WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined 17 of their Senate colleagues in writing a letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter outlining their concerns over reports of significant harm to the finances and credit of active servicemembers while deployed and requesting specific information and feedback to help ensure all servicemembers have the tools they need to safeguard their financial security.

“Even small credit events, such as a single missed payment, have the potential to snowball into major problems that can endanger their financial well-being,” the Senators wrote.  “It is unreasonable to think that a country would send its men and women overseas to defend our national security without equipping these brave servicemembers with the adequate safeguards to protect their finances and their credit.” 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently reported that since October 2012, more than 650 active-duty servicemembers have submitted complaints to the CFPB about their credit reports.  Less than one percent of those servicemembers reported placing an Active Duty Alert on their credit reports before leaving. 

“Under current law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act offers certain protection rights for servicemembers, but more is needed to address the unique financial challenges that servicemembers can encounter when they return from deployment,” they added.

“Active duty alerts and security freezes offer servicemembers an important first line of defense against fraud and identity theft,” said Tom Feltner, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America.  “We support expanded efforts to ensure that servicemembers have every tool available to prevent financial abuse while they are focused on the mission at hand.”

In the Senate, Warner and Kaine have been strong advocates for protecting servicemembers and their families from abusive financial practices. In 2014, they called for a federal investigation into aggressive debt collection actions used by retailers against servicemembers. They wrote to Secretary Carter in support of DOD’s plan to update the Military Lending Act (MLA) and close existing loopholes to better protect servicemembers and their families from abusive financial practices. In response to a separate letter from Warner and Kaine, DOD announced a policy change to protect servicemembers from businesses that use allotments to trap Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and their families in illegal predatory loans.

In addition, Warner and Kaine are co-sponsors of the Military Consumer Protection Act, which would better protect servicemembers and their families from abusive financial practices.

Several organizations have pledged their support for common sense measures to preserve the creditworthiness of deployed service members including:  Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, National Military Families Association, Demos, NAACP, National Consumer Law Center, National Guard Association of the United States, National Community Reinvestment Corporation and Corporation for Enterprise Development. 

Along with Warner and Kaine, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, Sherrod Brown, Jack Reed, Jeff Merkley, Al Franken, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Tom Udall, Mazie K. Hirono, Sheldon Whitehouse, Brian Schatz, Ed Markey,  Martin Heinrich, Gary Peters, Dianne Feinstein and Tammy Baldwin.