Bank of America Helps Military Members and Families

On the heels of JPMorgan Chase offering mortgage help to members of the military and their families, Bank of America has decided to do some things to help those who serve our country when it comes to their mortgages.

Two main things that the bank is doing include offering lower interest rates to military members as well as an offer to reduce the mortgage principal. The announcement came last week as the military customer base has become a demographic that now has its own customer service department. Here are a few more details of BofA’s offerings to military members and their immediate families:

• For military borrowers who are leaving active duty, BofA is going to offer a reduction in their mortgage rates as well as a longer term to pay back their mortgage so their monthly payments will be more affordable.
• Those military members who are leaving active duty may be eligible to receive forgiveness on their principal as much as 100 percent of the value of the property. To be eligible, the borrower must be late on their payments. This particular measure is designed to help those military families who are underwater in their mortgages.
• In order to receive any of these benefits, the military members must be eligible for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act benefits.

Terry Laughlin, the executive vice president of Bank of America, said the new measures to help the military borrowers are the latest in the bank’s “long-standing commitment to the United States military forces” and the benefits will help ease the financial burden on “those who are protecting our freedoms.” The odd part about this story is that it was only two days prior to the announcement of these new benefits when BofA executives said that reducing mortgage principles would create a “moral hazard” in the housing industry. Some executives said that if special consideration is given to some people who fall behind in their mortgage payments, what would stop other borrowers from falling behind simply so they can get their debt reduced as well? However, if any home loan borrowers deserve this kind of protection, they are the ones who serve our country without fail.

The new program is scheduled to begin on April 1. The bank has put together a team that is specifically designed for working with military mortgage loans to help those who are leaving active duty make their payments once they return home.