CC Rate Reductions for Spouses

[gankapin]

I've been a lurker on this site for a while now so I thought I'd contribute something since I haven't seen anything posted about this yet...

 

A few months ago, my wife was calling Chase for whatever reason and the subject of me being Active Duty military came up. The rep told my wife that they honor military spouses under the SSCRA (I didn't see any mention that spouses were covered for CC's specifically under the SSCRA. I knew I could get rate reductions for CC's opened before joining the military, but I didn't know my wife could. I think it was more of a courtesy than anything.)

 

So after sending a copy of my Military ID, Marriage Cert., and Orders to my Current Duty Station / Deployment Orders... Chase gave us a nice surprise as well as the other CC's listed below when we contacted them as well.

 

Here is our results. If anyone else is successful, please add to this for others...

 

Chase - easiest to work with.

---Reduction of APR to 6% for as long as I am in the military.

---Refunded all the back interest accrued over 6%. (Back dated to my enlistment date about 4 yrs ago. We received a $805 credit!)

---Did not need to be added as an AU / Joint account holder

 

Discover - Lots of paperwork to submit and follow ups

---Reduction of APR to 6% for as long as I am in the military.

---Refunded all the back interest accrued over 6%. (Back dated to my enlistment date.)

---Had to be added as a Joint Account holder (No HP)

 

AMEX - Lots of paperwork to submit and follow ups. They required a month to verify my Military Status.

---Reduction of APR to 6% for as long as I am in the military.

---Refunded all the back interest accrued over 6%. (Back dated to my enlistment date.)

---Had to be added as an AU

 

WESCOM CU - Lots of paperwork and hardest to work with.

---Reduction of APR to 6% for one year.

---Did not refund any back interest.

---Had to be added on one of my wife's bank accounts with them.

(WESCOM was a beast. They insisted the SSCRA only applied to NG / Reserves who were deployed, not AD. They gave us a year at 6% only because I deployed to Afghanistan and only after i showed them my Deployment Orders.)

 

[Sarahjm731]

Thanks for sharing! How long did it take chase to refund back interest?

[gankapin]

Chase had the refund on her next statement. AMEX and Discover took about 2 months to get it all straightened out.

[Sarahjm731]

Thanks for the info

[Fuerza]

Just FYI U.S. Bank allowed my wife to turn in her lease early with only minor mileage penalty using Service members Civic Relief Act. She submitted the same paperwork and a copy of my deployment orders.

[gankapin]

Update:

 

My friend's wife just had success with Citibank. Her APR was reduced from 14.9% to 5.9% for as long as her spouse is in the Army. Also, they refunded her the difference for interest for the last 3.5 years. (Since my friend joined the army.)

 

 

[PotO]

Although you'd think Navy Federal or USAA would be the easiest to work with, in my experience the best has been Chase.

 

Thanks for all the details, Gankapin. It'll help a lot of people.

[gankapin]

I wouldn't think that USAA or NFCU would be difficult to work with but me and my wife got CC's after I joined with those two.

 

Also, my wife just got a letter in the mail today from Chase saying "We are happy to have you as a customer"...blah...blah...blah, and at the end of the letter they "were pleased to inform her " that her interest rate has been lowered to 4% and will stay that way for as long as she was enrolled in the Chase SCRA program. Score! And then she tells me that AMEX permanently changed her interest rate to 0% a month ago. Double Score!

 

We really needed a brake from the original interest rates to snowball her other CC's. Chase and AMEX are pretty awesome right now.

[wbarbary]

My husband has been active duty for 19 years and have been trying for 2 years to get an interest reduction on a loan with Citi Financial. I contacted citi salutes but they won't help us cause we took out a loan after he joined. We have been paying 21% for 5 years now and they claim they are so supportive to the troops.

I was hoping if

gankapin would have a name at Citi bank or an email address I could contact to ask for an interest reduction?

[gankapin]

No, I'm sorry I don't have any info. My wife was the one actually doing it and she said she just spoke to whatever cs rep answered her call.

[photomama]

I'm a military spouse that just tried this. Results:

 

Discover: Credited interest and fees quickly. Interest rate at 5.9% DH was already an AU.

 

AMEX: Took almost a month to tell me I am not covered because our billing address is not in a community property state. DH is not AU or joint.

 

Chase: Still waiting.

 

Cap 1: Still waiting.

 

Thanks gankapin for sharing. I never would have thought to try.

[hunting8171]

I just retied from the army and we used the 6% a lot. I remember they didn't want to add my wife's account because I wasn't on the accounts so she added me to them and then it worked just fine.. took about 2 months each time. that was the early years of my service

[rossi303]

Capital one has a similar program at 4%. My $240 balance was paid off AND I received a $300 check! That's pretty fantastic. I was unsuccessful with Chase for our 11% auto loan as we bought it after his entry date. I'm going to try again though, the most they can say is no.

 

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