Amazon Store Card SCRA: 6% Cap on 29.49%, No New Deferred Promos

Owe $1,800 on an Amazon Store Card when your orders start and the card’s 29.49% purchase APR costs you about $531 over a year. At 6% it costs about $108. That is roughly $423 a year, and the statute forgives the difference instead of deferring it. (Flat balance, simple interest. The agreement compounds daily, so the true difference is slightly larger.)

You will not find the SCRA anywhere in the Store Card paperwork. The cap is 50 U.S.C. § 3937, and it applies because you ask for it in writing.

Four Amazon cards, every one issued by Synchrony

Synchrony Bank issues the Amazon Store Card, the Prime Store Card, the Amazon Secured Card and the Prime Secured Card. The Store Card agreement, revised July 2026, states its costs as of August 28, 2026, and says it applies to both Store Card and Prime Store Card accounts; the Secured Cards have a combined Store and Secured agreement of their own. Synchrony’s SCRA phone line, and the proposed class action behind its post-separation warnings, are on our Synchrony guide. This page covers what only the Amazon card does.

Three terms in this agreement stand out. The purchase rate is prime plus 22.74%, and the agreement says it “will not exceed 29.99%.” The rate table lists no penalty APR at all. The only penalty fee listed is a late fee of $30, or $41 if you were late in any of the prior six cycles, and the minimum interest charge is $1.50. An older March 2026 copy that Synchrony posts at synchronybankterms.com still prints $29 and $40, so go by the agreement Synchrony sent you.

Special financing ended; Equal Monthly Payments remain

Amazon’s terms page, read October 19, 2026, says: “Special financing offers will no longer be offered for new purchases starting during the week of February 16, 2026.” Purchases already on those plans “will continue under the original terms.”

The agreement’s own example: a $1,000 purchase on a 24-month Equal Monthly Payments plan costs $41.67 a month and no interest. Neither financing plan can be combined with the 5% back Prime members earn, per Amazon’s terms.

The exposure that remains is a legacy promo. Illustration: a $1,500 laptop bought on 24-month special financing in early February 2026 expires in early February 2028. Left unpaid until then, it carries about $885 of interest at the 29.49% rate (simple interest, before daily compounding), posted in one cycle.

What the 6% does to each Amazon balance

On a pre-service account, the cap reaches your revolving balance directly. Equal Monthly Payments balances already carry 0%, so there is nothing to cut.

Legacy special financing is the open question. A promo bought before service is a pre-service obligation, and § 3937(d)(1) treats fees and charges as interest. On our reading, the deferred interest that accrues after your call-up date can be charged at no more than 6%, while the months before your start date stay at the contract rate. Synchrony’s Amazon agreement and Amazon’s terms say nothing on this point, which is why the checklist has you ask before the promo expires.

Secured Card holders are not left out. The Secured Card features carry a fixed 10% APR and a $5 late fee, per Amazon’s terms, and 10% is still above the 6% ceiling, so a pre-service Secured Card balance gets the cap too. If you later become eligible to switch to the Store Card features, the purchase rate becomes 29.49%, and your deposit comes back minus any non-promotional balance, any deferred promo expiring within two months, and the minimum then due. Get your SCRA rate confirmed in writing before you opt in, and ask whether the switch changes it.

Purchases you make after entering service are new obligations. By statute they fall outside the cap even on an old account, though some issuers cap the whole line; our credit card interest guide explains how to ask which way Synchrony handles yours.

Opened the card on active duty: the MLA, measured each cycle

If you opened the Store Card while on qualifying active duty, or as a dependent of someone who was, the SCRA cap is not your rule. The Military Lending Act is, and Synchrony’s notice applies if you were covered “at the time your account is opened.” Its first item takes arbitration off the table for you. The MLA vs SCRA breakdown shows which law fits which account.

For a card, the 36% limit is not a yearly average; the MAPR explainer walks through the math. The rule at 32 CFR 232.4(c)(2)(ii) computes the Military APR from “the effective annual percentage rate for a billing cycle,” so every statement has to pass on its own. Amazon’s 29.99% rate ceiling leaves room under 36% for interest alone. The charge that also counts is debt cancellation: Amazon’s terms say promotional balances include “any optional debt cancellation charges,” and the MLA rule counts those in full. For a covered borrower, interest plus that coverage still has to fit under 36% each cycle, and the notice switches off any term inconsistent with the MLA. If you carry the coverage, ask Synchrony in writing how it is counted.

Amazon Store Card checklist

1. Find the account-open date in your Synchrony account at synchrony.com/amazon and set it against the date your orders began.
2. List every legacy special financing purchase and its expiration date. These are the only Amazon balances with deferred interest left.
3. Estimate what the cap returns on your revolving balance with the refund calculator.
4. Mail Synchrony your orders and a written request; the request letter template has the wording, and the deadline is 180 days after you leave service.
5. Ask in writing what rate applies, from what date, and how interest accruing on each legacy promo after your start date will be calculated.
6. Watch the next two statements for the change and a credit back to your start date. If it does not appear, use the escalation steps.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3937

Interest limit for pre-service debts: read the statute , or read § 3937 in plain English, with its enforcement record .