How to get your annual fees waived on Bank of America cards
In my continuing series on military credit card benefits utilizing the SCRA (Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act), I’d like to go over using those benefits with Bank of America credit cards. Thus far, we’ve gone over the following banks:
How to get your annual fees waived on:
I recently applied for an received the Bank of America Virgin Atlantic 90k credit card (application link), and wanted to see if BoA offered SCRA benefits. I’m also thinking of applying for the 25k Alaska Airlines card (or several!). I know that BG Goddard loves Alaska Airlines.
Before calling, I googled “Bank of america SCRA” and got this incredibly helpful website, which is one of the few bank websites that goes over all their SCRA benefits. The “Benefits” tab doesn’t go over annual fees though, so I called the number on the website, which is 1.877.345.0693. The associate I spoke with was very nice and helpful, but wasn’t sure if annual fees were waived.
She spoke with her supervisor though, and he confirmed that yes, once they get copies of active duty orders, almost all fees, including annual fees, are waived while they’re active duty. They said to fax either orders or a letter from your respective CO to 1.866.696.0292, or to mail a copy of it to:
Military Benefits Unit
P.O. Box 982282
El Paso, TX 79998-2238
She also said you did not have to be a cardholder before going Active Duty, unlike some of the other banks (looking at you Citi!).
You reference your article about getting your annual fees waived for US Bank. In that article you never came back to tell us if you actually got your fees waived. Were you successfull with US Bank? Were you successfull with BOA?
Great follow up to the previous SCRA blog post. I’ve found that NG and Reserve members do well with Chase/Citi as they can go perform AT days after opening. Active Duty does better with BoA/US Bank/Amex/Barclay . BOA for NG and reservists are a 30 day minimum constitutive order and then SCRA benefits are good anywhere from 12-18 months.
US Bank did approve my AT NG week but only for that week then changed the rates and fees right back. Complete bogus customer service.
Good luck!
Do NOT apply for a BoA card expecting a AF waiver. Just called several times and was told they follow SCRA to the letter. Must have opened your CC account before entering AD.