Bank of America will let their customers defer mortgage payments amidst the Coronavirus crisis

As the Coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the United States, several states are ordering complete shutdowns. This means that local businesses are shutting shop for the next few weeks. While some employees will be able to work from home, others have been laid off completely for the foreseeable future. If you're part of the latter group and still have a family to support and loans to pay off, this is probably not the best situation to be in. With this in mind, Bank of America has decided to defer payments on home, small business, and auto loans, CNN reports.

The bank announced its decision on Thursday last week in addition to introducing several other support measures to help its customers along during this challenging time. Releasing an official statement on their website, Bank of America shared that their customers could request to defer their payments. Any and all missed payments will simply be added to the end of the loans. They also assured their customers that up-to-date clients would not have to worry about negative credit bureau reporting. The bank stated, "In all of these instances, there will be no negative credit bureau reporting for up-to-date clients." In order to defer any installments, a customer simply has to call the appropriate client services number in order to discuss the difficulties they are facing.

President of Consumer and Small Business at Bank of America Dean Athanasia affirmed in a news release, "Our clients rely on us every day and for every aspect of their financial lives. We're going to continue to provide convenient access to the important services they count on, and the additional assistance and support they need during this difficult period." Further to this, Bank of America has temporarily paused foreclosure sales, evictions, and repossessions. At present, the federal government has not issued any directives to take such measures. Therefore, it is interesting to see banks take a more human-centric approach to this economic crisis.

Other banks have also come forward with similar measures. Prior to Bank of America's announcement, Ally Bank, too, stated it would allow any existing customers to defer mortgage payments for up to 120 days with no late fees. Likewise, just across the pond, several European banks have undertaken like precautions. As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased sharply over the past few weeks, banks in Italy and the United Kingdom planned to postpone mortgage payments for those affected by the public health crisis. Royal Bank of Scotland, for instance, announced that customers who fall into financial difficulty during this time can request for their mortgage or loan payments to be postponed for up to three months.

In the meantime, Wells Fargo "is working on a daily basis to ensure we are putting measures in place to support the needs of our customers impacted by Covid-19 in the most effective ways." Tom Goyda, the bank's senior vice president of consumer lending communications, asserted in a statement, "We are providing assistance including fee waivers, payment deferrals, and other expanded assistance for credit card, auto, mortgage, small business, and personal lending customers who contact us, and we will continue to communicate with customers as the situation evolves." Hopefully, more banks will adopt similar measures in order to ease financial struggles.