Rear Admiral [Ret.] Jim Carey is Chairman of the NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE and NATIONAL DEFENSE PAC. His background includes duty in cruisers and amphibs, at Naval Beach Group, and in the Pentagon, and naval service from Seaman Recruit to Rear Admiral. He also served in the Reagan and George Bush Sr. Administrations. Further details at The National Defense Committee and The National Defense Political Action Committee.
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For those of us who feel our nation owes respect and support for our sons and daughters that are being sent to risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, sadly, there are some in the civilian business community that obviously have no such feelings. Indeed, even when the law clearly states their responsibilities, some openly and brazenly flout those laws while foreclosing on the homes of deployed service men and women and driving others into bankruptcy. Sickening and arrogant and disgusting, to be sure, but such verified stories are taking place all too often, while no one in the banking industry or its oversight agencies seems to take notice, or steps in to stop these egregious practices by these less-than-patriotic parasites.
Case in point is an Army Reservist from Kansas called to active duty last August and on duty now in Iraq. His bank wouldn't lower the interest rates on his mortgage as required by the Servicemember's Civil Relief Act passed into law by Congress, and he couldn't make the payments on his Army pay without that lower interest rate. So his bank told his defenseless wife that they were foreclosing and she and their 10 and 7 year old daughters would have to live elsewhere. Real patriots at that bank, eh?
We're hearing more and more of these kinds of stories, and they seem to be on the rise in spite of what's required by the law. The situation above was resolved, but it took a huge effort by the soldier's wife and the Kansas Attorney General, and even that wasn't getting the bank to comply with the law. Only when the local TV station started publicizing the actions of the bank and Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas got involved did the bank finally decide that the bad publicity was hurting their business. With all the public scrutiny, they finally decided to obey the law (you know, the law -- those requirements passed by the Congress that some banks and others feel are only for "we little people").
And it's not just banks and mortgages that are ruining the lives and credit ratings of our deployed guys and gals in uniform. Credit card scams are just as bad if not worse. Here's how they work: Just like with the mortgages, a Guard or Reserve service member gets recalled to active duty and as much as half of their income is cut. The Servicemember's Civil Relief Act requires that banks and credit card companies, by law, must lower the interest rates while these military cardholders are on active duty. However, the banks with their endless staff and small armies of lawyers, tie up the servicemember's spouse with reams of paperwork and other requirements that most sane humans simply cannot fulfill, and then use their lawyers to go after them. Credit card payment dates get mysteriously changed without the servicemember even being aware of it, because their mail often doesn't reach these highly mobile troops of today until after the payment date has come and gone. Now the bank tacks on late payment fees of $20 and $30 PLUS the interest payments, because now the payment is late. Instead of helping these patriots who are risking their lives so bank employees can go home safely at night and have a beer and steak, what all this has done is put servicemembers into deeper and deeper debt at a time in their life when they can least afford it. Each month the servicemember can't make these new payments by the revised payment date (that they're often unaware of), the bank ever so kindly and patriotically begins an endless process of cranking out late payment and non-payment notices to every possible credit bureau and credit reporting agency they can find. The bottom line is that we now have servicemen and women returning from combat, lucky to be alive, only to discover that their credit rating has been ruined, and their mortgages foreclosed upon. Those who should be reaping the rewards of a grateful nation are instead facing the worst indebtedness of their lives, with no money and no credit, forced to hire a lawyer to try to fight the ruin that has been done to them.
Not a real pretty picture, is it? Thanks, Scrooge Bankers, for all you do for America.
And trust me, this has been going on for some time now (would you believe decades?), and the news media is just now beginning to find out how outrageous the situation really is.
It's not just the financial industry that is at the top of the list for "The Scrooges of America Awards for 2005." How about some of these other hassles faced by our men and women in the armed forces:
Medical personnel who left their medical jobs "board certified and fully credentialed" to practice military medicine on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now some of them are returning home only to find out they can't go back to work until they are re-certified and re-credentialed, a process that in some cases appears to be bureaucratically delayed by officials who don't agree with our country's military actions, and are taking out their political beliefs on those who answered our governments call to serve. Ever try practicing medicine when you're no longer credentialed and certified at any hospital? And because licensing agencies are NOT the servicemember's employer, this situation is NOT covered by USERRA laws.
College students who were recalled after they paid their tuition, then had to report for ACDU in the middle of the semester and thus couldn't attend classes or take the tests. Some are given failing grades and others "incompletes." Some can't get these grades removed from their records without hiring a lawyer. Others can't get their tuition back because the school gave them a failing grade (what idiot doesn't realize that giving out a failing grade because the government sent a servicemember off on duty is harmful to the servicemember's college record and future), and thus "credit has been given for the course" -- and the servicemembers can't get the situation resolved because the professor or administrator "is against the war." Some schools won't allow the students back in without re-applying for admission because "they left without school authorization." Again, ZERO USERRA protection because students are NOT employees.
Engineers and lawyers and teachers and realtors and others that have ongoing continuing education [CE] requirements and licensing requirements. They cannot work without their licenses. If they've been on extended active duty and unable to fulfill their CE requirements, they can run into all sorts of hassles from the licensing agencies, particularly if the bureaucrats that run these agencies are against the war and choose "to drag their feet." Again, no license, no work. And USERRA doesn't help because these Servicemembers are NOT employees of the licensing agencies and thus USERRA doesn't apply.
