Verifications under the
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
50 U.S.C. App 501 et seq.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. Appx. 501 et seq., herein "SCRA"1) is the successor to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Act. It offers protections for persons in active military service. The protections may include 6% interest on some loans (notwithstanding the terms of the original loan), and halting court judgments, evictions and foreclosures. "Military Service" covers seven agencies (Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Air Force, as well as certain employees of the National Health Service and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. (See SCRA § 511(2)).
It is important to note that the SCRA provides protection not only to persons on active military service but may also apply after termination of active military status. Foreclosures, for example, are invalid if conducted during or within 1 year2 after a servicemember's period of military service. The court could review the promissory notes that gave rise to the foreclosure and could change the mortgage payment and maturity date. Similarly, the 6% interest rate cap extends one year after termination of a servicemember's period of military service. §527(a).
There are dangers in proceeding against someone without verifying if the person is in active military service. A person who knowingly causes a foreclosure or seizure or attempts to do so in contravention of the SCRA is subject to imprisonment. (see §533 (d))
Until now, searches under the SCRA only provided confirmation of whether a person was or was not in active military status. This resulted in a severe vulnerability: there was no ability to verify if a servicemember was within his/her period of post-service protection. Effective May 22, 2012, the military active duty verifications provided by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Centralized Verification Service (www.
At the SCRACVS site, active duty vertification/miliary affidavit verifications may be conducted without a social security number or date of birth, provided that other identifying information (such as addresses) is provided. The DMDC site, on the other hand, will not permit a dispositive search without the SSN. The SCRACVS has other data available to it to conduct the dispositive searches often required by courts.
Courts universally require an affidavit before a plaintiff may receive a judgment against an individual and may require subsequent verifications before certain enforcement of judgments is sought. Those affidavits should now indicate the active duty termination date, if applicable because some protections survive the termination date. The affidavits are sometimes referred to as "military affidavits", "non-military affidavits", "affidavits in compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act", "SCRA Affidavits", "active duty affidavit", "military verification affidavit", and "50 U.S.C. App. 533 Affidavit".
1 The Act is the successor to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940. The SCRA is sometimes and erroneously referred to as the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act, Servicemember's Civil Relief Act, Service Member Civil Relief Act, Service Member's Civil Relief Act, Servicemembers Civil Release Act, and similar.
2 Section 533. Public Law 112-154 passed on August 6, 2012 extended the period to one year, and expires on 12/31/2013, at which time, it would appear that the period would revert to 90 days. On the other hand, §522, which applies to other proceedings, remains at 90 days.
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The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act ("SCRA", successor to the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act) accords certain protections and rights to individuals who are either on active military duty or recently retired. The purpose of the Act is to allow the servicemembers to perform their valuable duties without the worry of civil prosecution, foreclosure or eviction under most circumstances. Before a court will permit such actions, the court will require certification that a military search has been conducted to confirm that the individual is not entitled to the protections of the Act. The proof may be required again later in the proceedings before certain collections or enforcement action is sought. Proof of that verification is usually in the form of an affidavit which may be called a "military affidavit", "non-military affidavit", "nonmilitary affidavit", "Active Duty Verification Affidavit". The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Centralized Verification Service (SCRACVS) is available on-line and permits SCRA searches even if no social security number or date of birth of the individual is available. In addition, SCRACVS provides full tracking, covers recently retired personnel, and provides unequivocal responses. Further, for large-scale verifications, a batch processing system is available. The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC or DMDC.osd) has more limitations as a resource because it is unable to conduct an unequivocal active duty military verification or search unless a Social Security Number (SSN) is provided. If a date of birth alone is provided to the DMDC, it will issue a strong disclaimer indicating that the military certification is not guaranteed if no SSN was provided. Some courts will not accept a response with such a disclaimer. The response from SCRACVS generally does not include this disclaimer. Information secured from us does not constitute a "consumer report" as that term is defined in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. (FCRA). Accordingly, information secured from us may not be used in whole or in part as a factor in determining eligibility for credit, insurance, employment or another permissible purpose under the FCRA. Due to the nature of the origin of public record information, the public records and commercially available data sources used in reports may contain errors. Source data is sometimes reported or entered inaccurately, processed poorly or incorrectly, and is generally not free from defect. Our product and services aggregate and report data, as provided by the public records and commercially available data sources, and are not the source of the data.
Common Acronyms:
DMDC: United States Department of Defense Manpower Data Center
SCRA: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (sometimes erroneously referred to as Servicemember Civil Relief Act and as Service Member Civil Relief Act). Click above for text of Act.
SCRACVS: Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Centralized Verification Service
ADSD: Active Duty Status Date
DOB: Date of Birth
SSN: Social Security Number
MV: Military Verification
AMS: Affidavit of Military Service (also Military Affidavit, Non-Military Affidavit, Active Duty Verification Affidavit, or Affidavit Pursuant to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act)
ADV: Active Duty Verification
