The Service Members Civil Relief Act protects service members on active duty deployment from a variety of credit actions occurring at home, from evictions to civil lawsuits. Service members may also suspend obligations to pay most credit debts while deployed to focus more on military actions and not worry about civil obligations at home.
Rental Agreements/Mortgages
The Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protects the rental agreements and mortgages of deployed service members by suspending all eviction and foreclosure proceedings for non-payment of rent or mortgages valued at up to $2,932.31 a month as of May 2011. The value of mortgages and rental payments adjusts annually for inflation. This statute also applies to immediate family members of deployed service members. This means mortgage companies or landlords cannot sue spouses of deployed service members to force evictions or foreclosures on homes if those homes are the primary residences of deployed service members.
Pending Debtor Lawsuits
The SCRA also suspends any pending lawsuits or collection actions against a deployed member of the military. Creditors must wait until after the service member returns home from active duty deployment to proceed with civil lawsuits or collection actions. This suspension applies to any attempts at wage garnishment and collection actions, including contact by phone, mail or email. In order to garner protection from creditor pursuits, the commanding officer of a deployed service member must show that active deployment duties are keeping the service member from appearing in court according to Military.com.
Marital Debts in Divorce
Divorcing an active duty service member is difficult under the SCRA. Under the terms of this regulation, a divorce proceeding against an active duty service member must wait until the service member returns home from active duty, according to Lawyers.com. This regulation also applies to the division of marital debts in divorce. Debts must remain the responsibility of both spouses until the military spouse is no longer on active duty deployment. This allows the service member to focus on deployment duties without the immediate worry of a pending divorce and court hearings.
Legal Consumer Debts
A service member may be able to suspend obligations to pay credit card debts while on active duty deployment according to Military.com. Credit card companies cannot legally report negative notations to credit reporting bureaus while a service member is exercising this right under the SCRA. The law also caps interest rates credit card companies may charge to an active service member's credit accounts to 6 percent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment