Islanders out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic are facing tough choices as the monthly bills come in. In response, several local banks and utilities are waiving fees, deferring payments and suspending shutoffs, foreclosures and evictions.
“This isn’t anyone’s fault. This was thrust upon them, because of this virus,” said Dorothy Savarese, chairman and chief executive officer of Cape Cod Five, which has a full-service Martha’s Vineyard branch in Vineyard Haven.
The bank is suspending foreclosures and evictions for 60 days and allowing the deferral of mortgage payments, based on need and request.
“We are processing hundreds of forbearance requests,” Ms. Savarese said.
For individual customers, Cape Cod Five is waiving overdraft and uncollected funds fees for at least 30 days, waiving early withdrawal penalties for certificates of deposit and increasing mobile deposit limits.
Business customers can request loan payment modifications, fee waivers and increased deposit limits, as well as assistance in obtaining federal loans.
“We just went live with a custom portal for eligible small business customers of ours to upload their applications for the Paycheck Protection Program,” Ms. Savarese said, referring to the federal Small Business Administration program that forgives loans to businesses that keep their employees on the payroll for eight weeks.
Rockland Trust, which has a full service Vineyard branch in Edgartown, has increased its daily debit card, ATM and mobile deposit limits, waived penalties for early withdrawals from CDs and late charges for consumer loan payments and called a 90-day moratorium on residential foreclosures.
Personal Rockland customers also can request payment deferrals for mortgage and home equity loans and lines of credit, while business customers have similar options for commercial and small business loans.
The Martha’s Vineyard Bank has posted a menu of offerings for its hard-hit customers, including loan assistance for individuals and businesses, deferred payments for mortgages and home equity loans, interest-only commercial loan payments and credit cards with no annual percentage rate or fee for the first year (six months for business accounts).
The bank also has announced $625,000 in coronavirus relief, including an immediate donation of $150,000 to area nonprofits supporting residents during the pandemic.
Both Rockland Trust and Cape Cod Five have committed $500,000 to local relief efforts.
Eversource is suspending disconnections, waiving late fees and offering payment plans to its customers who are suffering from loss of income. Amerigas, formerly Vineyard Propane, is waiving new late fees and non-payment suspensions through May 15. The propane supplier also has announced a new billing program, with the first payment due at the end of April.
Comcast will suspend disconnections and late fees at customer request. The phone and internet giant also is pausing its data plans to give unlimited data to all customers, and is offering free public access to its Xfinity hotspots for anyone who needs to get online.
Through May 13, AT&T will waive late payment fees for all its services, as well as overage charges for voice, text and data on domestic postpaid wireless plans, following submission of a waiver form though its website.
Verizon also has an online hardship form that customers can submit to qualify for relief from late fees and terminations through mid-May. Through April 30, Verizon is providing free calls to countries affected by the pandemic. https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/covid-19-countries-list/
T-Mobile, which owns Sprint as of April 1, is allowing its data customers unlimited non-roaming data for 60 days and bumping up the data allowance for its mobile hotspot customers.
The coronavirus crisis comes at a particularly cruel time for the Vineyard’s seasonal workers, who eke out a long, low-paid winter for the sake of summer wages that now are threatened by the pandemic.
“I think most people are realizing it’s a terrible situation,” said Ralph Packer, whose company brings fuel oil to Martha’s Vineyard. “The impact, as far as consuming heating oil, is probably not upon us yet.”
“A lot of people on the Vineyard live paycheck to paycheck, and they depend on us for credit in the winter months,” Mr. Packer said.
“We haven’t had people calling up saying ‘We do not have the funds to pay for the delivery,’ but we expect that will happen.”
For Islanders and Cape Cod residents struggling with rent, mortgage, utility or other housing expenses because of the pandemic, Cape-based Housing Assistance has established the Cape Cod Covid-19 Workforce Housing Relief Fund, which is taking applications by email and phone at hac@haconcapecod.org, (508) 771-5400.
Comments (1)
Comments
Comment policy »