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Subscribe to RSSFederal regulators on Thursday moved to protect underwater homeowners in the military from financial ruin when they move from one base to another.
New guidance warns mortgage servicers that federal agencies will crack down on unfair, abusive or deceptive practices on military members who have received Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders.
Among the practices of concern are failing to give service members accurate information on federal mortgage assistance programs, urging them to waive special protections or advising customers to skip payments in order to get help.
In a corresponding move, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the service members being transferred will be automatically approved to sell their home at market rates even if it is lower than their mortgage amount – a move called a short sale.
About one-third of active duty service members are ordered to move each year. And, according to the Department of Defense, 70 percent of the 1.2 million active duty service members do not live in military housing -- with an estimated 185,000 owning their own homes.
In some cases, service members required to move have faced forcelosure, or had to leave families in the old home.
Many of those families live in California, Nevada, Texas, Florida and other areas hardest hit by the real estate market collapse, Holly Petraeus, who oversees service member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told msnbc.com.
“I hope that it’s reassuring for them to know that someone is looking out for them,” Petraeus, said. "I hope that when they have those questions when they get their orders that they will be able to go to their servicer and get an answer to their questions -- and get them in a timely manner.”
The guidance calls for the mortgage servicers to train employees about all options for homeowners with PCS orders, and compels them to comply with all existing laws or face additional scrutiny and perhaps referral to law enforcement.
The Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Office of Comptroller of the Currency issued the guidance.
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It's about time, and the policy should apply to everyone! :-)
The average assignment is 3 yrs. No one should be owning a home for such a short time. Even in a good market, you're probably not going to recoup the cost of ownership plus realtors' fees, not to mention most of your monthly payments will be going to loan interest, not equity. If you aren't going to live in your home for at least 5 yrs, you might want to skip getting a mortgage.
I agree with you. The one part of this I have a major problem with is forcing banks to accept a short sale on any service member who gets PCS orders. Those who are in the military know that they are going to be moving every three years or so. It is not like these PCS orders come out of the blue, it is an accepted and expected part of life in the military. To grant them this special privilege to act irresponsibly and stick the bank with the consequences is wrong. If you are going to do this than why should the same thing not apply to someone who is given the choice of moving or losing their job by a private employer. Companies relocate operations all the time and employees are often given this option. In addition, when this happens in private industry it is often with little if any warning. Military members already have special protections afforded to them that others do not get, like it is illegal to foreclose on a service members home while they are deployed, no matter what their payment status is. A civilian who is off on a long term assignment for his company does not get similar protections. I have no problem with offering this protection for deployed service members as they are often not in any position to try and work things out with the bank while they are deployed. I do however, have a problem with this automatic short sale approval. Being in the military does not excuse you from acting responsibly when it comes to making a financial decision like buying a home. Anyone with a brain knows that if you are only planning on being in an area for three years that buying a home is not a prudent thing to do. It is virtually impossible to recoup the real estate commissions, points, and other closing costs for the purchase and then later sale of a home over that short of a period of time even in a good housing market. To do so would mean that the value of the house would need to increase by 10-12% in the three years just to break even. In this market, any fool knows that this is a completely unrealistic expectation. To say that service members can ignore this reality so that they can buy a house and then stick the bank with the loss is not right. A provision like this will only serve to encourage and reward irresponsibility on the part of service members. Buying a home is, and was always meant to be, a long term investment not a short term one. In addition, allowing a policy like this will hurt non-military people who own homes near major military installations because it would create a steady stream of short sales which would only serve to depress the value of homes in the area, making it difficult or impossible for these non-military people to sell their homes. Military get plenty of benefits when it comes to housing including a tax free housing allowance. This is automatic short sale approval is one benefit that is completely unjustifiable.
Another "target group" of voters from this administration.
Expect to see more Cabinet/Sub-Cabinet "go-getum votes programs" prior to the election.
And, it is sickening to see that military members are now a "target voter group".
Looks like the Illegal Immigrant's children "political football" were not enough on the plate to push Mr. Obama back into a positive approval rating.
Time for a change alright....change Mr. Obama out of office.
There might be a job opening in Cheeecago for a community organizer who has "cloaked" as a "Constitutional Scholar" and a yet to prove "Nobel Peace Prize" (used as a welcome mat on his doorstep) on his resume. Maybe he will release his resume when he is booted out of office.
It's going to take more than this to earn their respect, they are as disillusioned as most of America. At least they are trying to help people that are actually working and not the career system suckers.
To the naysayers, the men and women of our armed services, deserve all the help we can give them. Period.
Being a veteran, I agree with helping the veterans, but I'm not for rewarding them for making mistakes. Yes, it's a severe burden on home owners to be sent to Iraq for a third time and creating multi problems on families. But if they made the payments the first two times and everything was ok, and they didn't get a decrease in their salaries which are really not that bad in today's job market, then why did they not pay the mortgage in the last tour. Something happened, maybe the wife or the husband started spending money that wasn't there, maybe one or the other has a new boy/girlfriend and wanting out of the marriage, maybe they bought a new car they really couldn't afford and maybe they just got frustrated and started wasting money. Nobody would help me if I wanted a caddy instead of a chevy, or had a new girlfriend I was supporting, or if I just starting buying new everything, knowing I couldn't pay it back. It would be my mistakes and people would just sue me or repossess my house or whatever, the government sure would not be giving me money for my own mistakes. Veterans deserve a lot, but they have to take care of themselves also and be responsible for their own actions. Things happen and people are people, but self induced poverty is not a reason for a bailout, whether it be a large corporation or a sargeant in Iraq or Afganistan.
The thing that surprises me here is the number of military home owners. I was in the service many years ago and it was unheard of for anyone other than higher ranking officers and NCOs to buy a home at their duty station. They might have a house near their actual home where family would stay, but more often, they lived in base housing (younger folks in barracks married people in the base houses).
Its stupid to buy a house when on active duty. You're never going to be there.
I am Navy wife married to servicemember and an out-of-state homeowner. We bought our home three years ago, and we plan to retire into it in 8 years when my husband gets out. We recently moved and in order to keep our $8,000 tax credit due to the three-year clause, we had to live apart for three months in different states to hit exactly three years in our house since my husband got new orders and had to PCS early. There are a lot of sacrifices when you own a house a military member. You lose a homeowners exemption for property taxes when you move, you either play long distance landlord or hire a property manager, and you have to pay rent in whatever city the military moves you to next. Owning a house long term as a member of the military is a big consideration. I agree that for a short-term home ownership, it may not be worth it. This being said, husband and I are responsible and will do whatever it takes to keep our home. Homeownership is not for everyone, but I applaud other military families willing to take on the challenge. I also think it's nice to know there are a few people thinking about us, even though we plan to be responsible homeowners and do whatever it takes to pay off our mortgage and keep our home. When we signed up for the military, we didn't expect special treatment; just the opportunity to serve and protect the land of the free and home of the brave. God bless America!
Idaho, I too served in uniform and saw tons of military families get hit repeatedly hard financially. When I went in I decided to rent stateside. Didn't want to deal with all the headaches. This decision should've been in place decades ago! It's nice to know that service families have protection! Thanks for pulling the burden. The one in uniform has the loved ones back home who take the ride too and often it is the hardest. Thanks for serving!
Thank you for your service, it's a hard life, you never know where you are going to be at any time.
And what about the children? .... Its twice as hard on the children of Military parents, haveing to plan on moving as often as they do - especially in the "wonder years". When other kids are sorting out where they stand in the pecking order - is usually the time "Military Brats" will end up moving the most. Thats the time when the Military Dads (and Moms) ... have the least amount of input on where they are stationed, make the least pay ... just when the kids need stability and start building freindships.
So military spouses have to chose to stay put; build up some home equity, provide a safe, steady for the kids - live near parents, grand parents or other relatives. Unfortunately, not all spouses are as faithful as they should be - again, its that demographics thing the keep popping up. The Military spouse in usually young, healthy and lonely being posted in a Place only God knows the name of ... and loads of Military Groupies wanting to get out of those back water towns, villages and doing whats needed to catch the a free ride out of Dodge. So Mom tries hard to go where ever Dad is stationed.
When you are in the military - your whole family has to sign on ... Thats why the term Military family is so true, in so many ways.
Soldier get perks - because the deserve them ... if you are so sure its a game and a free ride, Join up and get on the gravy train. Better yet - take an all expenses paid "vacation" to a place where bullets are frequent enough pests that they are named after insects and usually as prevalent as "flys.", mosquito's, or Humming birds in your home stateside.
No one wants to be a soldier - except on pay day and on retirement. Thats when the civilians start complaining about how good they have it. How they get perks that everyone else should have ... too.
I'm retired military, we bought our first home, AFTER I RETIRED. The problem is these people buy a home knowing full well they will be moving in 3 years. They are too damned stupid to understand this basic fact. Screw these stupid ignorant morons.
Been there, done that.
34 years in with 16 years at sea (eight ships), only 6 months shore duty in D.C., and last 18 years were spent on ENTERPRISE and 4 islands. No place to even think about purchasing my first home until I retired.
Expect to see posts about how good the men and women have it in the military. Those comments are probably coming from sand crabs who would know nothing about sleeping on the top rack in a 6-bunk high cluster, trying to sleep under the #2 catapult and the 4th arresting wire while standing port and starboard watches (12 hours on/12 hours off), spending 3 months at sea with no liberty, or deploying for 9 months....not to mention the time away from your family.
Maybe it is time for everyone under 25 years of age to serve in the military for at least 4 years. Unemployment rate solved.
Keep drinking Boozer, maybe you will just pass out.
Ido, USAA for everyone? Why... that would destroy all the predatory lenders and scam artists out there, and give fair financial hope to every American. We can't have that!
A pandemonium of dissonant harmony. (gunshots, screaming, car crashes)
Ahhh, better.
Good for you... that means you'll probably have it paid off, just in time to move to a retirement home. Your kids or relatives will enjoy the gift! In at 19 - 20, retire at 40 - 50, second career, for 20 - 30 more years... puts you at 70 or 80... just in time for a date with the devil.
And when my husband retires, we'll have about half our mortgage paid off. :)
If you joined the military you should have known what you were getting into. I'm so sick of all the whining!!!!!!!!!!!
Uhhhhh, if you haven't served in the military, I will be more than happy to ask the DOD to activate me for one day and allow me to swear you into the branch of service of your choice....however.....I reserve the right the select your first duty station after boot camp.
Thank God there are honorable people to keep freedom of speech for slugs.
You sir, you are an ignorant child. Get off your convoluted hippie ass and do something for this country instead of crying about people getting benefits they rightly deserve. I hope one day you get drafted and sent over to fight for something you don't believe in like so many of the current soldiers, oh by the way , when you get back, to thank you for your service, you have some jackass named jb98degrees (which we can only guess refers to a- the boy band or b- they year of your birth) talk about how you cry too much about benefits you barely recieve due to red tape. You want to do something to make a difference in the world. Go to DC and do something about the politicians. Stop their abusal of powers and the perks and benefits they secure for the job they do screwing over all Americans. Figure out whats really going on before you open your mouth on the internet. We are all tired of people like you whining about what other people have and other people fighting for what they deserve. Quit being an oxygen thief and go do something with your life.
If any one deserves help from our Federal Government its the Brave Men and Woman and the families of the United States that risk their lives to serve in our military.
Why wasn't this done three years ago or even before that?
Sounds like another "Political Ploy" just before an election.
I'm torn on this. I am a military spouse and we bought our first house at our first duty station. We managed to sell it for about what we owed on it as the market hadn't taken off and we didn't want to rent it out (wish we had known better and rented, but that's the past). Our next two duty stations were in California and despite having 2 incomes, we knew buying was out of the question. We knew that property was over valued and would come crashing down at some point. We bought in Northern Virginia and rent that place. We researched where we bought and knew that area was fairly stable - which it didn't crash when values did and has rebounded past what we paid for it. We bought there because odds are very good we'll end up back there. We thought long and hard about buying in our latest duty station in California and decided odds are high we'll be back here/stay here for longer than 3 years and the market is near bottom and bought. If it doesn't work out, I don't expect the government to bail me out. We took these calculated risks. Then again, just talking with fellow spouses, we are much better off financially than average.
Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough base housing to go around and there can be some very long waiting lists to get in. Many servicemembers have pets and it can be very hard to find a place that rents to pet owners. And with the rental market getting tight, it can be cheaper to buy. Unfortunately not all in the military are educated about the risks of a mortgage and understand that property values can fall or have any sense of the market at all. We researched our NorVa and SoCal purchases for more than 6 months before committing to it.
The solution to this should be more educating to servicemembers regarding the risks and rewards of purchasing a home rather than just a bailout for a poor, uneducated decision. But seeing as we can't educate them about the vultures selling cars to them or payday loans, I don't know that the military will make any headway here. There really needs to be some serious financial education after boot camp and before they go to the first duty station. Doing it in boot camp it probably won't sink in properly.
There is financial education available to soldiers and spouses. They're called Financial Readiness Classes, generally available through the ACS (Army Community Service) office.
They do cover:
Benefit Highlights:
The Financial Readiness Program provides classes in personal financial management readiness and consumer affairs to Soldiers and Family members. These classes may include:
The program also:
This is from the myarmybenefits page. OneSource is being picky about loading on my home computer again.
Of course, how good any particular class is can vary from base to base. The biggest problem is getting people to take advantage of the classes.
They are there. I'm just not sure if it's only that people don't realize it, or think they don't need it.
Just because it's available doesn't mean they'll do it. The Navy has similar financial literacy programs and on the ships I've served on there is a brief introduction to financial literacy for new reports, but you can't make sailors or soldiers attend the classes until they are in trouble and seeking help from one of the relief agencies. Heck, even after you counsel them on not signing up for a car loan unless the divo or Chief looks it over to make sure they are getting a fair deal, they will still go out and overpay for a car and pay 20% interest. Many just don't understand finances and things like interest rates.
I'm sure a lot of the young 18-22 year old sailors/soldiers are sure they know what they are doing and don't need anyone to 'hold their hand' even though they have never signed a loan for anything in their lives.
Now those buying homes are going to be different and generally have a few more years of service under their belts and should know better, but there are times like the boom here in Cali, folks were encouraged to get in while they could and make a ton of cash. I would get at least 3 mailers a week saying how I could buy in my same neighborhood for what I was paying in rent. It was in teeny mouse print or not at all on the flier that you would either have an interest only or negative amortization loan for 5 years with huge balloon payment, terms I'm sure not everyone understands. They would just see buy for what you pay in rent and jump at the chance.
But thanks to the boom and subsequent bust, we have a very lovely house in a prime location with an ocean view (granted about 10 miles off, but we can see it). Houses in our neighborhood are already listing for more than we paid, not that selling is on our minds. We'll probably rent out when we move since the odds of coming back are very high. We're not quite breaking even on our rental in NorVa, but close enough it's worth it to hold onto the house.
It is not only that the soldiers wont do it. I was in the military recently and we had mandatory classes about these type of things from one source and they never really covered anything like this. Also, half the time when you go there to ask questions, they do no know the answers and they are too lazy to look them up. I had this issue with alot of my soldiers. Even when I escorted them up there and would ask the counselors to research the informantion, they would do their best to blow me off. It tends to be the trend with DA civilians from my experience. However there are websites for soldiers to go to, and they can always contact there local VA representative and they are usually more than willing to help.
My husband is in the Army, I've seen the problems that come up when someone PCS's. We only done it once so far, and that was with rentals. That was quite enough stress.
I don't understand why people would buy a home while they still have time in. The level of stress from trying to sell, or find a renter with long-distance landlord duties, or splitting up family is something I'd want to avoid if possible.
Unless you're buying the home you intend to retire into, I think it's better to wait.
I support this move. But...there seems to be help for those who are foreclosing, those who are serving our military and those who are flat on their backs. Would like to think that those who have been carrying the housing market on our backs by paying our mortgage on time and in full month after month after month while being underwater....that we would be recognized and given some relief too. Else, the housing market will nto really recover as one by one we too stop making payments and default.
What then?
Bob - why should you get recognition for meeting the obligations of a contract you agreed to? If you are not trying to sell your house then being underwater is meaningless. Why do we think people should get "relief" because an investment, which ALWAYS carries some risk, lost money. My 401k lost thousands of dollars because the stock market fell, should I get "relief" also? In case you're wondering, the answer is NO.
"Why do we think people should get "relief" because an investment, which ALWAYS carries some risk, lost money. My 401k lost thousands of dollars because the stock market fell, should I get "relief" also? In case you're wondering, the answer is NO."
Of course you shouldn't get relief because your 401k lost thousands of dollars, joemike. After all, it was entirely your own fault! Sheesh, the nerve of some of these 'entitlement' liberals, expecting help and whatnot lik Wall Street and banks get, huh joemike? /s
What I don't understand is why a service member who knows they are probably never going to live in one place longer than a few years until the leave the service would "buy" a home with a mortage in the first place? It doesn't seem like a very smart decision. The military should be teaching them how to make smart decisions in addition to just saying "yes, sir" or "no, sir". If someone signs a mortage and receives thousands of dollars to "buy" a house, they should be able to understand that the money HAS to be paid back with interest as agreed upon in the mortage terms. I really don't see the difference between a service member being told by the government that he/she suddenly has to pick up and move or someone who isn't in the service who has to do the same thing because of job relocation/job loss or someone who suddenly has to move back in with their ailing parents due to the parents declining health. This policy should be applied fairly to each and every citizen or none at all. One of the many reasons why the financial instituitions are in such disarray today is too many people aren't paying on their obligations to those same financial institutions.
There is a difference between a service member moving and someone who has a job relocation. The service member essentially has NO choice. They can take the assignment and move or be forced out of the military. During my career I lived in base housing at every assignment (other than the initial arrival at each location) and the final year prior to retirement. It was only then that I bought a house (had one built). Buying a house while on active duty was a gamble I wasn't willing to take.
RetiredUSAF, my Father in Law was working a job where he had the choice of relocate your family to bofungle north Texas or find a new job. It does happen to civilians. And you are lucky to have had base housing, though I have found the USAF does a better job looking after families than the Navy. Navy's getting better, but most areas it's probably less than half of families who can get into base housing. And I know of no junior officers I've served with who lived on base - though most weren't yet married, but those who were lived out in town somewhere either renting or buying. Very few senior enlisted lived on base, though there was a time the Navy made it fairly easy for enlisted to 'homeport' somewhere whereas officers have various career wickets to go through which generally cannot be found in a fleet concentration area.
I spent 25 years active duty in the AF and retired in 2004.
No matter how many times you "educate" some people--they will never get it.
These people had financial issues before they came in and will have them long after they get out.
Some people can't be taught. No one knows that better than those of us who served in the military.
Predatory lenders have to have a market and they have a ripe one with military personnel. One reason being because there is always some policy or some aid agency through the military that loans "or sometimes grants" them the $$ to get out of their mess.
I still work on a military base as a civilian and in the industry I work in, we see it everyday...from all ranks, not just young airmen. You'd be surprised how many retired military personnel still cannot make ends meet.
The underwater homes are now a national securrity issue not just because of affected military families but because there is no realistic way for the US economy to recover without some way of writing down boom level mortgages to current value. Make the mortgage companies take this haircut now, they can recover slowly and carefully once homeowners are secure enough financially to begin spending again.
In my era of 20 years in the Air Force. We got transfered alot, so I never bought a home. When I got out I seen my school mates owning expensive homes. It was the era that houses went up each year. Every five years they would sell and buy a larger home. That was my only regret of picking the military life. After seeing the crash on homes, I feel fortunate I own this cheaper home and having it paid off. I could of been one of the people that really got burnt on their homes losing so much value. As the world turns in all of our lives.
Thank goodness this POTUS and his administration lean over backwards to help Vets and in service members. This is a no brainer - they get services free and those services should be mandatory and be reviewed by military and financial experts before allowing a mortgage to take place. Every detail needs to be covered with service home purchasers or homeowners or retirees.
We cannot leave these wonderful people on the limb while the wealthy have lawyers and accountants assigned to do their search and enter mode.
Hooray for the administration and its support for Vets and the VA. I notice the GOPers rarely mention the ones who fought and died for the war of the Idiot and most incompetent US President, and not one of them served.
Obama/Biden 2012
"We" have seen how well the government helped bail out the banks. "We" have also seen a half dozen, half hearted, weak, ineffective attempts by the Feds to help home owners. In fact, every program designed to help "Joe the Home Owner" has been a dismal failure. So, why should I believe this program wil be any different? Based on the Fed's track record, this one is going to do very, very little as well.
However, I am sure that Obama believes this will help get him the military vote. It's election time! To Obama, its all about getting re-elected. If BHO can pull the wool over the eyes of the military just one more time ...
All most forgot, it is Obama that has signed an agreement with Afghanistan to keep troops in that country until 2024. It was Obama that gave Iraq to Iran. It was Obama that helped the terrorist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power in Egypt and (soon) Syria. FYI - Remember Obamas Libya Oil War? Well, it is not over. In the last month alone over 240 fighters and "innocent civilians" have been killed. Notice how the Media and Liberals never mention this!
What I don't hear - either - is credit given by Contrarians of the Libbers wiping up the mess left behind (housing mess, Middle east mess, Energy policy mess, stagnate economy mess) by Your President and Bush.
The Contrarins have knack for standing on top of their own aromatic, smoldering pile of failure ... while looking down on the guy with the shovel clearing out your crap. Contrarin policy - much like its syphilitic leadership - is he gave us a dose of the "Shore leave" gift ... which keeps on giving. Instead of complaining about the length of the treatment the Cure (for the 8 year dalliance with The Republican disease), just take the medicine and be grateful there is a cure and that we got it in time.
The best thing that happend to the Bush "legacy" ... has been Obama. Had it not been for his deft handling of our National crisis .... we would be looking like the EU.
I am going through this right now so I am going to research it. I have been in the DC area now for a few years but I will be going overseas here soon and selling my house has been a burden. I now will not buy again until I get out because I don't want to have to deal with this headache again. It is extremely stressful on top of getting everything else situated to make sure my travel goes as smoothly as possible.
I want to say that not all military service members move every 3 years. Navy, Marines and Air force have longer duty tours.In the past before the housing melt down there was no problem. As members moved they sold and then bought where they moved to. It was like a round robin outgoing group sold the incoming group bought and vise versa. The housing meltdown derailed this process and threw the Military Homeowner into the same situation as all other homeowners unable to sell. So I believe the lenders need to be sensitive to this particular situation which is unique to the military.
Don't try to keep up with the Jones's buy a house that you can afford.
Ok I was in the military and I bought a home. I can understand situations where this would be needed. I bought my house because rent around military bases tend to be outrageous. I have a fairly nice house for the area I am in and the mortgage payments for that house, including taxes and insurance, are about 40 percent of the cost of renting a house half its size. I bought because when I was stationed at that base I had orders to go to Korea for one year, I also however, had orders to return to that base where I had my home. My family could not go to Korea so they were staying in that house. As I was leaving Korea, the military changed my orders from going to where I had my house to going somewhere 900 miles away. This is a situation where this regulation would help homeowners in the military. I handled the situation myself, and my house is now my rental property. Not all soldiers can do this however as the military likes to randomly downsize bases and grow others. Therefore causing the local housing market at these bases to rather grow or completely crash.
To those who say it is unfair to do this for soldiers. My only hope is that they reenstate the draft the next time we have a war and you ignorant self has to go do something for this country instead of bitch about what you don't have that others do. I do not know what happened to this country. I am no longer in the military, so I don't feel nearly as bad about saying this, but with all the disrespect for every American that serves, whether it be veterans, police officers, firefighters, I for one am currently ashamed to be associated with you people and I am very disappointed that you are labled as an American along side those of us that understand the sacrifice made and appreciate it. There was once a time in this country where servicemembers returning from war were given land by the government. I would love to see those days come back even if it wouldn't effect me. Veterans have given too much for this country to be treated so horribly. They have no control over where they are sent. If you disagree with the war, then hold those liable who actually are. The politicians. Get off your lazy ass America and go change the government and get ALL of our rights back.
Texas real estate has been impacted by the 2008 downturn but the extent is no way near FL, GA, CA, and Nevada. The state enforces strict laws to limit home equity lines of credit to prevent homeowners from getting overextended and a strong employment environment.
I didn't know any of us military families lived underwater : )
In all seriousness, though, this is a really good thing. We know a family that was separated for a year because they could not sell their house - AND the active duty spouse who had been PCSed actually lived in his vehicle for awhile because they could not afford to pay rent for him (on top of their mortgage). When they finally did sell their house, they took a big loss.
Most families we know are having to rent out their homes, but that's not much easier considering how many rentals are out there now. You're lucky to get your mortgage payment covered because rental prices are so competitive.
Right on Waffle. The underwater tweaked my curiosity too! I thought it had something to do with "bubble heads" (submariners to you civilians) since they are deployed for months on end without seeing daylight and do not have instant communications back home all the time. The again, what do I know, I was USMC.
One thing I do know, back in the day, Corporals and below (junior enlisteds) had to get permission to get married. Mainly because they had to prove stability in money management. That is, could they afford off base housing and show marurity. That went the way of the DODO bird.
That was back when the Military was all things to the Jr. enlisted. There were a lot of country boys, fresh off the farm coming in back then. They needed someone to "wipe their butts" - cause they didn't know anything outside of back country they grew up in.
They were known to fall in "Love" with the the first girl they met - who let them stay the night instead of paying for the room by the hour.
There was a lot of good behind keeping them on a short leash. I still get a laugh out of those old TV shows; Sgt Bilko, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C..
Now its every man for himself - a lot of "boys" get in way too deep, way too fast. It takes time and a few bad experiences to grow up. But the ones that go in for the right reasons ... their hearts are in the right place. If you got to grow up on your own, its good to have Band of Brothers to keep an eye on you. It used to be they when you went it, you left all that civlian crap behind. The way I understand it now, a lot of the new kids still have ties with the old gangs, dealers, wackos that they ran with on the outside - bringing that madness in to the service with them. Using the Services to make them better gansters?
Is there a mortage company who would lock in a (lower prime rate) on an (adjustable rate) second mortage for an Iraq war veteran who filed bankruptcy after he returned from 16 months in Iraq? His credit score is upper 600's. Many veterans are finding the same situation. Any help for the many veterans appreciated.