PCSing and Your Finances: How to Spot Unlawful Fees When Moving

Military families spend months preparing for a PCS move. They compare neighborhoods they've never visited, calculate travel costs across multiple states, schedule household goods shipments, and figure out how long they can carry two sets of housing expenses if timing doesn't line up perfectly. Then the bills start arriving.

A security deposit for the next home. Hotel costs while waiting for housing. Fuel for a cross-country drive. Vehicle repairs that were discovered days before departure. Pet transportation expenses. Utility connection fees. PCS reimbursements may arrive weeks later, but expenses rarely wait.

For many military families, that reality leads to a credit card application, a personal loan, vehicle financing, or another form of borrowing intended to bridge the gap between moving costs and reimbursement. Attorneys say many military borrowers are surprised to learn that the protections they assume apply to those transactions do not always apply in the way they expect. That misunderstanding often begins with the Military Lending Act.

The Law Most Military Families Have Heard Of

The Military Lending Act was designed to protect active-duty service members and certain dependents from predatory lending practices. Many military families know the law exists. Far fewer could explain what it covers. The law generally caps the Military Annual Percentage Rate, known as the MAPR, at 36% for covered consumer credit products. Unlike a standard annual percentage rate, the MAPR includes certain fees and charges that can increase the actual cost of borrowing.

That distinction matters because the paperwork borrowers review during a move may not tell the complete story through the interest rate alone. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, certain fees, credit insurance premiums, debt cancellation agreements, debt suspension agreements, and similar charges can factor into the MAPR calculation for covered loans.

For military families already balancing moving costs, childcare expenses, temporary lodging, and the uncertainty that often accompanies a relocation, those details can be easy to overlook.

Where the Problem Can Begin

One of the most persistent misconceptions surrounding the Military Lending Act is the belief that it protects every loan obtained by a military family. It does not. Certain purchase-money loans, including many vehicle purchase loans and residential mortgages, are generally excluded from MLA coverage when the credit is used to purchase the vehicle or home securing the loan.

A service member purchasing a vehicle before reporting to a new duty station may reasonably assume the transaction falls under the same protections that apply to certain other forms of consumer credit. In many situations, it doesn’t.

Other consumer-protection laws may still apply, state laws may still apply, and federal regulators may still have jurisdiction depending on the circumstances. Military status alone does not determine whether a loan falls under the Military Lending Act. That's one reason experts say military families should never assume a loan is protected simply because the borrower wears the uniform.

Why PCS Moves Make These Details Easy to Miss

Few financial decisions happen under ideal conditions during a military relocation. Military spouses routinely sign leases from hundreds of miles away because waiting until arrival could mean losing the property altogether. Children are withdrawn from one school district while enrollment paperwork for another waits on the kitchen counter. In many households, a spouse leaves one paycheck behind before another job has been secured. The financial decisions happen alongside everything else.

That is what makes the PCS season different from an ordinary borrowing decision. Service members sitting at a dealership, lender's office, or online financing portal are not studying lending regulations. They are trying to solve immediate problems tied to a move with a hard reporting date.

Many military borrowers focus on whether a payment fits the household budget during a move, only discovering later how much optional products, fees, or financing add-ons increase the total cost of borrowing.

By the time those costs draw attention, the family has settled into the new duty station, the moving boxes are gone, and the loan has already become part of the monthly budget.

The charge that barely registered during a chaotic move can still appear on a family's monthly statement years later.

The Paperwork Worth Reading Twice

Not every fee is unlawful. Not every add-on product is unnecessary. Some borrowers knowingly choose products that provide value for their circumstances. The important question is whether those products were truly optional, what they actually cost, and how much they increased the total amount repaid over time.

Military families reviewing financing documents should pay close attention to charges that are added alongside the loan itself. Credit insurance products, debt protection plans, service contracts, membership programs, and other ancillary products can significantly increase borrowing costs. In covered MLA transactions, some of these charges may be included when calculating the Military Annual Percentage Rate. That does not automatically make a fee unlawful. It does mean borrowers should understand exactly what they are purchasing and whether those charges were clearly disclosed. Federal regulators have continued to scrutinize lending practices involving military borrowers.

In 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a settlement with FirstCash and its subsidiaries involving alleged Military Lending Act violations tied to pawn loans issued to service members and their families. According to the CFPB, the company allegedly made thousands of loans that exceeded the MLA's 36% Military Annual Percentage Rate cap. FirstCash neither admitted nor denied the allegations as part of the settlement.

The case had nothing to do with military relocations. It did demonstrate that federal regulators continue to scrutinize lending practices affecting service members and their families.

Attorneys who review lending disputes frequently encounter questions involving fees and add-on products that consumers later say they did not fully understand. By the time those questions surface, the loan documents have often been filed away, and the move itself has become a distant memory.

Questions That Matter Before Signing

Military families routinely assess risk in other parts of life. A relocation is no different. Service members and military spouses should understand what each fee covers, whether a product is optional, how much it will cost over the life of the loan, and whether declining it changes the financing terms being offered. Those conversations are not signs of distrust. They are signs of informed decision-making.

A lender should be able to clearly explain every charge contained within an agreement. When explanations become difficult to obtain or documentation appears incomplete, consumers should pause long enough to understand what they are being asked to sign. The most expensive fees are often not the largest ones. They are the ones borrowers never realized they agreed to pay in the first place.

Don’t Let Hidden Fees Stand: Contact Shamis & Gentile

An unfamiliar fee does not automatically indicate wrongdoing. Consumer lending disputes are highly fact-specific and depend on the type of credit involved, applicable laws, disclosures, and the details of the agreement itself. Still, attorneys at Shamis & Gentile say borrowers should not ignore concerns simply because a transaction has already been completed.

Shamis & Gentile offers free case evaluations for consumers who believe they may have been harmed by unlawful fees, misleading disclosures, or other lending practices. In some situations, a review can help borrowers better understand whether a transaction complied with applicable consumer-protection laws and what options may be available if concerns exist.

Military families expect a PCS move to test their patience. Delayed shipments, changing timelines, unexpected costs, and last-minute adjustments come with the territory. What catches many families off guard is discovering that a financial decision made during a hectic move can continue affecting the household budget years later. The move eventually ends. The hotel receipts get tossed. The moving boxes disappear. The loan paperwork often stays exactly where it started: inside the family's monthly budget.

If you suspect those documents hide unlawful fees, it may be time to get a second set of eyes on them. As a national consumer protection and personal injury law firm, Shamis & Gentile has recovered over $1 billion for its clients. They built their reputation by taking on large corporations and getting real results—not just settlements that look good on paper, but outcomes that actually matter to the people they represent.

This article is a result of a paid collaboration with Shamis & Gentile.