Servicemember Tips

Financial Help

Financial commitments still need to be kept if you or a loved one is deployed. In order to help make ends meet, the military offers the Family Separation Allowance to eligible servicemembers with dependents, and the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA) for those whom a deployment creates a financial burden.

But whether you are eligible for either program, consider the following tips:


  • If you are married, make sure your spouse can access all of your financial accounts, joint or otherwise.

  • If you are single, consider giving a trusted friend or family member books of blank, signed checks. Then this person can take care of any of your financial obligations that you may be unable to resolve from your deployment site.


Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act

The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act offers servicemembers certain financial protections when they are deployed. Through the act, servicemembers can:

  • Break or suspend a vehicle or apartment lease they entered into before deployment.

  • Temporarily cap interest rates at 6% on eligible loan, credit card, and other debts while the servicemembers are deployed.

  • Under certain circumstances, avoid eviction from leased housing.

  • Delay some legal proceedings, such as personal bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce, paternity or child custody hearings.


Family Separation Allowance

The Family Separation Allowance provides $250 each month to servicemembers with dependents if their deployment meets one of the following conditions:

  • The movement of your dependents to the permanent duty station at military expense is not authorized.

  • You are on duty and on-board a ship away from its home port for more than 30 continuous days.

  • You are continuously on temporary duty away from the permanent duty station for more than 30 days and your dependents do not live at or near the temporary duty station.

Servicemembers with dependents are ineligible for the Family Separation Allowance if:

  • Their sole dependent has been in or will be a patient in a medical institution for a year or more.

  • Their sole dependent is a spouse they are legally separated from.

  • They have dependent children in the legal custody of someone else.

  • Their dependent parent does not live with them.


Apply

Complete a DD Form 1561 and submit it to your VA regional office. More information can be found at the Army.com Family Separation Allowance webpage.

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Joe's Notes


JoeNote

Consider setting up an online automatic bill-pay system for monthly, recurring bills, such as car loans and mortgage payments.

JoeNote

You must write your creditors to inform them of your status and that you are invoking the 6% cap. Your creditors will also need proof of your mobilization and reduced salary.

JoeNote

The allowance remains $250 a month, regardless of whether you have one, five or nine dependents.

JoeNote

A servicemember with joint custody of a child is still eligible for the Family Separation Allowance if the child would have lived with the servicemember had it not been for the deployment.

JoeNote

If two servicemembers are married, one of the servicemembers can receive the allowance if duty separates them. The couple must have been living together before the move to receive the allowance. The servicemember whose orders caused the separation will receive the allowance.

JoeNote

The allowance is only available if your dependents can't follow you to your new base. If you volunteer for an unaccompanied tour of duty, even though your dependents are authorized to move with you, you cannot receive this allowance.

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