Where the 212 cards stand
Of the 212 cards in our data, 184 charge an annual fee, 25 show Rs 0 and 3 have no annual fee published (two MCB cards and one UBL card). Among the 184 that charge a fee, 106 list a waiver rule and 78 do not. The rules fall into five types, covered in turn below.
Amounts are the fees listed in each schedule, before FED. They come from Jul to Dec 2026 schedules, with a few records (Askari's debit cards, for example) still resting on the Jan to Jun 2026 edition because we could not find a newer one. The schedule guide explains how to read those documents yourself.
Spend-based waivers on credit cards
Most credit cards work this way. You spend a set amount within a window after the card is issued or the fee posts, and the bank reverses the fee. Windows run from one month to a year. What matters is how much spending that is compared with the fee.
| Card | Annual fee | Spend required | Window | Spend as a multiple of the fee |
|---|
| Allied Visa Gold credit | Rs 3,500 | Rs 25,000 | 3 months | 7.1 times |
| UBL Visa Classic credit | Rs 6,000 | Rs 50,000 | 60 days | 8.3 times |
| BOP Mastercard Platinum credit | Rs 15,625 | Rs 100,000 | 60 days | 6.4 times |
| UBL Visa Platinum credit | Rs 22,000 | Rs 300,000 | 60 days | 13.6 times |
| Bank Alfalah Visa Platinum credit | Rs 23,000 | Rs 475,000 | 2 months | 20.7 times |
| BOP Mastercard World credit | Rs 25,000 | Rs 1,500,000 | 12 months | 60.0 times |
The multiple climbs with the tier. Allied's Gold card asks for about seven times its fee. Bank Alfalah's Platinum asks for almost 21 times. BOP's World card asks for Rs 1,500,000 over 12 months, which is 60 times its fee.
Some banks reverse in two steps. Bank AL Habib's Gold card drops its Rs 8,000 fee to Rs 800 after Rs 150,000 of spending in 60 days and removes it after Rs 200,000 in 90 days. Others only reduce it: JS Bank's Classic goes from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,200 after Rs 25,000 in the first month, and Faysal's Noor Gold from Rs 11,000 to Rs 900 after Rs 30,000 in 60 days.
Utilisation-based waivers
Askari and Standard Chartered tie the waiver to your credit limit. Askari's July 2026 addendum gives a 50% waiver if you use 50% of your total limit within two months of issuance or renewal. On the Platinum card (Rs 20,500) that removes Rs 10,250. The January schedule offered 70% over three months, so the rule got tighter. Askari's World card (Rs 25,000) has no waiver on the basic card at all. Only the supplementary World card gets the 50% rule.
Standard Chartered mixes limit and spend. Its Platinum card (Rs 20,000) reverses the first-year fee on Rs 200,000 of spending, or 70% of your limit if that is lower, within three months. From the second year it asks for 1.5 times your credit limit within three months of the fee being charged, with a floor of Rs 200,000 and a cap of Rs 800,000. A first-year waiver for applying digitally runs to 31 December 2026.
Balance-based waivers on debit cards
Debit card waivers depend on the linked account. You keep a minimum average balance and the bank waives the card fee. Some schedules use a monthly average and some a quarterly one.
| Card | Annual fee | Balance condition |
|---|
| Bank AL Habib PayPak debit | Rs 2,750 | Rs 25,000 monthly average on a Current, Current Plus or Apna account |
| Soneri PayPak debit | Rs 3,000 | Rs 25,000 balance at issuance; Rs 25,000 annual average for renewals |
| MCB Visa Fun Club debit | Rs 1,000 | Rs 50,000 average balance |
| JS Bank Mastercard Gold debit | Rs 2,500 | Rs 150,000 average over the previous 3 months on a Premier Raabta account |
| Meezan Visa Gold debit | Rs 4,500 | Rs 200,000 monthly average on a Meezan Plus account |
The range is wide. Meezan's Plus account needs Rs 200,000 for the same kind of waiver that Bank AL Habib gives at Rs 25,000. Premium and priority cards use larger balances and often carry a penalty if you slip below them.
| Card | Annual fee | Condition | If you fall below it |
|---|
| Meezan Mastercard World debit | Rs 27,500 | Rs 5,000,000 average in checking accounts | Rs 2,200 a month |
| Meezan Visa Infinite debit | Rs 45,000 | Rs 15,000,000 average in checking accounts | Rs 3,750 a month |
| UBL Mastercard Signature debit | Rs 25,000 | Rs 3,000,000 quarterly average (Signature Priority Banking) | Standard fee applies on downgrade |
| HBL World debit | Rs 20,000 | HBL Premium: Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 4,999,999 quarterly average in a current account | 100% waiver in year 1, 50% from year 2 |
| Askari Visa Signature debit | Free | Priority Banking (the addendum sets the card at no fee) | Rs 5,500 plus FED each quarter |
Askari's Visa Signature debit moved from Rs 18,000 to free, but only while you stay in Priority. Falling out costs Rs 5,500 plus FED each quarter, which is Rs 22,000 a year before FED and more than the old fee. Meezan's monthly charges come to Rs 26,400 a year on World and Rs 45,000 on Infinite. Our eligibility guide lists balance thresholds by tier.
Salary and payroll account waivers
A payroll account can remove the fee with no spending or balance condition. Bank of Punjab's BOP@Work accounts give free issuance and renewal on the Classic (Rs 3,000), Gold (Rs 4,000) and Platinum (Rs 6,000) debit cards, with no salary tier attached. Al Baraka's Executive payroll account makes its Gold debit card (Rs 5,000) free, and the Plus tier does the same for the Silver card (Rs 3,500). HBL gives a free Classic debit card to HBL @Work customers.
First-year waivers
Some waivers last one year. HBL's PayPak debit card (Rs 2,000) is free to issue in year one on Mahana Amdan, Haryali, Asaan and Freelancer Digital accounts, and NBP's PayPak Classic (Rs 2,000) is free in year one on an Itmenan current account. Habib Metro's Visa Ladies debit is free for a year, then Rs 3,300. Bank Alfalah's Visa Ultra Cashback card (Rs 11,000) waives year one on Rs 75,000 of spending within two months and has no ongoing reversal. The fee returns in year two.
Cards with no waiver at all
Among the 184 fee-charging cards, 78 list no waiver rule. The largest counts are Bank Alfalah (11 cards), Allied Bank (9), Faysal Bank (9), Bank AL Habib (8) and HBL (7). Five of the 78 are credit cards: HBL's Gold, Green and two FuelSaver cards, and Faysal's Noor Flexi. A blank means we found no rule in the bank's published documents. The bank may still reverse a fee if you ask, but nothing published gives you a right to it.
Another 25 cards show a fee of Rs 0. For 16 of them the zero holds only while you keep a priority or premium relationship: Askari's Visa Signature debit, Allied's Visa Infinite debit, seven Bank Alfalah Premier and Infinite cards, BOP's two KHAAS cards, Faysal's two Priority cards, the two HBL Prestige cards and Meezan's Platinum debit. The other nine are Easypaisa's three wallet cards, two business debit cards, Meezan's student card, one Mobilink card, NBP's PayPak Pink and UBL's Wiz virtual card.
Choosing a card by its waiver
Compare the condition with what you already do. A credit card that reverses its fee on Rs 50,000 in 60 days costs you nothing if that is a normal two months of groceries and fuel. A debit card that needs Rs 200,000 in an account is free only if you would hold that balance anyway.
Whether the card earns more than it costs is a separate question. The premium card guide compares yearly savings with the fee, and the debit and credit comparison shows what each card type earns. In KonsaCard, the Overall tab ranks cards by yearly saving minus annual fee for your own spend. Open the tool and enter yours.
Frequently asked questions
Can I ask my bank to waive a fee that has no published rule?
You can ask, and banks sometimes agree. None of the 78 cards without a published rule gives you a right to a waiver, so treat it as a request and keep the card if the answer is no.
Does a waiver also remove FED?
Not always. UBL and Bank AL Habib both say FED on a reversed annual fee is not reversed. UBL also wants the reversal request within 120 days. Check the wording in your own bank's schedule.
Does a supplementary card get its own waiver?
Usually it has a separate condition. MCB asks for Rs 10,000 of spending on a Classic supplementary card within 60 days, and the basic and supplementary spend do not count towards each other. Bank Alfalah asks for half the basic card's spend on the supplementary card, for example Rs 35,000 against Rs 70,000 on the Classic.
What happens if I miss the spending window?
The windows differ: three months at Allied, 60 days at UBL and MCB, one month at JS Bank. The schedules we read do not describe a second chance, so ask the bank about a late reversal and expect the fee to stand.