In addition to amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act dealing with the reporting of adverse information on servicemembers by consumer reporting agencies, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as passed by the House and now headed to the Senate includes amendments to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act that restrict the use of arbitration agreements and waivers of SCRA protections.… Continue Reading

The Department of Justice announced earlier this week that it has entered into a consent order with the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) to settle the DOJ’s claim that HESAA violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by obtaining unlawful court judgments against two military servicemembers for amounts owed on student loans. … Continue Reading

On June 27 the Senate passed the Gold Star Spouses and Spouses of Injured Servicemembers Leasing Relief Expansion Act as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (see Sec. 6007). If it becomes law, the bill would amend the SCRA to allow spouses of servicemembers killed or injured during service to terminate certain types of leases.… Continue Reading

The Justice Department announced in a March 15 press release that it has reached an agreement with property management company PRG Real Estate Management (PRG) and several related entities to settle claims that PRG violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by obtaining evictions and money judgments against service-member tenants by filing affidavits that did not accurately reflect the tenants’ military status.… Continue Reading

On March 6, 2019, a California subprime auto lender, California Auto Finance, agreed to enter into a consent order with the Justice Department related to allegations that it repossessed vehicles in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Under the terms of the consent order, which is still subject to court approval, California Auto Finance must pay $50,000 in civil penalties to the government and $30,000 in compensation to one individual servicemember – the highest amount the Department has ever recovered for one servicemember.… Continue Reading

The Department of Justice recently entered into a settlement with Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by repossessing vehicles owned by servicemembers without first obtaining the required court orders.  The settlement agreement  requires Hudson Valley to pay $65,000 to compensate seven servicemembers whose vehicles were alleged to have been unlawfully repossessed and to pay a $30,000 civil penalty to the United States. … Continue Reading

The Department of Justice recently announced it had entered into an agreement with the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii (Honolulu) and its general contractor for towing services to settle a lawsuit filed by the DOJ alleging that Honolulu and the general contractor violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by auctioning or otherwise disposing of motor vehicles owned by servicemembers that were deemed abandoned without first obtaining court orders.… Continue Reading

A group of Democratic Senators have introduced a bill, the “Military Consumer Protection Act” (S. 1565), that would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to include various sections of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) within the list of laws defined by the CFPA as “enumerated consumer laws.”… Continue Reading

On November 18, the GAO released a report examining issues related to implementation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) interest rate cap for student loans. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs requested the report in response to indications that servicemembers with student loans who are eligible for an SCRA rate reduction may not always be receiving the benefit.… Continue Reading

According to an announcement posted on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Website“[a] bug in the SCRA website is causing the site to give false negatives for some National Guard members whose service should be positively reported by the site.”  The DMDC advises that it is working to resolve the issue, but that a fix will not be in place until at least the evening of Thursday, October 6.Continue Reading