Why "Annual Fee Waived" Turned into Deductions, Watch Out for Hidden Pitfalls in Credit Cards | Lanhai 315

Whale News, March 11th (Reporter Jin Lei) The issue of annual fees on bank credit cards has long been a source of controversy. No reminders are given before charging, and no explanations are provided afterward. These hidden costs are effectively passed on to cardholders, many of whom, due to lack of legal awareness or neglecting to check their bills, become “silent victims” and also erode trust in banks.

During the expansion phase of credit card proliferation, many users hold a large number of cards—some even have several or dozens of “dormant” cards tucked away in drawers. In fact, these credit cards require 3 to 6 transactions annually to waive the annual fee. With the general reduction of credit card benefits nowadays, having many cards has become more of a burden.

Many dormant cards are quietly charged after being forgotten by users. Usually, banks allow a grace period to make up the required transactions to avoid annual fees. However, in reality, fees are only waived if the user actively requests it. If not discovered in time, users can accumulate hundreds or even thousands of yuan in annual fees over several years. Credit card annual fee scams target those who do not regularly check their bills, leading to a sharp decline in card usage industry-wide.

Data shows that by the end of 2025, the total number of active credit and loan combination cards in China will be 696 million, a decrease of 31 million from the previous year, marking 13 consecutive quarters of decline. This is a reduction of 111 million from the peak at the end of Q3 2022.

Whale News has found that the issue of annual fees has spread to high-end cards with more benefits, mainly involving tricky wording about validity periods and hidden pitfalls such as manual redemption of points for fee waivers.

On the occasion of the 315 Consumer Rights Day, Mr. Zhang recently told Whale News that he was charged an annual fee after renewing his Minsheng Bank credit card.

Mr. Zhang further explained that several years ago, when opening a Hong Kong card with Minsheng Bank, he was repeatedly recommended by the account manager to apply for two Minsheng Bank credit cards: a UnionPay Elite Platinum card and an American Express Cultural Heritage-themed card. When asked about the annual fee, the manager said that spending 12 transactions of any amount per year would suffice.

However, after the card’s validity expired, the bank automatically mailed a new card. Despite meeting the requirement of 12 transactions before the renewal date, he was still charged the annual fee on the new card’s renewal day. When Mr. Zhang called customer service, he was told that the annual fee was 1,800 yuan per year, which could be offset with 200,000 points. He had previously enjoyed a special fee waiver policy through a special channel when applying, which allowed him to waive the fee if he completed 12 transactions within the card’s validity period. But since a new card was issued, the special policy no longer applied.

Mr. Zhang said he was unaware of this, as the bank did not notify him when replacing the card, and the customer manager did not proactively inform him. He did not intend to apply for the new card himself. After multiple negotiations, he managed to get the fee waived and the card canceled.

If Mr. Zhang hadn’t noticed the fee deduction, he would have paid “tuition” for a favor he thought was simple.

In fact, similar hidden pitfalls are not uncommon.

A similar case involved China Everbright Bank. Some respondents said that high-end cards like the Classic White and Filial Piety White require users to manually apply for points redemption on the app to waive annual fees. Many users assume that meeting spending targets or redeeming points automatically deducts the fee. Even if they know, over time they tend to forget, and importantly, there are no SMS notifications when fees are charged, making it difficult to detect without checking bills.

Industry insiders suggest that if such issues are discovered early and the time span is short, banks generally will refund the annual fee. However, if the delay is longer, it becomes more difficult to handle fees from previous years.

They further recommend that cardholders keep a record of each card’s fee rules in Excel, regularly update their progress toward spending targets, and cancel unused cards promptly to avoid future disputes over annual fees.