Amex Military Benefits: SCRA & MLA Annual Fee Waiver

Most bank pages here are about cutting your interest rate. American Express is the exception. Amex applies the plain 6% statutory cap to eligible pre-service accounts and does not publish a lower voluntary rate. The reason service members care about Amex is the annual fee, and on that front the savings are large.

A Platinum card carries a $695 annual fee. For an eligible covered borrower, Amex sets that fee to $0. Hold the card, keep the lounge access and credits, pay nothing for the privilege.

Two laws, two doors

Amex relief runs through two different statutes, and they cover different cards.

	SCRA	Military Lending Act
Which accounts	Opened before active duty	Opened while a covered borrower
Interest	Capped at 6%	All-in military APR capped at 36%
Annual fee	Suppressed while you serve	Adjusted to $0
Request window	Active-duty start to 180 days after	Automatic at account opening
You must enroll?	Yes, request it	No, applied automatically

The SCRA vs MLA breakdown covers who counts as a covered borrower (active duty, Guard and Reserve on qualifying orders, and many dependents). If you qualify, the MLA door is the one that opens premium cards fee-free.

The premium card stack

This is the engine behind the fee-waived premium card strategy. A covered borrower can carry cards that civilians pay hundreds a year to hold, at no annual cost, and collect the same travel credits and benefits. Amex is the centerpiece because its premium lineup carries the steepest fees to waive.

✅ Get your Amex fees waived

1. Confirm whether each card is pre-service (SCRA) or opened as a covered borrower (MLA). The path differs.
2. Request benefits from your American Express online account, or call 1-866-391-1460. Have your active-duty orders or a DD-214 ready.
3. For pre-service accounts, ask that the 6% cap and annual fee relief apply retroactively to your duty start date.
4. Watch for confirmation within about two billing cycles, then verify the annual fee shows as $0 on your next statement.
5. Keep the confirmation, and re-request if you open new eligible accounts.

Things people trip on

The rate is not the point here. If you came looking for a sub-6% rate, Amex is not where you find it. Citi, USAA, Chase, Capital One and Navy Federal beat 6%. The leaderboard ranks them. Amex wins on fees.

MLA status has to be current. The $0 fee follows covered-borrower status. If your status lapses, confirm how Amex treats the fee going forward before you assume it stays waived.

Use the 180-day window. Even after you separate, you have 180 days to request SCRA relief on pre-service accounts. Do not leave forgiven interest on the table because you waited.

📜 The law behind this: 10 U.S.C. § 987

Military Lending Act — terms of consumer credit extended to service members and dependents — read the statute.