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Complete Guide to Credit Card Retention Offers: Bank-by-Bank Comparison (2025)
December 12, 2024
This is a guest post from Kudos user and rewards maximizer, Matthew Dong. You can check out his awesome credit card and personal finance content at Wuhoo Group.
Getting a retention offer from a bank for a credit card you’re already planning on keeping is a great way to get free credits or points. Each bank has their own nuance, rules, and trends for retention offers, so you’ll want to understand what you’re going into before you call or chat.
Note, this analysis is pulled from online data points and my own personal experience as of January 2025. Offers and rules can always change.
American Express
American Express is probably the best at giving retention offers in terms of frequency and amount. Usually you can get a retention offer every other year on your annual fee cards. Types of bonuses vary, and they can change week to week before and after your renewal date. If you don’t like a certain offer, you can decline and see if there is a new offer the following week. But be careful - the new offer could also be worse.
Likelihood of Offer: High - every other year, could be more frequent if you spend a lot on the card.
Best time to ask: Start asking a few weeks before your renewal date, but you have up until 30 days afterwards before you can't get the whole annual fee reimbursed.
How to ask: By phone or chat - personally I see better results over chat.
Types of Offers:
- The best offer is usually similar to a sign-up bonus - Spend X to get Y,000 points. These vary so much, so it's up to you to evaluate whether the spend is worth the bonus. Typically you'd want to get a 10 points per dollar spend rate (e.g., Spend $3,000 get 30,000 points). Some of the worse retention offers offer less (e.g., Spend $10,000 to get 40,000 points)
- Other offers provide statement credit instead of points (e.g., Spend $3,000 get $300). While not as flexible as points, usually these can at least be thought of as annual fee waivers or discounts.
- A common, but terrible retention offer is to use points to cover your annual fee - usually at a 1 cent per point rate. If you have Membership Reward points, it's usually a lot better to use these points for free travel rather than covering a purchase. However, usually that would be 0.6 cents per point, so if you're really strapped, then you could consider this offer
Other Notes:
- Offers can change quickly, so if you don't take the one they offer you at the moment, it might not be offered again. So you could get a better one later or none at all.
- There won't be any sort of tracker for your spend, but you can contact Amex and they can tell you how much you still need.
Citibank
Citi also offers some nice retention bonuses on their own and co-branded cards. They are one of the few banks that could give retention offers even on no annual fee cards. Therefore, if you have the time, I highly encourage asking for retention offers every year for ALL of your Citi cards. See the notes section below.
Likelihood of Offer: High - possible to get one every year for some cards
Best time to ask: Start asking a few weeks before your renewal date, but you have up until 30 days afterwards before you can't get the whole annual fee reimbursed.
How to ask: By phone
Types of Offers:
- The best offer is usually similar to a sign-up bonus similar to the American Express set above. It doesn't seem that Citi has as high point offers, but you'll still want to look for the same ratio of spend to bonus points.
- Other offers provide a refund of the annual fee after a spend requirement.
Other Notes:
- Some users even report retention offers on some of Citi's no annual fee cards like the Double Cash, so there's no ever a harm in asking!
- Citi will also offer "waiting" bonuses where they will offer some miles while you wait to see if there are even retention offers available. These have no stipulations but come in low amounts. For example, while I went to cancel my Citi AA Platinum Select card, they offered 1,000 miles for me not to cancel until I hear about any retention offers. When I learned that my retention offer was to spend $1,000 to get the $99 annual fee waived, I rejected the offer, but still got my 1,000 miles.
Capital One
Capital One isn’t known to give out retention offers, at most they provide statement credit to waive the annual fee. Note the timing of when to ask if you think you’re actually going to cancel or downgrade.
Likelihood of Offer: Very low
Best time to ask: BEFORE your annual fee renews, because Capital One does NOT reimburse/prorate the annual fee after you cancel/downgrade the card.
How to ask: By phone.
Types of Offers:
- They might waive the annual fee without any spend requirements. Some people get it often, others never - hard to say what is the trigger.
Other Notes:
- Also note that to downgrade a Capital One card, you actually don't. Even if you're going from an annual fee card to no annual fee, Capital One calls that an upgrade. Finally, you have to have an upgrade offer available to even product change.
Chase
Chase used to offer plenty of retention offers, especially on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but gradually has been more strict about giving them out. Retention offers are more common on co-branded cards though.
Likelihood of Offer: Low for Chase branded cards, Medium for co-branded cards (e.g., Marriott, United, etc.)
Best time to ask: Usually right after you get the annual fee hit, but before 30 days of the annual fee posting so you can get the full fee reimbursed if card is cancelled or downgraded.
How to ask: By phone or secure message
Types of Offers:
- Usually it's a straight statement credit that you'll get 2-3 billing cycles after the annual fee posts. For example, my United Quest card received $100 in statement credit when I attempted to cancel the card - no spend requirement needed.
- On Reddit, there seems to be reports of Chase Sapphire Card holders receiving $150 as a retention offer to keep their card.
Other Notes:
- Usually the statement credit won't cover the whole annual fee
- While offers can change, they won’t fluctuate as often as Amex.
Barclays
Barclays co-branded cards are pretty varied and after some research, there doesn't seem to be too many data points. However, see what I found.
Likelihood of Offer: Medium - seems to be dependent on the brand.
Best time to ask: Start asking a few weeks before your renewal date, but you have up until 30 days afterwards before you can't get the whole annual fee reimbursed.
How to ask: By phone
Types of Offers:
- Generally there seems to be a spend requirement to either get statement credit or points - depending on the brand.
Other Notes:
- Some common brands that give out retention offers include JetBlue and Aviator Red. However, the Aviator Red is closing soon, so I don't know if they would still offer retention offers.
US Bank
We don't have any US Bank credit cards, so this information is pulled from online forums and comments.
Likelihood of Offer: Medium - this seems dependent on how much you spend on their cards.
Best time to ask: Likely around account renewal.
How to ask: By phone
Types of Offers:
- Has the typical spend requirement for some points or statement credit, but that's basically the same thing since US Bank points can only be redeemed as cash back.
Other Notes:
- It also seems like the offer amounts are very low - which makes sense since the US Bank slate of cards have low annual fees in the first place.
Other Banks
Obviously there are other banks and credit unions, but there just isn't enough data points out there to make solid conclusions. But again, it doesn't hurt to ask! Let me know if you get a retention offer by emailing me matthew@wuhoogroup.com - would love to increase my data points!
Other Notes
Again, happy to hear data points if this isn’t the case!
- Wells Fargo does not seem to give retention offers on any of their cards
- Discover does sometimes provide retention offers on their no annual fee cards
The Bottom Line: Making the Most of Retention Offers
Getting a retention offer isn't just about luck – it's about timing and strategy. While American Express and Citibank tend to be the most generous with their offers, every major bank has different policies and sweet spots for negotiations. The key is to be prepared: know your card's anniversary date, track your spending history, and most importantly, don't be afraid to ask. Remember that retention offers can change frequently, and what worked for one cardholder might not work for another. Always be polite when requesting offers, and have a clear plan for whether you'll keep or cancel the card regardless of the retention offer outcome. Even if you don't get an offer the first time, you might have better luck in the future as your relationship with the bank grows.
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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are those of Kudos alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
