Why I built Worth My Fee
Who: Worth My Fee is made by Eric Carr, the solo founder of Echo Charlie Labs, Inc. It is paid for by its users and by no one else. There are no affiliate links, no issuer relationships and no referral bonuses, which is what lets it tell you to cancel a card.
The Impetus
I hold a stack of premium cards, $3,359 a year in annual fees when I started this, and could not answer a simple question: are they worth it? Issuers advertise “$2,000 in credits”, but the credits are a coupon book. Monthly buckets that reset, merchants I never use, and portal-only hotel credits that quietly cost more than they return if you hold hotel status.
The card-review sites could not answer it either, because they are paid by the issuers whose cards they review. A site that earns a referral fee when you apply for the Platinum is not going to tell you to cancel it.
What it does
Worth My Fee connects to your cards read-only through Plaid, reads the last 12 months of transactions, and scores every advertised credit against what you actually charged. Then it gives one verdict per card, keep, downgrade or cancel, with the charges each verdict was built from. Every constant is public on the methodology page, every credit is cited to the issuer’s page on the cards pages, and the things it cannot see yet are on the known limitations page.
How it is paid for
By you. The topline is free; the full report is $49 a year, with a three-times-value-found-or-refund guarantee computed by the same function that prints the number on your report. The first 500 people to link a bank get 90 days free and a founding price after that. That is the whole business model, and it is the reason the verdicts can be blunt.
How I use Reddit
A small app I built on Reddit’s developer platform watches a few card subreddits for threads where someone asks whether a card or its fee is worth keeping, and messages me a list. A tool on my Mac drafts a reply for me. I read every draft, edit it or toss it, and post the ones I like myself. Neither one posts or comments on its own. Most replies never mention Worth My Fee; when one does, I say I built it, and never in a subreddit whose rules restrict self-promotion. Thread text the tools hold is deleted within 48 hours.
Also from Echo Charlie Labs
HeyBooker is an AI booking agent for models and actors: it reads casting calls from casting platforms, agency boards, Instagram and TikTok, scores each one against the talent’s profile, screens out the scams, and drafts the application for them to approve. Same principle as Worth My Fee, paid for by its users and by no one else, so it can say no to a listing.
How to reach me
Email hello@worthmyfee.com; I read every report of a wrong verdict, and a confirmed one earns a free year. Privacy questions go to privacy@worthmyfee.com. The marketing site’s source is public at github.com/echocharlielabs.
Worth My Fee is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any card issuer, bank, or loyalty program, and does not provide financial, investment, or legal advice.