HUD SCRA Notice: Coverage, 6% Rate Cap, and Foreclosure Protection

The HUD SCRA notice is Form HUD-92070, a one-page disclosure titled “Legal Rights and Protections Under the SCRA” that your mortgage servicer must send after you fall behind on payments. For FHA loans, HUD requires the notice to go out no later than the 45th day after the missed payment due date.¹ It goes to every delinquent borrower, not just those the servicer knows are in the military, because the servicer usually has no way of knowing. If you or a family member is on active duty, the notice tells you about protections that can reduce your interest rate, pause foreclosure, and force a court to appoint you an attorney before a default judgment can be entered against you.

What the Form Actually Says

Form HUD-92070 is written in plain language and runs a single page. The current version carries an April 2024 date.² It covers four things:

Which servicemembers and dependents qualify for SCRA protections.
What relief is available, including interest rate reductions and foreclosure stays.
What you have to do to request that relief.
Where to get help, including Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 and militaryonesource.mil.³

The only part your servicer fills in is a block with the lender’s name, address, and contact information.²

Who the Protections Cover

The SCRA defines a servicemember as an active-duty member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Coast Guard. National Guard members qualify when serving on federal orders for more than 30 consecutive days in response to a national emergency, and commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and NOAA are covered too.⁴

Dependents are protected as well. That includes spouses, children, and anyone else for whom the servicemember has provided more than half of their financial support over the preceding 180 days.⁵

The 6 Percent Interest Rate Cap

If you took out the mortgage before entering active duty, the interest rate on it drops to 6 percent during your period of service. For mortgage debt, the cap continues for one full year after your release from active duty.⁶ Any interest above 6 percent is forgiven outright, not deferred, and your monthly payment has to be reduced by the amount that was forgiven.⁷

The cap doesn’t apply automatically. You have to send your lender a written request together with a copy of your military orders, or another official indicator of military status such as a certified letter from a commanding officer. That written request has to reach the lender no later than 180 days after your release from military service.⁶ Once the lender has valid notice and orders, the rate cut applies retroactively to the day you were called to active duty. Miss the 180-day window and the benefit is gone.

Foreclosure Protection

A lender cannot foreclose on your pre-service mortgage without a court order during your entire period of active duty and for one year afterward.⁸ That rule applies in both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure states. A sale conducted without the required court order during the protected period is void.

Even if the lender does file in court, the judge can stay the case or adjust the loan terms based on how military service has affected your ability to pay. These protections only reach mortgages that existed before you entered active duty and are secured by your property.⁸ A mortgage taken out after you went on active duty is not covered by this section.

If a Judgment Was Entered While You Were Away

Before any court enters a default judgment against you, the plaintiff has to file a sworn statement saying whether you are in military service. If you are, the court must appoint an attorney to represent you before it can enter judgment.⁹

Find out later that a default judgment was entered during your service? You can ask the court to reopen the case. The application has to be filed within 90 days of your release from service, and you have to show two things: that military service materially affected your ability to defend the case, and that you have a valid defense.⁹

Which Mortgages Trigger the Notice

The notice requirement is not limited to FHA-insured loans. Federal law directs servicers to notify homeowners in plain English of the mortgage and foreclosure rights available under the SCRA, and that duty applies to residential mortgages generally.¹⁰ Conventional loans, VA-backed loans, USDA loans, and privately held mortgages all fall within it. If a company services your residential mortgage and you fall behind, that company is supposed to send you the disclosure.

How the Notice Might Reach You

The notice does not have to come by mail. HUD’s current guidance lets servicers deliver it by regular mail, certified mail, in person, or through electronic methods including email, text message, VoIP calls, secure web portals, and other channels the servicer has previously used to reach you.¹¹ If you have been getting servicing communications by email or text, check those channels before assuming nothing was sent.

If Your Servicer Never Sent It

A missing notice matters because the deadlines in the SCRA are strict. If you never learn about the 6 percent cap, you can miss the 180-day window to claim it. If you never learn about the court-order requirement for foreclosure, you may not raise it in time. In judicial foreclosure states, a missing notice can be treated as a procedural defect that invalidates the action, and in non-judicial states it can open the door to challenges that delay or unwind a sale.

If you believe your servicer did not send Form HUD-92070 after you fell behind, call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 to connect with a military legal assistance office that can review your loan file, your service dates, and any foreclosure activity, and help you decide what to raise and when.³

1
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mortgagee Letter 2013-39 – Methods of Communication With Borrowers
2
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Notice Disclosure
3
Military OneSource. Legal Assistance for Service Members and Families
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3911 – Definitions
5
Department of Justice. Know Your Rights: A Guide to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3937 – Maximum Rate of Interest on Debts Incurred Before Military Service
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Are There Limits on How Much I Can Be Charged for a Loan?
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3953 – Mortgages and Trust Deeds
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3931 – Protection of Servicemembers Against Default Judgments
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701x – Assistance With Respect to Housing for Low- and Moderate-Income Families
11
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Updates to Servicing, Loss Mitigation, and Claims