January 2, 2016

How Much Did I Pay in Annual Fees in 2015?

The other day I posted a recap of the miles and points we earned in 2015.  The post turned out to be was popular so I'm going one step further today to explain the annual fees paid in 2015 and the rationale behind each fee.  You can read more about my credit card strategy as it relates to annual fees here.  For those of you bored by this topic, check out the trip report page.

In 2015, I paid approximately $1,300 in credit card annual fees.  I say approximately because there were some refunds against annual fees for cards cancelled that I didn't keep track of.  $1,300 isn't an insignificant amount of money.  But travel is our favorite thing to do together.  It enriches our lives in unimaginable ways and this is my hobby.  So given the value created, I think it is actually a pretty good deal.  Especially for Emily.

Now on to the recap.  Here's a list of all the credit card fees I paid last year.

1)  $300 for 2 Citi Prestige Cards

The annual fee for this card is actually $450 but given the $250 airline credit (pretty close to cash for me) I consider my out of pocket expense to be $200 each.  The credit is applied on a calendar year basis and I've already redeemed my credit for 2016.  I will likely cancel the card prior to my anniversary so that's like getting $500 in airline reimbursement for $450!  I also have a Citi Gold Checking Account which reduces the fee on my card by another $100.  We earned 100,000 Citi Thank You points for these two bonuses which helped us fly home in Singapore Airlines First Class.

Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class



2)  $95 for the Citi Thank You Premier Card

Emily applied for this card in 2013 when the bonus was 20K points at sign-up and 30K after $3K in spend after the first anniversary.  So we had to pay the $95 fee to get the 30K bonus.  I've since cancelled the card and received a pro-rated annual fee credit via check.

3)  $95 for the Chase Fairmont Card

$95 for two nights in a suite in an awesome Vancouver hotel?  I'll take it.  This was one of the best deals of the year.  Fairmont was recently purchased so this card will likely change at some point.  I would recommend taking advantage sooner rather than later if you're interested...especially for a quick weekend to Vancouver.

4)  $85 for the Chase Marriott Card

This bonus will net me over 90,000 Marriott points - good enough for 2 nights at an amazing amount of excellent properties around the world.  We'll use these points for a couple of nights at the New York EDITION in 2016.

New York EDITION views

5)  $95 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The perpetual keeper.  $95 is a steal for 2x points on travel and dining (the vast majority of my spend) with no foreign transaction fees.  Chase has earned my business with such an awesome card.

6)  $89 for the Barclays US Air Card

I picked up this card prior to the American/USAirways merger and have not been disjointed.  I earned 50,000 miles from the signup bonus and receive a 10,000 mile (annually) credit back American Airlines award redemptions.  I value the 10,000 miles around $200 so this is quite the deal.  As long as the 10,000 mile rebate exists and I'm still redeeming American miles, I'll keep this one along with the $89 fee.

7)  $275 for 4 Bank of America Alaska Personal/Business Cards

Emirates First Class.  Enough said.  These 4 cards earned more than enough points for a one-way first class ticket on Emirates.  It's amazing that BofA lets you "churn" these cards.  I'm hoping to pickup a few more in 2016!

8)  $250 for the American Express Business Platinum

The actual fee is $450 but with $200 in airline reimbursement (i.e. gift cards) the fee is only $250 out of pocket.  With a 100,000 point signup bonus, this was one of the best deals of 2015.

9)  $65 for the Starwood American Express Card

I've had this card in my wallet since 2004.  I'll likely keep the card just for the longevity on my credit report.  I'm also getting 2x points on SPG stays along with credits toward elite status.  It will be very interesting to see what happens after the Marriott/Starwood merger.  I would imagine this card goes away but we shall see.

I'm headed into 2016 with the majority of these cards still in my wallet/credit card box.  Some will stay, some will go, and I'll add 20-25 new ones across the year.  As long as travel remains a priority, I'll allocate a certain amount of money towards these fees. If/when it's no longer a priority, I'll definitely work on slimming this list down!

2 comments:

  1. While realizing that you can't make any specific predictions, if you don't already have the Starwood American Express Card, what are your thoughts on rushing to get it now before going away, or waiting to see what comes up post-merger (i.e. do you think it likely you'll get a better deal if you already have the card and they offer some benefit or automatic conversion to a new card, or do you think it likely you'd get a better card bonus from a new card if you aren't already an SPG member?) I realize this is impossible to predict precisely, but wondering if you have any input or info to share based on what's happened in past mergers.

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  2. @SVJ I think you have a fair amount of time as the two programs likely won't be integrated until 2017 or even 2018. That said, it's unlikely that both cards issued by Chase (Marriott) and Amex (Starwood) will stay around. Given past history, Amex is unlikely to win/compete for the business which means the combined company will likely have co-branded cards solely issued by Chase. So to that point, I would pick up the SPG card relatively soon. I also think it's possible that there will be a new product offering once combined and one that we'd all be eligible to obtain since it would technically be a new product.

    Thanks for the question - would be happy to send over a SPG Amex referral (25K offer) if you are interested in applying. Thanks for your support.

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