[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2859 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2859

   To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide improved 
  interest rate relief for servicemembers during periods of military 
                                service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2005

Mr. Ryun of Kansas (for himself and Mr. Wynn) introduced the following 
     bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide improved 
  interest rate relief for servicemembers during periods of military 
                                service.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Servicemembers Interest Rate Relief 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVED INTEREST RATE RELIEF.

    Section 207(a) of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 
App. 527(a)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 
        (3) and (4), respectively; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--An obligation or liability bearing 
        interest that is incurred by a servicemember, or the 
        servicemember and the servicemember's spouse jointly, before 
        the servicemember enters military service shall not, at any 
        time during the period of military service, bear interest at a 
        rate in excess of the maximum rate allowable at such time.
            ``(2) Maximum rate allowable.--As used in this section the 
        term `maximum rate allowable', with respect to an obligation or 
        liability, means the lower of--
                    ``(A) 6 percent per year; or
                    ``(B) the annual rate of interest that (but for 
                this section) would otherwise apply with respect to 
                such obligation or liability, reduced by 1 percentage 
                point (but not below zero).''.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

    Section 207 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 
527) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated by section 
                2)--
                            (i) in the heading, by striking ``in excess 
                        of 6 percent''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``6 percent per year'' and 
                        inserting ``the maximum rate allowable''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (4) (as so redesignated by section 
                2), by striking ``paragraph (2)'' and inserting 
                ``paragraph (3)''; and
            (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``6 percent per year'' 
        and inserting ``the maximum rate allowable''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 60 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with 
respect to servicemembers in military service on or after the effective 
date of this Act.
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