MARINE CORPS COMMUNITY SERVICES, QUANTICO, Va. -- The Marine Corps exchange is offering a helping hand to Marines deployed to contingency areas such as the Persian Gulf where imminent danger pay is authorized by reducing or waving interest fees for Military Star credit cards.

To qualify for the program, Marines must be assigned to a contingency area for at least 90 consecutive days, and their accounts must not be in a collection status. Routine or scheduled deployments do not qualify for the program.

There are two options under the program.

Option 1:  Has a reduced interest rate of 6%, the ability to continue using the account during the deployment period, and no payments required during the deployment period.

Option 2:  Has an interest rate of 0%, no use of the account during the deployment period, and no payments required during the deployment period. Interest will revert to the normal rate when the deployment ends or 90 days has passed.

To apply for the lower interest rates, the cardholder's command (not the individual card holder) must notify the Military Star credit card contact center of the deployment status. Commands should submit a request that includes a list identifying all eligible Marines, copies of JCS Deployment Orders, or certification that the deployment location is listed in Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 10, to the Military Star credit card contact center. If the deployment is extended, the command will again need to notify the Military Star credit card contact center.  Requests from individual cardholders will not be processed.

Requests may be faxed to (214) 312-4326 or DSN 967-4326, or mailed to: Exchange Customer Contact Center, P.O. Box 650524, Dallas, TX 75265-0524.  Requests may also be e-mailed to deployment@aafes.com.