Credit Card Annual Fees Are Going Up—Are They Still Worth It?

Credit card issuers are raising the annual fees on their premium products, to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Chase, most notably, upped the yearly charge for its popular Sapphire Reserve from $550 to $795 in June 2025, but it’s not the only issuer with increasingly pricey plastic. Learn more about the recent fee increases and how to determine when a high annual fee is worth it.

Travel Credit Cards Are Getting More Expensive

In addition to the Sapphire Reserve, these travel credit cards have gotten more expensive in recent years. 

• Chase raised the fee on its United Mileage Explorer credit card from $95 to $150 in March 2025.
• American Express raised the fee on its Amex Gold card from $250 to $325 in July 2024.
• The co-branded Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card’s annual fee increased from $450 to $650 in Sept. 2022.
• Amex has charged a $695 annual fee for its Platinum card since 2021. The issuer announced in June 2025 that it would be revamping the card, but would not confirm or deny whether the annual fee would increase as a result. 

What Do You Get for a Higher Annual Fee?

High annual fees are common among premium travel credit cards that offer robust benefits, including eye-popping welcome offers, travel credits, airport lounge access, and more. 

As of publication, Chase’s new Sapphire Reserve, for instance, advertises “more than $2,700 in annual value,” which includes a $300 travel credit, a $469 airport lounge access subscription, $120 in Peloton credits, and a DoorDash membership. 

These cards often offer a handsome return on spending, too. Sapphire Reserve cardholders now earn 8X points on Chase Travel (formerly 5X), and 4X points on flights and hotels rather than 3X points on all travel.

Amex Platinum cardholders earn 5X points on flights booked with airlines or through Amex Travel, up to a limit of $500,000 spent per calendar year. They also receive 5X points on prepaid travel booked through Amex Travel and 1X points on all other purchases.

Other common perks of high annual fee credit cards include:

• Annual credits for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS
• Travel coverages, like trip cancellation or rental car insurance
• Shopping coverages, like price or purchase protection
• No foreign transaction fees
• Elite status at hotels or airlines
• Dining credits
• Free anniversary hotel stays

Are Higher Annual Fees Worth the Cost?

Pricey credit cards are worth it if you can recoup the cost of the annual fee (and then some) through the rewards and benefits. But doing so typically requires a certain level of spending. 

Take an example welcome offer you may find with the Sapphire Reserve: You can earn 100,000 points by spending $5,000 in your first three months as a cardholder. If that required spending is outside what you can comfortably afford, you might not earn the bonus or, even worse, you might wind up carrying a balance that requires you to pay interest.

But it’s important to consider card usage beyond welcome bonuses. If you value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.25 cents when redeemed for travel, you’d need to earn 63,600 points to cover the new $795 fee. Let’s say your annual spending look like this:

• $5,000 spent on travel at 8X points: 40,000 points
• $2,000 spent on travel at 4X points: 8,000 points
• $3,000 spent on dining at 3X points: 9,000 points
• $20,000 spent on other purchases at 1X points: 20,000 points

If you spend that much you’ll have 770,000 points, enough to cover the annual fee and then some. But this leaves out the card benefits, which you should plan to use as much as possible. If you can use the $300 travel credit and other perks, the spending you need to do will go down accordingly.

“Choosing a card that offers incentives [for] the type of spending you already do will offer the most benefits around offsetting the annual fee,” said Phillip Parker, founder at CardPaymentOptions.com. “From there, calculate how often you travel and will take advantage of the free food and drinks in the lounges.”

Plus, “make sure the credits and incentives they offer are something you will actually use,” said David Shipper, strategic advisor in the retail banking and payments practice at Datos Insights. “For example, $120 in Peloton credits is worthless to someone who won’t use this benefit.” 

You’ll also want to assess ease of use, as it’s become increasingly common to see caveats, most notably with statement credits. The Amex Platinum, for instance, offers $200 in Uber Cash each year, but you receive it in $15 monthly increments, with a $20 bonus in December. If you don’t use the credit allocated for a given month, it’s gone.

Instead of taking the benefits at face value, add up the value of the perks you actually expect to use, considering how much they’re worth to you. Are they practically necessary, or just nice to have? A Priority Pass membership may cost $469, for example, but is it worth that much to you? Will you use once in a while, but not very often? If so, consider giving it a lower value for your own calculations.

Why Are Credit Card Annual Fees Going Up?

Annual fees help subsidize the cost of offering card benefits, so changes to a card’s perks often result in changes to a card’s cost.

An American Express spokesperson said the company refreshes its card benefits every few years to ensure they align with customer preferences and will only raise an annual fee if a card’s value rises as well. Chase did not respond to a request for comment. 

Issuers typically beef up benefits to better compete with similar cards on the market. Chase and Amex, for instance, have been revamping the Sapphire Reserve and Platinum in tandem since the former debuted in 2016.

Card companies are also trying to attract big spenders, since swipe fees—the charge merchants pay each time a customer uses a credit card—are a significant source of their revenue.

The more an issuer charges, “the more status that comes with the card,” Shipper said. “Cardholders who want to have the best card in their wallet are also likely to spend more in general.”