Military Lending Act regulation
32 CFR 232.5: How Lenders Check MLA Status (No Look-Back)
Official heading: § 232.5 Optional identification of covered borrower.
In one line
Lets creditors use any method to decide whether a borrower is covered, and gives a conclusive safe harbor to those who check the Defense Department’s MLA database or a nationwide credit report when you apply and keep the record.
- The database search uses last name, date of birth and Social Security number
- The check may be made when you apply or up to 30 days before; for a firm offer, you must respond within 60 days
- After the credit is extended, a creditor may not query the database about your status on the transaction date
Text checked October 10, 2026
What 32 CFR 232.5 does to your money
This section explains why the lender’s screen, not your orders, usually decides whether you get MLA protection. A creditor may use any method it likes, but it gets a conclusive determination only if it checks the Defense Department’s MLA database (searched by last name, date of birth and Social Security number) or a status indicator in a nationwide consumer report, at the right time, and keeps a record of what it found.
The right time is when you initiate the transaction or apply for the account, or within the 30 days before. For a pre-screened firm offer, the check made when the offer was built holds only if you respond within 60 days. A creditor that checks this way and is told you are not covered can rely on that answer for the loan, so if your status in Defense Department records is wrong, have it corrected before you apply for high-cost credit.
Paragraph (b)(2)(i)(B) closes a door that could be used against you. Once credit is extended, a creditor or an assignee may not go back into the database to work out whether you had been covered on the transaction date. Status is judged as of the day the credit was taken, through the check made then.
Guides on this site that apply 32 CFR 232.5
- MLA Covered Borrowers: Who the 36% Cap Protects
The MLA covers active duty, Guard/Reserve on qualifying orders, and dependents, not veterans or retirees. Plus the DoD database check and lender safe harbor.
- National Guard and Reserve MLA: Covered Only on Orders Over 30 Days
The MLA covers Guard and Reserve members on orders not specifying 30 days or fewer, judged the day you open the account. Which orders count, and when it ends.
The full text of 32 CFR 232.5
From the eCFR, current through October 7, 2026; this section was last amended December 5, 2016 (official source, retrieved October 10, 2026). House style: em dashes in the official text are shown as colons or periods; no word is changed.
(a) No restriction on method for covered-borrower check. A creditor is permitted to apply its own method to assess whether a consumer is a covered borrower.
(b) Safe harbor: (1) In general. A creditor may conclusively determine whether credit is offered or extended to a covered borrower, and thus may be subject to 10 U.S.C. 987 and the requirements of this part, by assessing the status of a consumer in accordance with this paragraph (b).
(2) Methods to check status of consumer: (i) Department database: (A) In general. To determine whether a consumer is a covered borrower, a creditor may verify the status of a consumer by using information relating to that consumer, if any, obtained directly or indirectly from the database maintained by the Department, available at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/mla/welcome.xhtml. A search of the Department's database requires the entry of the consumer's last name, date of birth, and Social Security number.
(B) Historic lookback prohibited. At any time after a consumer has entered into a transaction or established an account involving an extension of credit, a creditor (including an assignee) may not, directly or indirectly, obtain any information from any database maintained by the Department to ascertain whether a consumer had been a covered borrower as of the date of that transaction or as of the date that account was established.
(ii) Consumer report from a nationwide consumer reporting agency. To determine whether a consumer is a covered borrower, a creditor may verify the status of a consumer by using a statement, code, or similar indicator describing that status, if any, contained in a consumer report obtained from a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis, or a reseller of such a consumer report (as each of those terms is defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) and any implementing regulation (12 CFR part 1022)).
(3) Determination and recordkeeping; one-time determination permitted. A creditor who makes a determination regarding the status of a consumer by using one or both of the methods set forth in paragraph (b)(2) of this section shall be deemed to be conclusive with respect to that transaction or account involving consumer credit between the creditor and that consumer, so long as that creditor timely creates and thereafter maintains a record of the information so obtained. A creditor may make the determination described in this paragraph (b), and keep the record of that information obtained at that time, solely at the time:
(i) A consumer initiates the transaction or 30 days prior to that time;
(ii) A consumer applies to establish the account or 30 days prior to that time; or
(iii) The creditor develops or processes, with respect to a consumer, a firm offer of credit that (among the criteria used by the creditor for the offer) includes the status of the consumer as a covered borrower, so long as the consumer responds to that offer not later than 60 days after the time that the creditor had provided that offer to the consumer. If the consumer responds to the creditor's offer later than 60 days after the time that the creditor had provided that offer to the consumer, then the creditor may not rely upon its initial determination in developing or processing that offer, and, instead, may act on the consumer's response as if the consumer is initiating the transaction or applying to establish the account (as described in paragraph (b)(3)(i) or (ii) of this section).
Every MLA guide on this site is on the Military Lending Act hub; the SCRA, which covers debt from before active duty, is on its own section-by-section index.
Heads up: SCRA Saver publishes general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws change and every situation differs. Confirm details with your installation legal assistance office (free for service members) or a licensed professional.