Customers can call in or apply online to have their payments postponed by up to three months, depending on the loan type, based on a review of several banks’ services.
The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also called the novel coronavirus, broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan around November 2019, before spreading across the world.
By April 27, there were nearly a million confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 56,000 attributed deaths in the United States.
The pandemic prompted state governments to impose stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns that forced more than 20 million into unemployment.
“We were the first financial institution to announce in early March that assistance measures will be available for U.S. customers and small businesses impacted by COVID-19, and we have since expanded support,” said Citi spokeswoman Jennifer Bombardier via email.
“We’ve assisted approximately 1.3 million clients through these relief efforts over the last few weeks,” said Matt Card, the bank’s media relations executive.
Some 80 percent of deferral requests have been related to credit card payments, he said.
Both banks are also forgiving some fees.
“We have also paused foreclosure sales, evictions, and repossessions,” Card said.
Similar measures were adopted by Wells Fargo.
“From March 9 through April 10, we helped more than 1.3 million consumer and small business customers by deferring payments and waiving fees,” said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Veronica Clemons via email. “In that time period, we deferred over 1 million payments representing $2.8 billion of principal and interest payments and provided over 900,000 fee waivers exceeding $30 million.”
It’s not clear how long the deferral is for other types of loans.
The bank has also paused new foreclosures for 60 days “in accordance with applicable guidelines,” the release stated.