More U.S. troops battle foreclosure
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — As the home foreclosure crisis sweeps across America, military and financial aid groups say they are hearing from a rising number of troops who say they are falling behind on their mortgage payments and struggling to keep their homes.
"The Army as a whole has seen an increase in soldiers and families seeking assistance for mortgage foreclosures," says Army Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, citing data from branch legal offices trying to advise soldiers.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of Veterans Affairs track the number of military families facing foreclosure. Numbers of mortgage delinquencies are kept, however, by USAA, a San Antonio-based financial services company that serves military members and their families. The company declined to release figures, saying in a statement only that "we have seen an increase."
The VA and financial counseling services say they are hearing from more servicemembers fighting to stave off foreclosure. In the current crisis, 1.2 million foreclosures have occurred nationwide.
The nine VA regional loan centers have seen an increase in calls, now daily, from veterans and active-duty servicemembers with home-finance problems, according to an informal poll conducted by department officials in recent weeks, says spokesman Steve Westerfeld.
And calls from troops in mortgage crisis received by one non-profit credit counseling service — Houston-based Money Management International — doubled from two dozen per month the first quarter of 2007 to four dozen per month this past quarter, spokeswoman Catherine Williams says.
Troops have limited foreclosure protection under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Lenders can seek a court order to foreclose on a house, even if the soldier is in combat, federal housing records show.
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