BAH, SCRA, and Boot Camp

Good morning Marines,

Now that I've got a possible ship date for June, I'm on the fast track to getting my finances in order before I go. From my research on this site, I found that I can possibly send funds home to my wife to take care of our bills while I'm at boot, but it seems to be a difficult process. I asked my recruiter about it before and he said there's no way of making it happen, but I'll be discussing some of the options I read on here with him.

My question is: I understand the implications of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act, and I plan on asking my mortgage lender to lower the interest rate to 6% (it's at 9.something % now), and I know they can't foreclose or anything. I know that, if possible at all, I can send a small allotment home thru DD, because I need the money to pay for my own expenses. However, can I just send my BAH home?

It would seem to make sense to me (probably the worst thing a Poolee could ever say) that my Basic Pay will cover all of my expenses, and as the BAH is specifically for paying for my home, I wouldn't need to worry about saving that while at Boot. I'll talk more specifically with my recruiter when I start working on my financial statements, but can anyone here offer any insight? Thank you very much in advance, I've learned boat loads from this site, but couldn't find much in regards to specifically sending home your BAH. Thanks again.

Its all up to your senior drill instructor as to wether or not you can send money if any home you aren't exactly allowed to come and go as you please. I wanted to send money home to my wife but my senior told me I could only send a certain amount now if you want to go over the amount that's on you but think of this, as a private pfc what have you, you do not make $hit for pay bah adds a bit but not a lot. You have to pay for everything on the island EVERYTHING, even the chow you eat in he chow you pay for. You may not realize it because you don't see them taking it from you but they are.

So when you get there ask your senior and he will probably send you with a 3rd hat and you will regret even asking. When you get there you will realize going anywhere on the base will suck. Yut!

Roger, but I don't care how much chewing out it gets me so long as I can take care of my wife. If I could just send the BAH and the FSA, that's plenty, I just need to be sure I can make it happen, because if not, let's just say it won't be pretty! Any more confirmation on this would be greatly appreciated. Can you set up allotments? That would be fine if I could just set up a single allotment each month with my BAH and FSA. Thanks again ya'll.