Subchapter III. Rent, Installment Contracts, Mortgages, Liens, Assignment, Leases, Communications Service Contracts
50 U.S.C. § 3954: Getting Your Equity Back in an SCRA Repossession
Official heading: Settlement of stayed cases relating to personal property
In one line
When a court stays a repossession, a foreclosure on personal property, or a contract termination, it may appoint three appraisers and order the servicemember’s equity paid out as a condition of letting the creditor take the property.
Text checked October 9, 2026
What § 3954 does to your money
A repossessed car usually sells at auction for less than it is worth, and the equity you built disappears into fees and a deficiency. Section 3954 gives the court a tool against that. When it grants an SCRA stay in a case to foreclose a mortgage on personal property, to repossess it, or to rescind or terminate a contract to buy it, the court may appoint three disinterested people to appraise the property.
Based on that appraisal, and if it will not cause undue hardship to your dependents, the court may order your equity in the property paid to you or your dependents as a condition of the foreclosure, repossession or termination. The power is discretionary, so ask for it expressly; a lender will not volunteer it.
Equity is also how the Justice Department measures harm in repossession settlements, which commonly pay a fixed amount per vehicle plus lost equity. If you are negotiating with a lender that repossessed without a court order, an appraisal of what the vehicle was worth is the number to bring. Equity here means the appraised value of the property minus what you still owe on it.
The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 3954
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.
(a) Appraisal of property
When a stay is granted pursuant to this chapter in a proceeding to foreclose a mortgage on or to repossess personal property, or to rescind or terminate a contract for the purchase of personal property, the court may appoint three disinterested parties to appraise the property.
(b) Equity payment
Based on the appraisal, and if undue hardship to the servicemember's dependents will not result, the court may order that the amount of the servicemember's equity in the property be paid to the servicemember, or the servicemember's dependents, as a condition of foreclosing the mortgage, repossessing the property, or rescinding or terminating the contract.
Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title III, §304, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2848.)
Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.
Every section of the Act, including the short administrative ones without their own page, is on the 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.