Michelle Singletary: Worried about your loans during the government shutdown? Financial institutions say: Call us
Some institutions are even proactively reaching out to customers they believe are feeling a financial pinch from the shutdown.
But what if your bank isn't contacting you directly?
Then you make the call — something people often don't do until things are pretty bad.
In my experience, many folks tell themselves there's no point in contacting their lenders when they're in financial trouble. They reason that they won't get meaningful assistance, so why bother? However, these are extraordinary times, much like when a hurricane hits. Call anyway, because staying silent will for sure not get you the help you need.
In fact, there is even pressure on financial institutions to help those who are suffering from this shutdown mess through no fault of their own.
Federal and state regulators — including the
"Affected borrowers may face a temporary hardship in making payments on debts such as mortgages, student loans, car loans, business loans or credit cards," the statement said. "As they have in prior shutdowns, the agencies encourage financial institutions to consider prudent efforts to modify terms on existing loans or extend new credit to help affected borrowers."
Chase is telling customers whose income has been bottlenecked by the shutdown to call to discuss its hardship programs. Chase has a special-care line at 1-888-356-0023.
"We are proactively waiving overdraft fees and monthly account fees for our deposit accounts (checking, savings) where we know you're a federal government worker," said
Wexler said impacted customers who have a paycheck that is deposited at another institution can still qualify for the fee breaks if they call the bank's special-care line. Chase will turn off these fees for you and refund any fees you've already been charged, she said.
"The support we're offering mirrors what we do for victims of hurricanes, wildfires and other situations that put our customers in need of some relief and leeway from us," she said.
The bank is asking customers with a loan who are impacted by the shutdown to also call the hotline.
"Since we don't know who these particular customers are, they would need to call us to get this kind of assistance," she added.
Wexler said the phone lines are "staffed by people focused just on this, who can help our customers avoid harm that might come from missing their paycheck."
As an example, if you have a mortgage with Chase, specialists working the lines are empowered to do things such as let you miss your mortgage payment until you get paid. They can also waive or refund any late fees and suppress reporting to the credit bureaus.
Other banks and credit unions nationwide have made similar promises of assistance.
The
Don't wait for the shutdown to create a financial meltdown for you. Even if you're OK for now, make the call to your bank or credit union so that you'll know what options are available should you run out of savings.
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