The 95 dollar fee hits next month and my travel has dropped to about one trip a year since changing jobs. The card earns well on dining, which I do use, and it has a travel credit I have not touched in 18 months. It was my second oldest account. I do not want to wreck my credit history but I also do not want to pay for something I am not using.
Downgrade rather than close, in almost every version of this. A product change to a no fee card in the same family usually keeps the account and its opening date intact, so your history is untouched, and it keeps a line of credit open which helps your overall utilisation.
Before you do it, two checks. First, move or use any points sitting on the card, because points can be forfeited when a premium card is closed or changed and the rules differ by issuer. Second, ring retention and ask plainly whether there is an offer to keep it, worst case they say no and you downgrade the same call.
Move them to the transferable programme or a partner, not to a statement credit, unless you genuinely need the cash. Statement credit valuations are usually the worst option available.
Points question is a good catch, I have about 40000 sitting there. Moving them first.
One thing that should override all of the above: if you are applying for a mortgage or any large loan in the next six months, do nothing at all until it closes, and talk to your broker before touching any account. Not worth the risk for 95 dollars.
No mortgage plans, but that is a useful flag for people reading later.
Do the arithmetic honestly. If the travel credit needs a trip you are not taking, it is worth zero, not its face value, and the fee is 95 real dollars against dining earning that you could partly replicate on a no fee card. I kept a fee card for two years on the theory that I would start using the perks again and never did.
That is uncomfortably close to my situation. The credit is the only thing making the maths work and I keep not using it.
@outthedoor_otto · 10mo ago
Timing note from my own experience: many issuers will refund the fee if you change the product within roughly 30 days of it posting, so if you miss the deadline it is often not fatal. Do not rely on that as a plan though, and check your own issuer, policies vary and change.
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