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American Express – Waives Annual Fees for Active Duty Cardholders

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I recently learned that American Express waives all credit card fees for Active Duty Military members. I was informed by a military financial site called MilitaryMoneyManual. Their Facebook page gives a couple of examples of people getting reimbursed over $2000 for past fees

American Express has some awesome credit cards, like Blue Cash Preferred, which gives 6% back on groceries, or Airline Credit Cards with 60,000+ mile sign-on bonuses. These cards sometimes have annual fees which can be anywhere from $50-$499.

Take advantage of this great offer if you have an American Express card and free yourself of the annual fees!

Chase Bank also will waive all fees. Read our post about Chase here

Here is a quick summary of how to qualify for the discount

  1. Call the number on the back of your card or 1-800-528-4800
  2. Tell them you are on active duty and had heard that AMEX offers to handle your account in accordance with the Service Members Civil Relief Act
  3. If they aren’t familiar with the program, act to talk to one of their supervisors
  4. They’ll ask you 5 questions about your Active Duty situation
  5. They will take about 4-6 weeks to verify your account and give you the discount

Here is a snippet of a letter written to MilitaryMoneyManual

To support the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces, we are handling your account referenced above in accordance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides for a maximum annual interest rate of 6% per year on loans you received before starting active military duty. As of today, your account does not have a balance owed which generates interest charges so there is no eligible balance. However, we have waived the following fees on the account for the duration of your active military duty:

  • Annual Membership fees
  • Overlimit fees
  • Late Payment fees
  • Returned Payment fees
  • Statement Copy Request fees

This completes our review of this account, if there are any additional accounts you would like reviewed for Servicemembers Civil Relief Act benefits, please call us at 1-800-253-1720. If you’re outside the United States, call us collect at 1-336-393-1111.
We are grateful for the service and devotion you have shown to our country.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alex says

    What are the four questions? Is this a deployment related fee waiver? I am not presently deployed or on active duty would this work?

  2. Heather says

    You must be on Active duty for be eligible. They require you to fax in orders or some type of document showing that you are on active duty

  3. Wade says

    I just applied for the platinum card (450$ yearly fee), and after I got approved they will send me out me card and I'll have to pay the fee at first. However they said that it takes up to 60 days and then they reimburse you for the that first fee and that they take care of all future fees while you're on active duty. The only question that they asked me was the date of initiation. But it was a really easy straightforward process.

  4. Gabriella says

    the fee waiver has nothing to do with SCRA, so it would be nice for people to disassociate the two. AMEX is doing it out of its own volition and can reverse at any time, and not be violating SCRA.