Louisiana SCRA Benefits: 6% Cap, Lease Exit, and Foreclosure Stay

If you’re on active duty and stationed in Louisiana, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) gives you a package of federal protections the state has also written into its own law: a 6% cap on interest for debt you took on before service, the right to break residential and vehicle leases when orders send you elsewhere, a court-order requirement before a lender can foreclose or repossess or a landlord can evict, shields against default judgments while you can’t appear in court, tax and residency protection for you and your spouse, and portability of professional licenses across a PCS move. Louisiana SCRA benefits are enforceable in state court as well as federal court, and the Louisiana Attorney General has direct authority to sue on your behalf.

Who Is Covered

SCRA protection turns on active-duty status. It covers members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard on active duty, along with commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and NOAA serving on active duty.¹

National Guard members are covered when called to active service by the President or the Secretary of Defense for more than 30 consecutive days during a national emergency. Reservists are covered once they report for active duty. Time out for illness, injury, or authorized leave still counts as service.¹

Some protections extend to spouses and dependents, most notably eviction protection and the tax residency rules covered below.

Cap Pre-Service Debt at 6% Interest

Any interest-bearing debt you took on before entering active duty is capped at 6% per year while you serve. That includes mortgages, car loans, credit cards, student loans, and other consumer debt. The lender must forgive the interest above 6%, not defer it, so the excess is gone for good.²

For mortgages and other debts secured by real property, the cap lasts through your service and for one year after. For unsecured debt like credit cards, the cap runs only during service.²

You have to ask for it. Send the creditor a written request with a copy of your military orders. You have up to 180 days after service ends to submit that notice, and once the creditor has it, the rate reduction applies back to the date you were called to active duty.²

Joint accounts with your spouse qualify as long as both names are on them. Accounts in the spouse’s name alone do not.³

Break a Lease When Orders Come In

Residential Leases

You can terminate a residential lease if you receive orders for active duty, a permanent change of station, or a deployment of at least 90 days. Give the landlord written notice with a copy of your orders. On a month-to-month lease, termination takes effect 30 days after the next rent payment comes due following your notice.⁴

Vehicle Leases

The vehicle rules are stricter. If the lease was signed before you entered active duty, you can terminate it when you’re called to active duty for 180 days or longer. If the lease was signed during active duty, you can terminate only for PCS orders from inside the continental U.S. to a location outside it (or from any overseas location to a new one), or for deployment orders of 180 days or more. A stateside-to-stateside PCS does not qualify.⁴

To complete the termination, deliver written notice with a copy of your orders and return the vehicle within 15 days of that notice. The lease ends when both are done.⁴

Stop a Foreclosure, Repossession, or Eviction

A lender cannot foreclose on a mortgage that originated before your active duty without a court order. This protection lasts through your service and for one full year afterward. The court can also stay the foreclosure or adjust loan terms if service has materially affected your ability to pay.⁵

For a vehicle, furniture, or other personal property bought or leased on an installment contract before service, a creditor can’t repossess without a court order, provided you made at least one payment before entering service. The rule applies throughout your service even if you miss payments. A creditor who knowingly repossesses in violation faces up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.⁶

A landlord cannot evict you or your dependents from a primary residence without a court order during your service, provided the monthly rent is $10,542.60 or less (the 2026 threshold, adjusted annually for inflation).⁷⁸ If military service has materially affected your ability to pay rent, the court must stay eviction proceedings for at least 90 days.

Avoid a Default Judgment While You’re Away

Before a court can enter a default judgment in any civil case, the plaintiff has to file an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service. If you are, the court can’t enter judgment until it appoints an attorney to represent you. If a default judgment is entered anyway during your service or within 60 days after separation, you can ask the court to reopen the case, so long as military service materially affected your defense and you have a valid legal argument.⁹

Before final judgment in a civil case, you can also apply for a mandatory stay. The court must grant at least 90 days if your application includes a letter explaining how current duties prevent you from appearing and a communication from your commanding officer confirming that military leave is not authorized. If you request more time beyond the 90 days and the court denies it, the court has to appoint counsel to represent you. These stays do not apply in criminal cases.¹⁰

Keep Your Home-State Tax Residency

If you’re stationed in Louisiana but your legal domicile is somewhere else, Louisiana cannot tax your military pay. It also cannot use your military income to push your spouse into a higher tax bracket on their own earnings.¹¹

A military spouse present in Louisiana solely because of your orders does not become a Louisiana tax resident. The spouse’s earned income is taxed only by the state where the spouse is domiciled. For any tax year, a married servicemember and spouse can elect to use the servicemember’s domicile, the spouse’s domicile, or the permanent duty station as their shared tax residence.¹¹

Personal property brought to Louisiana because of orders (a vehicle registered in your home state, for example) is also shielded from Louisiana personal property taxes.¹¹

Carry a Professional License Through a PCS

If you or your spouse holds a professional license and orders move you across state lines, the receiving state has to recognize the license as long as three conditions are met: the license is valid, the move is under military orders to a state other than the issuing one, and you apply for a license in the new state.¹²

A license qualifies as “covered” if it’s in good standing, has not been revoked, and is not the subject of any pending investigation for unprofessional conduct. Your application must include proof of orders and a notarized affidavit certifying good standing and willingness to follow the new state’s scope-of-practice rules. Military spouses also submit a copy of the marriage certificate.¹²

One boundary worth knowing: this portability rule generally does not apply to licenses already governed by an interstate compact, because those compacts have their own transfer mechanisms.

Protect a Pre-Service Life Insurance Policy

If you had private life insurance before entering active duty, you can keep the coverage from lapsing for non-payment during service. You, a legal representative, or a beneficiary applies in writing to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The maximum coverage protected is $250,000 or the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance maximum, whichever is greater.¹³

What Louisiana Adds

Louisiana has adopted the SCRA and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act into its own statutes, so every federal protection is enforceable in state court too. You aren’t limited to federal remedies.¹⁴

The Louisiana Attorney General has explicit authority to sue in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce these protections, which matters when a violation is part of a pattern or when going it alone isn’t realistic.¹⁴

State law also bars educational institutions from penalizing a student who is absent or has to withdraw because of military service.

If a Right Is Violated

You can file a private civil lawsuit for monetary damages, equitable relief, and class-action remedies, and the court can order the other side to pay your attorney fees and costs.¹⁵

SCRA remedies don’t replace other legal options; consequential and punitive damages under other laws are still available. On the criminal side, knowingly evicting a protected servicemember without a court order, or knowingly repossessing property in violation of the installment contract rule, is a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.⁶

The U.S. Department of Justice has its own authority to bring enforcement actions against landlords, creditors, and others, and those actions can carry substantial civil penalties.

For help preparing the written notices the SCRA requires, the legal assistance offices at Fort Johnson and Barksdale Air Force Base advise servicemembers on these issues and draft the paperwork. If a landlord, creditor, or employer has already crossed a line, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office and the DOJ’s Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative both accept complaints.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3911 – Definitions
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3937 – Maximum Rate of Interest on Debts Incurred Before Military Service
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Your Rights as a Servicemember – 6 Percent Interest Rate Cap for Servicemembers on Pre-Service Debts
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3955 – Termination of Residential or Motor Vehicle Leases
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3953 – Mortgages and Trust Deeds
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3952 – Protection Under Installment Contracts for Purchase or Lease
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress
8
Federal Register. Notice of Publication of Housing Price Inflation Adjustment
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3931 – Protection of Servicemembers Against Default Judgments
10
GovInfo. 50 USC 3932 – Stay of Proceedings When Servicemember Has Notice
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 4001 – Residence for Tax Purposes
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 4025a – Portability of Professional Licenses of Servicemembers and Their Spouses
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3972 – Insurance Rights and Protections
14
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 29-422 – Enforcement of Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Notice Requirements
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 4042 – Private Right of Action