Understanding Your Rights in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)

Many service members have dealt with a landlord who is not so forgiving when military orders forced a relocation. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever cancelled a cell phone contract after discovering the company doesn’t provide service at your new duty station?

Service members and their family members endure hardships as a result of our service to our country. Long deployments to often dangerous locations and frequent PCSes across state lines, or around the world to new and unfamiliar locations, are only the start of a long list of challenges faced by our fellow service members and their families.

Then there is the additional financial impact of PCS moves and deployments on military families. According to the Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey, military spouses cite “Financial Issues” as one of the top stressors due to the military lifestyle. The 2021 survey results state that, "Two-thirds (66%) of active-duty family respondents report having unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses related to their last PCS move, and among those with unreimbursed moving costs, more than half (55%) report those expenses to be over $1,000."

That's why the government helps protect our military community from incurring unnecessary financial burdens due to military service.

What is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)?

It’s called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA, and it was originally enacted in 2003 to provide certain financial protections for our servicemembers and their families during times of military service. The law has been amended and expanded a number of times over the years and currently covers issues ranging from residential lease agreements, evictions, credit card and mortgage interest rates, home foreclosures, vehicle leases, life and health insurance, and a host of other issues.

Who is protected under the SCRA?

The SCRA is a federal law that provides a wide range of benefits for those in military service and their dependents, including the following categories of people:

• Active duty members of the service branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Space Force)

• Reservists serving on federal active duty

• National Guard members on federal orders for more than 30 days

• Dependents of the above which includes spouses, children, and any person who has received more than half their financial support from the servicemember for the past 180 days

How the SCRA helps military families

All too often, military families are on the receiving end of a business deal gone wrong, typically left feeling there is little they can do to take control of the situation, much less to make things right. 

The SCRA is in place to protect service members and their families from certain financial charges (like cancelling an apartment lease, a cell phone contract or vehicle leasing fees because of deployment), and specific legal situations, (like prohibiting companies from repossessing a vehicle or foreclosing on a property during deployment, or a storage facility trying to auction off a service member's belongings while they are stationed overseas). The SCRA also protects a citizen's right to vote--and have their vote counted--while they are stationed overseas.

PCSgrades was built with this exact concern in mind. We believe the spirit of the SCRA is aligned with our goals to assist our fellow military families in our times of greatest need.

Need more information on the SCRA?

We are not part of any official DoD agency nor are we licensed attorneys, so if you are a service member or military dependent who suspects your rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act have been violated, you should contact your nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program office, which can be found at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/locator.php. You can also learn more about the SCRA and other laws protecting service members and their dependents at www.servicemembers.gov.