We've written often lately about predatory lenders preying on the military and a successful Congressional effort to cap interest rates on loans to military personnel and their families at 36% APR. I know that sounds high, but compared to 658% APR, a common payday loan interest rate, it's low.

In another common scam against the military, a college student and a soldier at Fort Polk are on trial in Louisiana for stealing financial identities of personnel deployed overseas. Military personnel and their dependents face a problem most of the rest of us do not: their Social Security Numbers are on their ID cards. Here's 2003 Senate testimony of former Army captain John Harrison, a multiple identity theft victim. Active duty military personnel deployed overseas have a special right to prevent ID theft by placing fraud alert warnings on their credit reports. Find out more at the FTC military page.