The Senate has approved a bill, authored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), to keep military servicemembers and veterans out of foreclosure and in their homes after transitioning from active duty. Currently, servicemembers are protected from foreclosure for a full year after leaving active-duty service. That provision is due to expire at the end of 2015, meaning foreclosure protections for transitioning servicemembers would revert to just 90 days. The bill, Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act of 2015 (S. 2393), which passed unanimously, would extend the 12-month grace period through the end of 2017.
“Some of the men and women who’ve served our country need time to find their financial footing as they leave active service. They should get it,” said Whitehouse. “Our servicemembers keep us safe from all manner of threats around the globe. It’s the least we can do to keep them and their families safe from foreclosure as they transition back to civilian life. I’ll keep fighting to make these protections permanent, but I’m pleased we’ve reached a unanimous, bipartisan agreement on a two-year extension.”
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) added that servicemembers and their families “make enough sacrifices for our countries…their homes should not be one of those sacrifices.”
Background. In 2008, Congress first extended the period of foreclosure protection under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act from 90 days to nine months in response to a report by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. The report found that “the threat of foreclosure is a stressor that need not be placed on members of the armed forces during the first months of their return to civilian life.”
In December 2014, Congress extended the foreclosure protection until January 2016. Unless Congress acts by the end of this year, the period of foreclosure protection will revert back to just 90 days starting in 2016.
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