Originally Posted by
sethb
It's federal law that they can't raise the fee for the first year, which proved very annoying to me when I wanted to upgrade a card a few years ago. I had to get the new card and cancel the old, which was a hassle (new HHonors account to merge, etc.)
I had the same issues getting a higher level Delta card with Am Ex. Even though the card I wanted to upgrade to was a different card and provided a lot more benefits and I consented to the fee increase they weren't able to do it and I'd have to apply for a new card. What really sucks in this situation is your credit is going to take a hit for two new cards within a year and for credit card companies like chase that could make a difference. It's also a pain to roll over the credit from the old card to the new card and your credit takes more hits for closing an account out and closing an account that you had for such a short amount of time.
The OP sounded like he was assuming his annual fee would be $75 on renewal and I bet all Surpass members will see their cards converted and will be charged $95 on renewal. On their Renewal date everyone would have had the card for a year and they can legally change it.
The $20 increase is no brainer for being a good deal for people who put at least $15K on the card a year. The NO FTF is a nice feature also but I will probably continue to use my Chase CSR overseas on Hilton stays since Chase gives a better exchange rate than Am Ex and with Hilton points being Devalued who knows what they will be worth but at least I know my Chase points will be four and a half percent.