 Terry Moakley |
As a service-connected quadriplegic veteran going on 43 years now, I’m the first to admit that I never thought much about Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance. I’ve been living in the same wheelchair-accessible house for nearly 30 years, so one might assume that my mortgage is nearly paid in full.
Not exactly. There was a legal separation and eventual divorce that happened 18 years ago, and to continue living in my accessible home, I had no better choice at the time than to re-finance my mortgage.
Then, after “flying solo” for the first 14 of those years, close friends re-introduced me to a beautiful lady I had seen occasionally in social situations over the previous 21 years. We were both single, and two years hence we were married.
Apart from being the luckiest man on the planet, not long after our wedding is when the U.S. economy started to tank, and among other reactions, mortgage interest rates began to come down. I had a relatively high rate in late 2008, with 12 years of payments remaining. By re-financing in January of 2009, I reduced my interest rate significantly enough that I was able to obtain a 15 year mortgage.
If I haven’t lost you yet, let me add that my new spouse is a bit younger than me, so my worries include the possibility that she will be left with a burdensome mortgage payment after my demise. Suddenly, Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance is very important to me, and I’m guessing to many more disabled veterans, too.
Sometime during the past couple of years, I also learned from a colleague that a service-connected vet whom we both knew passed on unexpectedly, reducing his family’s income to about 15% of what it was when our mutual acquaintance died.
However, there is hope. Two separate and significant increases in Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI)—one to take place this year and the second in 2012—were included in the version of the Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Act (H.R. 1037) that passed the U.S. Senate. Although H.R. 1037 has passed both the House and the Senate, final action awaits because of significant differences between the versions passed by each chamber. Please take a moment to write to your members of Congress and urge them to turn the bill as passed by the Senate into law as soon as possible. You will be protecting the future of families like mine if you do.