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

Blue 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 market share, many users hold a large number of cards—some even have dozens of “dormant” cards stored away. In reality, 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 practice, fees are only waived if the user actively requests it. If not noticed in time, thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan in annual fees can accumulate over several years. Credit card annual fee scammers target those who do not 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. Compared to the peak at the end of Q3 2022, there has been a reduction of 111 million cards.

Blue 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 Consumer Rights Day (March 15), Mr. Zhang recently told Blue 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 renewal day. When Mr. Zhang called customer service, he learned that the annual fee was 1,800 yuan per year, which could be offset with 200,000 points. He was told that due to a special channel, he enjoyed a special fee policy when applying, and during the card’s validity, spending 12 transactions per year could waive the fee. But after the 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 the annual fee. 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, handling fees from previous years becomes more difficult.

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