Posted on 05/06/2008 8:24:33 PM PDT by doug from upland
NOTE: In her victory in Indiana speech tonight, Hillary made the statement about soldiers' homes being forceclosed while they are in harms way. That is a lie. While on active duty, a soldier's home cannot be foreclosed without court order. That order is only granted if it can be shown that they can afford the payments but are not making them. The law is over 65 years old and began as the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. It helped our warriors during WW II while they were saving the world from the Nazis. It is now called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. If someone can find the clip when it is posted, I'd appreciate it.
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Questions & Answers for Reservists, Guardsmen and Other Military Personnel
regarding mortgage payment relief and protection from foreclosure provided by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (formerly known as The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940).
Who Is Eligible? The provisions of the Act apply to active duty military personnel who had a mortgage obligation prior to enlistment or prior to being ordered to active duty. This includes members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard; commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who are engaged in active service; reservists ordered to report for military service; persons ordered to report for induction under the Military Selective Service Act; and guardsmen called to active service for more than 30 consecutive days. In limited situations, dependents of servicemembers are also entitled to protections.
Am I Entitled To Debt Payment Relief? The Act limits the interest that may be charged on mortgages incurred by a service member (including debts incurred jointly with a spouse) before he or she entered into active military service. Mortgage lenders must, at your request, reduce the interest rate to no more than six percent per year during the period of active military service and recalculate your payments to reflect the lower rate. This provision applies to both conventional and government-insured mortgages.
Is The Interest Rate Limitation Automatic? No. To request this temporary interest rate reduction, you must submit a written request to your mortgage lender and include a copy of your military orders. The request may be submitted as soon as the orders are issued but must be provided to a mortgage lender no later than 180 days after the date of your release from active duty military service.
Am I Eligible Even if I Can Afford To Pay My Mortgage At A Higher Interest Rate? If a mortgage lender believes that military service has not affected your ability to repay your mortgage, they have the right to ask a court to grant relief from the interest rate reduction. This is not very common.
What If I Can't Afford to Pay My Mortgage Even At the Lower Rate? Your mortgage lender may allow you to stop paying the principal amount due on your loan during the period of active duty service. Lenders are not required to do this but they generally try to work with service members to keep them in their homes. You will still owe this amount but will not have to repay it until after your complete your active duty service.
Additionally, most lenders have other programs to assist borrowers who cannot make their mortgage payments. If you or your spouse find yourself in this position at any time before or after active duty service, contact your lender immediately and ask about loss mitigation options. Borrowers with FHA insured loans who are having difficulty making mortgage payments may also be eligible for special forbearance and other loss mitigation options. More information about help for homeowners who are unable to make payments on a mortgage is available on the HUD website at http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/econ/econ.cfm.
Am I Protected against Foreclosure? Mortgage lenders may not foreclose, or seize property for a failure to pay a mortgage debt, while a service member is on active duty or within 90 days after the period of military service unless they have the approval of a court. In a court proceeding, the lender would be required to show that the service member's ability to repay the debt was not affected by his or her military service.
What Information Do I Need To Provide To My Lender? When you or your representative contact your mortgage lender, you should provide the following information:
Notice that you have been called to active duty; A copy of the orders from the military notifying you of your activation; Your FHA case number; and Evidence that the debt precedes your activation date.
HUD has reminded FHA lenders of their obligation to follow the Act. If notified that a borrower is on active military duty, the lender must advise the borrower or representative of the adjusted amount due, provide adjusted coupons or billings, and ensure that the adjusted payments are not returned as insufficient payments.
Will My Payments Change Later? Will I Need To Pay Back The Interest Rate "Subsidy" At A Later Date? The change in interest rate is not a subsidy. Interest in excess of 6 percent per year that would otherwise have been charged is forgiven. However, the reduction in the interest rate and monthly payment amount only applies during the period of active duty. Once the period of active military service ends, the interest rate will revert back to the original interest rate, and the payment will be recalculated accordingly.
How Long Does The Benefit Last? Does The Period Begin And End With My Tour Of Duty? Interest rate reductions are only for the period of active military service. Other benefits, such as postponement of monthly principal payments on the loan and restrictions on foreclosure may begin immediately upon assignment to active military service and end on the third month following the term of active duty assignment.
How Can I Learn More About Relief Available To Active Duty Military Personnel? Read this article describing the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (formerly known as The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act).
Servicemembers who have questions about the SCRA or the protections that they may be entitled to may contact their unit judge advocate or installation legal assistance officer. Dependents of servicemembers can also contact or visit local military legal assistance offices where they reside. A military legal assistance office locator for each branch of the armed forces is available at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/locator.php
You know, the same place she pulls her economic policy statements and her opinions on foreign policy from, her ample posterior.
:)
I didn’t read the article, but the fact is that federal law requires that a judge cannot enter a foreclosure decree unless there is an affirmative demonstration by the lender that the borrower is no active duty military. If the judge doesn’t make that finding, the foreclosure decree is invalid.
I’ll give Hillary the benefit of the doubt on this one (especially given that we’re talking about the mortgage industry, which has a reputation for integrity that’s about on a par with Hillary’s). There’s also a law requiring employers (above a certain size, I believe) to give reservists their jobs back when they return from active duty, but there have been plenty of verified reports of that law being broken. I’m sure there are cases where the foreclosure law is being broken too. And unlike a job, which can be given back or compensated for with money, after a court finds the law was broken, having one’s home sold to and occupied by strangers isn’t always reversible, since the location may have been ideal and a great deal of personalized improvements put into the home. If Hillary’s bringing attention to this saves even one honest serviceperson from having this happen to them (and I think that’s very likely), I commend her for it.
She didn't lie!
She simply mispoke.
Please get with the agenda. /s>
I changed the headline to ask if she was lying. I’ll give anyone credit if they are trying to fix a flaw in the law and help protect our soldiers. Any lender who is trying to take away a home from someone serving abroad should be publicly outed and shamed.
Yeah, I’ll agree with that. If the law is being broken or incompetency and ignorance on the part of the lenders leads to a circumvention of the law, then that’s definitely bad and if Hillary’s stump speech (regardless of real motive) brings this issue more to the forefront then it’s a win for the servicemen and women.
If the lenders are actually taking soldiers to court to get approval to foreclose while they are abroad, that absolutely has to be changed.
It has to be true Doug! She heard about it while dodging sniper fire in Bosnia!
I want to know how many have lost their homes or if she is just grandstanding and pandering.
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