Never, ever, ever pay this fee without asking first
Plus, my Saturday with CNN
Hi there, my friend.
If this newsletter is about anything, it is about the power of asking.
Just ask. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no, but the chances that they say yes are likely better than you think.
It is such simple advice, yet it can be so hard to take. Believe me, I know. I’ve written about my struggles with following the example of my father, who could talk to anybody about anything at any time. I’m still wrestling with that.
There are as many reasons for not asking as there are sands on the beach, but one big one is simply that people don’t believe that it works.
“The chances that they say yes are likely better than you think? Suuuuure they are.”
I get the skepticism. It doesn’t always work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ignorant, lying or trying to get you to sign up for their paid course. Still, I firmly believe that the underlying truth remains: You’re probably more likely to get a yes than you think you are
Of course, your chance of success can vary wildly, based on any number of reasons. However, there are some requests where the odds are so heavily in your favor that you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try.
The fee that you should always try to get waived
89% of credit cardholders who asked to have a late fee waived in the past year were successful, according to a June 2025 LendingTree report.
Read that again.
Crazy, right?
And those aren’t just one-time numbers. The success rate for late fee waivers has been above 80% for at least five years, probably longer, and there’s little reason to think that will change anytime soon.
That’s why you should never pay a late fee on your credit card without first asking to have it waived.
And I know it works, from more first-hand experience than I’d like to admit. The last time I did it, I didn’t even have to speak to a real person to make it happen. I talked about it in this post…
Why you’re so likely to be successful
Here’s a secret that most credit card issuers won’t tell you: It is often their policy, written or otherwise, to waive your first late fee if you bother to ask. Often, you don’t need to do much more than ask politely.
Why on Earth would they do that?
Two big reasons:
The amount of money is so small that it doesn’t really matter to them. Your first late fee is typically about $30, potentially rising to $41 for subsequent late payments. That doesn’t even amount to a rounding error for giant card issuers.
Waiving the fee creates a ton of goodwill, and they know that happy customers spend more in the long run. Banks view customers in terms of lifetime value — the longer you stick around, the more money they make off of you. If they know that waiving a $30 late fee today will ensure that you’ll be a loyal customer for years to come, they’ll waive that fee 89 times out of 100.
So, just like in Vegas, the house pretty much always wins, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t walk away with a little bit of cash in your pocket from time to time.
It isn’t just about late fees
Credit card late fees are one of the most extreme examples of the odds being in your favor, but they’re hardly the only ones.
For example, 88% of buy now, pay later (BNPL) loan users who have asked to have a late fee waived on one of these loans got it either waived or reduced, according to a March 2026 LendingTree report. These fees usually aren’t as high as credit card late fees — usually not more than about $10 — but that doesn’t mean you should just pay them.
The same LendingTree report that talked about waiving late fees also said that 83% of those who asked for a lower interest rate on their credit card got one, and the average reduction was more than 6 percentage points. That’s a really big deal and can lead to far more savings than you’d get from a waived late fee. (In fact, that same stat a few years earlier inspired me to write the book that would later inspire me to start Ask, Save, Earn.)
How do you do it? I lay that out in my book, but also in my free guide called “3 scripts to lower your bills today,” which you can get for subscribing for free to Ask, Save, Earn. It includes scripts for asking for a lower APR as well as other requests that can save you real money.
If you subscribed before I offered the guide, reply to this email or drop me a note in the comments below and I’ll be sure to get you one.
If you’ve already seen the guide, consider telling a loved one about Ask, Save, Earn by clicking the button below.
If you’re not yet a subscriber, drop your email in the box below, and we’ll send you a copy.
Saturday evening with CNN
Part of my job as Chief Consumer Finance Analyst at LendingTree (AKA Personal Finance Expert Guy) is that I sometimes have to work funky hours. Early mornings, late nights, weekends, holidays, vacations — you never know when news will break or when a big media outlet will want to have you on.
CNN reached out to me last Thursday, asking if I was available to talk about reports that LendingTree had done on rising grocery prices and gas prices on “CNN Newsroom Primetime” live on either Saturday or Sunday evening.
Turns out, I was.
Honestly, there’s been so much news happening that I went through the day Saturday assuming that something would happen that would lead to my interview being bumped. I didn’t even tell my mom and sister about the interview because I figured it was a coin flip that it would actually happen.
Well, it did happen. I’m proud of how it went. Click here or on the image below to check it out.
I’ve been on all of the major cable news networks before, but the opportunity doesn’t come around all that often, so it is fun when it does. It’s another chance to spread my message that you have way more power over your money than you think you do.
They even gave my book some love, which always means the world to me.
Until next time!
Matt
Congrats on the media appearances! Always cool to see you in the news. I know you already know I love your advice on asking for late fees to be waived, because I've been successful in doing so thanks to your advice!