance.
  • $50 annual Chase travel Hotel Credit
  • And it’s a decent earner of Chase points (my favorite points)…. 3x on dining, 3x on online grocery, 2x on travel purchases.

Estimated value TO ME: priceless (Annual $50 hotel credit, but… value is priceless because it let’s me transfer Chase Ultimate Reward points which means lots of free Hyatt stays)

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $395
Learn more
Am I keeping it? yes
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
  • Up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
  • 10,000 Capital One miles every year after 1st year of holding the card
  • Excellent travel protections including primary car rental insurance
  • Fantastic lounge access for yourself PLUS 2 guests at Capital One lounges and participating Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
  • Incredible authorized user benefits – you can add up to 4 authorized users at NO charge and they will get the SAME lounge access benefits
  • 2x miles per dollar on ever purchase

Estimated value TO ME: $700 ($300 travel credit, value 10K Capital One miles at $100 + $300 lounge access)

Ritz Carlton Card

There is no link to sign up for this card… the only way to sign up is – After having a Chase Marriott card for 1 year, you can call Chase and ask that your current card is “product changed” to the Ritz Carlton card
Annual fee: $450
Learn more
Am I keeping it? Yes
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • Annual 85K Marriott free night certificate – Marriott allows you to “top off” certificates with up to 15K Marriott points, so potentially, you could use this + 15K top off for 100K points/night room
    *Each year (so far) we’ve booked a night using this certificate where the room rate was over $1200/night!
  • $300 airline incidentals credit – to be used on seat upgrades, luggage fees, seat fees, lounge access – I love how flexible this credit is BUT you have to call Chase to have the fees credited – it’s not automatic
  • $100 TSA Global Entry credit every 4 years
  • Priority Pass lounge membership – which we don’t really need because we get this with our Venture X card
  • Sapphire Reserve lounge access – unlimited access for you AND your guests! THIS is a HUGE benefit, since I don’t plan on holding the Sapphire Reserve card, this is an excellent way to access these new, fabulous lounges!

Estimated value TO ME: $1650 (I am using my 85K night certificate at a hotel in Hawaii that has a nightly fee of $1200, $300 airline incidental, $150 Priority Pass restaurant access)

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Annual fee: $895 (rates & fees)
Am I keeping it? Yes (but I was definitely on the fence)
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • $600 Hotel Credit – $300 credit every 6 months for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection bookings (FHR program only requires 1 night stay, Hotel Collection requires 2 night stay)
    $200 Airline Fee Credit – Up to $200 per calendar year for incidental fees from (1) airline of your choice (think seat choice, upgrade, checked bag fees, food/drink fees on flight)
    $200 Uber Cash -$15 monthly with $20 credit in December 
    $120 Uber One Membership Credit  – $10 monthly 
    $219 CLEAR+ Credit
    Airport lounge access: Access to Centurion Lounges, 10 Delta Sky Club visits (subject to visit limitations) when flying on an eligible Delta flight, Priority Pass™membership (enrollment required), and other select partner lounges
    5X on flights and prepaid hotels via Amex Travel
    Leaders Club Sterling status 
    $400 Resy Credit – $100 every quarter
    $300 lululemon Credit – $75 every quarter
    $300 Equinox Credit
    $200 ŌURA Credit
    $300 Digital Entertainment Credit – $25 monthly 
    Walmart+ Credit – $12.95 monthly

Estimated value TO ME: $2464 (I always use the Fine Hotel & Resort credit, airline credit, most of the Uber credits, CLEAR credit, Lululemon credit, Resy credit & visit Amex lounges a few times a year since our home airport, Denver, has one)

The World of Hyatt Credit Card

Annual fee: $95
Learn more
Am I keeping it? Yes
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • One free night Category 1–4 Hyatt free night certificate every year after 1st year
  • Earn an extraCategory 1–4 Hyatt free night certificate after spending $15,000 on your World of Hyatt credit card
  • Earn 2 additional qualifying night credits every time you spend $5,000 on your card (THIS helps me reach Globalist status!)

Estimated value TO ME: $300 (only counting the guaranteed free night certificate value for myself here)

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

Annual fee: $99
Learn more
Am I keeping it? Yes
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…
**When my annual fee was due 2 years ago, I called and asked if there was a retention offer on the card – they offered me $70 to keep the card open – so that year I did NOT pay any fee, this year I asked for a retention offer but didn’t receive one (always ask on this card! It’s hit or miss)
**This card was quite valuable to me when I signed up for it because it helped me get my Southwest Companion pass.

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Annual fee: $95
All information about Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has been collected independently by Fancy Travel Pointers. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is no longer available through Fancy Travel Pointers 
Am I keeping it? We’ll see…
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • Earns 3x on travel purchases

Estimated value TO ME: I signed up for this card when the welcome offer was 120K points (this has since ended). Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are incredibly valuable. This card does give you the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, but since I already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (and that card has that ability too) – I don’t know if I’ll keep this card long term.

AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard®

Annual fee: $99
Learn more
Am I keeping it? We’ll see…
Benefits I personally use that make it worth it…

  • This card comes with 1st checked bag free & preferred boarding – I don’t care about the checked bag because we only do carry on, but I DO care about the preferred boarding because since we only do carry on, I always worry about overhead bin space.

Estimated value TO ME: The true value of this card was the elevated welcome offer. I signed up for the card with the 70K AA miles after making ONE purchase welcome offer. We used. AA miles to fly to Japan in fall 2023 and would like to use these miles to do that again in 2025/2026. So… the amazing welcome offer more than offsets the annual fee. But will I hold it long term? Probably not.

Total Annual Fees Currently:

$1993

I definitely believe this is more than most people pay in fees. The Amex Platinum is a huge part of this total and I would say of all the cards listed above, it’s the one I don’t think everyone should have (you really need to love the lux benefits & use allll the credits to make it worth it!)

We travel about 1x per 45 days. For this reason, having lots of card benefits makes sense for OUR situation.

Credit card annual fees are almost always worth it the 1st year for the sign up bonus.
Once you’ve had a card for 1 full year, analyze the benefits and decide if you should keep it. If you don’t want to keep it, see if there’s a $0 annual fee you can downgrade to (best for your credit). If not, and you want to cancel, I at least suggest calling and asking for a retention offer for the account before you close it. If you get a great retention offer, it may be worth keeping that card open.

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Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

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