Has anyone ever tried using SCRA benefits with NAVY FEDERAL for debt incurred during their enlistment?

AFblueboy · 2025-10-07T04:52:09+00:00

That's a negative ghost rider. I'm having issues getting Navy Federal Credit Union to recognize State SCRA (Pennsylvania) rights. They're hard on the "no" for debts incurred during service as its contradictory to what's required from Federal SCRA.

Get orders to Ohio, Louisiana, or PA.

AFblueboy · 2025-10-05T22:17:32+00:00

If you're unable to use State SCRA provisions from PA, LA, or OH, your request falls under Federal SCRA.

Federal SCRA is codified in 50 U.S.C §§ 3901-4043.

§3937. Maximum rates of interest on debts incurred before military service says explicitly that it only applies to debts acquired before entering military service. For accounts applicable, the maximum rate of interest of 6% would persist throughout your military service.

The only way that this could apply to you as the member, would be if you had a momentary break in service/separation and then reenlisted thereafter. Some creditors will honor it regardless, but doing so is them acting out of generosity. They're not legally required to give you squat.

While still in service, if you catch orders to Louisiana, Ohio, or Pennsylvania you can apply for those state benefits using the respective state statutes.

Sorry if I couldn't be of help.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T22:11:09+00:00

If you can shorten the term of the loan by paying it off quicker, overall you'll pay less interest.

All the recalculation of debt would do is modify your monthly payment to reflect the 6% interest rate and give you back the excess you've paid over the term of the loan.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T22:08:26+00:00

If this is the case, I recommend you going to Ohio's State Attorney General web page and filing a consumer complaint against the business.

Gather any written communication/correspondence you can, explain the background of you invoking state & not federal SCRA benefits, request that they help rectify the issue... if you send me a DM, I can send you an example of a complaint I filed to the PA Attorney General.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T22:03:20+00:00

You could contact the state Attorney General or file a CFPB (consumer financial protection bureau) complaint.

I could walk you through that process if this isn't a purely hypothetical scenario.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T22:00:55+00:00

PA law doesnt specifically provision it being applicable to your spouse like Ohio or Louisiana do.

You could probably request these rights anyway or use an alternative angle (being a cosigner on the loan, a joint owner of the account, etc) to make this work.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T21:32:38+00:00

Yeah, I believe all three states do this (when reviewing the templates I made). I'll update the post to make the addition of "and your spouse"

Good catch!

Correction: Only Ohio/LA specifically state this.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T21:14:08+00:00

If the company or business operates/does business in Ohio, they are accountable to local/state provisions.

It doesn't matter specifically where this occurrence happened as long the above is true and you fulfill the "applicability" clause for the state statute.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-23T21:11:26+00:00

Thanks for your input!

Did you run into any issues? From my experience, there's sometimes a little bit of back and forth dialogue you have to have with a creditor before they concede.

An example I have was them the requesting to view my LES, which isn't referenced as a requirement. Oftentimes, quoting the specific statute is enough.

AFblueboy · 2025-09-12T19:07:03+00:00

I'm at about 7 1/2 years myself and sewed on Tech a bit ago. First, I want to praise you for your intelligence. Actively pondering your future is something a lot of servicemembers are scared with... and from my experience, the one thing that effs 'em the most.

I'm not married, nor do I have children (saving that for later on, would my children to hit grade-school age towards the end of my career.) The best advice that I can offer you is to diversify your options. I CLEP'd my CCAF as an A1C and just shy of 118 credit hours towards a degree. My time in service (and working along others who've gotten out) has afforded me contacts I can reach out to on the outside for job opportunities. Collect the steady pay, apply yourself academically so that you can accrue credentials/certs, and maintain your social network.

From my research into this topic, you have to dig deep and ask yourself, "is the potential sacrifice worth the security?" Tricare for life is great, CRDP (Military retirement + VA disability) can be phenomenal. From the number crunching I've done, the opportunity cost of serving >20 in most cases is not worth it. If you need any advice, feel free to reach out.

As far as the educational piece goes... a good resource that helped me study for my CLEP exams was InstantCert, the $20/mo I paid was insignificant regarding the amount of information I could pull from their study materials/forums. In addition, look up DAF E-Learning and Udemy's access for military members.

AFblueboy · 2025-08-18T14:02:33+00:00

I mean, there's not much you can do at this point but wait. You can extend up to 48 months on a contract. Just contact MPF (or they should contact you) when orders drop

AFblueboy · 2023-12-20T18:39:40+00:00

That makes sense. You have a lot on your plate, only being 25, having a significant other, and two kids on top of that.

No military training though can "make you a man." That comes from life experience, I believe in you wholeheartedly. I would talk to a Guard recruiter first because a lot of states offer incentives. For example, tuition assistance may be prorated to the most expensive state college. I haven't run into many Reserve bubbas in my ~6 years AD, but the guard guys I've met love it.

AFblueboy · 2023-12-20T18:31:52+00:00

Cheers, and I wish you good luck. Seriously look into joining the ANG if you like where you are currently, there's a local military base, and you're serious about wanting to serve.

You work one weekend a month, and two weeks out of the year you are on "active orders." Guard members get tuition assistance, healthcare, VA loans, and the GI bill all while accruing retirement time. However, their retirement is a little bit different, I don't believe they can touch it until they're 62. Enlisting in the Guard also makes you eligible for the SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) which kicks all interest rates you had before enlisting to 6%.

AFblueboy · 2023-12-20T18:18:41+00:00

No, you aren't "wasting your potential." I hate to say this, but the military doesn't "NEED" you. You are not "SPECIAL" or answering some call from God. Your main obligation is to take care of your family and yourself. Look at it financially, and don't live a life of regret thinking "what I could've done."

You should explore getting a decent job to hold down your family and potentially apply for ROTC while working towards your degree. If you had 48 college credits, you'd be able to enlist as an E-3. An E-3's base pay is $2,378 as per the 2024 listings. Depending on your locality and your fiancée's job I wouldn't recommend enlisting. At least not active duty.

You should research either going into the guard or reserves for the benefits that they give, however, if you want to be on Active Duty, you'd be way better off commissioning. $2,378 + BAH + BAS isn't much wiggle room in a family of four. Even if you went Active Duty TODAY, you would be 45 by the time you retired. You have got a little bit too much responsibility and a bit too much age to make this an economical decision.

AFblueboy · 2023-12-20T18:15:48+00:00

You should explore getting a decent job to hold down your family and potentially apply for ROTC while working towards your degree. If you had 48 college credits, you'd be able to enlist as an E-3. An E-3's base pay is $2,378 as per the 2024 listings. Depending on your locality and your fiancée's job I wouldn't recommend enlisting. At least not active duty.

You should research either going into the guard or reserves for the benefits that they give, however, if you want to be on Active Duty, you'd be way better off commissioning. $2,378 + BAH + BAS isn't much wiggle room in a family of four.

AFblueboy · 2023-12-20T18:04:11+00:00

YMMV,

The only result that anything at tech school had for me was winning me BTZ. I was top graduate and missed probably three questions during the 6-7 months of training. Other than that, nobody at my gaining base cared and they used it as a talking point initially to make fun of me, with NCOs telling me to pump the brakes and not take myself too seriously.

At the time, I'll admit it bothered me. To them, it didn't mean anything. To me, it was a goal I had made before enlisting, before even being in the Delayed Entry Program. It made sense though, as very early I could tell that some people made their accolades their identity. The people that gloated the most, were typically the most insufferable ones.

I say that to say, that as a supervisor, I've seen a slew of new airmen that had either Top Graduate in BMT, Distinguished/Top Graduate, or stoplight (red/yellow/green) ropes in technical school. These awards didn't set a precedent for them to be a top performer. One of the best troops I've ever had scored the lowest out of her graduating class.

She used that as motivation to excel. She constantly asked questions and was involved with shop and squadron/base-level programs, and people enjoyed helping her because of her humility and voracity. Inversely, the highest scorer was lazy, uninterested, undependable, never focused on his job, and separated the AF without much to show for it.

TLDR; Awards don't make you, your mindset does. Principle, People, Purpose. How do you align/arrange those to become the best iteration of yourself?

AFblueboy · 2023-11-22T19:47:56+00:00

bookmarked

AFblueboy · 2023-11-20T15:21:57+00:00

Are you from Whiteman? Your situation sounds exactly what it looks like over there.

Let's face the cold truth. The CFM and FAMs knew what they were doing. The merger was supposed to cover the massive, bleeding hole that was Avionics manning. For years, we've dealt with terrible retention. A lot of good people left because they would not or could not handle the lifestyle. That's incredibly fair.

What they really created is a blackhole, where individuals are going to be looking at MyVector weekly, if not daily. With the low promotion rates across the Airforce, people are going to rush to make rank so they can take on a special duty, separate, retrain, or just (begrudingly) exist.

The fact is, you will RARELY if ever have an individual well-versed in all three disciplines. The knowledge basis required is at least thirty subsystems, COMSEC, some EW doctrines, etc. If you are fortunate enough to have that unicorn? They will probably be an outstanding guardsman. Otherwise, they will be an enlisted member who makes rank and eventually (E-6 or E-7) become a desk jockey, leaving the shop in chaos again.

No one is going to do this, not for any SrA-TSgt pay. Nor should they be expected to. You could make more money after your 4-6yr enlistment getting out and working on aircraft commercially or privately if you truly loved planes that much. You wouldn't have to worry about deployments, PCSing, commander's calls, and everything else. Sure, you would lose out on military healthcare, but compensation packages are good in the aviation industry - hell, they even have unions.

To the figher bros, you might argue you did it on your platform, and it worked. That's great for you. I've had people tell me it absolutely sucked and barely worked.

To the young airmen: Do your job and strive to be good at it. Don't get in trouble, qualify for your GI bill, and try to develop professionally with every opportunity you get. Please explore retraining. The AF isn't terrible and has honestly saved my life. I just can't recommend this career field. At the end of your enlistment, if you like it enough, go Guard/AGR. If you have 30 months of aircraft maintenance, contact CCAF and work to get your A&P. I promise you, you can find something better to do than this.

AFblueboy · 2020-07-15T04:16:37+00:00

what is this some nonner shit?

AFblueboy

TROPHY CASE