I am a qualified bean counter who is not very good at managing her own finances. I endorse credit cards and spend lots by using them. I cannot imagine living without them. However I am pissed off with the banks for charging me (and the rest of us) annual fees for using the cards.

This really annoys me because the banks make millions through our transactions and from the interests charges. They can, NOT charge us. But still they choose to. What I (and many people) did not know is that you can ask for the banks to waive the charges. They would gladly waive the charges only IF you ask and request. This only works IF you know this. Those who do not know this will continue to pay the charges. Of course the banks are more than happy to take the extra income and make more profit from us. Very sneaky indeed!!

For those who are not aware of what to do, all you need to do is to contact the bank and ask them to waive the annual fees. 99.9% of the time, the bank will oblige and credit your money back. Even if the charges were from last year or the year before, you should just try and ask for a refund. They will not risk losing their customers because as we all know, it is much easier to maintain a current customer than to get a new one. I even managed to get a refund 6 months after they were charged and after I had already paid the annual fees. You never know if you do not try.