The validity period of the credit card means that the cardholder can enjoy the annual fee exemption before the card expires. Once the credit card expires, the annual fee will no longer be charged even if the conditions for annual fee exemption are not met. Current credit cards typically have an expiration date of five years. It is worth noting that different banks have different credit card annual fee exemption policies.

For example, ICBC’s credit card regulations stipulate that the annual fee for a new card is not waived in the first year, but as long as you make five purchases within a year or the consumption amount reaches more than 5,000 yuan, the annual fee for the next year will be waived. China CITIC Bank requires at least one credit card swipe record within the first month after the card is issued to be exempted from the first-year annual fee.

In terms of annual fee exemption rules, some banks, such as China Construction Bank and China Everbright Bank, only need to swipe the card three or more times to be free of charge; while the Shenzhen Development Bank Credit Card requires 18 swipes to waive the annual fee for the next year. The standard of most banks is that five or six purchases are enough, such as ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank. However, it is worth noting that premium credit cards such as gold, platinum and diamond cards usually do not enjoy annual fee exemptions.

In short, understanding the validity period of credit cards and their respective annual fee exemption conditions can help cardholders plan their consumption reasonably to take full advantage of this offer. Please refer to Baidu Encyclopedia for more detailed credit card annual fee rules.