Does the SCRA Apply to Personal Loans? Yes: 6% If Signed Before Duty

Yes. The SCRA applies to personal loans, and the loan being unsecured changes nothing. 50 U.S.C. § 3937(a)(1) caps “an obligation or liability bearing interest at a rate in excess of 6 percent per year that is incurred by a servicemember, or the servicemember and the servicemember’s spouse jointly, before the servicemember enters military service” (read on uscode.house.gov September 2, 2026, current through September 1, 2026). A personal loan from OneMain, Upstart, SoFi, a credit union, or a bank is an obligation bearing interest. Signed before your active-duty start date, it caps at 6% for the whole period of service. The only personal loan the SCRA does not touch is one you open after that date, which falls under the Military Lending Act instead.

What § 3937 says, read for a personal loan

The rate cap guide walks the whole section. Four clauses decide a personal loan.

The loan type is irrelevant; the date is everything. § 3937(a)(1) does not say “secured,” “consumer,” or “installment.” It says “obligation or liability.” An unsecured loan for a wedding, a consolidation, or a medical bill is inside the text; the only question is the signing date against the date on your orders.

Joint with your spouse counts. The same sentence names debt incurred “by a servicemember, or the servicemember and the servicemember’s spouse jointly,” so a co-signed personal loan is capped for its whole balance. A loan in your spouse’s name alone is outside the federal text, though several lenders below extend benefits to dependents by policy; see the spouse and family guide.

Fees are interest. § 3937(d)(1): “The term ‘interest’ includes service charges, renewal charges, fees, or any other charges (except bona fide insurance) with respect to an obligation or liability.” A late fee charged during service on a pre-service loan counts toward the 6%.

Forgiven, not deferred, and back to day one. § 3937(a)(2) says interest above 6% “is forgiven,” and (a)(3) requires the payment to drop by that amount. § 3937(b)(1)(A) requires written notice and a copy of your orders “not later than 180 days after the date of a servicemember’s termination or release from military service,” and § 3937(b)(2) makes the cap effective “as of the date on which the servicemember is called to military service.” File eight months in and the lender owes eight months back.

§ 3937(a)(1)(B) runs the cap “during the period of military service, in the case of any other obligation or liability.” The one-year tail in (a)(1)(A) is for mortgages only; a personal loan returns to its contract rate the day you are released.

The $15,000 example

The site’s calculators use simple interest on a fixed balance: balance times the gap between your APR and the cap, divided by twelve for a month. A real installment loan amortizes, so exact figures come in somewhat lower, but the scale holds.

Every dollar in the right-hand column is money § 3937(a)(2) calls forgiven: a recomputed balance and smaller payment on an open loan, a check on a paid-off one. Run your balance through the refund calculator, have the letter generator produce the notice, and if the rate drops but the balance does not, read the refund guide.

Eight personal-loan lenders, read September 2, 2026

Each row is what the lender’s own page states today; names link to this site’s page on that lender.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs is absent: its site sits behind a security challenge automated checks could not pass on September 2, 2026, and a marcus.com search found no SCRA page. Affirm’s Help Center loads as an empty Salesforce shell today; this site’s Affirm page read it in August 2026 (6% on pre-service plans, filed by webform).

Two rows correct what most guides say: LendingClub’s pages now carry the name Happen Bank and its SCRA desk answers at happen.com, and Discover Personal Loans no longer runs its own SCRA program; Discover hands you to Capital One, which is where the 4% comes from. The SCRA phone directory covers the rest of the market.

A loan opened during service is an MLA loan, not an SCRA loan

The 6% cap stops at your active-duty start date. A personal loan signed after it is governed by the Military Lending Act. 32 CFR 232.3(f)(1) makes credit “consumer credit” when it is “primarily for personal, family, or household purposes” and is “subject to a finance charge” or “payable by a written agreement in more than four installments” (read on ecfr.gov September 2, 2026, current through August 31, 2026). An unsecured personal loan meets both prongs and fits none of the 232.3(f)(2) exclusions; the full list is in MLA covered credit.

The ceiling is 32 CFR 232.4(b): “A creditor may not impose an MAPR greater than 36 percent.” The MAPR counts fees on top of the note rate; the MAPR guide works through it. Lenders screen at application, not on a letter: LendingClub says it checks MLA status when you apply, SoFi says it “already covered you for MLA benefits at the time you originated your debt/loan,” and Upstart says its Cash Line is not offered to MLA-covered borrowers (all read September 2, 2026). A during-service personal loan is legal at up to 36% MAPR, and no notice sent afterward makes it a 6% loan. Buy-now-pay-later splits the same way: an interest-bearing Affirm monthly plan is consumer credit under the four-installment test, and the Affirm page sorts the plan types.

The consolidation trap

The expensive version of this rule is a consolidation loan. Say you carry a 24% pre-service card and a 14% pre-service auto loan, both capped at 6% the day you ship, and a lender offers a 12% consolidation loan in your second month. Sign it and two capped balances become one obligation incurred during service, which § 3937 does not reach and the MLA allows at up to 36% MAPR. You went from 6% to 12% and called it a refinance.

USAA’s page states the rule: accounts opened after your qualifying service started are generally not eligible, and Upstart lists it as a denial reason. The fix is timing: consolidate before the date on your orders and the new loan is itself pre-service debt. The pre-service debt playbook covers what to borrow before you go; refinance before active duty covers why a week changes everything.

Cap every pre-service personal loan in one sitting

1. List every personal loan signed before your active-duty start date, co-signed ones included: lender, loan number, APR, signing date.
2. Pull a copy of your orders, or a commanding officer’s letter, plus a DMDC certificate as backup.
3. Build one § 3937 notice per lender with the letter generator, naming every loan at that lender.
4. Send each notice through the SCRA desk in the table, not the payment address, and keep the receipt.
5. Calendar day 30 and day 60: a one-page follow-up at 30 with no written answer, the denial playbook at 60.
6. Check the next statement for a rate at or under 6%, a smaller payment, and a credit back to your start date; if the balance did not move, demand the recomputation, sized with the refund calculator.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3937

Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service: read the statute , or see where it sits in the whole Act .