50 U.S.C. § 3917: SCRA Rights Start When Reservists Get Orders

What § 3917 does to your money

A reservist’s money problems often start between the order and the report date: the lease that has to end, the loan that needs the cap. Section 3917 makes the protections of subchapters I, II and III available from the date you receive the order until the date you report, or until the order is revoked. Subchapter II holds the 6% interest cap and the court stays; subchapter III holds lease termination, eviction, installment-contract and mortgage protections.

The same early window applies to a person ordered to report for induction under the Military Selective Service Act and, since 2023, to a member of the Space Force ordered to report for military service. The window names subchapters I to III only, so do not count on it for the life insurance or tax provisions.

The practical use is timing. Once the order is in your hand, you can put landlords and creditors on notice with a copy of it instead of waiting for the report date, and § 3918 treats you as a servicemember during this window for waiver purposes too. Keep a dated copy of the order: the day you received it is the day the protection begins.

Guides on this site that apply § 3917

• Guard & Reserve SCRA: Title 10 vs 32 vs State Duty

  Whether the SCRA covers you depends on your orders. Title 10 = full SCRA. Title 32 only at 30+ days for a national emergency. State duty = no federal SCRA.

• Borrow Before You Serve: The SCRA Pre-Service Debt Playbook

  Debt signed before active duty gets capped at 6% the day your orders start. How to time loans before service, and the refinance mistake that kills it.

• Morningstar Storage Military Discount and the 2024 DOJ Auction Order

  Morningstar lists military discounts but no rate. Its 2024 DOJ consent order requires a DMDC check before any auction and runs to November 2028.

• 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.

• Refinance Before the Line, Never After: The SCRA Timing Rule

  Refinancing during service creates a new loan with no SCRA cap at all. Done before your start date, the same move caps everything at 6%. Where the line falls.

• SCRA Eligibility: Who Qualifies, When It Starts & Ends

  Who qualifies for the SCRA under 50 U.S.C. § 3911: active duty, Guard, Reserve, spouses, veterans, and which debts count. Status table, start and end dates.

• The Guard & Reserve SCRA Cycle: Get Paid Every Activation

  Guard and Reserve members get a fresh 6% cap with every qualifying activation, starting the day orders arrive, not the day you report. The full cycle.

• U-Haul Storage Military Discount: Free Month With a One-Way Rental

  U-Haul says it has no specific military discount; its military page offers a free storage month with a one-way rental. § 3958 blocks auctions on duty.

• What Is the SCRA? The Military Law Worth Thousands a Year

  The SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) caps pre-service debt at 6%, ends leases on orders, and blocks foreclosure without a court order. How it works.

The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 3917

From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.

Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title I, §106, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2839; amended Pub. L. 118-31, div. A, title XVII, §1742(c)(2), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 681.)

What changed, and when

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel’s amendment notes for § 3917, newest first.

• 2023: Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 118-31 added subsec. (c).