Annual Fee Breakeven
Premium cards advertise credits totaling far more than their fee. The only number that matters is how much of that you actually use.
What the card costs you each year.
Credits & benefits
Be honest about the second number. A $200 airline credit you use a quarter of is worth $50, not $200.
Net value per year
$427
Comfortably worth keeping.
- Credits at face value
- $970
- Credits you actually use
- $822
- Annual fee
- −$395
You're leaving $148 on the table. That's what the benefits tracker is for.
Why The Second Column Is The Whole Point
Every comparison of premium cards adds up the credits at face value and concludes the card pays for itself several times over. That arithmetic assumes you use every credit, every year, in full.
Almost nobody does.
A $200 airline incidental credit that only covers baggage fees on one specific airline is worth $200 to somebody who flies that airline and $0 to everybody else. A monthly dining credit that expires each month is worth what you remembered to spend, not twelve times the monthly cap.
Be Pessimistic On The First Year
If you're deciding whether to get a card, estimate low. Credits that require a change in behavior — a new food delivery service, a rideshare app you don't use — mostly don't get used. Credits that attach to something you already do get used almost every time.
The Fix
The reason we keep a benefits tracker is that most of the gap between face value and realized value is simply forgetting. A single sheet listing every credit, its deadline, and whether you've used it this cycle turns a marginal card into a clearly worthwhile one.
If the number above is negative, you have two options — use more of the credits, or downgrade the card to a no-fee version rather than closing it, which preserves your credit history.