Annual Fees on Travel Cards — When Are They Actually Worth Paying?

Every year, millions of Filipinos get charged an annual fee on their credit card. Some pay it without thinking. Some call to dispute it. Some just let it slide because "may rewards naman."

But here's the question most people never actually sit down to answer:

Is the fee worth what you're getting back?

Not in theory. Not based on the card's marketing materials. Based on your actual spending, your actual travel habits, and the actual value of the miles sitting in your account.

This guide does that math for you.

What Annual Fees Actually Look Like in the Philippines

First, let's get the numbers on the table.

Most cards waive the fee in the first year, which is why so many people apply without thinking too hard about it. The real decision comes in year two, when the fee hits and you have to decide whether to keep it, call to waive it, or cancel.

The Break-Even Math Nobody Shows You

Here's the fundamental question: does the value of miles you earn in a year exceed the annual fee you paid?

Using the standard Philippine benchmark of ₱0.80 per mile for economy redemptions, here's the spending needed to break even on the annual fee alone:

That's ₱150,000 to ₱225,000 in annual spending just to earn back the fee in miles value. Everything above that is actual reward.

If you're redeeming for business class, where one mile is worth closer to ₱1.50, the BDO AmEx Explorer breaks even at just ₱80,000 in annual spending. But most beginners redeem economy, so the ₱0.80 figure is the more honest baseline.

Ganyan ang kwento ni Renz, a 28-year-old from Cebu who got the Chinabank Destinations World as his first travel card. "I was excited about the nine airline partners," he said. "But when I actually computed my spending, I was only putting about ₱8,000 to ₱10,000 a month on the card. Hindi pala ako naabot ang break-even."

At ₱10,000 a month — ₱120,000 a year — Renz was earning roughly 4,000 miles annually. Worth about ₱3,200. But paying ₱6,000 for the privilege. He was losing ₱2,800 a year without realizing it.

The Part Where It Gets Interesting: The Waiver Culture

Here's something most bank marketing materials won't tell you.

In the Philippines, annual fees are often negotiable.

Filipino cardholders have developed a well-documented playbook for getting fees waived — and it works more often than you'd think.

Level 1: Just call and ask. BPI is historically the easiest. One cardholder on r/PHCreditCards reported getting their BPI fee waived for 16 consecutive years just by calling every renewal cycle. The approach is simple — politely tell the agent you've been a loyal customer and ask if the fee can be waived. Works surprisingly often.

Level 2: Mention the competition. "Other banks like BDO and EastWest offer fee waivers — why can't you?" This line has been cited across Filipino personal finance forums as consistently effective. Banks don't want to lose customers to competitors over something as fixable as an annual fee.

Level 3: Threaten to cancel. Reserve this for when the first two don't work. Banks often prefer to waive a ₱5,000 fee than lose a cardholder who might have ₱50,000 in monthly spending. Works well with BDO. Use it calmly and matter-of-factly, hindi parang galit.

Level 4: Hit the spending threshold. Some cards auto-waive based on annual spend. BDO AmEx Explorer waives at ₱450,000 annual spend. Metrobank ran a 2025 promo requiring ₱100,000 within 90 days for a free-for-life waiver. These thresholds reset the math entirely — if you're already spending that much naturally, the fee question disappears.

Level 5: Use your points to pay it. Some banks allow you to redeem reward points directly against annual fees. Not always the best use of points, but it's an option worth knowing.

If you get the annual fee waived — which is genuinely achievable — the break-even calculation disappears entirely. Every peso of spending becomes pure miles accumulation.

When the Annual Fee Is Clearly NOT Worth It

Be honest with yourself about these situations.

• You travel once a year or less. The miles you accumulate on occasional travel spending won't outpace the fee. A cashback card with no annual fee will return more guaranteed value.
• Your annual card spending is under ₱150,000. That's the minimum to break even on the cheapest travel card. Below that threshold, you're paying the bank more than the miles are worth to you.
• You're carrying a balance. This is the biggest one. If you're not paying in full every month, the 3% monthly interest will erase any miles earned in a matter of weeks. Annual fee math is completely irrelevant once interest enters the picture.
• The perks go unused. Lounge access you don't use, travel insurance you've never claimed, concierge services you've never called — these have zero value to you regardless of what they'd cost someone else.

Si Ana, a 30-year-old marketing manager from Taguig, held a premium travel card for two years primarily for the airport lounge access. "I thought it was sulit kasi may lounge," she said. She flew domestically twice a year — Boracay and Palawan, both leisure trips on fixed holiday dates. PAGSS lounge access is worth about ₱1,200 per visit. Two visits a year meant ₱2,400 in lounge value — against a ₱5,500 annual fee. She was overpaying by ₱3,100 a year for a perk she barely used.

The Perks That Look Valuable — But Often Aren't

Travel card marketing loves to lead with benefits. Here's an honest look at three of the most common ones.

Airport lounge access. A PAGSS lounge visit costs roughly ₱1,200 to ₱1,500 if you buy it at the door. Cards that offer unlimited lounge visits sound generous — but the value only adds up if you actually fly often enough. If you're flying domestically two to three times a year, you need four to five visits just to break even on a ₱5,500 fee through lounge access alone. Frequent flyers get real value here. Occasional travelers mostly don't.

Travel insurance. Most travel cards include ₱5 million to ₱20 million in travel accident insurance, which sounds impressive. But coverage is typically limited to accidents during travel booked and paid for with the card — and many Filipinos don't know they need to register trips in advance to be eligible to claim. It's a benefit that exists on paper more than in practice for most cardholders.

Concierge services. Premium cards include 24/7 concierge for restaurant reservations, hotel bookings, and event tickets. Genuinely useful for frequent business travelers. Rarely touched by everyone else.

The pattern: perks have real value for the person the card was designed for. For everyone else, they're a selling point that doesn't translate into actual savings.

The Sunk Cost Trap

Here's a pattern that shows up constantly in Filipino financial forums — and it's worth naming directly.

Someone pays a ₱5,000 or ₱6,000 annual fee. Then, because they've already paid it, they feel compelled to use the card more to "make it worth it." They spend on things they wouldn't otherwise buy. They prioritize the card over cash or a simpler card that would serve them better. The annual fee — instead of being a cost to evaluate — becomes a justification for more spending.

This is called the sunk cost trap, and credit card companies design their rewards programs knowing it happens.

The fee is already paid. It cannot be recovered through spending. The only question at renewal is forward-looking: will the value of miles I earn in the next 12 months exceed the fee I'm about to pay? If the answer is no, cancel or call to waive it.

A Smarter Starting Point for Beginners

Maraming Filipinos do better by avoiding high-fee travel cards entirely at the start.

The logic is straightforward. When you're just learning how travel rewards work — how to redeem miles, which airline partners offer the best value, how to time a booking — a ₱6,000 annual fee is tuition you're paying while still figuring out the subject.

A better sequence:

1. Start with a no-fee or low-fee card. The PNB Mabuhay Miles NOW has no annual fee for life. The BDO AmEx Explorer is free in year one and starts at ₱4,000 after — the lowest fee among the major travel cards.
2. Learn the redemption process by actually booking something. Domestic is fine. A Manila–Cebu ticket is a real redemption that teaches you more than reading about it.
3. Reassess after one year. By then you'll know your actual monthly spending, whether you've been paying in full consistently, and whether the miles you earned are worth more than the fee you'd pay to keep earning them.
4. Upgrade if and only if the math justifies it.

The Annual Fee Question, Simplified

Every year, before you pay an annual fee, ask two questions.

1. Did I earn more in miles value last year than this fee costs?
2. Will I earn more in miles value next year than this fee costs?

If both answers are yes, pay it. If either is no, call and ask for a waiver first — you'll often get it. And if the waiver is refused and the math doesn't work, cancel and move to a card that fits your actual spending.

Loyalty to a card that doesn't serve you is just a fee you're paying for free.