SCRA Request Letter Template: The 6% Rate Cap Letter That Works

The 6% cap in 50 U.S.C. § 3937 turns on when a creditor receives two things: written notice and a copy of your orders. The letter below is that written notice. It is the same text the SCRA letter generator fills in from your name, rank, lender, account, and duty start date, so if you would rather not type, use the tool and come back here for the why. Everything in it traces to a subsection of the statute, and nothing in it asks for more than the law already requires.

The letter

Replace every item in [BRACKETS]. Keep the statutory language as written.

[Your mailing address]

[Today's date]

[Lender name]
SCRA / Military Benefits Department

RE: Request for SCRA interest rate benefit, account(s) ending in [1234], [5678]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a member of the [U.S. Army / U.S. Navy / etc.] currently serving on
active duty. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3937,
I am entitled to an interest rate of no more than 6% per year on this
account, which I incurred before entering military service.

This letter is my written notice invoking that benefit. A copy of my
military orders is enclosed. Please apply this notice to every account I
hold with [Lender name] that was opened before my active-duty start date.

As required by the statute, please:

1. Reduce the interest rate on this account to no more than 6% per year,
   effective retroactively to [active-duty start date], the date my
   active-duty service began;
2. Treat all interest in excess of 6% charged since that date as forgiven,
   not deferred, and credit or refund the difference; and
3. Reduce my periodic payment to reflect the lowered rate.

Please confirm these adjustments in writing. I am also aware that under
50 U.S.C. § 3919 my exercise of these rights may not itself be the basis for
a denial or revocation of credit, a change in the terms of this account, or
an adverse credit report, and that under § 3937(a)(3) my periodic payment is
to be reduced by the interest forgiven.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Respectfully,


[Full name], [Rank]
[Branch]

Enclosures: copy of military orders; DMDC active-duty status certificate
(scra.dmdc.osd.mil)

One difference from the generator: the tool builds one letter per account and asks for the last four digits of that account. If you hold several pre-service accounts with the same issuer, list all of them in the RE line and keep the “every account” sentence, or run the generator once per account. Both work. Sending nothing about the second account is what fails.

Why each element is there

The RE line names the account. The SCRA desk matches your letter to a file by account number, and a letter with no number gets routed to whoever guesses. Last four digits are enough; do not put the full number in the mail.

“Currently serving on active duty” and “incurred before entering military service.” These are the two facts § 3937(a)(1) turns on. The cap applies to an obligation “incurred by a servicemember, or the servicemember and the servicemember’s spouse jointly, before the servicemember enters military service,” and it runs “during the period of military service” (plus one year for a mortgage under (a)(1)(A)). One sentence puts both facts on the record.

“This letter is my written notice … A copy of my military orders is enclosed.” This sentence is the statute. § 3937(b)(1)(A) says the servicemember “shall provide to the creditor written notice and a copy of” the orders calling them to service, “or any other appropriate indicator of military service, including a certified letter from a commanding officer.” Naming the enclosure in the body means a mailroom that separates the pages still knows what was sent.

“Every account I hold.” Not in the statute, but in the enforcement record. The 2012 Capital One consent order required the bank to treat a 6% request on one account as a request on every account it or its affiliates held, because servicemembers who wrote about one card had been left paying full interest on everything else. Barclays now states a single request covers all eligible accounts; American Express states decisions are made per account (both verified August 2026). Write the sentence and you are not relying on either policy.

Request 1: 6%, retroactive to your duty start date. § 3937(a)(1) sets the ceiling; § 3937(b)(2) sets the date: upon receipt of notice and orders, the creditor “shall treat the debt in accordance with subsection (a), effective as of the date on which the servicemember is called to military service.” That is why a letter sent in month eighteen still reaches back to month one.

Request 2: forgiven, not deferred, and refunded. § 3937(a)(2): interest above 6% “is forgiven.” Some servicers lower the rate and quietly park the difference for collection after separation. The word “forgiven” in your letter, matched to the word in the statute, closes that door and sets up the refund of anything already charged.

Request 3: reduce the payment. § 3937(a)(3) requires the periodic payment to be reduced by the forgiven interest allocable to that period. A capped rate with an unchanged payment is not compliance; it is a faster paydown you did not ask for.

“Confirm these adjustments in writing.” The statute does not require confirmation, and that is exactly why you ask. A written confirmation with the applied rate, the effective date, and the recomputation is what you hand to legal assistance if anything is off later. Amex, for one, says a letter outlining eligibility follows once relief is applied (verified August 2026).

“Under 50 U.S.C. § 3919 my exercise of these rights may not itself be the basis for…” Older versions of this letter said “the SCRA prohibits any adverse action,” which is broader than the text. § 3919 says that a servicemember’s application for, or receipt of, a stay, postponement, or suspension in the payment of a civil obligation under the Act “shall not itself” be the basis for a credit denial or revocation, a change in the terms of an existing credit arrangement, or an adverse credit report. § 3937(a)(3) separately blocks the creditor from accelerating the principal to make up for the forgiven interest. The sentence tells the SCRA desk you know both, and the credit impact guide covers what to do if a report shows up anyway.

The enclosures line. Orders are what the statute names; the DMDC certificate is the same database the creditor is allowed to check under § 3937(b)(1)(B), pulled by you. Sending both removes the “we could not verify” reply before it is written.

Where and how to send it

Send it to the issuer’s SCRA or military benefits desk, not the payment address. The SCRA phone number directory lists the published mail addresses, fax numbers, secure-message routes, and upload pages for each issuer, and the bank-by-bank guides note where an issuer prefers scans over phone photos or asks for a cover sheet.

Send the letter so it counts

1. Fill in the letter, or generate it at /tools/letter-generator/. One letter per issuer, every account listed.
2. Attach a copy of your orders and a DMDC certificate. Never send originals.
3. Deliver through the issuer’s published SCRA channel: certified mail with return receipt, the secure-message or upload route, or fax with a confirmation page.
4. Save the letter, the enclosures, and the delivery proof in one folder, dated. That folder is your case if you ever need one.
5. Diary day 30. If no written confirmation has arrived, send the follow-up below.

The window is any time during service and no later than 180 days after your release (§ 3937(b)(1)(A)). The deadline checker turns a separation date into the last day to send. Size what the letter is worth first with the savings calculator.

Variants

Spouse or dependent as co-borrower. § 3937(a)(1) covers debt incurred by the servicemember “or the servicemember and the servicemember’s spouse jointly” before service, so a joint card or joint auto loan gets the same cap. Add one sentence after the first paragraph: “This account is held jointly with my spouse, [name], and was opened before my entry into military service.” A spouse can also deliver the letter for you; issuers set their own rules on what a spouse can then do with the account, and GM Financial, for example, says a spouse may need a power of attorney to get information or make decisions (verified August 2026).

Guard and Reserve. The cap runs during “military service” as defined at § 3911(2), which for Guard members means Title 10 active duty or a § 502(f) call of more than 30 consecutive days for a national emergency. Say which you are on: “I am a member of the [Army National Guard] called to active duty under [Title 10 / 32 U.S.C. § 502(f)] orders effective [date].” Amex’s page notes relief is retroactive to the “order to” date for reservists (verified August 2026). The Guard and Reserve guide covers which orders qualify.

The day-30 follow-up. Short, factual, and it references the first letter:

RE: Follow-up to SCRA notice dated [date], account(s) ending in [1234]

On [date] I delivered written notice under 50 U.S.C. § 3937 with a copy of
my military orders ([certified mail no. / upload confirmation]). I have not
received written confirmation. Please confirm in writing, within 15
business days, the interest rate applied, the effective date, and the
amount credited or refunded for interest above 6% since [active-duty
start date]. A copy of the original notice is enclosed.

If day 60 arrives with nothing, or with a denial, move to the escalation letter in the generator and the escalation playbook.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3937

Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service: read the statute.