I see other members plan to push down the fee by demanding a price cut on the renewal fee but I would not do that as it means someone would study your whole account to save you about $100. .
I think that, like all things to do with the earn/burn of FF points, that one needs to tailor ones strategy to one's own circumstances and desires.
"One size does not fit all"
You are a in a very small sub-group of CC "whales" that pump very large sums through CC's. Your approach is fantastic, and 100% appropriate for your circumstances. But for most of us, other strategies are more appropriate for us.
Indeed the art of point running is to fully optimise ones own circumstances, and opportunities.
1/ While I understand your reasons in your case (ie technically in breach of T&C which Westpac is clearly turning blind eye to as it would be quite aware of what is flowing through the cards), for 99% of us our spending meets T&C and we have nothing to fear.
2/ For those of us not pumping mega-amounts through the card (or rather I should say cards as I have quite a number) removing yearly fees, or at least reducing them, improves the cost benefit ratio significantly.
The $900 Amex Charge Card (taken due to the 75K)fee is the only Card fee I have not had rebated, or waived up front for many many years....and I intend to keep it that way by and large (though I might just scoop up the Edge due to the flight and 20K..and the ANZ wiith it;s 20K at low cost).
The Westpac Card has been 100% free for me for two years, but will not be renewed due to the VISA dropping to only 0.5.
For garnering 1.5 Amex points per $ the direct Amex cards are for me superior to KF Amex as:
- various bonii can be gained to boost the effective earn rate well beyond 1.5 (and certainly the current 12 month period has been bountiful)
- Amex seems to reasonably offer from time to time transfer bonii which further boosts the earn rate
- it removes the time constraint that points have once arriving at SQ ( and having a million sitting at SQ already I am mindful of this)
- MR points can be used for other airlines and "specials" that may arise...including that the other airlines may have FF Award reductions that can be then taken advantage of.
- While I am now firmly in the *A camp for my redemptions, I am still building a QFF balance from points I can only get to it, and Amex allows me to also direct QFF if I need to, and this may say be handing if I need to top up points fora particular redemption (ie a J RTW Award)
Now if I were a "whale", the yearly caps on points would be an issue coloring my thinking. But for me they can be navigated around easily enough, and so my stratgey is to earn in the main maximum points per $, including bonii as the bonii is what really turbo-charges my earn. Keeping fees to a minimum is a tactic I follow as well, though the main strategy is turbo-charging my point earn as my $$ spend is limited (at least compared to whales).