Know the words, claim the money
SCRA & Military-Finance Glossary
The terms that show up in your loan paperwork, a court notice, or an SCRA request, explained in plain English. Each one links to the guide that puts it to work.
A
- Active duty
- Full-time service in the armed forces. Most SCRA protections apply during active duty, and several extend for a set period after it ends. Learn more →
- Affidavit of military status
- A sworn statement a plaintiff must file before a court can enter a default judgment, stating whether the defendant is in military service. Filing a false one is a federal crime. Learn more →
- Allotment
- An automatic deduction from military pay sent to a creditor or account. The Military Lending Act bars lenders from requiring an allotment to repay covered credit. Learn more →
- APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
- The yearly cost of credit stated as a percentage, including interest and certain fees. The SCRA caps the rate on pre-service debt at 6%. Learn more →
B
- BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing)
- A military allowance that helps cover housing costs. A single bank levy on a default judgment can wipe out a month of it, which is why stopping judgments matters. Learn more →
- Bank levy
- A court-authorized seizure of money from your bank account to satisfy a judgment. Stopping a default judgment under the SCRA keeps a levy off the table. Learn more →
C
- Co-obligor
- A person jointly responsible for a debt. The SCRA 6% rate cap can apply to a servicemember and a jointly liable spouse on a pre-service obligation. Learn more →
D
- DD-214
- The form documenting release from active duty. It establishes your service dates, which set the windows for SCRA rights that run after service ends.
- Default judgment
- A court ruling against you because you did not respond to a lawsuit. The SCRA forces extra steps before one can be entered against a servicemember, and lets you reopen one entered during service. Learn more →
- Deferment
- A pause on required payments. The SCRA 6% cap does not defer interest, it forgives the amount above 6% instead of postponing it. Learn more →
- Dependent
- A servicemember's spouse, child, or other supported person. Some protections, including much of the Military Lending Act, extend to dependents. Learn more →
- Deployment
- An assignment away from your home station, often overseas. Deployment commonly triggers SCRA rights like the rate cap, lease termination, and court stays. Learn more →
- DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service)
- The agency that handles military pay. Judgment creditors sometimes pursue collection through DFAS, which makes stopping a judgment important. Learn more →
- DMDC (Defense Manpower Data Center)
- The Defense Department office whose SCRA website confirms active-duty status. Lenders use it to verify status, and you can pull your own certificate for free. Learn more →
- Domicile
- Your true, permanent legal home, the state you intend to return to. The SCRA lets servicemembers and spouses keep one domicile despite military moves. Learn more →
E
- Escrow
- An account a lender uses to hold funds for property taxes and insurance, usually bundled into a mortgage payment.
- Eviction protection
- Under the SCRA, a landlord cannot evict a servicemember or dependents from a residence under the federal rent ceiling without a court order, and the court can pause the eviction. Learn more →
F
- Forbearance
- A lender's temporary agreement to reduce or pause payments. It is a negotiated courtesy, unlike the SCRA rate cap, which is a legal right. Learn more →
- Foreclosure protection
- Under the SCRA, a pre-service mortgage cannot be foreclosed without a court order during service and for one year after. Learn more →
G
- Garnishment
- A court order directing your employer to withhold part of your pay for a creditor. A default judgment is what makes garnishment possible, which the SCRA helps you prevent. Learn more →
H
- Health insurance reinstatement
- The SCRA right to restore a private health plan you dropped for service, with no new waiting period or exclusion for the gap, if you apply within 120 days of leaving service. Learn more →
I
- Interest
- The cost of borrowing money. For the SCRA 6% cap, interest includes service charges, renewal charges, and fees, not just the stated rate. Learn more →
- Interest rate cap (6%)
- The SCRA rule limiting interest on pre-service debt to 6% per year during service, with the excess forgiven rather than deferred. Learn more →
J
- Judgment
- A court's final decision in a lawsuit. A money judgment lets a creditor garnish wages or levy bank accounts. Learn more →
L
- Lease termination
- The SCRA right to end an apartment or auto lease early without penalty when you enter service or receive qualifying orders. Learn more →
- Lien
- A legal claim on property as security for a debt. The SCRA blocks enforcement of certain liens, like a storage facility's, without a court order during service. Learn more →
- Life insurance protection
- The SCRA lets you ask the government to keep a private life insurance policy from lapsing for nonpayment during service. Learn more →
M
- MAPR (Military Annual Percentage Rate)
- The all-in rate the Military Lending Act caps at 36%, folding in interest, most fees, and credit insurance. It is broader than a standard APR. Learn more →
- Military Lending Act (MLA)
- A separate law from the SCRA that caps most consumer credit taken during service at a 36% MAPR. The SCRA instead caps pre-service debt at 6%. Learn more →
- MSRRA (Military Spouses Residency Relief Act)
- The law letting a military spouse keep one legal residence for tax and voting purposes across moves, and now elect the servicemember's state. Learn more →
O
- Orders
- Official military directives assigning duty, a deployment, or a move. Orders are the proof that triggers SCRA rights like lease termination and the rate cap. Learn more →
P
- PCS (Permanent Change of Station)
- A military relocation to a new duty station. A qualifying PCS can trigger SCRA lease termination and affects a spouse's tax residency. Learn more →
- Period of military service
- The span of active-duty service that defines when SCRA protections apply. Many rights extend for a set time after it ends. Learn more →
- Pre-service obligation
- A debt or lease you took on before active duty. The 6% rate cap and several other SCRA protections apply only to pre-service obligations. Learn more →
- Principal
- The amount borrowed, separate from interest. The SCRA reduces the rate on pre-service debt but does not erase the principal you owe. Learn more →
R
- Refinance
- Replacing a loan with a new one. Refinancing a pre-service loan after you join can convert it into a new obligation that loses the 6% cap. Learn more →
- Repossession protection
- Under the SCRA, a creditor cannot repossess a vehicle or installment-purchased property without a court order if you made a payment before service. Learn more →
- Residency
- The state you live in for legal and tax purposes. The SCRA and MSRRA let servicemembers and spouses avoid acquiring a new residency just because orders moved them. Learn more →
S
- SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act)
- The federal law (50 U.S.C. 3901 to 4043) that gives servicemembers financial and legal protections, from a 6% rate cap to court stays. Learn more →
- Servicemember
- A member of the armed forces covered by the SCRA: active-duty members of every branch, plus Guard and Reserve members on qualifying federal orders. Learn more →
- SGLI (Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance)
- Low-cost group life insurance for servicemembers. It is separate from the SCRA right to protect a private policy from lapsing during service. Learn more →
- Stay of proceedings
- A court-ordered pause of a civil case. The SCRA requires at least a 90-day stay when military duty keeps a servicemember from appearing. Learn more →
- Storage-lien protection
- Under the SCRA, a storage facility cannot sell a servicemember's stored property to satisfy a lien without a court order during service and for 90 days after. Learn more →
T
- TDY (Temporary Duty)
- A short-term assignment away from your permanent station. Like deployment, it can affect your ability to appear in court or manage obligations.
W
- Waiver of rights
- Giving up an SCRA protection. A waiver counts only if it is a separate written document, so your rights cannot be buried in a contract. Learn more →
New to the SCRA? Start with the complete guide.
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