Must-Dos for credit before going Active Duty Military

[Tiggr]

Military members, especially Active Duty military have an extremely different way if playing the credit game than anyone else, and there's loads of resources of what do to while you're AD. However, I'm trying to find advice or information about credit steps to take before going active duty. 

One example is the C1 Venture X Card, which only gets the annual fee waived though the SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) which is done when you join AD, but not during. Meaning that if you don't get this card before AD, you'll be stuck paying the annual fee. 

Amex and Chase are known for waiving fees while active duty so I'm not sure if there's anything one would want to do with them specifically before going AD but I'm open to any suggestions.

Any prior or active servicemembers have any credit or credit card advice/actions they wish they knew/did before going Active duty?

[rosco75]

I was not aware of cap1 waiving the annual fee for the venture X card. Im not sure what the SCRA has to do with a fee, its more to get you out of a contract without penalties. Can you please provide a source so I can look into that further?

[Tiggr]

Here's four different reddit threads discussing this, I don't have anything from C1 talking about this but it seems to be the consensus is that you need it before going AD to have the AF waived.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryFinance/comments/r9655o/is_cap_venture_x_fee_waived_if_the_applican...

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryFinance/comments/t3chaj/scra_benefits_denied_capital_one/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryFinance/comments/16m7qyy/csra_and_venturex/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryFinance/comments/135xn0o/capital_one_venture_x_benefits/

[Tiggr]

Here's the actual resource about SCRA from C1 but not specifically about a card.

"The SCRA provides benefits on accounts that were opened before the start of the Servicemember’s active duty period. This includes credit cards and lines of credit, auto loans, mortgage and home equity loans, and installment loans."

You can find this on the eligibility section on this page

https://www.capitalone.com/military/

[FlaDude]

This is really advice for anyone, but if you might be "out of pocket" for any length of time, make sure you set up automatic payments for at least the minimum balance on all accounts.

[Horseshoez]

@Tiggr, what is your current military status?

If you are in a delayed entry program, a reservist, or an officer candidate, you can join NFCU; I believe they are hands down the best option for folks in the military. 

[Tiggr]

I'm currently contracted AFROTC commissioning spring '26. I'll definitely look into NFCU eligibility, I'm an AU on a USAA cord so I'll definitely be getting with them eventually too. 

[Horseshoez]

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@Tiggr wrote:

I'm currently contracted AFROTC commissioning spring '26. I'll definitely look into NFCU eligibility, I'm an AU on a USAA cord so I'll definitely be getting with them eventually too. 

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My son did both USAA and NFCU while he was active and to this day he regrets getting involved with USAA.  Contrast that with NFCU, a financial institution he absolutely swears by.  I have both PenFed and NFCU, and for the most part, NFCU seems to be the better option of the two, but there are a few things PenFed definitely does better on.

[FicoMike0]

I do know amex waives card fees for AD. Go for the platinum! Not sure if that goes for cobrand like airline and hotel, but worth checking.

[Tiggr]

It does get waived for those cards too, the hilton is attractive