I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4740 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to ensure that relocation 

of a servicemember to serve on active duty away from the 

servicemember’s principal residence does not prevent the servicemember 

from refinancing a mortgage on that principal residence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2012 

Mr. HUNTER (for himself, Mr. WEST, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. RIGELL, 

Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. TURNER of Ohio, Mr. HEINRICH, and Mr. CARTER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to ensure 

that relocation of a servicemember to serve on active 

duty away from the servicemember’s principal residence 

does not prevent the servicemember from refinancing 

a mortgage on that principal residence. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for Military 

5 Homeowners Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF 

2 ACT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Servicemembers 

4 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 531 et seq.) is amended 

5 by inserting after section 303 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 303A. TREATMENT OF RELOCATION FOR ACTIVE 

7 DUTY FOR PURPOSES OF MORTGAGE REFI8 NANCING. 

9 ‘‘(a) TREATMENT OF ABSENCE FROM RESIDENCE

10 DUE TO ACTIVE DUTY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

12 if, at any time that a servicemember who is the 

13 mortgagor under an existing mortgage does not re14 side in the residence that secures the existing mort15 gage because of relocation described in subsection 

16 (b)(1)(B), such servicemember inquires about or ap17 plies for a covered refinancing mortgage, such serv18 icemember shall be considered, for all purposes relat19 ing to the covered refinancing mortgage, including 

20 such inquiry or application and eligibility for and 

21 compliance with any underwriting criteria and 

22 standards regarding such covered refinancing mort23 gage, to occupy the residence that secures the exist24 ing mortgage to be paid or prepaid by such covered 

25 refinancing mortgage as the principal residence of 


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1 the servicemember during the period of any such re2 location. 

3 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

4 apply with respect to a servicemember at any time 

5 if, during the 5-year period preceding such time, the 

6 servicemember entered into a covered refinancing 

7 mortgage pursuant to this section. 

8 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) EXISTING MORTGAGE.—The term ‘existing 

10 mortgage’ means a mortgage that is secured by a 1- 

11 to 4-family residence, including a condominium or a 

12 share in a cooperative ownership housing associa13 tion, that was the principal residence of a service14 member for a period that— 

15 ‘‘(A) had a duration of 13 consecutive 

16 months or longer; and 

17 ‘‘(B) ended upon the relocation of the serv18 icemember caused by the servicemember receiv19 ing military orders for a permanent change of 

20 station or to deploy with a military unit, or as 

21 an individual in support of a military operation, 

22 for a period of not less than 18 months that did 

23 not allow the servicemember to continue to oc24 cupy such residence as a principal residence. 


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1 ‘‘(2) COVERED REFINANCING MORTGAGE.—The 

2 term ‘covered refinancing mortgage’ means any 

3 mortgage— 

4 ‘‘(A) that is made for the purpose of pay5 ing or prepaying, and extinguishing, the out6 standing obligations under an existing mortgage 

7 or mortgages; and 

8 ‘‘(B) that is secured by the same residence 

9 that secured such existing mortgage or mort10 gages.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

12 for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat13 ing to section 305 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Treatment of relocation for active duty for purposes of mortgage 

refinancing.’’. 

Æ 


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