Whether you’re planning for the future or trying to time an application, it can be difficult to figure out when an issuer is going to charge your annual fee. Here’s a handy guide to when the major issuers charge annual fees.
This is still a bit of a work in progress. If you have any additional data, especially where issuers are missing data, or for unlisted issuers, please do comment below! The data needed to draw a conclusion is generally: card approval date; annual fee posting date; first (for Year 1) & thirteenth statement close date (for Year 2 & beyond)—include the year as necessary.
† Year 1 is the first year you have the card, i.e. from card approval date to your first card anniversary. Year 2 is the second year you have the card, i.e. from your first card anniversary to your second card anniversary. Results proceed similarly for subsequent years.
Data was compiled from users who responded to my solicitations in the Daily Discussion threads on r/churning. (Many thanks to the following users, in alphabetical order: AbaloneNacre; dmonstar; EvilSecondTwin; GenericWittyNameHere; MyLittleChurny; positivecontrol; shalprak; SecondToYou; VanillaPumpkinCake.) (Additional thanks to the DOC readers in the comments: Andrey; Chong786; Ewejay; Gadget; MJ; rajansv.)
Contents
American Express
- Year 1: Statement closing date following your card approval date.
- Year 2 & beyond: Statement closing date of every twelfth statement from the first statement (thirteenth, twenty-fifth, etc. statement).†
† Equivalent to the statement closing date following your card anniversary date unless your first statement date was more than one month after approval. Also generally equivalent to exactly a year after your first statement close date (or exactly a year after your annual fee was previously charged), but it is possible for that date to change slightly. (E.g. u/positivecontrol had July 26 for six of seven years, including two leap years, but one year the statement closed on July 25.)
Bank of America
- Year 1: Last day of the month† following your card approval date.
- Year 2 & beyond: Last day of the month† following your card anniversary date.
† In some circumstances, this may be shifted to the first business day thereafter.
Barclays
- Year 1: Last business day of the month following your card approval date.
- Year 2 & beyond: Last business day of the month following your card anniversary date.
CapitalOne
- Year 1: Statement close date following your card approval date.
- Year 2 & beyond: Statement close date following your card anniversary date.
Chase
- Year 1: First day of the month following your card approval date†.
- Year 2 & beyond: First day of the month following your card anniversary date.
† There are rare exceptions. (Most notably those who applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve via the leaked link in August 2016.)
Citi
- Year 1: Statement close date following your card approval date?
- Year 2 & beyond: Statement close date following your card anniversary date.
TD Bank
- Year 1: Unknown.
- Year 2 & beyond: Unknown.
US Bank
- Year 1: Statement close date following your card approval date.
- Year 2 & beyond: Statement close date following your card anniversary date.
Wells Fargo
- Year 1: Unknown.
- Year 2 & beyond: Unknown.
US bank AR dp: they charged af on the last day of first statement period
US Bank DP for first year – Flex Perks Account open 8/10/16, 1st year AF fee waived, 2nd year hit my statement 9/11/17.
One PSA for military/vets – When you get a free (for vets or active duty) US Bank platinum checking, you get your 2nd year CC AF waived as well. My statement says : Platinum Pkg 2nd Year Fee Waive $0″
Thank you for doing this! Not all heroes wear capes.
Very useful to me. Thanks DOC.
He’ll no to annual fees, there are plenty of credit cards with great benefits without paying stupid annual fees, such as:
1) PenFed credit union power cash visa signature
2) Golden1 credit union platinum rewards credit card
3) vantage west credit union connect visa signature credit card
4) fort Knox federal credit union platinum visa credit card
5) Chase Freedom credit card
6) Discover it credit card
7) Discover it cash back match credit card
8) Lake Michigan credit union prime visa credit card
9) PenFed credit union pathfinder rewards amex credit card
‘Nuff said!
You are missing the point. Some cards are worth the annual fee for certain people. You or I may not want to track annual fees, but some people are able to double dip or even triple dip annual Rewards and then cancel a card after paying a small prorate AF, if anything at all. People who get reimbursed for business travel rake in the dough if they manage this successfully. I am not that guy.
You’re missing out. Been churning cards with the wife for 8 years now (about 100 cards) and in most cases the greatest bonuses and benefits came with annual fees, paid in the first year. Not talking about the $450 annual fee cards which haven’t been justified for us but still are for others. Spread your wings, my friend. You have a lot of opportunity if you haven’t touched fee cards.
Capital One Venture opened December 08, 2016
Annual fee posted in the statement closing January 05, 2018.
Was the annual fee dated January 5, 2018 on the statement? Or some other date?
The annual fee was dated January 5, 2018 (same as statement closing date).
Excellent; thank you! (& updated the post)
DoC, can you shed some light on annual fees when product changing? Specifically with Chase I had roughly 6 months of no fee on CSR when product changed from Freedom. Recently upgrade MP Explorer to Club and rep said should be 6 months but all benefits start immediately. Thanks.
The full annual fee when product changing should occur as specified in the post; the product change doesn’t change your card anniversary date.
I do not recall how different issuers handle pro-rated annual fees (it doesn’t come up very much). Usually, this is specified in the terms of the product change. It also depends on whether you’re before your first card anniversary date or not (due to laws about what elements of a credit card you can change during the first year).
I believe Chase charges you the both pro-rated annual fee & full annual fee at the usual time while American Express charges you the pro-rated annual fee on next statement close and the full annual fee at the usual time. (But I could be misremembering.)
AF’s are one of my biggest fears when dealing with new cards. I haven’t yet dipped into any cards with them, so this list will definitely help should I ever get an AF card. Thanks!
Data Point: My partner and I both managed to snag the Chase IHG free night anniversary without paying the annual fee. So it’s definitely worth canceling that card in the final hour to see if you can get the free night certificate!
Applied/approved for BoA Alaska 29-Nov-17… $75 AF posted 30-Nov-17 (last day of initial approval month)… first statement closed 26-Dec-17 (with the AF activity showing obviously).
Thank you; I’ve updated the post 🙂