SCRA Bank Leaderboard: Who Beats the 6% Cap (0% & 4% Clubs)

The statute sets a ceiling. The market, oddly, competes below it. After a decade of SCRA enforcement actions and settlements, several major lenders decided the cheapest compliance strategy was conspicuous generosity. The differences between their programs are worth real money if you know the standings.

How to read this table: these are issuer policies as commonly reported and published as of June 2026. They are voluntary, they change, and the eligibility details (which accounts, which orders, how long) live in each issuer’s current terms. Confirm when you apply. Your statutory floor is identical everywhere: 6%, retroactive, excess forgiven, invoked the same way.

The leaderboard

Lender	Reported SCRA rate	Beyond the statute
Citi	0% on eligible pre-service accounts	All fees waived on those accounts
Discover	≤5.9%	Applies to all cards, including accounts opened during service. The law doesn’t require that
USAA	4%	Extends about a year after active duty ends; cuts other card fees
Chase	4%	Fee waivers; historically extends benefits past the statutory window
Navy Federal	4%	Applied to eligible pre-service loans and cards (full guide)
Capital One	4%	Waives foreign transaction, balance transfer, cash advance and similar fees
American Express	Statutory cap	The headline is fees: annual fees waived under SCRA/MLA. That’s the engine of the premium card stack
Wells Fargo	6% (statutory)	Complies with the law; no published extras

The strategy: your debt avalanche re-sorts after the letters go out

Civilian debt advice says attack the highest APR first. After your SCRA notices land, the actual rates on your pre-service debts may look nothing like the contract rates. Your payoff order should follow the new reality:

1. A pre-service Citi card at a reported 0% is suddenly the last debt to pay. Every spare dollar does more elsewhere.
2. A 4%-club balance (USAA, Chase, Navy Federal, Capital One) beats most car loans.
3. Anything still at 6% moves up the list. Any during-service debt with no cap at all goes to the front of the line.

Two corollaries fall out of the table. First, never balance-transfer a capped balance toward a more generous issuer. The transfer is a new during-service debt, and the cap dies in transit. Second, the post-service extensions matter: USAA and Chase reportedly run their rates about a year past active duty, while the statute itself extends only mortgages. That makes the separation year the time to finish off whichever balances are about to snap back to contract rates. The 180-day window for late invocation is still open then too.

Run the full sequence at every lender

✅ Work the leaderboard

1. Send the statutory SCRA notice with orders to every lender holding a pre-service debt, generous or not (letter generator). The letter is what makes retroactivity and forgiveness enforceable.
2. When each confirmation arrives, note the actual applied rate (statutory 6% or the issuer’s better number) and the end date they state.
3. Ask the sub-6% question where it could matter: “Does your military rate apply to accounts below 6% too?” Get it in writing.
4. Re-sort your payoff order by the new real rates: uncapped debt first, 0% balances last.
5. Calendar the snap-back dates (separation, or the issuer’s extension end) and clear what you can before rates revert.
6. Recheck the issuer’s terms when you apply. Programs moved before and will move again.

📜 The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3937

Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service — the floor under every program above — read the statute.