Compliance Blog

Written by Eliott C. Ponte, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

On Friday, the House and Senate unanimously passed a one-year extension of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act’s (SCRA’s) post-service mortgage protections.  See S. 3008. The amendment will extend a provision that ensures servicemembers who are serving in the armed forces are protected against losing their home for one year upon his or her return from active duty, if the mortgage was obtained before the servicemember was an active member of the military. 

Congress first extended the period of foreclosure protection under the SCRA in 2008.  Originally, the extension was for 90-days; however, in 2012, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse successfully extended the SCRA protection to one year.  The protection was set to expire at the end of this year, and the period of mortgage protection would have reverted back to 90 days.  With the passage of S. 3008, the provision was extended for one more year and will now expire on December 31, 2015. 

Compliance officers reading this blog are probably thinking, enough with the history lesson; what about the HUD-92070 form that accompanies the extended SCRA protection!  Unfortunately, there is no official word on this front; however, NAFCU anticipates the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to update the HUD-92070 form to reflect the most recent extension in the very near future.  When HUD does issue an updated HUD-92070 form, rest assured that NAFCU will sound the alarms to alert credit unions to start using the new form.