Credit Card Annual Fees Cost
It is tax day, which means I had a wrap up my credit card annual fees cost for last year. That is when I realized it has been a few years since I shared how much I spent on our annual fees for the previous year. That got me digging into my old articles on MTM. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by how much less we were spending each year on our annual fees back then. Like half as much! That goes to show how these fees have crept up and outpaced inflation. Let’s take a look at how we spent all of this cheddar last year, and which cards I plan on keeping long term.
2025 Annual Fee Totals
Here is the breakdown on how we spent $8120 on annual fees last year. I will have an explanation under any of the cards I plan on keeping long term:
- US Bank Altitude Connect Business – $95 x 3
- Some great 4% cash back earning categories make these a keeper for us.
- Amex Platinum – $695 x 2
- Delta Reserve – $650
- Hilton Surpass – $150 x 6
- The $15K free night certificates make these worth it for us. The $50 quarterly credits put us ahead on the annual fees x6 each year too.
- Amex Business Gold – $275 x 2
- Venture X Business – $395
- The travel credit and 10,000 point anniversary bonus offset the annual fee each year. Add in the fact that I can’t get approved for any other Capital One cards and this is a keeper for me.
- AAdvantage Executive – $595
- World of Hyatt – $95
- The $15K free night certificate you can earn paired with the one you get for the annual fee make this a long term card for us.
- Citi Strata Premier – $95
- Best mid tier earning categories out there. This is a sure thing keeper for me.
- Citi AAdvantage Business – $99Â
- I have been using this card to rack up loyalty points. I am not sure if I will keep it past this year and continue running on that hamster wheel though.
- Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite – $550 x 2
- Spirit Airlines Card – $79
- Atmos Visa – $99 x 2
- Amex Business Platinum – $695 x 2
- Virgin Atlantic – $99
The rest of the listed cards will be closed when the next annual fee posts. That is unless there is a decent retention offer for them.
RELATED: Resource: Annual Fee Refund Policies by Issuer
Why So Little Chase?
You may be wondering why we only have one Chase credit card. We had a little bit of a falling out with Chase, and only held onto the World of Hyatt card. Probably one of the better cards for us to keep long term since we find the free night certificates useful.
If we ever fall back below 5/24 again then we will likely grab a few business cards to pair up with it. Even with a more robust Chase card lineup our spend would be focused on other banks at this point anyway. I find the earning rates at Amex and Citi to be superior for our needs, and Bilt has the most valuable points in the space. Those three banks is where our focus has been the last two years or so at least.
Annual Fees Are Usually Worth It
Unfortunately credit card annual fees scare some people off from grabbing the most rewarding credit cards out there. I can unequivocally say that those people are missing out. That is especially true in the first year, when pretty much every card’s annual fee is worth it. I believe it so much that our household racked up over $8,000 in annual fees. I am sure that looks absolutely insane to people outside of miles and points.
How much did you spend in annual fees last year? Let me know down below or over in the MTM Facebook Group. Also let me know what your lineup of keeper cards looks like.
8000 annual fees likely means you’re spending, at a minimum, 25000 on travel spending per year (because even if the hotel is subsidized, there’s award fees, car rentals, restaurants, activities, trains, /positioning flights etc, so an 8000 freebie on trips is likely resulting in 3x out of pocket).
Most families do not have that kind of travel budget.
I would say that is a pretty big assumption. There are costs involved but not all of these cards are travel cards either. Many are cash back cards that earn large bonuses to offset the costs. You can also cash in points for money to offset costs, and then there are bank bonuses etc. There are ways to make it work that doesn’t take from your normal salary budget etc. Just gotta be willing to put in the effort.