Extending Foreclosure Protection for the Military
During the Iraq war, many reservists and members of the National Guard were called into action, forcing them to walk away from full-time jobs in favor of their military commitments. Unfortunately, this would frequently mean taking a significant pay cut. By the time they were done with their duties abroad, they would often come home with severe financial hardships, frequently struggling to keep up payments on their mortgage loans.
In response to this problem, many people have been pushing to grant additional foreclosure protection to current and past members of the military. Currently, such homeowners are protected by the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, which was incorporated in 2008. This legislation forbids banks from foreclosing on a military member for a period following his or her return from active duty, provided that the mortgage loan in question was issued before said duty. Originally, this period was nine months. In 2012 it was lengthened to a full year.
Since this act was scheduled to expire at the end of this year, there has recently been a movement in Congress to put an extension on this protection. On December 11th, the Senate passed this extension by a unanimous vote. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives, who have yet to act.
