So you spent a little more than you should’ve this past year and your credit card dinged you for a few bucks, no big deal right? What about a payment you sent in that was a day late? Little fees like that are probably not a big deal to you but they result in a ton of extra money each year for banks and credit card companies, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Those fees, in many cases, are like icing on a big fat cake for those companies and in that regard you can often get them removed just by asking.
If you ever get dinged for a fee, first take steps to make sure you don’t let it happen again. You won’t be able to use your ‘get out of jail free’ card every single month so you want to prevent the offending action in the first place. Plus, you can only use the ignorance excuse so many times before they realize it and deny your claims.
When calling, be polite to the person on the other end of the phone. They have a lot of latitude in removing small little < $25 fines and fees in order to keep you as a customer, they also have to deal with a lot of attitude so they may not feel like saving you a few dollars. Be cordial and tell them that you made a miscalculation, you really like the card, and would like the fee removed. If they don’t, you’ll have to escalate it by asking they remove it or you cancel the card. Usually that will work because the fees they earn by processing credit card transactions is so massive compared to a dinky over-the-limit fee that they will nix the fee to keep you spending.
This works for basically any business with these types of fines from credit cards to banks to anything. Your long term business is worth more than a $25 fee.
