7 Credit Card Fees and How to Avoid Them

Common card fees include the annual fee, late-payment fee, foreign-transaction fee, balance-transfer fee, cash-advance fee, returned-payment fee, and over-limit fee.

The easy wins

Pay on time to avoid late fees, choose a no-foreign-transaction card for travel, and skip cash advances, which often start charging interest immediately. Many strong cards carry no annual fee at all.

When a fee is worth it

An annual fee can pay for itself if a card's rewards or perks exceed it for your spending. Model the math with your real numbers rather than assuming a fee is always bad.