Chase Military Credit Cards 2024 | Chase Military Lending Act (2024)

Chase waives all annual fees on their personal credit cards for active duty military servicemembers and spouses.

The Chase military discount includes the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠
• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3x points on dining (includes takeout, delivery, and dine-in), select streaming services and online groceries
• 2x on all other travel purchases
• 1x on all other purchases
• $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠ . Example- 60,000 points would be worth $750 toward travel.
• No foreign transaction fees, great for overseas OCONUS assignments, TDY, and PCS
• Primary rental car insurance coverage & trip cancellation/interruption insurance, and more.
• DashPass access is complimentary which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• Upgrade to a Chase Sapphire Reserve after 1 year (compare Reserve vs Preferred)
• $95 annual fee waived for military and spouses with Chase Military Lending Act
• Member FDIC

I recommend every military servicemember pick up the Chase Sapphire Preferred with it's huge welcome bonus and then upgrade the card to a Chase Sapphire Reserve after one year. You can compare the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. the Chase Sapphire Reserve in this article.

This is a fantastic benefit available to all servicemembers on active duty orders (30 days or more) and their military spouses or dependents. This benefit is similar to the American Express military fee waiver program.

Every servicemember should now have a no annual fee Chase Sapphire Reserve card in their wallet alongside the Amex Platinum!

Best Chase Credit Cards for Military With No Annual Fees

You can also compare the Chase Sapphire Reserve vs the Chase Sapphire Preferred for military or see the best hotel credit cards for military.

Chase Military Lending Act

Chase updated their military policy on September 20, 2017 to comply with the Military Lending Act. Any account opened AFTER Sep 20, 2017 is eligible for the Chase military fee waiver.

You can check your MLA status in the MLA database.

I recently opened a Chase IHG Premier card and received my MLA fee waiver letter from Chase before I even received the card. When my wife opened up her Sapphire Reserve card, she also received the Chase MLA letter the same day she got her cards.

Here's a scan copied the MLA letter I received. You can click on the image to see a PDF copy:

The text of the letter says:

Update: We Applied MLA benefits to your account

Dear Spencer

Your account is eligible for benefits under the Military Lending Act (MLA) and Chase policy (collectively referred to as “MLA”).

We applied these benefits to your account:

• Your Military Annual Percentage Rate (MAPR) won't be more than 36%
• If you have a promotional or introductory rate, you'll keep it for the existing balances until it expires
• Your contract rate won't be impacted and will remain as outlined in your Cardmember Agreement
• We won't charge you fees, other than late fees an non-sufficient fund fees, if applicable

If you have any questions, please call our Military Specialists anytime at 1-800-235-9978. If you're overseas, call us collect at 1-318-340-3308.

Thank you for your business and your service to our country,

Chase Military Specialists are available to discuss MLA benefits on the Chase Military Hotline at 1-800-235-9978 or from overseas 1-318-340-3308.

Unfortunately, if your account was opened before 20 Sep 2017, you are out of luck with MLA benefits. You could always open a new card though and receive the fee waiver benefit.

The MLA caps interest the banks can charge at 36% Military Annual Percentage Rate (MAPR). This MAPR includes annual fees, so Chase decided it was easier to waive the annual fees for military members rather than calculate the 36% MAPR for each military servicemember.

The only fees Chase now charges military personnel are late fees and insufficient fund fees. This is a very generous interpretation of the MLA, as “bona fide fees” on premium cards are allowed under the MLA. That said, take advantage of Chase’s military fee waiver while you can!

One of the oldest credit cards on my credit history is a Chase Freedom card I opened in 2011 (now known as the Chase Freedom Flex). This is a great card with 5% quarterly rotating categories up to $1500 per quarter (usually gas for half the year) and 1% back on every other purchase.

I am a happy Chase customer for over 10 years and plan to increase my business with them now that they waive annual fees for military personnel.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• $550 annual fee waived to $0 for US military + spouses with Chase MLA policy
• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠
• $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursem*nt for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
• Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually.
• 3x Points on other Travel (airfare, hotels) after earning the $300 travel credit
• 3x Dining restaurants, takeouts, delivery
• Chase Ultimate Reward Points redeemed through Chase Travel℠ are worth 1.5 cents, a 50% bonus.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• Priority Pass lounge and restaurant access with over 1300+ airport lounges worldwide
• Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry every 4 years
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Primary coverage with Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• No foreign transaction fees, Member FDIC
• Learn more in the Chase Sapphire Reserve review

Chase Sapphire Reserve MLA SCRA Fee Waiver

Chase Bank is very restrictive with the amount of credit cards you can have opened in the last 2 years. Known as the 5/24 rule, Chase will deny most but not all credit card applications if you have opened 5 credit cards in the past 24 months.

If you are interested in earning lots of credit card reward points, you cannot go wrong starting with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. You can also compare the Chase Sapphire Reserve vs the Amex Platinum card.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has a huge welcome bonus but the Chase Sapphire Preferred often has a larger bonus. In addition, you will receive annually:

• Ultimate Reward Points can be redeemed at 1.5 cents per point (cash out value 1 cent per point)
• UR Points can also be transferred to over a dozen airline and hotel partners, giving you access to free 5 star hotel stays and first/business class flights (like my trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Dubai)
• 3x points on travel and restaurants, after earning the $300 travel credit – great for TDYs
• Priority Pass complimentary airport lounge access. VERY nice to get free food, drink, and a place to rest when on the road.
• NO foreign transaction fees, essential for TDYs, deployments, and OCONUS assignments
• $300 travel credit on your statement
• Military: annual fee waived AND additional cardholder fee waived

This is how the $300 travel credit is applied instantly to any travel related purchases:

Other benefits include every 4 years you can get your Global Entry $100 fee waived. Don’t bother with TSA Pre-check, as all military personnel and dependents get automatic TSA Pre-check with your DOD ID (CAC) number.

Learn more about the Chase Saphire Reserve military fee waiver. Or, see my step-by-step guide for the optimal order to apply for military credit cards.

Chase Freedom Flex℠ Credit Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• Earn $200 cash back (20,000 Ultimate Reward points) when you spend $500 in 3 months
• 5% cash back on travel purchased through the Chase Travel℠ portal
• 3% on dining at restaurants, takeout, and delivery
• 3% back on drugstore purchases
• 1% back on all other purchases
• 5% on up to $1,500 of purchases in specific bonus categories each quarter
• No annual fee
• Compare the Chase Freedom Flex vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited

How to Get the Chase SCRA Active Military Fee Waiver

The easiest way to have the Chase active duty military annual fee waiver applied to your account is apply for any Chase card and select “Military” as your income source.

Chase will compare the Social Security number on your application to the DoD MLA database. If you’re a dependent spouse, they will check the DEERS database to confirm your eligibility for the MLA waiver.

Chase does not waive the annual fee for military business card holders, but many Chase business credit cards have no annual fees, like the Ink Business Unlimited^®credit card and Ink Business Cash^® credit card.

The World of Hyatt Credit Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
• Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent
• Hyatt rooms start at just 5000 points, so you could earn 6 nights with just the welcome bonus
• 1 free night at any category 1-4 Hyatt hotel every year you keep the card open
• Earn ANOTHER free night at category 1-4 hotel when you spend $15,000 on the card in a year
• Cardholders get World of Hyatt Discoverist status (Level 2/4) just for having the card, as long as the account is open
• $95 Annual fee waived for US military personnel and spouses with Chase MLA policy
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Chase Military Credit Cards Fine Print

If you’re interested, here’s the fine print on all Chase cards now describing the Military Lending Act:

MILITARY LENDING ACT NOTICE: Federal law provides important protections to members of the Armed Forces and their dependents relating to extensions of consumer credit. In general, the cost of consumer credit to a member of the Armed Forces and his or her dependent may not exceed an annual percentage rate of 36 percent. This rate must include, as applicable to the credit transaction or account: the costs associated with credit insurance premiums; fees for ancillary products sold in connection with the credit transaction; any application fee charged (other than certain application fees for specified credit transactions or accounts); and any participation fee charged (other than certain participation fees for a credit card account). To receive this information and a description of your payment obligation verbally, please call 1-800-235-9978.

Let me know in the comments if you successfully had your Chase annual fee waived. My wife, a civilian spouse married to an active duty servicemember (me), just opened her Chase Sapphire Reserve card and the annual fee was waived! That's $550 annual fee waived for her and $75 authorized user fee waived for me!

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠
• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3x points on dining (includes takeout, delivery, and dine-in), select streaming services and online groceries
• 2x on all other travel purchases
• 1x on all other purchases
• $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠ . Example- 60,000 points would be worth $750 toward travel.
• No foreign transaction fees, great for overseas OCONUS assignments, TDY, and PCS
• Primary rental car insurance coverage & trip cancellation/interruption insurance, and more.
• DashPass access is complimentary which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• Upgrade to a Chase Sapphire Reserve after 1 year (compare Reserve vs Preferred)
• $95 annual fee waived for military and spouses with Chase Military Lending Act
• Member FDIC

If you're interested in supporting my site, applying for credit cards through my links is the easiest way to do it. I'll receive a referral bonus at no cost to you. Thanks! You can also check out other credit cards that waive annual fees for military.

Chase Military Credit Cards Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)