SCRA Debt Collection: When a Collector Can Contact Your Commander

Federal collection law bars a debt collector from discussing your debt with your commander without your consent, a court’s permission, or a judgment to enforce. On a pre-service debt, nothing in the SCRA’s text ends the 6% cap when the account is sold. Every rule below was read on its primary source on October 10, 2026. Court relief on pre-service debt is in SCRA debt relief.

The 6% cap is written about the debt, not the lender

Section 3937 never names a bank, a collector, or a debt buyer. Its rule is about the obligation: debt “incurred by a servicemember … before the servicemember enters military service shall not bear interest at a rate in excess of 6 percent” during service, and interest above that “is forgiven” (§ 3937(a)(1) and (a)(2)). The section has no assignment clause. Your written notice and orders go “to the creditor” (§ 3937(b)(1)(A)), and the SCRA’s definitions section, 50 U.S.C. § 3911, does not define that word. Nothing in the text switches the cap off when an account is sold. That is a reading of the text; no court decision on debt buyers was reviewed for this page.

So send your notice and orders to whoever owns the debt today and copy the collector. And because § 3937(d)(1) counts “fees, or any other charges (except bona fide insurance)” as interest, ask that collection fees on a pre-service balance be counted inside the 6%.

If the collector sues and you do not appear, § 3931(b) requires a military-status affidavit and, if you appear to be in service, an appointed attorney before judgment (see the default judgment guide). A stay of at least 90 days under § 3932 needs “a letter or other communication from the servicemember’s commanding officer” saying duty prevents your appearance and leave is not authorized. Read § 3932(e) first: a servicemember who applies for that stay “and is unsuccessful may not seek the protections afforded by section 3931.”

Can a collector call your commander?

Not about the debt. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b), a debt collector “may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than the consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector.” Your commander, first sergeant, and supervisor are not on that list. Regulation F, 12 CFR 1006.6(d), repeats the rule and its four exceptions:

1. A contact to get your location information (your home, home phone, or workplace), under § 1692b and 12 CFR 1006.10. The caller must say it is “confirming or correcting location information,” must “not state that such consumer owes any debt,” and may not contact that person again unless asked to or it reasonably believes the first answer was wrong or incomplete.
2. Your “prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector.”
3. “The express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction.”
4. What is “reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial remedy.”

Here “consumer” includes your spouse (§ 1692c(d)), so a collector may discuss the debt with your spouse. And Regulation F bars a collector from emailing an address it knows your employer provided, unless you used that address with the collector, consented to it, or the prior collector properly obtained and used it (12 CFR 1006.22(f)(3)). Your .mil account is an employer-provided address.

DoD’s instruction draws the line: “Creditors are generally exempt from the FDCPA, but only when they collect on their own behalf.”

Checked October 10, 2026.

A debt collector that breaks the FDCPA is liable for your actual damages, additional damages the court allows up to $1,000, and, if you win, court costs and a reasonable attorney’s fee. You have one year from the violation to sue (§ 1692k(a) and (d)).

What DoD Instruction 1344.09 tells your commander

DoD’s rule on servicemember debt is DoD Instruction 1344.09, “Indebtedness of Military Personnel,” effective February 1, 2022. It reissued and canceled the December 2008 version. Commanders “will facilitate the prompt processing of debt complaints,” but assistance “will not be extended” to creditors:

• “Who have not made a bona fide effort to collect the debt directly from the Service member”;
• “Whose claims are patently false and misleading”; or
• “Whose claims exceed applicable legally permissible interest rates at the time of borrowing.”

In the canceled 2008 text, that third ground read claims that are “obviously exorbitant.” Neither version contains “Standards of Fairness.” Those are Appendix B to 32 CFR Part 113, a 1995 DoD rule still in the eCFR on October 10, 2026, and § 113.6(a)(1) says creditors filing debt complaints must show they complied with them.

Failing to pay “a just financial obligation may result in a claim or an appropriate disciplinary action” under the UCMJ. A just financial obligation is “a legal debt acknowledged by the Service member in which there is no reasonable dispute as to the facts or the law; or one reduced to judgment that conforms to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, if applicable.” By that wording, a debt you dispute on real grounds fails the first half, and a default judgment taken without SCRA protections fails the second.

The instruction does not apply to debts owed to the federal government, child support and alimony enforcement, or state and municipal claims, including taxes. For a judgment debt, a creditor applies for an involuntary allotment from your pay under procedures in DoD 7000.14-R, Volume 7A, which the instruction says “will provide the exclusive remedy available,” and DFAS considers whether the SCRA was complied with before it sets one up. The garnishment guide covers that process.

MILITARY STAR: a collector and your commander, by contract

The Exchange Credit Program agreement, read October 10, 2026, is blunt about default. Section 16 lets ECP “notify your unit commander about our Account collection efforts,” “arrange for garnishment or deduction from your military, retired, or civilian pay of the maximum amount allowed by applicable law,” and transfer the account “for collection by the AAFES Collections unit, a commercial collection agency, or a law firm,” with you liable for the costs those collectors charge. Section 18 says clearing the Exchange when you out-process “does not result in a forgiveness of your Account balance.” Rates and the 6% programs are in the MILITARY STAR card guide.

Section 16 says ECP’s remedies include those under four federal statutes, among them the Debt Collection Act of 1982, which wrote the 15% cap, notice, and hearing rules into the federal salary-offset statute, 5 U.S.C. § 5514. Section 5514 counts as an agency any nonappropriated fund instrumentality described in § 2105(c), which names the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The agreement cites the Acts, not § 5514, so this page does not claim ECP must use it. Where § 5514 applies, a deduction “may not exceed 15 percent of disposable pay” without your written consent. You get at least 30 days’ written notice, a chance to inspect the records and agree on a repayment schedule, and a hearing on request; a petition filed on or before the 15th day after you receive the notice “shall stay the commencement of collection proceedings.”

MLA loans that broke the rules

Credit you took while already on active duty is a Military Lending Act question, not a § 3937 one, though the MLA excludes residential mortgages and purchase loans secured by the car or other property bought (10 U.S.C. § 987(i)(6)). If a covered loan carried an annual percentage rate above 36% (§ 987(b)) or required an allotment to repay it (32 CFR 232.8(g)), the contract “is void from the inception of the contract” (32 CFR 232.9(c)). Check the terms against the 32 CFR 232.8 limits before you pay, and see MLA violations and enforcement.

When a collector contacts you

1. Within 30 days of receiving the collector’s validation notice, dispute in writing anything you do not owe and ask for the original creditor’s name and address. The collector must stop collecting the disputed part until it mails you verification (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)).
2. Compare the date the debt began with your active duty start date. If it came first and runs above 6%, send written notice and your orders to the current owner and copy the collector. The letter generator drafts it, and a DMDC certificate backs it up.
3. Do not give a collector permission to contact your command. The consent exception works only when you give it directly to the debt collector.
4. If a collector reaches your unit, log the date, the caller, and what was said.
5. If you are sued, respond before the deadline and take the papers to legal assistance the same week. Ask about a § 3932 stay and the commander’s letter it needs.
6. If you get a salary-offset notice under 5 U.S.C. § 5514, petition for a hearing in writing on or before the 15th day after you receive it. A timely petition stays collection.

Where to report a collector

• Your installation legal assistance office first. DOJ’s SCRA complaint page says, “If you believe your rights under the SCRA have been violated, please contact your local military legal assistance office.” The locator it links, legalassistance.law.af.mil, searches by state or ZIP code but, per its page, covers only certain bases in the continental United States.
• The CFPB. File at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call (855) 411-2372; debt collection is a listed product, and most companies respond within 15 days. The Bureau’s former Office of Servicemember Affairs page returned “page not found” on October 10, 2026, so use the main portal.
• The Justice Department. If you are not eligible for military legal assistance, file an SCRA complaint at civilrights.justice.gov/report. DOJ warns it is “unable to investigate every SCRA complaint we receive.”

The law behind this: 15 U.S.C. § 1692c

Communication in connection with debt collection: the third-party rule that keeps a collector away from your commander: read the statute.