Back in January 2025, I did something I don’t usually do: I set a very specific, very measurable goal.
Not “be better with money.”
Not “simplify.”
Not “stop opening shiny new cards.”
After realizing my wife Sharon and I were sitting on 41 credit cards and paying over $4,500 in annual fees, I made a resolution for 2025: cancel 25% of our cards with annual fees. That meant cutting 7 of our 28 annual-fee cards.
At the time, it felt completely reasonable. I even wrote that I’d already knocked one out by downgrading my Citi Prestige to a no-fee Citi Double Cash.
Then the year happened.
So now that 2025 is over… did I actually do it?
TL;DR: No, I didn’t.
The 2025 Scorecard
Here’s the goal, in black and white:
- Starting annual-fee cards: 28
- Target to cancel/downgrade: 7 (25%)
- Actual canceled/downgraded in 2025: 3
- Annual fees eliminated: $748
- Verdict: Missed it
And while the bottom line is that I didn’t reach my goal, that’s not the whole story. Because this wasn’t really about hitting a number — it was about forcing myself to take a close look at each card and asking the question I always tell people to ask:
“If I didn’t already have this card, would I apply for it today?”
What Cards Were Cut (And Why)
When I wrote the original post, I already knew the “easy” categories. The past year confirmed that those categories really are where most people should start.
1. Duplicates We Didn’t Need Twice
The first card to go was Sharon’s JetBlue Plus card. At the time, we didn’t need two of them, and paying two annual fees for mostly duplicated benefits didn’t make much sense.
Of course, a few months later, Sharon decided to go for JetBlue’s “25 for 25” promotion — and suddenly, having her own perks again (like early boarding) mattered. Instead of undoing the cancellation, we handled that temporarily in a different way.
2. Cards We Got For The Bonus… And Then Kept Out Of Inertia
This one was my American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Red card.
It did have real perks — free checked bags, priority boarding, Wi-Fi credits — but we just weren’t flying American much anymore. And when we did run into fees here and there, those were easy enough to cover with credits from other cards (including our Ritz-Carlton Card).
At that point, keeping it became more about habit than value.
3. Cards With Benefits We Replaced Elsewhere
This category turned out to be the “quiet killer.”
Some cards aren’t bad — they’re just unnecessary once you realize another card already covers the same ground. When you can replace a co-branded perk with a broader credit (or a benefit you’re already paying for elsewhere), the annual fee starts to look a lot less justified.
In other words, once I stopped evaluating cards one-by-one and started looking at our whole wallet as a system, the overlap became impossible to ignore.
And that’s what made it much easier to say goodbye to the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
The Cards That Surprised Me By Surviving
I expected to cut more than I did. But a few cards stayed for reasons that didn’t show up neatly on a spreadsheet.
1. Not Realizing The Benefits
One card originally on the chopping block was the World of Hyatt Business card. Unlike the personal version, it doesn’t include a free night, and I’m not looking to spend my way to Hyatt status.
But there was one perk I hadn’t been taking advantage of: the $100 Hyatt credit (split into two $50 credits) and Hyatt Leverage membership.
That effectively turns a $199 annual fee into something closer to $99 if I can use both credits. I’m still not 100% convinced it’s a long-term keeper, but it was worth holding onto for another year to find out.
2. The “I Just Didn’t Get Around To It” Category
Another card that was on the fence was the Virgin Red Mastercard. For the $99 annual fee, you don’t really get much for your money besides the 5,000-point anniversary bonus.
But I’ve become a little jaded about Virgin Points lately — not because they’re useless, but because I keep finding ways to use them right now. I’m not exactly “printing money” buying points at 2 cents each, but if using Virgin Points lets me preserve other currencies I can redeem for more value, I’m not losing either.
Plus, it’s one of the easier ways to earn 3X points on Virgin Voyages, which has actually come in handy. And since it’s still a relatively new card for me, I’m curious enough to stay in the ecosystem for another year and see if the program (or the card) evolves.
The Hawaiian Airlines card also landed in this bucket.
I originally signed up because I assumed Hawaiian and Alaska were merging and that HawaiianMiles would eventually fold into Mileage Plan (and now, in a way, that’s basically what happened). Even though Hawaiian doesn’t really have its own standalone program anymore, Barclays has been very confident that this card isn’t going anywhere.
So for now, I’m keeping it mostly out of curiosity: I want to see whether meaningful spending bonuses or promos pop up that make it an easy way to rack up miles/points without trying too hard.
What I’d Do Differently If I Were Starting Over
If you’re thinking about doing your own “annual fee cleanout,” here’s what actually helped.
1. Separate “Downgrade” From “Cancel.”
I lumped these together at first. I shouldn’t have.
Downgrading can preserve credit history and keep an account alive without paying for perks you’re not using. Canceling is cleaner, but it’s not always necessary.
So if you’re aiming to reduce annual fees, consider your real goal: fewer cards… or fewer fees?
2. Stop Calling “Break Even” A Win
This was a big takeaway for me.
If you’re keeping a card because you “break even,” you’re still spending time tracking credits, remembering deadlines, and forcing spend to justify a fee you didn’t need in the first place.
Breaking even isn’t automatically bad… but it’s not the slam-dunk argument it feels like.
3. Make A List Of Cards You’d Never Reapply For
This is the best shortcut I found all year.
If you wouldn’t apply for the card today — at today’s annual fee, with today’s benefits — why are you paying to keep it?
The Unforeseen Benefit
One thing I didn’t fully take into consideration was the opportunity factor — the stuff that pops up during the year that can change the math.
For example, I canceled the Sapphire Reserve because of the high annual fee, but the timing was also pushed by a 100,000-point welcome bonus for the Sapphire Preferred. By finally dumping a card I was already on the fence about, I put myself in a position to qualify for a new bonus that was actually worth chasing.
Same thing with JetBlue. We canceled Sharon’s card because we didn’t need two in the household. But once she started flying JetBlue more (and then went for “25 for 25”), we pivoted and signed up for the business version instead — and the welcome bonus made that move feel a lot smarter than simply “undoing” what we’d done.
Final Thought
So no, I didn’t hit the original goal.
But I did something that mattered more: I stopped letting annual fees renew by default.
And going into 2026, that’s the mindset I want to keep — because the only thing worse than an annual fee is an annual fee you pay without even remembering why.
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