Lender Assistance During Coronavirus

Brian_Earl_Spilner · ‎03-19-2020

Got an email from sync today regarding the virus and saying to call in if we were impacted financially. Got me wondering, do you think these lenders would use it as a datapoint if you needed to take them up on their offers? People being forced to stay home with no pay would, in a way, be equivalent to losing their jobs. Do you think lenders would use it to evaluate how to handle your account after the threat has passed?

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2020

I would imagine that banks are watching everything. If you draw any money out of your savings, make a change to your payment size (for example trying to pay a BT off quicker after making the same size payments for months), or if you take advantage of coronavirus relief offers, they're going to be tracking that.

Whether it will actually be used will depend on the sensitivity of the lender but they're going to be gathering all of the data they can. I decided last night to just continue business as usual so as not to draw attention to myself.

AverageJoesCredit · ‎03-19-2020

With no job as of right now i will eventually have to call Penfed and use the insurance on my loan. One reason i always paid charges as they posted were so i wouldnt be on the hook for so much in tuff times like now. As for my Sears bt ill be forced to pay minimum until i can find work. Unemployment here pays peanuts compared to elsewhere. Ive gotten all the emails for assistance but have yet to act on them, yet.

M_Smart007 · ‎03-19-2020

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
With no job as of right now i will eventually have to call Penfed and use the insurance on my loan. One reason i always paid charges as they posted were so i wouldnt be on the hook for so much in tuff times like now. As for my Sears bt ill be forced to pay minimum until i can find work. Unemployment here pays peanuts compared to elsewhere. Ive gotten all the emails for assistance but have yet to act on them, yet.

Wishing you the best Joe!

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2020

I got a similar email from elan about the crisis but one thing Elan said to me that none of the other banks have said, they basically said they have no plans to decrease my limit or Cancel my card etc with how well I've handled it. I pay it in full so will continue to do that. I have a nice limit on their fidelity card

I really like elan they have treated me better than any other issuer by far. I know that can change at the drop of a hat but at least my Elan card is usable for now

Remedios · ‎03-19-2020

@Brian_Earl_Spilner nah.

They are always watching, this is no different

Think of it in terms of doing a BT. You get one, you pay it off. You're not on their bad side, and computer is not going "Oh that dudebro needed BT two years ago, I should send alert 1s and 0s"

Bottom line doesnt change, watch the utilization, try not to look like you're struggling, and even if that was the case, I'd rather reach out to the lender regardless of down-the-road consequences than get stuck with stuff on CR for 7 years

Other than US Bank and BECU I really havent seen that much in terms of "helping". The whole point of those letters is either *use app, dont bring your germs to the branch* or *we're here to pretend like we care. Call us if you need is*

It's just so weird to me that 99.9% of population is worried about how they will survive physical, mental health wise, and financially...and yet, here we are connecting dots to credit cards.

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2020

@Remedios wrote:
I'd rather reach out to the lender regardless of down-the-road consequences than get stuck with stuff on CR for 7 years

This pretty much sums it up. If you need to take advantage of assistance, don't hesitate because of fear of lender action. It's business as usual for me because I don't expect to be impacted much by all of this but if I had to use assistance, I absolutely would, because the PTSD from having to file for bankruptcy protection in 2010 has stuck with me.

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2020

Full disclosure, this is my own opinion and not any sort of advice. Just a personal opinion.

I work in the financial services industry. Before this pandemic, state and federal regulators--as well as legislatures--were increasing the enforcement and scrutiny of the industry. I think that right now those financial institutions are balancing trying to protect themselves from losses while at the same time looking over their shoulder with the understanding that any actions they take at this time will be under the magnifying glass by a regulator some time in the future.

Using assistance items against consumers down the road is definitely something that could bite them in the a*s once someone looks at it. I agree with a lot of the sentiments here that it is far better to protect yourself now if you need assistance than try and tough it out and have something ding you for seven years.

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2020

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
With no job as of right now i will eventually have to call Penfed and use the insurance on my loan. One reason i always paid charges as they posted were so i wouldnt be on the hook for so much in tuff times like now. As for my Sears bt ill be forced to pay minimum until i can find work. Unemployment here pays peanuts compared to elsewhere. Ive gotten all the emails for assistance but have yet to act on them, yet.

Sad to hear. Hope things improve soon.

Caught750 · ‎03-19-2020

Unfortunately for us this came at the worst possible time. The majority of our saving is now tied up in purchasing a home (closing less than a month away) and we have another son on the way (3 1/2 months).

While I think we should be okay keeping current it will be very difficult to do much more with DW out of work (=no income). Hopefully lenders are tolerant of lower than normal payments and/or there is some relief situation set up for those of us who may be forced to work with limited income for some time.

The biggest issue for me is that no one has a choice in how this plays out, no control at all. Regardless of the cost and how difficult it may be rebuilding our savings will be a priority for us immediately.