With the federal government shutdown in its second month, commissaries and exchanges are offering some additional relief to the military community.
The interest-free offer for those making commissary purchases with their Military Star credit card has been extended through Nov. 30. New and existing cardholders receive 90 days of zero interest, and no payments required.
The Military Star card is part of the Exchange Credit Program, a Defense Department program established by Congress to provide affordable credit solutions to the military community. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service operates the Military Star card program, which is accepted at military exchange stores, gas stations and other operations, as well as commissaries.
Troops and families who use the credit card to make other purchases in addition to commissary purchases will still benefit from the offer. According to AAFES, the payment a customer makes on the credit card bill is applied first to the part of the balance with the highest interest rate.
Regardless of whether a customer makes a new purchase at a location besides the commissary, or has a balance from those purchases elsewhere, their minimum payment and any additional payment would be applied first to those purchases with the higher interest rate, not the commissary purchase, for 90 days, according to AAFES.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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