Open a card that waives the first year's annual fee. Some credit cards waive the annual fee for the first year so customers can try out the benefits. When people use the benefits for a year, it gives ...

Doing so effectively cancels out the annual fee, meaning you come out on top. Still, paying an annual fee, especially a high one—some annual fees are upwards of $600—can be frustrating.

While you can offset the annual fee by using all of the perks ... keep in mind that many of them are part of airline alliances — which means you can book airlines within the U.S. For example ...

No matter how convincing your argument is, some banks will not waive the annual fee. While this can be disappointing, it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. There are other steps you can take ...