What does annual fee mean?

The annual or yearly fee is a payment taken by a credit or debit card company every year for use of their credit card. This fee is separate from other payments issued, like interest rate on some of the purchases. These fees were once very common, but they have since been dropped, and have largely disappeared, even though some types of credit or debit cards, like the secured cards or the ones that offer airline frequent flier miles as a form of reward, sometimes come with some form of annual fee.