Almost every bank in Bangladesh waives the renewal fee if you use the card enough. Here is how the counting works, what counts as a transaction and how to make sure you never pay it.
The annual fee is the one cost of a credit card that you pay even if you never use it. In Bangladesh it ranges from about BDT 1,250 for an entry-level card to BDT 27,500 for a platinum product, plus 15% VAT. The good news is that most issuers will cancel the renewal fee if the card is used regularly, and the rules are public. Understanding them is the difference between a free card and a BDT 1,500 bill every year.
First-year fee and renewal fee are two different things
Banks usually distinguish between the issuance fee charged when the card is activated and the renewal fee charged on each anniversary. City Bank’s American Express Blue card, for instance, costs BDT 1,250 in the first year and BDT 2,500 from the second year. The waiver programmes almost always apply to the renewal, not to the first year, so the first fee is the price of admission and the following ones are the ones you can avoid.
Some banks charge the fee in advance, on the anniversary date, and refund or reverse it when the transaction count is met; others simply do not post it. Ask which method your bank uses, because a fee charged in advance and then reversed still appears on one statement and must not be left unpaid.
How the transaction count works
Eastern Bank waives the renewal on its Classic cards after 24 transactions in a year. BRAC Bank uses 18 transactions including at least 10 retail purchases at a point of sale, or a set number of reward points. Other banks set a spending amount instead of a count, typically between BDT 1 lakh and BDT 3 lakh a year for a classic card.
What counts is usually a purchase at a shop, online or at a point-of-sale terminal, in any amount. What often does not count: cash advances, fee postings, reversals and, at some banks, mobile-wallet top-ups. The counting year is the card year, from the activation date, not the calendar year, which is why cardholders who activate in November are caught out in the following November.
The easiest way to meet the count
Put one or two small recurring payments on the card: a broadband bill, a streaming subscription, a monthly mobile recharge. Two recurring items alone give you 24 transactions a year, which clears the EBL threshold and most of the others, without changing how you spend. Pay the statement in full so the fee waiver does not come at the price of 25% interest.
If you prefer to keep the card in a drawer for emergencies, check whether the bank offers a points-based waiver. BRAC Bank, for example, lets cardholders redeem reward points against the annual fee, and a cardholder who has met the count or has enough points can call the centre and request the reversal of a fee already posted.
When a fee is worth paying
A fee is not automatically bad. A BDT 3,000 gold card that gives you two free supplementary cards, lounge access and 0% instalments can be cheaper for a family than three separate free cards. The test is simple: add up the benefits you actually use in a year, in taka, and compare them with the fee plus VAT. If the card does not beat that number, downgrade to the classic version or switch to an issuer with a realistic waiver.
Watch the supplementary cards
Supplementary cards have their own fees and their own waiver rules. Standard Chartered gives the first two free and charges BDT 500 for the third; City Bank gives the first Amex supplementary free and charges the full amount for the second. If a family member no longer uses a supplementary card, cancel it before the anniversary rather than paying a fee for a card in a drawer.
Finally, read the fee table once a year. Bangladeshi banks revise their schedules of charges every few months, and a waiver rule can change from a count to an amount without much notice. The current version is always on the bank’s website under “schedule of charges”.
