Chase is one of four issuers that waive credit card annual fees under both SCRA (pre-service) and MLA (during service). The Chase Sapphire Reserve costs $795 a year for civilians. It costs $0 for an active-duty service member.
And here’s the part Amex doesn’t match: Chase extends the fee waiver one full year past separation. You leave active duty on June 1, your next annual fee doesn’t hit until the following June.
What Chase waives (and doesn’t)
- All annual fees on personal Chase credit cards — Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, United Club Infinite, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, every IHG/Hyatt/Aeroplan consumer card.
- 4% APR cap on purchases and balances, better than the 6% SCRA statutory minimum.
- Zero late fees on active SCRA/MLA accounts.
- Benefits continue one year past your DD-214 effective date.
What Chase doesn’t waive:
- Business cards. Ink Business Preferred ($95), Ink Premier ($195), United Business, Southwest Performance Business — all charge full fees regardless of service status. Chase is explicit about this: business credit is excluded from both SCRA and MLA.
- Pre-October 2017 cards opened during active duty — those slip through the gap. The MLA credit-card extension took effect October 2017, so anything opened during active duty but before that date is covered by neither SCRA (not pre-service) nor MLA (pre-statute). Edge case, but it exists.
What you actually get with $0 net cost
The Sapphire Reserve’s credits were rewritten in 2025 and are now significantly more generous than the old travel-only model:
- $300 annual travel credit (airfare, hotels, car rentals, cruises).
- $120 Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS credit every 4 years.
- Priority Pass membership — airport lounges worldwide.
- 3x points on dining and travel.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Primary rental car insurance.
Civilians pay $795 for that. You pay $0.
How to request the waiver
Two paths depending on when you opened the card.
If you’re already on active orders when you apply: Chase auto-verifies your MLA status at application via the DoD DMDC database scrub. You’ll see the annual fee reversed on your first statement. No phone call needed in most cases.
If your card is pre-service (opened before you went active): Call the Chase Military Specialists at 1-877-469-0110, provide your orders or eligibility letter, and request SCRA review. Fee refunds are retroactive to the start of your active-duty period. For pre-service accounts the call is worth making even for lower-fee cards like Sapphire Preferred ($95) — the 4% APR cap also kicks in and is worth more over a balance.
Verify your database status first. Chase relies on DMDC — check yours at mla.dmdc.osd.mil. Service academy cadets, NOAA officers, and PHS officers are notably missing from the default DMDC database and will need the manual process.
The post-separation year
Chase’s “benefits continue one year past separation” policy is unusual. Amex cuts fee waivers off the day your active-duty period ends. Chase gives you a runway: any annual fee due in the 12 months following your separation date still gets waived. After that, the civilian fee kicks in.
This matters when you’re timing a PCS to civilian life. If your Sapphire Reserve’s annual fee posts in October and you separate in September, you get another waived fee cycle — that’s a $795 cushion during the months you’re transitioning to civilian income.
Stacking Chase with Amex
Active-duty members routinely hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve + an Amex Platinum at the same time, with both fees fully waived. The two cards cover different perks — Reserve is stronger on points/travel credits, Platinum on lounge access and lifestyle credits — and there’s no rule against holding both.
Between the two, you’re sitting on about $1,690 in annual fees that never come out of your pocket, and easily $2,500+ in annual credits if you actually use them.
What to watch for
- Don’t apply a day early. If you apply for a Chase card the day before your active-duty start date, the card is pre-service (SCRA-eligible). If you apply on day one, MLA auto-verification should still cover you. Either works — but understand which protection you’re relying on.
- Make sure the waiver actually fired. After the first annual fee cycle, your statement should show a reversal labeled something like “MILITARY LENDING ACT FEE CREDIT.” If it doesn’t, call.
- Business cards are a separate conversation. If you’re tempted by the Ink Business Preferred for points, plan to pay the $95. No waiver is coming.
Chase is one of the two most generous issuers in this space. Open the Sapphire Reserve when you can, use it for three years, hand your DD-214 to the next transition — and then keep it for one more free year before deciding whether it’s worth the $795 as a civilian.
Want the full picture of which cards to stack? The Military Credit Card Stack guide walks through all five cards that sit at $0 annual fee for active duty.