If we really want to Honor our Troops
By Albert B. Kelly
We spend a considerable amount of time in this country
fighting cosmetic battles about whether one group or another is disrespecting
our troops or not honoring our armed forces. By cosmetic, I mean the types of
battles and arguments that might center on whether or not this person stood or
that one knelt at a ballgame in contrast to what I believe is truly dishonoring
and outrageous conduct toward our men and women in uniform. I’m talking about
the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and specifically about how the
financial services industry tends to ignore this law while paying lip service
to the troops.
If you haven’t heard of SCRA, it is a federal law that
protects those in the various branches of the military from being sued (i.e.
foreclosures, judgements, evictions, attachments, garnishments, etc.) while
actively serving and up to a full year after active duty. There are also
provisions to limit interest and fees for service members. This is as it should
be, but it seems like the financial services industry simply doesn’t care.
Recently, the Justice Department obtained a $1.59 million
settlement from PRG Real Estate Management and their subsidiaries because they
basically lied to the courts in order to get evictions and monetary judgements,
including what are known as lease termination fees, from service members who
were tenants in Virginia.
In September of 2017, Bank of America agreed to a $42
million class action settlement involving thousands of service members and
their families which centered on excessive interest for mortgage accounts,
credit cards, and interest-bearing loans dating back to September 11, 2001 and
then trying to conceal it from all involved.
Bank of America denies everything and according to them we
shouldn’t read too much into the fact that they settled, it was simply cheaper
than paying lawyers or rolling the dice on the possibility that an outraged
jury would award damages far beyond the $42 million that made the whole mess go
away.
In 2015, the Justice Department reached a roughly $123
Million settlement with JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, GMAC
Mortgage, and BAC Home Loans which was taken over by Bank of America. This
settlement was related to what the Justice Department deemed “unlawful
non-judicial foreclosures” on the homes of men and women actively serving in
the military in violation of SCRA. The settlement was likely a fraction of what
the banks made.
Keep in mind that these were essentially the same banks
that got filthy rich peddling subprime mortgages and packaging the toxic mess
as Credit Default Swaps and Collateralized Debt Obligations until the housing bubble
burst. American taxpayers had to come to the rescue while they were fighting
over bonuses and compensation. Given that history, why expect anything
different when it comes to dealing with our men and women in uniform.
These are just a few examples of what’s been happening to
the troops, but there’s more. In January, the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau released its annual report covering these same issues and the impacts on
members of the military and their families.
In 2018, over 18,000 complaints were reported by service members
covering everything from credit cards and mortgages to student loans, car
loans, payday loans, and everything in between. I suspect that for the banks
it’s a lucrative revenue source and settlements are simply part of doing
business, it’s factored into the equation- if caught, simply settle and admit
no wrongdoing.
Just think about the soldier in theater who gets an
anguished call from their spouse about the foreclosure notice in that day’s
mail or the soldier fresh off looking for IED’s who’s got to dial 2 and wait on
hold for a customer service rep to talk about their student loan only to be
told they missed some deadline for a “forbearance” and now the full amount is
due with penalties. Talk about friendly fire.
Not all service members are blameless in their financial
choices, but there’s a proper time to deal with those issues and it’s a
separate thing from certain financial institutions and their disregard for SCRA
and taking advantage of the disruptions associated with active duty to squeeze
out more revenue.
So whether standing or kneeling, if we want to honor the
troops in a way that might actually help them, it should include raising hell
about how some banks treat the people, including their families, defending our
country.