Is Your Credit Card Annual Fee Refundable?

It can be easy to overlook the annual fee when your credit card automatically renews for another year. Once you’ve gotten over the excitement of welcome bonuses and cash back perks, it’s easy to forget, as the fee becomes one line item among many on a monthly statement, only noticed long after the charge has been processed. But what if you didn’t intend to renew your card—can you still cancel it and get a refund on the annual fee?

Most credit card companies refund annual fees

Fortunately, most lenders will retroactively refund your annual fee if you call them to cancel the card, provided that it’s still relatively close to your renewal date. Usually you’ll need to do so by the closing date for the statement on which the charge appears.

Generally speaking, the sooner you cancel, the more likely it is the fee will be refunded—after all, it’s much harder for a lender to justify fee for a year-long term if the card is canceled after a month or so. Here’s a look at the refund policies of the major lenders:

• American Express offers a refund if you cancel within 30 days of the closing date of the billing statement on which the annual fee appears.
• Bank of America doesn’t have a set policy, but you’re more likely to get a refund if you’re cancelling right after the fee is posted. It also helps if you have a history of making payments on time.
• Barclays offers a refund if you cancel within 60 days of the closing date of the statement that includes the change for the annual fee.
• Capital One provides a refund if you cancel within 30 days of the statement date.
• Chase also allows for refunds within 30 days of the closing date of the billing statement on which the fee appears.
• Citi will refund your annual fee for up to 37 days after the charge hits your statement.
• U.S. Bank automatically refunds their annual fee if you close the account within 30 days of the charge appearing in your statement.
• Wells Fargo will give you a refund within 90 days of being charged the annual fee.

One thing to keep in mind: closing a credit card account can damage your credit score. Instead of closing the account, you might want to consider downgrading to a card with no fee. For more on that, check out this Lifehacker post, which spells out all of your options.