Foreign Transaction Fee Waived

I got slammed with a $60 foreign transaction fee. I called the credit card company to cancel my card in hopes they would waive the fee to keep me as a customer. It worked. I got credited for the fee.

Considering how much money they make when I buy something with the card, it makes sense. If I spend $1,000 a month, they make something like 3% plus a flat rate for each transaction (the arrangement between the credit card company and the merchang varies) off of everything I buy with my card. The percentage alone comes up to be $30 per month. So just having me as a customer for 2 months will be enough to cover that fee. Not only that, the thing I purchased that got me the foreign transaction fee in the first place gave the credit card company about $60 in profit anyway.

When I told the rep on the phone I wanted to cancel, he looked at my account and saw that I had been a loyal customer for 5 months (this was my primary card that I used for just about everything). Clearly he calculated that it would be worth more to waive the fee to keep me as a customer rather than take the $60 and run.

Little do they know I am probably going to take my bonus miles, $60 credit, cancel the card, and run.