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A guide to help servicemembers manage private student loans and ensure they receive the relief granted them under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is available online via the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's website.

Under the SCRA, military servicemembers are eligible for a reduced interest rate of 6 percent on all student loans taken out prior to active-duty military service. This relief applies to both federal and private student loans.

Holly Petraeus, the CFPB's assistant director of servicemember affairs, blogged on this issue earlier this month, noting that military servicemembers have many of the same problems other borrowers face in getting information they need about programs and policies that could help them decrease their debt while they are on active duty. She said her office is also hearing from servicemembers having problems getting lenders to correctly apply their SCRA rights.

Petraeus and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta jointly unveiled a report on these problems titled "The Next Front? Student Loan Servicing and the Cost to Our Men and Women in Uniform." The CFPB also posted an online, two-page guide, "Action Guide for Servicemembers With Student Loans," that servicemembers can use to evaluate their options.

The CFPB issued a report on other borrowers' problems with private student loans as well. For more, see today's NAFCU Compliance Blog post by Mike Coleman, NAFCU's regulatory compliance counsel.

• CFPB report on private student loans, NAFCU Compliance Blog
• Guide for Servicemembers With Student Loans, CFPB
• Blog post by Holly Petraeus, CFPBThe Next Front? Student Loan Servicing and the Cost to Our Men and Women in Uniform, CFPB report