Troops: "They're foreclosing on our house." (NYT/Kos)

[Bark Bark Bark]

Thanks to DailyKos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/27/225751/803) for pointing to this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/28/national/28military.html?hp&ex=1111986000&en=5ce813cec2d46fe3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Sgt. John J. Savage III, an Army reservist, was about to climb onto a troop transport plane for a flight to Iraq from Fayetteville, N.C., when his wife called with alarming news: "They're foreclosing on our house."

Sergeant Savage recalled, "There was not a thing I could do; I had to jump on the plane and boil for 22 hours."

He had reason to be angry. A longstanding federal law strictly limits the ability of his mortgage company and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members.

But Sergeant Savage's experience was not unusual...

(more)

Uh...support our troops? I suppose that means "...unless they're standing between us and a quick buck."

[Tux]

1. War is good for the economy

Sell a house to a soldier, have them pay the mortage, send them to war, forclose, sell to another soldier, repeat.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Correct, there is absolutely niothing they will do to

actually suport the troops

[pocket]

3. if he has filled out his SSRA paperwork

then the JAG will hand this mortgage company their ass

[Bark Bark Bark]

4. The SSRA Works, But Isn't Preventing Much

Creditors keep trying, because so many are ignorant of the SSRA. (Their victims, that is. I do not buy for one second the idea that creditors and lenders are unaware of it.)

New link (old one hits the registration page), more quotes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/28/national/28military.html?ei=5094&en=2837791108fe9341&hp=&ex=1112072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=

The law, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, protects all active-duty military families from foreclosures, evictions and other financial consequences of military service. The Supreme Court has ruled that its provisions must "be liberally construed to protect those who have been obliged to drop their own affairs to take up the burdens of the nation." Yet the relief act has not seemed to work in recent cases like these:

¶At Fort Hood, Tex., a soldier's wife was sued by a creditor trying to collect a debt owed by her and her husband, who was serving in Baghdad at the time. A local judge ruled against her, saying she had defaulted, even though specialists say the relief act forbids default judgments against soldiers serving overseas and protects their spouses as well.

¶At Camp Pendleton, Calif., more than a dozen marines returned from Iraq to find that their cars and other possessions had been improperly sold to cover unpaid storage and towing fees. The law forbids such seizures without a court order.

¶In northern Ohio, Wells Fargo served a young Army couple with foreclosure papers despite the wife's repeated efforts to negotiate new repayment terms with the bank. Wells Fargo said later that it had been unaware of the couple's military status. The foreclosure was dropped after a military lawyer intervened.

And more...there is always more.

NOTE: The foreclosure on Sgt. Savage's house was stopped--but it remains on his credit history. How's THAT for stupid?