I'm sure many of you already know about this, but I'm posting this for those who (like me!) didn't know about this applying to mortgages. In my case, I own a home in Texas that I couldn't sell before going active duty. My only option was to rent it out. As mortgage rates dropped I tried to refinance but couldn't because it is now a rental and they required me to have 20% equity--something I don't have or I would have sold the darn place! Anyway, a colleague told me that the SCRA applies to mortgages too so I contacted my bank and what do ya know? It sure does!
The happy ending is that I faxed my orders to the bank and within one week my interest rates on both mortgages (1st and 2nd) were reduced to 6%. There were no fees and no hassles. My mortgage payment dropped by about $250 per month. NICE! Even better was that the bank calculated the reduction retroactively to the time I went AD so I'm not required to make my next few mortgage payments because I've overpaid!
I hope this helps someone out there who may be struggling with home issues.
Thanks for posting this! One of my biggest concerns (really, the ONLY concern) about going AD with the ANC is selling our current home in Virginia, so this is all great info for me. Sigh. Where oh where did my equity go?!
Look into renting it out. That's what we've done. We're lucky in that we have a good chunk of equity but we still wouldn't get what it's worth, so to speak, if the economy were better. As it is, we're renting it out and getting almost $500 a month MORE than our mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance).
Look into renting it out. That's what we've done. We're lucky in that we have a good chunk of equity but we still wouldn't get what it's worth, so to speak, if the economy were better. As it is, we're renting it out and getting almost $500 a month MORE than our mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance).
Yeah, that'll be our last resort. We won't return to this area once we leave, so it would be nice to just have no strings, but I don't want the house to be some kind of dealbreaker!
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Lunah, MSN, RN
14 Articles; 13,773 Posts
Thanks for posting this! One of my biggest concerns (really, the ONLY concern) about going AD with the ANC is selling our current home in Virginia, so this is all great info for me. Sigh. Where oh where did my equity go?!