Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

Question: Has anyone ever used the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act on a car loan? My husband enlisted active duty into the Army last September and I keep hearing about this Servicemembers Relief Act. I hear from some people that they try it themselves and sometimes it works with lowering the interest rate on their car loans and sometimes they end up going to the JAG office to get help with it. Has anyone here ever tried it and if so did you do it yourself or go through JAG? Also, what was the outcome?

Answer: to add on to what the others have said: you must be CURRENT on the loan. if you are in arrears they are not obligated to lower the interest rate.

Question: I am getting conflicting information on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act? I will be leaving for basic training on June 3rd, 3008, and I have received information about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Some people are stating that is applies only people deployed overseas for war, while others have stated it applies to any Active Duty personnel who have debts that were created prior to active duty status. What's the truth?

Answer: both, sort of 1- it applies to active duty personnel, whether they are deployed or not, for debts incurred prior to enlisting 2- it applies to reserve/guard personnel for debts incurred prior to being activated for deployment.

Question: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act? I want to lease a new car from Honda for 36 months. If my husband gets orders out of state before the 36 months are over and we go with him, can I terminate the lease without any penalty under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act?

Answer: It would have to be leased under your husband's name in order to get out of the lease. You are not part of this clause as you are not in the military.

Question: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act For Credit cards? I am currently deployed to Afghanistan. My credit card has been on automatic payments for the last year and my bank has never changed the due date. Since i've been gone my bank changed the due date and I have now missed a payment. Since then my bank has jacked up my interest rate to 32%. I have been looking into the Service members Civil Relief Act but I don't understand if I have protection against this kind of bulls*it

Answer: Under the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940 you are entitled to have your credit interest rates locked in at 6% for duration of service. You do not have to be deployed. Individuals entering active duty are entitled to invoke the 6% maximum interest rate per year for debts and obligations incurred prior to military service. This protection applies to interest on mortgages, car loans, and credit cards. It does not apply to federal Guaranteed Student Loans. The Legal Assistance Department can help you lower your interest rate. All you need to do is bring a copy of your enlistment contract and all of your creditor’s information (i.e. name, address and account number) to the Legal Assistance office. An appropriate letter will be drafted and sent to your creditor Hope this helps answer your question

Question: Can the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act help me with my credit? I was an active duty member of the Army and was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2005. During this time (especially in 2003) I was out of the loop as far as my bills go for a few months. Because of this I have two accounts that show that I was late for this time frame. Is there a possiblity that the SCRA could apply? Or should I just try to contact these companies personally and ask them? Thanks for any answers!!

Answer: E-mail your congressman.

Question: If I marry a military member can I break a lease under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act? This lease was entered before marriage and in my name only, but as his dependent I would like to know if I can be legally released from it to move to his duty station or home of record.

Answer: No. I'm sorry but because the date of the lease pre-dates the date of the marriage you were not a dependent at the time you signed. You can ASK to be released from the lease obligation and you can explain your specific circumstances. If you have been a good tenant, your landlord might be happy to help you out. You can also give notice to your landlord and break the lease. I would recommend that if you do this you leave the apartment in absolutely perfect condition so that it can be re-rented immediately. Landlords have a duty to mitigate their damages. This means that your landlord has to try to re-rent the apartment as quickly as possible. You cannot be held responsible for any rent after a new tenant moves in. Check your lease to find out if there are any penalties for breaking your lease (other than being required to continue to pay rent until the unit is re-rented) before you do this.

Question: With the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, can I put my car loan on hold when I'm deployed? I know that if you LEASE a car, you ca turn the car in with no penalties. However, when I'm away, I have to put my car in storage or just sell it. But I didn't know if I could just call my loan company and put my loan on hold for the year I'm deployed, and just push the payments back. Thanks in advance!

Answer: The only angle to this is that you are protected, under the Soldiers & Sailors act, from any legal judgments against you while you are deployed. Now this means that they can not legally repossess your vehicle while you are away, but ya better come back with the lump sum of all missed payments in your bank account and be prepared to write one big check to catch yourself up or they can take it away at that point. I am assuming that you are asking about this because you are a Reservist/Guard member and will be adversely affected financially by this deployment due to a loss in monthly income between what you make in the civilian sector, as opposed to military pay scale. But like I said, you still have to settle up upon returning to the states, so this is not a way to skate on a debt here.

Question: WAIVER OF SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT???????? hey thanks for reading me! im not to sure what this means. i got surved with child support papers and im active duty military. it says : under section 107 of the servicemembers civil relieft act a servicemember may waive any of the rights and rotections provided by the SCRA (servicemember civil relief act). the waiver must be in writing and will only apply to the proceeding specified on the waiver form. if you are the requesting party nd an active duty servicemember, you must sign the waiver form in order for the child support program to process your request. what does this mean!??!?!?!?!?!?!? i AM an active duty military. does this mean i dont have to pay all the amount of child support since i am a fixed income?

Answer: it means you have specific rights regarding any hearings regarding civil matters of this type. Contact your legal assistance section and they can fill you in on the details. I strongly recommend not signing the waiver without having legal advise first. These laws were enacted to keep servicemen from getting the shaft in abstencia.

Question: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Questions? HI there, My husband and I just signed a rental agreement for 2 years in CA. Two weeks later he received deployment papers for Operation Iraqi Freedom. So, we will need to move myself and our child in with family and get out of the lease we are in. We qualify for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, at least we think we do. Our biggest question is this: How much time do we need to give the current homeowners for notice? Obviously the longer the better. Must we give 30 days notice, or can we give 2 weeks? Also, they have a $3,000 deposit locked up into a CD until 2010. How should that be handled? I have tried to contact Military One Source and they just referred me to an attorney, whom I can’t really afford. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch! I wasn't very clear. My husband is IRR, being transferred to an active duty unit. He is Army National Guard Reserve.

Answer: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/sscra/l/b… this might help.

Question: Does the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protect your credit? My husband left for boot camp on January 19, 2010 for the United States Marine Corps. He just graduated on April 16th, 2010. While he was away at boot camp, we thought we were protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act with our mortgage company. Our mortgage company set us up with a "payment plan", which we followed, and everything was paid. However, we just found out that the mortgage company marked my husbands credit as 60 days late, even though we were following the payment plan they set us up on. Can they legally do this under the SCRA? ..and they never notified us that this would still affect his credit scores. Please help me, I am going crazy trying to get this resolved. Thank you.

Answer: No, they cannot. It's the law. Just curious, did they lower your interest rate to 6%? No interest above 6 percent can accrue for credit obligations while on active duty, nor can that excess interest become due once the servicemember leaves active duty – instead that portion above 6 percent is permanently forgiven. They also cannot charge late fees, over limit fees etc (with CC's also) An adverse report relating to the creditworthiness of the military person cannot be made by or to a consumer reporting agency

Question: Air Force - HELP!!! Reducing Debt with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)? Hi, I've been in the Air Force for about 6 months and I'm currently in Tech School. I have the following issue: I'm buried in debt, mostly credit card debt. I had this debt before I joined the Air Force. I was aware of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA, but didn't really pay much attention to it until now. Also, I haven't told my creditors that I'm in the military because I dont want them to know. I was scared for my creditos to find out, that I'm in the Air Force, because I heard that I could be punish here if I become deliquent in my accounts (reduce rank, loss of pay for some time, etc), so they dont know that I joined the military. Not to mention that I was behind in some of my credit cards. Therefore, in order to get my creditors to lower the interest, I told the creditors that I was unempolyed and that I was going through a financial hardship. As a result, some of my creditors lower my APR, which, in reality, wasn't much. Others agreed not to reduce my interest. Now, I'm up to date, but I'm wasting most of my paycheck. My point is that I lied to the creditors telling them that I was unemployed and that I was going through a financial hardship instead of telling them that I'm in the military. This is my question: If I use the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) NOW, would my creditors hold me liable for lying? or do you think that my creditos would have to comply with the law and reduce my interest? I'd really love to use theis act becuase all of my credit card's interest would be reduce to 6 % Thanks

Answer: all the SSCRA will do is allow for them to drop your interest on debt accrued before enlisting to 6%. there are no other easements..and if you are in arrears, they are NOT obligated to drop your interest. you are STILL required to pay your debts.

Question: Where can I find out if SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) applies to State forces?

Answer: I am not sure where for the state forces or for that matter if they made a different one, or its just a blanketed one. However go to you local recruiting office for any branch and they will be able to print you off a SCRA

Question: does car leases apply to the servicemembers civil Relief act?

Answer: Service Members Civil Relief Act Covers Car leases and housing leases.

Question: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Specifically: Right to Terminate Residential Lease? THE QUESTION: If I provide 30 days notice, am I still liable for the payment of rent until the end of my lease? Which is a year, and I have only been living here for two months. Below is a summary of the SCRA and a summary of my lease. I have read the SCRA, simplified version. It states: The SCRA allows individuals to break a lease when they go onto active duty, if the lease was entered into before going onto active duty. Additionally, the act allows a service member to terminate a residential lease entered into while in the military, if the member receives permanent chance of station (PCS) orders, OR ORDERS TO DEPLOY FOR A PERIOD OF NOT LESS THAN 90 DAYS. http://www.ffscnorva.navy.mil/servicemember_civil_relief.pdf It states I am supposed to give a 30 day written notice to my landlord, which is no problem. The problem is in the lease I signed. It states: The specific term of the tenancy governed by this contract is set forth in the attached, exhibit A. the Tenant is responsible for all monies owing during the term of this contract and any renewal terms during the occupancy, including month-to-moth occupancy. In the even the Tenant vacates prior to the expiration of the term, he / she, they shall be responsible for the FULL RENTAL AMOUNT OWING FOR THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT until the property is re-rented and a new lease agreement begins. All deposits paid shall be forfeited for failure to complete the contract. In addition, the Tenant shall be responsible for any costs for tenant created repairs, replacements, cleanings and/or related tenant created costs to prepare the property for re-rental, as well as the advertising, signs, leasing fees, utilities, and related costs incurred to re-rent the property. Tenant shall be responsible for the rent at the current rental rate at the time tenant vacates the property but the Agent shall not be obligated to re-rent the property at that rate. If tenant(s) voluntarily terminates the agreement with or wit Hough cause prior to the termination date (see ending date Addendum “A”) Tenant(s) Agree to pay Agent a releasing fee of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) in addition to all other costs which may apply.

Answer: If you are going Active Duty or preparing to go Active for deployment/AGR, then you should be able to get out of the lease. You will probably have to pay the 30 day notice period. Go see you S1 or recruiter (if you are just getting in), they should be able to give you a paper with a copy of your orders. If your landlord insists that you have to pay till when your contract would have ended in 1 year, then talk to one of your higher ups (S1, Readiness NCO, etc) and have them help you deal with your landlord. Either way, talk to your recruiter (if currently enlisting) or your S1 or Readiness NCO (if already enlisted). They should be able to walk you through the correct procedures.

Question: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)? My husband is active duty military he was explaining this to me because of our car loan. He joined in Oct but we bought our suv two years ago so from reading this if I am right the company who has financed our car is suppose to lower our interest rate to 6%??? Now I have mentioned this to them before and she told me it was only if my husband was deployed and from reading the information I seen nothing about deployment. I think they are trying to get over on us. Any information would be great!

Answer: What Eagle posted is the Service members Civil Relief Act but companies have found ways around it and have even found ways that have made it so that joining doesn't automatically mean that your creditors have to lower the interest rates. Anymore Deployment doesn't even automatically "order them" to lower the rate. Meaning they don't have to do it. Basically, it's a courtesy thing. You can request it and even threaten them with JAG but doing so isn't going to force them to change the interest rate. I actually did that with a creditor because the rate just kept rising and rising while he was deployed. It did me no good. I utterly had to file a complaint with the BBB and with several other places before they finally gave in and lowered the damn rate. All the while we where in the right within the SCRA. What you need to do is call and request that they lower the rate. The key to getting them to do it is to BE NICE about it. Say " I was just wondering if this could be done?" or" My husband just joined the Military and we where wondering if it's possible that you could lower the rate for us?" the other key is that you've never been late or missed a payment before now. If you call them demanding that they lower don't hold your breath on them doing it because they don't have to and they know this. If they say they will do it be prepared to send them a copy of his orders or his enlistment contract because they are very likely going to want it.

Question: Is this situation covered under the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act of 2003?

Answer: Maybe... maybe not.

Question: Does SCRA (servicemembers civil relief act) cover co-signers? My husband and I have an auto lease... Its in my name, and he is the co signer. We have had the lease for three years and have 2 left. He has been in the air force for less than one year, and is getting stationed in Okinawa Japan for three years. My name is on the orders to go over there with him. Will we be covered under SCRA? I emailed toyota but all they told me was to give them a copy of the orders, which I will when my husband gets home (he is still finishing his tech school) but I was just curious if we were going to have any trouble getting out of the lease.

Answer: You shouldn't have any problems. The below link contains a sample letter,approved by all branches of the US military(Note the note at the bottom of the form), to use in notifying Toyota about ending the lease. Notice of Cancellation of Motor Vehicle Lease from lessee to lessor, including Odometer Disclosure Statement. http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/conten…

Question: Question for anyone who has used the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for interest deduction? I'd like to hear from any military personnel (or spouses) who have actually written to a credit card company (or mortgage co., etc.) requesting the 6% cap rate due to deployment. Was it enough to send orders and the typical 'boilerplate' letter requesting the lowered rate, or did the company request that you send additional info? I've heard that you had to prove that your pay would be impacted due to deployment. This is not the case with us however I will not be working due to childcare issues. So is it worth it to send the letter? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks for your answer; I am aware of all the details except the specifics for this following one: I have read on military sites that you have to prove your pay is impacted--I'm just wondering if anyone has ever really had to do that and if so, how did you go about it.

Answer: We used this 6 years ago on an auto loan when we went from Guard to active duty. We just called them up, told them that we were getting activated and that we wanted to use our Civil Relief Act to get the interest rate dropped. They just needed us to fax them a copy of our orders showing them that we were Guard getting activated. They never even asked us about our income We didn't even get deployed, just stationed in Germany. Anyway, they capped it right after they got the fax and NEVER lifted the cap at all. I am not sure if that was a typical situation but we had no problems what so ever. The only requirement we faced was that my husbands name had to be on the account (which it was) . So if you have a car loan that is only in your name, you can't use the 6% cap on it. Hope this helps a bit

Question: Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act and Foreclosure? My husband is active duty Army, and we have an investment property that is being foreclosed upon. Is there anything in the SCRA that will help us? The property was purchased after he joined the Army, and we are not in a position to pay the note, so restructuring of the loan is not an option. I'm just wondering if the SCRA can make this process any easier on us/our credit score? Ok, that was my understanding of it. The bank sent us a letter that made it sound like there might be more to it than that. Thanks!

Answer: no. any contracts you enter into after enlisting are not covcered and if you default you are not ciovered. you will have to take the loss and hit on your credit score. this can also affect his ability to stay in. If he has a Clearance he can lose it.

Question: Has anyone used Servicemembers Civilian Relief Act or Soldiers Sailor & Relief Civil Act for credit card debt? I have a few questions concerning it. 1. I know you have to send in a written request, a copy of orders, and specify which statue you're using. So, what would a copy of orders look like? For example, if someone has a reporting date for OCS or BMT, what would they use? An actual example of a form would be great! Also which statute is it that I should address in my letter to the creditor? 2. When using it on credit cards, do the lending companies actually close the credit card account or does it remain open after SCRA has been used? 3. If the credit card remains open, will using it again void the SCRA debt reduction to 6%? For instance, if I owe 3,000... I use SCRA, then I use the credit card again to purchase food... now, I owe 3,025... Does the rate go back to the original rate on the whole amount? Or is 3k under 6% and the rest under the normal percentage? To clarify, the act is for anyone on ACTIVE duty. Anyone at OCS or BMT is on active duty if they are not part of the reserves. I do not know what orders look like. So, it would be nice if someone were able to show a template of how orders are supposed to look, or inform if the sign up contracts for active duty will suffice, as well as list the statute to reference when sending a letter to the creditors.

Answer: We have used this when my husband was deployed. This is just my experience. You may or may not know what I'm about to write but I will write everything I know (and don't know) just in case: I always correspond with all the credit companies via phone. I write who I spoke with, when, what time, and what was said. They always ask for military orders to be either mailed in or faxed in. I always faxed it in so I have proof. Then I call a couple of hours later to make sure they have received it (this is due to the fact that sometimes they don't receive it for some reason, so I call to double check). I don't know about your command but with my husband's, they (the commanding officer) actually gave each of the guys a letter from the command itself (on official paper from the command, along with the letterhead) that says that this military member is deploying soon (but no sensitive information is given due to OPSEC) and that letter was good enough for all the credit card companies. No official "orders" were ever requested by the CC companies, the official letter WITH contact info at your command is what was requested for my husband's deployment. The credit cards are not closed when the SCRA has been activated. It will remain open but the interest will just be 6%. I also used the SCRA for my husband's cell phone. They "paused" his cell phone account but not mine. It was helpful because we did not have to pay a monthly fee, we did not have to pay a cancellation fee, we also got the same exact deal we had when he came back even though they did not have that plan anymore. We never used the credit cards while he was gone so I can't answer your question about using the card while the SCRA is in effect. You may want to call the individual credit card companies for this question. Some of the credit card companies extended the coverage up to six months after my husband arrived. This is a courtesy on their part, so it doesn't hurt to ask. The way I found out was I asked them if I or my husband should call when he gets back so they know. They then informed me that they (the credit card company) will be extending it as a "thank you" to my husband and what he does and there will be no need to contact them. The SCRA will just "expire" a year after, however if there are any changes in terms of him extending his stay, then they ask that we call them so they can adjust everything. Just so you know, before I called the CC companies, I asked around also about this and I received different answers from different people. One of my Navy friends actually said that this is basically like consolidating your bills and that it will have a negative effect on your credit history and score. So I was scared but I needed to hear it straight from the individual CC companies. Hence, I called them myself and received the same answers from every CC company. This is not consolidating your bills, this is in no way similar to bankruptcy, and this will definitely NOT affect your credit history or score. Good luck to you. In addition: http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/rights/Se… This link "says" that debts must have been incurred by the servicemember BEFORE the member entered active duty. I don't know if "candy" is correct or if this link is correct about that. All I know is that from my own experience, all the CC companies reduced our rate to 6% for ALL our debt as their "thank you to the military."