ms. spain, you may proceed. >> chairman johnson, ranking member shelly bi, committee members, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about what we see happening with the military in our area. our organization serving western south dakota for 37 years providing housing consling and other programs and create programs used by 1.4 million consumers across the nation. our agency serves military personnel at the air force base. the airman family readiness center invites us to provide financial education programs. they refer individuals to us struggling with housing issues or if they have financial issues for our debt program and they come in for debt education. the military has housing issues they don't. when they have orders, they have to move. siesmians have choices to move or not move and when to move. the military cannot. if they take their family with them, it creates financial stress. if they leave their families home, it creates financial stress. it's a difficult time. agencies su

ms. spainin serving western south dakota for 37 years providing housing counseling credit counseling and financial education programs. we also create national financial education programs to be used by 1.4 million consumers across the nation. our agency serves military personnel at ellsworth air force base. the airmen and family readiness center provides financial education programs. they also refer individuals to us that are struggling with housing issues or if they have more financial issues for our debt management program. and on the rare occasion for someone to come in for prefiling counseling. yes the military do have housing issues that civilians don't. when they get orders they have to move. a civilian has choices. they can choose not to move and choose when they move and the military cannot. if they take their family with them and they leave the home and it doesn't sell it creates financial stress that they leave the home and it creates financial stress. it's a difficult time. agencies

ms. spain, you may proceed. >> chairman johnson, ranking member shelby, committee members, thank you for the font to be here today. our organization has been serving western south dakota for 37 years providing counseling, credit counseling, and financial education programs. we also create financial education programs that have been used by 1.4 million consumers across the nation. we serve military personnel. the readiness center invites us two or three times a month to provide financial education programs. they refer individuals to us that are struggling with housing issues or if they have more financial issues for our debt management program, and on the rare occasion, for someone to come in for prefiling. the military had housing issues they don't. when they have orders, they have to move. civilians choose if they move and when they move. the military cannot. if they take their family with them and leave a home empty, it creates financial stress. it's a difficult time. agencies that provide co

ms. spainating agreements sufficient and being enforced? and some of them are charging far in excess of the fees for payments or failure to pay on time, et cetera, than is normal. ms. patraeus? >> i will say, as you mentioned, they do have a contract to operate on the installations and they are expected to do certain things. part of that is to provide financial education. certainly there should be transparency in the feet and when that contract comes up for review that is an opportunity to decide if they are treating their customers right. i will say that we are taking a look at the issue of what are the special products that financial institutions are providing for service members. we put notice in about a month and a half ago asking for input across the field saying let us know what you are doing. we are going to have a one -- day forum next month where we discuss the issues and some of the things that are being done that are on the positive side. hopefully that will serve to put the word out