Not a big fan of cards with annual fees but recently signed up for a couple Chase cards with signup bonuses, not realizing that the "annual" fee is actually charged the first day (seems better described as "upfront fee with subsequent annual fee" but that's beside the point).

I've read that clawbacks are possible with some (chase) and more rare with others (citi). I was wondering how often clawbacks occur with the various institutions. I've also heard that canceling in the first 60 days (when the fee would be refunded) to avoid the annual fee can get you blacklisted. I was just wondering if anyone has any insight to how frequently this occurs or if this is mainly something that happens to people that severely abuse these programs....or if it is much more commonplace. I have had various other cards with this institution that I have had open for 6+ months. If I cancel these two cards to avoid these fees, how much risk is there? I would like to know more about what they consider constituting a "bad relationship" with these institutions.

If there's anyone with any first-hand experience with this I would really apprecaite your feedback. Thanks in advance.

Which 2 cards are these?

Is it dependant on the card(s)? I thought it was institution-specific..nothing to do with which card. Is that not the case?

Welcome to flyertalk! You were definitely not ready to apply if you didn't read even enough of the terms and conditions to know that the first year's annual fee was not waived on your SW (or whatever) card. Much like rent, gym membership and virtually everything else, the fee is charged at the beginning of the period, if it is not waived for the first year. But you got the card and it will likely give you at least $500 in value, so enjoy!

Get cards that work for you, keep them for 11 months, cancel them or take a retention bonus, and don't worry. No one will be clawing back your miles.

Well, the general consensus on Chase is to keep the card at least 6+ months, as you have done before. (Which obviously requires paying the annual fee the first year if it's not wavied the first year.)

Also, what matters a lot is whether the card is for partner points or the bank's own points (UR in the case of Chase). So that's at least part of the reason that people are asking you which specific cards.

But exactly how clawbacks work might even vary from partner to partner (since they have to involve the partner, obviously, on partner clawbacks!).

And since most people want to avoid clawbacks at all costs, I'm not sure how many recent "experimenters" you'll find to give you data on how it works recently. (Most of the people who gave us data on clawbacks did so because they didn't realize their stuff be clawed back until too late, not because they were looking to see whether it woud be clawed back or not!)


But here's another thing to worry about (besides blacklisting) if you now cancel. If they do claw back, that still precludes you from applying for the card, possilby ever again! So if you lose the bonus now, you will not be able to get it later!

So please do the math, and see that the value of the bonus is (hopefully) much more than the annual fee you have to pay once (if you only keep the card up to about 11 months), while the cost of trying to avoid paying it may be much greater than you had imagined.