Most resources still list the SCRA civil penalty as $55,000 for a first offense and $110,000 for subsequent offenses. Those figures are wrong. They were superseded on July 3, 2025, when the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act updated them to $79,380 and $158,761 respectively (28 CFR §85.5).
If your compliance team is still using the old numbers in risk assessments, your exposure calculations are understated by 44%.
This guide covers every penalty mechanism the federal government and private plaintiffs can use against organizations that violate the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Civil Penalties Under the SCRA
The DOJ enforces the SCRA under 50 U.S.C. §4041 (formerly §597). Civil penalties are assessed per violation:
| First Offense | Subsequent Offense | |
|---|---|---|
| Current (July 3, 2025) | $79,380 | $158,761 |
| Previous (Feb 2024) | $77,370 | $154,741 |
| Pre-2024 | $55,000 | $110,000 |
These figures adjust annually under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The amounts above are maximums — actual penalties depend on the scope of the violation, the number of affected servicemembers, and whether the organization cooperated with the investigation.
How Penalties Multiply
A single compliance gap can produce dozens or hundreds of violations. Each affected servicemember typically constitutes a separate violation.
Recent examples:
- Santander Consumer USA: $9.35 million for 760 illegal repossessions. That averages $12,300 per servicemember, well below the per-violation maximum — reflecting Santander’s cooperation and remediation efforts.
- Hyundai Capital America: $333,941 for 26 servicemembers ($74,941 civil penalty + $259,000 compensation). The civil penalty alone was roughly $2,882 per violation.
- CarMax Auto Finance: Approximately $500,000 for 28 servicemembers.
- Greystar Real Estate Partners: $1.4 million for improper charges to military tenants ($77,370 civil penalty + compensation at three times charges paid).
The pattern is consistent: the total settlement includes the civil penalty plus victim compensation. The DOJ’s stated total across all SCRA enforcement actions since 2011 is $484 million in monetary relief for over 149,000 servicemembers.
Beyond Civil Penalties: The Full Penalty Stack
Civil penalties under §4041 are only one enforcement mechanism. Organizations that violate the SCRA face exposure on multiple fronts simultaneously.
DOJ Consent Decree Requirements
The civil penalty is the headline number. The consent decree is the actual cost. When the DOJ settles an SCRA case, the organization typically agrees to:
- Victim compensation, often exceeding the amount of improper charges (the Greystar decree required triple damages for certain violations)
- Retroactive audit going back 5-7 years, paid for by the organization
- Technology and process changes mandated by the DOJ
- Quarterly DOJ reporting for 3-5 years
- Employee training with DOJ-reviewed curriculum
- Independent compliance monitor at the organization’s expense
The operational cost of a consent decree typically dwarfs the civil penalty. An organization that pays a $77,000 civil penalty may spend $500,000 or more on the retroactive audit alone, plus years of mandated reporting.
Criminal Penalties
The SCRA includes criminal penalties in several substantive sections. Under §3953(d), anyone who knowingly makes or causes to be made a sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property prohibited by the SCRA may be fined, imprisoned for up to one year, or both. Similar criminal provisions apply to illegal evictions (§3951), repossessions (§3952), and false affidavits of non-military-service (§3931(c)).
Criminal prosecution for SCRA violations is rare but not hypothetical. The DOJ has used the threat of criminal referral as leverage in investigations where evidence suggests willful disregard of servicemember protections.
Private Right of Action
Servicemembers can sue directly under 50 U.S.C. §4042(b). Private SCRA lawsuits can seek:
- Actual damages (the financial harm caused by the violation)
- Punitive damages (no statutory cap — jury discretion)
- Attorney’s fees and costs
- Injunctive relief (court order to stop the violating conduct)
The most significant private SCRA case to date is JPMorgan Chase, which paid $56 million to settle a class action involving illegal foreclosures on military families. That amount exceeds any individual DOJ settlement.
Private actions are harder to predict and potentially more expensive than DOJ enforcement because punitive damages are uncapped.
State-Level Penalties
Many states have enacted their own military protection statutes that supplement the federal SCRA. Some impose additional penalties:
- States with enhanced eviction protections may impose separate fines for violations
- Some states allow treble damages in private actions involving servicemember protections
- State attorneys general have independent authority to investigate and prosecute
For a detailed overview of state-level protections, see our state military protections guide.
How Penalties Are Calculated in Practice
The DOJ considers several factors when calculating SCRA penalties:
Factors that increase penalties:
- Number of affected servicemembers
- Duration of violations (years of non-compliance)
- Severity of harm (repossession, foreclosure vs. overcharges)
- Evidence of systemic failure vs. isolated incident
- Failure to self-report or remediate after discovery
Factors that reduce penalties:
- Voluntary cooperation with the investigation
- Self-reporting of violations before DOJ contact
- Prompt remediation and victim compensation
- Implementation of compliance improvements during investigation
- Smaller organizational size and resources
This is why penalty amounts vary so widely between cases. Santander paid $9.35 million for 760 violations while BayPort Credit Union paid $109,443 for a rate cap policy error. The per-violation amount depended on the severity, the organization’s cooperation, and the scope of harm.
The Enforcement Trend
SCRA enforcement is bipartisan and accelerating. The data from the past decade:
- First Trump administration (2017-2021): 24 SCRA enforcement actions
- Biden administration (2021-2025): 27 SCRA enforcement actions
The current CFPB has explicitly listed servicemember protection as an enforcement priority despite scaling back in other areas. Multiple major law firms published client alerts in 2025 recommending that organizations proactively review their SCRA compliance programs.
For a detailed analysis of recent enforcement trends, see our SCRA enforcement update.
Calculating Your Exposure
The formula for estimating SCRA penalty exposure is straightforward:
Estimated SCRA-protected accounts × per-violation penalty = maximum exposure
If your portfolio has 50,000 accounts and roughly 0.5% of U.S. adults are active-duty military (approximately 1% including Selected Reserve and National Guard), you have an estimated 250-500 SCRA-protected accounts at any given time.
If even 10% of those accounts have an undetected compliance gap — a missed rate cap, an adverse action without military status verification — your maximum exposure is:
50 accounts × $79,380 = $3.97 million (first offense)
That does not include victim compensation, consent decree costs, or private litigation.
What’s your actual exposure? Most organizations don’t know how many servicemembers are in their portfolio. Find out in 30 seconds.
Related Reading
- SCRA Enforcement Actions Database: Every Settlement Since 2011
- SCRA Enforcement Trends 2024-2025
- What Is the SCRA? A Complete Guide
- DOJ Consent Decree Requirements
- SCRA Compliance Checklist for Lenders
- Why Point-in-Time Verification Isn’t Enough
Related training
See these topics covered in depth in our free SCRA training videos. Watch now →
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