Five Military Debt Relief Programs
Members of the military have plenty to worry about when they are serving our country. The last thing they should have to worry about is if they paid the mortgage and credit card bills off this month.
The good news is laws protect them from many civilian credit worries. The bad news is a lot of military personnel still suffer severe financial difficulties and have a hard time finding veteran debt-relief options.
Here are five programs designed to help active duty military and veterans with debt relief:
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act – Regulates interest rates for credit cards, auto loans and other financial services for active duty military. Also requires landlords to let you out of your lease, without penalty, for deployment.
- Military Lending Act – Servicemembers cannot be charged more than 36% interest for credit products.
- Veteran’s Housing Benefit Program – offers loans to veterans at very low rates.
- Nonprofit Credit Counseling – Free financial counseling provided by nonprofit companies like InCharge Debt Solutions.
- Debt Consolidation – There are a few options in this category, any one of which could provide the debt-relief solution best suited for your problem.
If you are an infantryman in Afghanistan or a civilian in Denver, debt consolidation – whether it’s a debt management program, a debt consolidation loan, debt settlement or in the most severe instances, bankruptcy – can ease the strain. Debt can feel unending, but there is a way to seek military financial help through the following options.
Military & Veteran Debt Consolidation Loan Options
If you are looking for a debt reduction plan, a good place to start would be examining the interest rates you pay on your current bills, especially credit card debt and compare those against the interest rate charges for a debt consolidation loan.
Debt consolidation is taking out one loan to pay off several smaller loans. It is most often used to eliminate credit card debt because debt consolidation loans have far lower interest rates and agreeable terms. For example, depending on your credit history, you could get a debt consolidation loan of 8%-10% interest rate to wipe out credit card debt that probably has reached 25%-30%.
There are several types of debt consolidation loans – personal loan, home equity loan, balance transfer loan, loan from family or friends – and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
- Personal loan: This is the most common form of debt consolidation. You go to a bank, credit union or online lender, ask for the amount you need to pay off credit card debt, they check your credit score and payment history and approve or disapprove your loan. Personal loans accounted for $305 billion in borrowing in 2019, an astounding 121% increase over 2018. Online lenders are doing most of the new business in this area.
- Home equity loan: This loan has the lowest interest rates for one very important reason: You are putting your home up as collateral. If you miss payments, you could lose your house. In return, you get interest rates as low as 6% compared to the national average of 17% for credit cards.
- Balance transfer cards: The attraction here is that you pay 0% interest for an introductory period (usually 6-18 months), giving you time to pay off credit card bills at no interest. However, it’s very difficult for people already in trouble with credit cards to qualify for a 0% interest card. If you do qualify for one, you must pay off your debts in the allotted time or your rate soars to 18%-20% or higher.
- Family or friends: This could be the place to get the lowest rates and best repayment terms IF both sides trust each other and act responsibly. IF they don’t, this can ruin relationships and be a really bad idea.
If you’re not happy with any of these choices, you could consolidate your debt without a loan through a nonprofit credit counseling agency. Credit counselors walk you through the steps of setting up a monthly budget and then recommend debt-relief options.
One of those is a debt management program, which doesn’t require a loan and doesn’t consider credit score as part of the qualifying process. Debt management programs are a good way to eliminate debt, eventually increase your credit score and relieve stress from financial problems. Counselors work with lenders to reduce the interest rate you’re paying and the amount of your monthly payment so that all debt is eliminated in a 3-5 year time frame.
In This Section
- Military Debt Relief Programs
- Military Debt Consolidation Loans
- Military Security Clearance
- Service Members Civil Relief Act
- Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)
- Veteran Debt Relief & Financial Stress
- Military Lending Act of 2006
- Credit Counseling for the Military
- Military Debt Consolidation
- Military Relief Programs
- Military Grants
- VA Debt Relief Options
- Additional Online Resources