HANOVER, Md. — CounselorLibrary.com LLC, the publisher of automobile financing and leasing legal compliance services, has released its newest guide in its series of compliance manuals.

The CARLAW Compliance Series addresses legal issues that auto finance companies face every day. The latest publication in the series, Compliance Guide — Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, by James Chareq, is now available.

The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides important financial protections for servicemembers and their families. Although the SCRA has been on the books for years, the subject of financial protections for servicemembers has become a focus of federal and state regulation.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created a powerful new federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. One of the CFPB’s principal missions is the protection of the financial interests of servicemembers and their families. Many states have enacted laws that provide protection for servicemembers, as well. 

Compliance Guide — Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is a handy reference tool that provides finance companies with a step-by-step roadmap to designing and implementing an SCRA compliance program. The SCRA topics addressed include: when a creditor’s SCRA compliance obligations are triggered; the operation of the 6 percent interest rate limitation; the motor vehicle lease termination provisions; the provisions relating to default judgments and stays of proceedings; and the SCRA’s impact on the availability of creditor remedies.

The manual contains helpful suggestions for managing a creditor’s SCRA compliance program in connection with other than real estate secured extensions of credit. The information is presented in an easy-to-read format, with as little "legalese" and as much useful and practical information as possible.

The goal is to give the reader a solid, basic working knowledge of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. “The Guide was written to explain, in terms that are as straight-forward as the complexity of the SCRA permits, when the SCRA applies, what a creditor must do under the SCRA and what a creditor is prohibited from doing under the SCRA,” said Chareq.