Fincher and Heck Offer Stability for Servicemembers Act to Prevent Foreclosures

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To prevent a pending expiration of foreclosure protection for military homeowners, Representatives Stephen Fincher (TN-8) and Denny Heck (WA-10) today introduced the Stability for Servicemembers Act. Existing law currently protects servicemembers from foreclosure for one year after they leave active duty, but the law is set to expire at the end of this year.

The Stability for Servicemembers Act extends the one-year foreclosure prevention measure through December 31, 2015.

“We’re making progress on reducing veteran unemployment, but we’re not even close to being where we need to be when it comes to housing protections,” Heck said. “The truth is volunteering to protect our country can make servicemembers vulnerable to foreclosure, and we need to recognize and acknowledge that risk by passing laws that prevent our heroes from losing their homes.”

“A slow recovering economy and real estate market have hit our nation’s military personnel especially hard as they transition out of active duty and seek new employment opportunities.  Many of these folks are facing the threat of eviction from or foreclosure on their home,” Fincher said. “Our men and women in uniform are the best in the world, willingly putting their lives on the lines to protect our freedoms every day.  The least we can do for them is ensure they don’t lose their home when they leave active duty service.”

In 2012, Congress temporarily extended the foreclosure protection to one year. The temporary revised timeframe was examined in a U.S. Government Accountability Office study to ensure its effectiveness. In "Servicemembers Civil Relief Act: Information on Mortgage Protections and Related Education Efforts," GAO found the revised timeframe successfully protected veterans from losing their homes and didn’t cause any unintended consequences for veterans or lenders.