According to a recent survey, the average credit card charges six fees- although some may charge as many as 12. You are probably familiar with most of the common ones such as late payment penalty fees, balance transfer fees, and cash advance fees. But some credit cards charge members for services that most people would expect to be free.
Here are five unusual fees that you might encounter with a credit card issuer and what you can do to avoid them.
Fees for opening an account
It’s hard to imagine that some credit card issuers charge for this service but it occasionally does happen. For instance, The First Premier Bank Credit Card charges new members a one-time processing fee of $95 to open an account. While some cards have an annual fee of this amount or more, it’s fairly rare (one out of a hundred) for a card issuer to impose this fee. The lesson learned? Make sure you read the fine print of a credit card agreement before signing up.
Printing costs
Some credit cards charge an additional fee of $1 – $5 for sending monthly paper statements to members. With some issuers, this fee may only apply to customers who want older statements. This fee can generally be avoided by choosing the “online only” ( or “go green”)option for receiving monthly statements.
Fee for changing your mind
If you choose to close your account and then decide you want to re-open it, you may be hit with a fee. For a few of its cards, American Express charges card members $25 to re-open an account that has been closed. How to avoid this? Be certain you want to close out an account before actually doing so.
Fee for making payments over the phone
Typically, this does not apply to payments made through a valid automated phone service. However, if you pay your bill through a customer service representative some credit cards may tack on a charge of $10 – $15 for the convenience. Usually you can avoid this type of fee by setting up automatic payments or by paying your bill online.
Fee for a credit line increase
The Credit One Visa Platinum credit card charges cardholders up to $49 for a credit line increase. The First Premier Bank Credit Card charges a fee equal to 25% of the approved credit limit increase. The fact is that many of the credit card issuers which impose these charges are dealing with consumers who have little or no credit or bad credit histories. This translates to more risk on the part of the credit card companies so hence the heftier fees.