If you’re into the travel rewards game, you likely have a wallet full of credit cards, some of which are sure to carry annual fees. In what has been a difficult year for many financially, it’s worth a phone call to see if your bank has any sort of credit card retention bonus offers via a statement credit or waiver of an annual fee.

I’ve dipped my toe into credit card rewards waters, though I’m far from an expert. But if an actual expert like Frequent Miler can save $575 with a 20-minute phone call, surely I can save $35 for myself. Which is what I did.

Hey, might as well ask. The worst they can do is say no.

Calling your credit card companies

Now, I’m not suggesting that you try to deceive credit card companies with the whole song-and-dance about how you’re ready to cancel a credit card unless the bank waives your annual fee—though if you’re seriously considering closing a card, you ought to try that first. There’s no need for such an ultimatum. What I’m talking about is simply dialing the number on the back of your card and straight-up asking for any retention offers. If you’re asked whether you’re considering canceling your card, you don’t have to lie—just say that you’ve heard of others being offered retention bonuses and wanted to see if you were eligible for any yourself. No moral conundrum or risk of accidentally having a card canceled by an overzealous service agent.  

If there’s one positive to 2020, it’s that even soulless corporations are demonstrating a morsel of empathy in light of the circumstances. Why not take advantage of these rare instances?

In my case, all five of my current credit cards happen to be with Chase Bank. I whiffed in my attempts on four of them, but my inquiry on the fifth and final card was worth $35 in the form of a statement credit. The card, the lowest-tier Southwest card (Plus), carries a $69 annual fee. With a $35 statement credit, I essentially knocked that fee in half. When you consider that I receive 3,000 Rapid Rewards points on my card anniversary—valued on the low-end at one cent per point—my annual fee is basically free this year. If you use a 1.5 cent per point valuation as The Points Guy does, I came out ahead on that particular card for the year. Not bad for five minutes of effort.

What kind of credit card retention bonus offers can you score?

I was happy to earn a statement credit, but some cards will go one further and waive their annual fee entirely. Others might offer points for their particular rewards program, which is just as good as money in my book. In any case, it’s worth it to make a five-minute phone call, even if you only have one card.

It hasn’t been an ideal year for aspiring travel rewards hobbyists like myself. Point redemptions have been delayed to a time when the world regains some semblance of post-pandemic normality. But in the meantime, many cards have been forced to get creative with their reward offerings. Bonus deadlines have been extended, while other cards have offered 5x points on popular pandemic categories such as grocery spending. There are points to be earned in the current environment, and hopefully the world will be more conducive to point redemptions sooner than later.

As an aside, allow me to include the disclaimer here that there are no credit card affiliate links on this site, because that’s just not a rabbit hole I’ve not wandered down. But I can provide you with an Amazon Affiliates link to allow you to carry your credit cards like a late 90s high school kid carried his Blues Traveler CDs.

Don’t limit your discount hunting

This line of thinking doesn’t have to be specific to credit cards, by the way. Take a look at any of your recurring payments and see if they’re willing to offer a loyal customer such as yourself any sort of relief. You needn’t craft a sob story and beg for a discount. Just ask, and you may receive. And if you don’t, c’est la vie.

My auto insurance—Geico, despite their commercials—took a preemptive measure earlier this year by chopping off 10 percent of my hefty semiannual payment back in May, without any prompt from me. This kind of goodwill act gives me a reason to think something positive of a company I typically curse under my breath when payments are due. Or when I see 300 of the same commercial on a football Sunday.

There’s not shortage of opportunities to shave a few bucks off of your recurring payments. Start by looking into your new credit card carrying case and go from there.