Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act

[McD]

As a recent discussion noted, doing the duties required by the military often places the military family in a hard financial situation.

The Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act was enacted to help relief the military family of some of that burden. The history of the Relief Act dates back to the Civil War, but the Act as we know it today originated in the 1940's during WW2. It has been amended several times since then, with the latest amendment coming in 2003.

The Act also provides relief to Guard and Reserve Soldiers, as long as they are on active federal service (basic training/ait is considered as active federal service).

Some of the highlights of the act include allowing the servicemember to terminate pre-service lease agreements and allowing the servicemember and family to seek protection from eviction.

One of my favorite portion of the act is the 6% interest rate cap on loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc. if the military service affects the servicemember's ability to pay and if the debt was incurred prior to the military service. It does not apply to federal student loans, however.

The Act allows for a stay in certain legal proceedings.

This is a very brief summary of the act. I used this website for details. Hopefully, this can help someone out!

[Holding Pattern]

This is both good and bad... yes, families are put into a hard position however... to make ends meet, I had to take a customer service job with a CC. I am learning a lot.

Easily 75% of the Soldiers & Sailors calls I take are from spouses who are stateside, still swiping the card like crazy but still taking advantage of the NO LATE FEES, NO NSF, etc.

The Relief Act means you get a fantastic break on interest - it is not a license to pay whenever you want with no consequences.

And by YOU, I don't mean the OP... I mean the people I talk to standing in-store, 1 or 2 pymts behind, and still wanting to make a purchase. And then they throw it in your face that the spouse is abroad (whose service I appreciate) but it is not a get-out-free card... and I will say that the majority who abuse the relief act are very young spouses.

Sorry if I stepped on any toes. It is a great program just widely abused.

[McD]

Totally get it HP. It becomes very easy to use the deployment card as a crutch or as a way to excuse their bad behavior.

My former sister-in-law spent all of my brother's deployment income on expensive vacations, clothes, jewelry, and her boyfriend.

Like any tool, it can be abused..