Wants to ensure military personnel and their families are receiving protections they have earned
Washington, DC – April 15, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Today, Rep. Walz introduced legislation to protect servicemembers from abusive, illegal mortgage practices.
Walz introduced the Protecting Service Members from Mortgage Abuses Act today as part of an effort to increase accountability on Wall Street. Walz felt the legislation was necessary after reports surfaced earlier this year that some banks violated current law by wrongly overcharging and wrongfully foreclosing on deployed service members.
“When our brave men and women are deployed overseas to protect our nation, they shouldn’t have to worry unnecessarily about what their bank is doing on the home front. I want to make sure that our nation’s financial institutions are providing the financial protections to our troops as called for under the law,” said Walz.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), first passed at the start of World War II, was designed to extend some basic protections to members of the military and their families whose service to the nation affects their ability to meet financial obligations and protect their legal interests.
Congressman Walz’s bill would:
- Double the maximum criminal penalties, making the violation a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
- Double the civil penalties when the Attorney General commences civil action, taking them from 55k to 110k (first violation) and 110k to 220k (subsequent violations).
- Extends the foreclose protection period from 9 to 24 months.
- Removes the foreclosure sunset provision making the protections permanent.
