washingtonscene \\ COLA News //
COLA Future Fizzles The July Consumer Price Index (CPI) is 233.806, remaining 0.2 percent below the FY 2014 COLA baseline. The 2015 COLA will be based on the CPI average from July through September. With two months to go, the chances of a positive FY 2016 COLA look slim. If there is no growth in CPI, annuitants will not receive an annual COLA. Retirees did not receive COLAs in 2009 and 2010. In the event of a negative CPI, annuitants will not see a reduction in pay. Congress passed legislation that keeps retired pay flat in the event of a negative CPI. Follow the COLA trends at
www.moaa.org/cola.
creating angst among those currently serving and their families. “It is a challenging mission, and we’re not going to get around that,” says Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, commander of Army Recruiting Command. Despite missing midyear projections,
Army leadership is hopeful they will meet the goal of 59,000 new recruits by the end of the fiscal year. Amid these recruiting challenges, Con-
gress continues to push for balancing the budget on the backs of the military. Chip- ping away at pay and benefits will only make recruiting more difficult. “Potential recruits are paying attention,”
says Col. Mike Barron, USA (Ret), a MOAA deputy director of Government Relations. “If the Army expects to meet recruitment levels now and in the future, we need to make sure we take care of those who serve.”
Protecting Your
Wallet New rules address predatory lending practices.
P
resident Barack Obama an- nounced changes to protect ser- vicemembers and their families
from predatory lending practices. The new protections will cover all forms of
42 MILITARY OFFICER OCTOBER 2015
payday loans as well as other loans that target servicemembers and their fami- lies, including car title loans, refund an- ticipation loans, deposit advance loans, installment loans, unsecured open-end lines of credit, and credit cards. A DoD statement on the change said,
“With this action, the department takes an important stand against companies that can prey on our men and women in uniform. This new rule addresses a range of credit products that previously escaped the scope of the regulation, compromising the financial success of our troops.” MOAA worked with its partners in The Military Coalition to help pass the original Military Lending Act, which capped interest rates at 36 percent for a limited number of covered loans to active duty servicemembers and their families. However, payday lenders still often found loopholes and other creative ways to skirt the law. “Today’s rule change is a major vic- tory for military families,” says Col. Mike Barron, USA (Ret), a MOAA deputy di- rector of Government Relations. “There are more payday lenders in America than there are Starbucks and McDonalds. These institutions prey on vulnerable military families and put them in a cycle of debt.”
The new rule allows for industry com-
pliance by Oct. 1, followed by a staggered implementation period. MO
— Contributors are Col. Mike Hayden, USAF (Ret), director; Col. Mike Barron, USA (Ret); Col. Bob Norton, USA (Ret); Capt. Kathy Beasley, USN (Ret); Col. Phil Odom, USAF (Ret); Cmdr. René Campos, USN (Ret); Karen Golden; Jamie Naughton; and Trina Fitzgerald, MOAA’s Gov- ernment Relations Department. To subscribe to MOAA’s Legislative Update, visit
www.moaa .org/email.
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