AMERICAN EXPRESS Fee Waivers Explained

Currently, I'm  an American Express PLATINUM cardholder. I was going through a few reddit threads in the "r/AmexPlatinum" arena. I tend to gravitate to areas of REDDIT that I have a solid interest in. A couple of them are related to veteran's issues, of course.

Well, today I came across the ability to have the AMEX annual fees waived. Upon other reading of articles and forum threads, I found something really interesting. Although I'm a veteran of multiple deployments all over the world, it took me a bit to get to the final answer I was searching for.

Active-duty military have the benefits of an annual fee waiver for both the AMEX GOLD ($250) and AMEX PLATINUM ($695), respectively. There is an actual legal statute that reinforces this rule for waiving the annual fees of both cards. Something called the SCRA. Even if your not a servicemember you should have a look at where your credit score is. Get your free credit score at a reputable service to learn what issues you may have to deal with.

However, Amex waives fees for the annual fee of some cards if the fee is during the SCRA benefit period. The SCRA, or Service Members Civil Relief Act, was established in 2003 to reduce some civil obligations for active duty service members and their spouses. Eligible card members can request SCRA relief from the start of active duty up to 180 days after they leave.