SSCRA and SCRA

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Active member
SSCRA said:
New Law Rewrites Soldiers & Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA)
On 19 December 2003, President Bush signed into law the “Service members Civil Relief Act” (SCRA). This law is a complete revision of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act (SSCRA).
The SSCRA provided a number of significant protections to service members. These include: staying court hearings if military service materially affects service members’ ability to defend their interests; reducing interest to 6% on pre-service loans and obligations; requiring court action before a service member’sa family can be evicted from rental property for nonpayment of rent if the monthly rent is $1,200 or less; termination of a pre-service residential lease; and allowing servservice membersmaintain their state of residence for tax purposes despite military relocations to other states.

The SSCRA was largely unchanged from its enactment in 1940. The SCRA was written to: clarify the language of the SSCRA: to incorporate many years of judicial interpretation of the SSCRA; and to update the SSCRA to reflect new developments in American life since 1940. The new law, SCRA:

(1) Extends the application of a servicservice memberght to stay court hearings to administrative hearings. It now requires a court or administrative hearing to grant at least a 90-day stay if requested by the serviservice memberitional stays can be granted at the discretion of the judge or hearing official.

(2) Clarifies the rules on the 6% interest rate cap on pre-service loans and obligations by specifying that interest in excess of 6% per year must be forgiven. The absence of such language in the SSCRA had allowed some lenders to argue that interest in excess of 6% is merely deferred. It also specifies that a serviservice member request this reduction in writing and include a copy of his/her orders.

(3) Modifies the eviction protection section by precluding evictions from premises occupied by serservice membersr which the monthly rent does not exceed $2,400 for the year 2003 (an increase from the current $1,200). The Act provides a formula to calculate the rent ceiling for subsequent years.

(4) Extends the right to terminate real property leases to active duty soldiers moving pursuant to permanent change of station (PCS) orders or deployment orders of at least 90 days. This eliminates the need to request a military termination clause in leases.

(5) Adds a new provision allowing the termination of automobile leases for use by serservice membersd their dependents. Pre-service automobile leases may be cancelled if the serservice memberceives orders to active duty for a period of 180 days or more. Automobile leases entered into while the serservice member on active duty may be terminated if the serservice memberceives PCS orders to a location outside the continental United States or deployment orders for a period of 180 days or more.

(6) Adds a provision that would prevent states from increasing the tax bracket of a nonmilitary spouse who earned income in the state by adding in the service member’sa military income for the limited purpose of determining the nonmilitary spouse’sa tax bracket. This practice has had the effect of increasing the military family’sa tax burden.

(7) Adds legal services as a professional service specifically named under the provision that provides for suspension and subsequent reinstatement of existing professional liability insurance coverage for designated professionals serving on active duty. While the SSCRA specifically names only health care services, legal services have been covered since 3 May 1999 by Secretary of Defense designations. The SSCRA permitted such a Secretarial designation, but this revision will clarify this area.

Historically, the SSCRA applied to members of the National Guard only if they were serving in a Title 10 status. Effective 6 December 2002, the SSCRA protections were extended to members of the National Guard called to active duty for 30 days or more pursuant to a contingency mission specified by the President or the Secretary of Defense. This continues in the SCRA.

Above Information Courtesy Of HQ, Department of the Army

_____________________________________________________________

According to the #2 clause i am entitled to cancel my current lease with My apt complex without a pre-standing military service clause in my contract and without penalty. Currently my contract states that there is no way that i can terminate the lease without penalty. On the first instance of speaking with the apt complex general manager i was told that i would have to pay my remaining balance of the seven months at 350 dollars a month. I spoke with my SSGT and he told me to mention the SSCRA and then see what the verdict would be. The apt complex manager replied a few weeks later with "our military service member policy has been updated so that you will now only have to pay for the monthly rent for the month after your lease is terminated". Granted this beats the original terms of the termination but i don't think that the "update" was really an update it was just a lazy apt manager trying to take the easy way out.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what you think. i have already drafted a letter to send to this manger with my General Orders and a copy of this SSCRA revision but i am not going to send it because I don't want to be turned in to the creditors and have to go through that mess.
thanks in advance!!
am i interprting the #2 clause correctly or am i way off base?
 
Does the SSCRA help get me out of the lease without a penalty? that is about the only thing i really need aswered! so someone please step up to the plate and help me out!!!!
:evil:
 
hey guys i am still fighting with the credit card companies but i got my apt thing situated. i just wanted to clear some things up with all of the DEP'ers out there no matter the Service. And hopefully make it a little bit easier on the rest of you!:

1) It takes a while for your financial institutions to reply to your SSCRA requests. In order to speed this process along first call your institution and inform them that you are entering the armed forces and would like to place a Civil relief request. They should give you a fax # or address... you WILL need to send a copy of your contract, a written(typed) letter, and enclose all of your acct information.

2) You must submit a written request for your interest rates to be dropped to the 6% stated in the SSCRA. if you do not the institution will not lower your interest rate!

3) there are no status restrictions for the time period you are unable to pay. for instance i was in a "penalty" period with one of my Credit cards and was told that i could not make any adjustments on the card with my interest rates or my payments regardless of what the SSCRA states; and if i did not pay my payments while i am in Recruit training i would be charged a $50 fee for each month plus increased interest and my regular payment!
if you will look at the SSCRA above you will see that the interest is to be forgiven and the payments tacked on to the end of the contracted time while i cannot access my funds paid by my branch. I had to contact my recruiter (SSGT) and he said that if he could not make any headway he would have to go up the chain of command and maybe contact a Lawyer. So if any company refuses to recognize the SSCRA because you are just entering the services just hang up the phone and call your recruiter!

4)here is the format of the letter i am using. It is very professional and my recruiter gave it to me but i had to modify it. There is NO copyright so feel free to use it! CENTER THE BRANCH HEADING AND ALIGN YOUR INFORMATION TO THE RIGHT AND THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS INFORMATION TO THE LEFT! CHANGE EVERYTHING IN RED

BRANCH
BRANCH RECRUITING COMMAND
OFFICE LOCATION / TITLE
RECRUITING OFFICE ADDRESS
RECRUITING OFFICE CITY STATE ZIP


MR / MS YOUR NAME
YOUR HOME ADDRESS
YOUR HOME CITY STATE ZIP

Name of financial institution
address
City State Zip code
ACCT #




Dear Sir or Madam:

I have recently joined the ENTER YOUR BRANCH. I am leaving to attend boot camp on your department date. I will be undergoing my basic training at ENTER YOUR BOOT CAMP CITY AND STATE for the next TIME PERIOD .

Due to extremely demanding schedule of boot camp I will have no access to any of the money I will be earning until I graduate from recruit training. As a result I will be unable to meet my scheduled payments with respect to the obligation referenced above.

I am requesting that the TIME FRAME of payments that I will miss due to serving my country be deferred and added on to the end of my existing financial agreement. I will be graduating from Marine Corps boot camp on or about DATE THAT BOOT CAMP ENDS. At this time I will be able to access the money I earned while at boot camp and will pick up with my scheduled payments.

The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, 50 App. USX Sections 501 – 591 (SSCRA) extends protection to service members who entered into installment contracts or real-estate transactions and who, due to military service, find themselves unable to meet the obligations of their agreements. Although creditors would normally be entitled to repossess or foreclose on the property, the SSCRA prevents them from doing so without court action. The SSCRA does not cancel debts or obligations, but instead controls when and how the creditor can collect the money due while the service member is unavailable to defend him self due to obligated military service.

I am also requesting in this letter to forgive (not defer) the interest rate on the account referred above to the 6% cap that is specified in the SSCRA. I have enclosed a copy of my orders as required by the SSCRA.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in regards to this matter, which is enabling me to serve both you as well as our great nation. You can expect to see my next payment around DATE YOU WILL MAKE NEXT PAYMENT.

Respectively,



YOUR NAME
YOUR TITLE
 
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