Legislation Intro'd by Rep. Bill Johnson to Give Financial Protections to Servicemembers Closer to Becoming Law

Press Release

The U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity today passed Congressman Bill Johnson's legislation providing financial protections to active-duty servicemembers and veterans. Below are Congressman Johnson's remarks to the subcommittee as prepared for delivery.

The subcommittee approval moves the Ensuring a Response for Servicemember Act closer to a full vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. The next step is a vote in the full House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, which has not yet been scheduled.

The Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA) was created to protect the legal interests of troops whose service to the nation may interfere with their ability to meet certain financial obligations. The SCRA temporarily suspends some judicial, administrative transactions, and proceedings against individuals and/or their families during active-duty service.

Unfortunately, some financial institutions legally bound by the provisions in SCRA have been uncooperative and unresponsive in helping servicemembers meet their legal obligations in a timely manner.

During a February hearing in the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, a representative of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank admitted the bank violated SCRA by improperly charging interest on the mortgages of about 4,500 servicemembers beyond the 6 percent cap required under SCRA. The representative also said the bank further violated SCRA by improperly foreclosing on the homes of 18 servicemembers while they were on active-duty deployment.

The Ensuring a Response for Servicemembers Act will correct this situation by amending the SCRA to add the following requirements to lending institutions:

* Designate a compliance officer who is responsible for ensuring that the institution is complying with the provisions of the SCRA and distributing information to servicemembers

* Lending institutions with fiscal earnings of $10 billion or more per year are to maintain a toll-free telephone number and make that number available on the institution's primary Internet website.
Congressman Bill Johnson

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