SCRA Protections for Military Members

This story about a soldier in Iraq whose credit card company unfairly applied late charges to his account while he was overseas shows how fees can add up without ever having used the card. Ben Singer applied for the card before he was shipped overseas but it was never activated because he was deployed. An initial $20 payment was sent late because of the lag time between the soldier receiving the bill and his father sending in the payment for him, and late fees began to be charged until he owed $220 on a credit card he had never charged anything on.

The story prompted me to remind all military personnel who may be deployed overseas that they should check out the protections afforded to them under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act(SCRA) signed into law on December 19, 2003 amended the Soldiers' and Sailor's Civil Relief Act. The SCRA provides certain protections for those serving in the military who are on active duty, such as relief from mortgage payments, eviction and places a 6% cap on interest rates for servicement who are serving overseas.

For more information on debt relief and protection for members of the military who are on active duty, see the SSCRA website.