Who qualifies
More people than you think
- Active-duty members of the six branches
- Reservists on federal active duty
- National Guard members on Title 10 active duty, or on Title 32 orders under 32 U.S.C. 502(f) for
more than 30 consecutive days, called by the President or the Secretary of Defense to respond to a
declared national emergency and paid with federal funds
- Commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and NOAA
- Dependents — a spouse, children, and any other person the servicemember provided more
than half the financial support for over the past 180 days
- You are covered from the date you receive the order to report for service or induction, before
you ever report (50 U.S.C. 3917)
- Time absent from duty for sickness, wounds or leave still counts as military service
(50 U.S.C. 3911(2)(C)). Wounded in a hospital bed is still covered
- A co-signer, guarantor or comaker on the servicemember's loan can be given the same pause,
and a judgment against them can be vacated (50 U.S.C. 3913)
A spouse does not have to wait on the servicemember. Under 50 U.S.C. 3959 a dependent can apply to the
court for SCRA relief in their own name by showing that the member's service makes it impossible for the
dependent to keep up.
Where the line falls. Routine drill weekends and most state active duty do not count for the
Guard. If your orders are close to the line, call a legal assistance office before you assume you are
out — the wording on the order decides it, not a rule of thumb.
★ Read the orders. They decide.
If you already separated
Several protections reach past your last day
I have seen this stated as "veterans are not covered." That is wrong and it costs people
money. Seven protections run past the separation date.
- A pause on a court case — available to someone in military service or within 90 days
after release (50 U.S.C. 3932(a))
- Reopening a default judgment — one entered during service, or within 60 days after
service ends, can be reopened. File the application no later than 90 days after release
(50 U.S.C. 3931(g))
- The 6% cap on a pre-service mortgage — runs during service and one full year after
(50 U.S.C. 3937(a)(1)(A))
- The written notice that turns the 6% cap on — you may send it up to 180 days after
you leave service, and the creditor must then apply the cap backward to the day you were called
(50 U.S.C. 3937(b)(1))
- Foreclosure on a pre-service mortgage — a sale, foreclosure or seizure without a court
order is invalid if made during service or within one year after (50 U.S.C. 3953(b))
- Storage, repair and cleaning liens — cannot be foreclosed during service or for
90 days after without a court order first (50 U.S.C. 3958)
- Deadlines to sue or be sued — your period of military service is not counted against any
statute of limitations (50 U.S.C. 3936(a)). That helps you for the rest of your life
What is actually true: you cannot start a new protection off service that ended long ago and
outside these windows. That is a long way from "veterans are not covered."
★ Separated is not the same as out of time.
Interest
The 6% cap on debt you had before service
Credit cards, car loans, mortgages — debt you already carried before you went in.
How you turn it on. Send the creditor written notice with a copy of your military orders
(50 U.S.C. 3937(b)(1)). Any time during service, or up to 180 days after you leave service. Once
you send it, the creditor must apply the cap retroactively back to the date you were called to
service.
- Interest above 6% that you would otherwise have owed is forgiven — erased, not parked
(50 U.S.C. 3937(a)(2))
- Your monthly payment must be reduced by the amount of interest forgiven
(50 U.S.C. 3937(a)(3)). No lender may quietly hold it and bill you later
- Mortgage or trust deed from before service: the cap runs during service and one year
after. Every other debt: during service only (50 U.S.C. 3937(a)(1))
It can be contested. A creditor may go to court and ask to be let out of the cap if the judge
thinks your ability to pay the higher rate is not materially affected by your service
(50 U.S.C. 3937(c)). This is a right you assert, not a guarantee nobody can touch.
Debt you took on while already serving is not covered by this cap. That does not leave you with
nothing — take the paperwork to a military legal assistance office and ask what other federal
limits apply to that loan.
★ No letter, no cap. Send the letter.
Leases
Breaking a lease without getting buried
Housing and vehicles are governed by 50 U.S.C. 3955 — and the thresholds are not the
same for the two.
- Housing lease. PCS orders, or orders to deploy for not less than 90 days. You may also
end a housing lease you signed before you entered military service, simply by entering service
— no PCS, no deployment, no minimum (50 U.S.C. 3955(b)(1)(A))
- Car lease. Deployment of not less than 180 days, or a PCS either from the continental
United States to a location outside it, or from a state outside the continental United States to any
location outside that state (50 U.S.C. 3955(b)(2)(B)(i)). Moving out of Hawaii or Alaska to anywhere
else counts
- A car lease signed before service can be ended if the order is for not less than 180 days, or
a shorter order later extended to 180 days or more with no break in service
The money rule nobody tells you. 50 U.S.C. 3955(f): the landlord or leasing company may not
charge an early termination fee, and any rent you paid in advance for time after the termination date
must be refunded within 30 days. You still owe rent prorated through the end date, plus taxes,
registration, and reasonable excess wear and mileage on a vehicle.
The trap. A 120-day deployment order breaks the apartment lease and does not break the car
lease. Check which order you hold before you hand in keys.
★ Prepaid rent comes back. In 30 days.
Monthly bills
Cell, cable, gym and alarm contracts
50 U.S.C. 3956. This one is small money every month and almost nobody uses it.
On military orders to relocate for not less than 90 days to a place the contract does not cover
— or a stop-movement order of 30 days or more — you may terminate:
- Cell phone service
- Home phone service
- Internet access
- Cable or satellite television
- A gym membership or fitness program
- Home security service
If you sign back up with the same provider within the 90-day period beginning the last day of your
relocation, they may not charge you a reinstatement fee beyond their usual installation and equipment
charges.
★ Six bills you can stop.
Your home
Eviction and foreclosure
This is the biggest dollar exposure in the whole law.
Eviction — 50 U.S.C. 3951. You or your dependents cannot be evicted from your primary
residence without a court order where the monthly rent is at or below the ceiling. The court may
stay the eviction 90 days or adjust the lease. Knowingly evicting in violation is punishable by a fine
and up to one year in prison.
Do not let the printed number fool you. The figure written into the statute is $2,400 and
it is the 2003 base. The Department of Defense raises it every year for housing price inflation. The
ceiling is $10,542.60 per month, effective January 1, 2026. DoD publishes the new figure each
year, so check the current one before you decide you are over the cap.
Foreclosure — 50 U.S.C. 3953. On a mortgage you took out before service, any sale,
foreclosure or seizure for nonpayment is invalid unless it is done under a court order or a valid
written waiver — during your service and for one full year after it ends.
You may see "nine months" on an official website. Nine months was the old rule and it is gone.
One year is current law. Where a government web page conflicts with the United States Code, the Code
wins — print 50 U.S.C. 3953(b) and take it with you.
★ Nobody takes the house without a judge.
Court
Pausing a case — and undoing one you lost
50 U.S.C. 3932 is broader than people think. Read the first line of it.
- It applies to any civil action or proceeding, including any child custody proceeding
- It protects the plaintiff or the defendant — the person who filed the case, not only the
person being sued
- It covers you if you are in military service or within 90 days after release, and you have
received notice of the case
The court must have two letters (50 U.S.C. 3932(b)(2)):
- Yours — how your current military duty materially affects your ability to appear, and
a date when you will be available.
- Your commanding officer's — stating that your military duty prevents you appearing and
that military leave is not authorized for you.
On that application the court
shall stay the case for
not less than 90 days. Requests fail
most often because the commanding officer's letter is missing.
Already lost by default? A default judgment entered during your service, or within 60 days after
it ended, shall be reopened if your service materially affected your defense and you have a real
defense — application filed no later than 90 days after release (50 U.S.C. 3931(g)). And
before any default judgment is entered, the person suing must file a sworn affidavit stating whether you
are in military service (50 U.S.C. 3931(b)(1)). If you are fighting an old default, pull the file and see
whether that affidavit exists and whether it told the truth.
★ A judgment against you is not always final.
Your property
Repossession and storage units
Repossession — 50 U.S.C. 3952. Protection applies only if the contract was entered into
before you entered military service and a deposit or at least one installment was paid
before you went in. On those contracts, the property cannot be repossessed without a court order.
- Knowingly taking the property back in violation is punishable by a fine, up to one year in prison, or
both
- If a court does terminate the contract, it must order your prior installments or deposit
repaid as a condition of ending it
- A vehicle bought after you were already on active duty is not covered by this section — take
that contract to legal assistance and ask what else applies
Storage units — 50 U.S.C. 3958. A lien for storage, repair or cleaning of your property
cannot be foreclosed or enforced during your service and for 90 days after, without a court order
obtained first. The court can pause it or adjust what you owe. Knowingly violating this is punishable by
a fine and up to one year in prison.
★ Deployed is not abandoned.
Read this before you sign
They cannot punish you, and the fine print usually fails
Asking cannot be held against you — 50 U.S.C. 3919. Requesting or receiving an SCRA stay,
postponement, suspension or rate reduction may not be used as a basis for: a lender deciding you
cannot pay; denying or revoking credit; changing the terms of credit you already have; an adverse credit
report; refusing to insure you or changing your insurance terms; or an annotation in your record
identifying you as a member of the National Guard, a reserve component, or the Space Force.
This is the number one reason people do not ask for the 6% cap. They are afraid of the credit hit. The
law forbids it.
A waiver buried in your contract usually does not count — 50 U.S.C. 3918. A waiver of SCRA
rights covering termination or modification of a lease or contract, or repossession or foreclosure, is
effective only if it is in writing, in a separate document from the loan or lease itself,
signed during or after your period of military service, and printed in at least
12-point type. A clause hidden in the original paperwork you signed before service does not meet
that test.
★ Ask anyway. They cannot use it against you.
Taxes
The state cannot claim you just because you were stationed there
50 U.S.C. 4001. This is state income tax and personal property tax, every single year.
- Neither the servicemember nor the spouse loses or gains a residence or domicile for tax
purposes by being absent from or present in a state solely to comply with military orders
- For any tax year, the servicemember and spouse may elect to use, for tax purposes, the
servicemember's residence or domicile, the spouse's residence or domicile, or the
servicemember's permanent duty station
Three choices, and you pick. Run all three before you file. The installation tax center or a legal
assistance office will walk you through it.
★ Money back every year you get this right.
How to ask
Four steps, and what to do if they say no
- Gather your documents. Military orders, LES or active-duty verification, and the loan,
lease or account information.
- Contact the lender, landlord or company directly and ask for their military or
servicemember support team.
- Put the request in writing. Send or upload your orders, your account numbers, and a written
request for SCRA protections. Writing is what the statute requires — a phone call is not
enough.
- If they refuse, take it up the chain. The routes are below.
Military legal assistance. It costs you nothing. Find an office through the Armed Forces Legal
Assistance locator at
legalassistance.law.af.mil.
Eligibility varies by installation and by service — call the office and ask before you drive over.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
consumerfinance.gov/complaint
or
(855) 411-2372. TTY/TDD
(855) 729-2372. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, weekdays.
Complaining is not your only remedy. Under 50 U.S.C. 4041 the Attorney General may sue a company
for a pattern or practice of SCRA violations. Under 50 U.S.C. 4042 you may bring your own civil
action and recover monetary damages, equitable or declaratory relief, and a reasonable attorney fee and
costs. Say that out loud to the company before you give up.
★ In writing. Every time.