Barclaycard Makes Changes To Grandfathered SCRA Credit Cards

In November of last year Barclaycard made significant cuts to the benefits they give active duty military members. The main changes were that interest would be capped at 6% instead of 0% and annual fees would no longer be waived. Active duty military members that already had these benefits applied to their grand were grandfathered under the old rules.

Reddit user churningcents2011 reports receiving the following letter:

Dear *****,

Please read this information carefully and keep it with your Cardmember Agreement for future reference.

Our review of the Department of Defense records indicates that, prior to the date on which you applied for the MasterCard Gold Card, you were on active duty status. Because you opened your account after you were on active duty status, the account is not eligible to receive the protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) – but we extended certain benefits to your account at account opening based on our policy.

Going forward, we’ll no longer waive the annual fee on your account. As a result, a charge of $995.00 for your annual fee will appear on your billing statement for the next billing period your annual fee is scheduled to be assessed, April 30, 2017.

Also, we’ll charge an annual fee of $295 for each authorized user on your account.

You will also receive written notice of the annual fee before receiving the billing statement in which the annual fee will be charged.

Although your account is not covered by the SCRA, we’ll continue to apply a 0% Annual Percentage Rate to your account and waive other fees while you remain on active duty because we appreciate your service to our country and we value you as a cardmember.

Thank you for your service to our country.

Sincerely,

Barclaycard.

It seems that Barclaycard will only continue to grandfather cards if they were opened prior to somebody becoming active duty military (apparently this information is also now easier to access). You can view our recap of SCRA benefits for each individual card issuer by clicking here.