Sept. 11, 2012 – Servicemembers Civil Relief Act foreclosure protections were detailed for all Monday in a free, interagency webinar Monday hosted by the Federal Reserve and including housing finance regulators, financial institution regulators and the Justice Department.
Those changes, included in the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, continues protections against foreclosures and allowing for a stay of court proceedings for nine months after service. On Feb. 2, that extension increases to 12 months after service. This 12-month, post-service protection period remains available through 2014.
The SCRA foreclosure protection applies where the loan was obtained before the person entered active-duty military service. A lender seeking to foreclose on a home is obligated under the law to determine if the borrower is a servicemember entitled to SCRA protections, the regulators said.
The webinar detailed all the mortgage foreclosure mitigation steps available to servicemembers, including extensions for post-service protections that were signed into law last month. It also included an overview of the national servicer settlement, which, among other things, provides for more than $20 million in relief for some 160 servicemembers who were improperly foreclosed on between 2006 and mid-2009.
The program also looked at compliance responsibilities regarding Permanent Change of Station orders to servicemembers and special considerations for those who own homes. Speakers noted that about 180,000 servicemembers are issued PCS orders each year.
Holly Petraeus, assistance director of the CFPB Office of Servicemember Affairs and representatives from NCUA, FDIC, the Office of the Comptroller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency participated.
The webinar has been archived and remains available online.