California Fire Disaster Victims Receive Protection From Unjust Credit Score Problem - Western North Carolinians Left At Risk...

  ... what about hurricanes?

👉 1-21-2025: "California Governor Gavin Newsom announced commitments from major lenders to provide firestorm survivors with mortgage relief. [CUToday]

"These institutions have committed to offer their customers who are impacted homeowners a 90-day forbearance of their mortgage payments, without reporting these payments to credit reporting agencies, and the opportunity for additional relief, Newsom’s office stated."

"The commitments were made by the following banks: Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. Newsom’s administration said it is also engaging with other financial institutions,..."

• 90-day mortgage payment forbearance periods, streamlined processes for requesting initial relief without submitting forms or documents,
• Relief from mortgage-related late fees accruing during the forbearance period for 90 days
• Protection from new foreclosures or evictions for at least 60 days
• Institutions will not report late payments of forborne amounts to credit agencies 

 ✅ There was hope that our "locally"- owned, "locally"-led and "locally"-focused SECU would act to help solve the financial problems our members are now enduring  and will in the future incur from the catastrophic destruction caused by Hurricane Helene to their credit scores... no such luck.

... know the SECU Board is "busy with more important things" ... but help to WNC is now 90 days past due!

SECU Adding To The Hurricane Disaster For Members In Western North Carolina?

  

WNC heading for further problems...

As you know, this blog has long been a critic of the unfair, discrimination that the use of risk-based lending (RBL) imposes upon thousands of excellent, creditworthy SECU members who faithfully repay their loans.

The adoption of RBL by the SECU Board in 2023 continues, despite obvious evidence that it is a misstep - including a hasty retreat from a punitive 5-tier start. Lending delinquency and loan losses have tripled over pre-RBL levels. The underlying discriminatory impact of RBL on members of color, female or younger is well-documented. Even our CEO's recent college graduate daughter was marked as less than an excellent credit risk by RBL! 

Now we have the future punishment by RBL of many WNC members whose credit scores will plummet as a result of their struggle to survive Hurricane Helene. SECU in the future will be charging many loyal members higher rates simply because they were in the right place at the wrong time. 

Think this is not a real life problem for SECU members in WNC? Take a look at what FICO (the #1 credit score provider) has to say about how credit scores are affected by natural disasters: 

 💥 "Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes—natural disasters strike quickly and with little warning. While there is alot of good advice on how to prepare to protect your health and safety, you also need to prepare to protect your credit score to help your overall resilience and recovery."

💥"The fact that a natural disaster hit your region does not affect your FICO® Score, because data such as ZIP code or county is not considered by the model in calculating your score." [Sorry, our scores don't consider your "local" problems!]

 💥 "Credit scores are impacted negatively by consumer behaviors, such as missing payments, charging credit cards up to or over the credit limits, or opening several new credit accounts over a short period of time. All things that could possibly happen to a consumer’s credit profile during a disaster if they are not prepared. "                                                                                   

💥 "The lender may include comments in your credit report about any special payment arrangements because of a natural disaster when they send an update to the bureaus. The FICO® Score does not consider such comments when calculating the score"

💥 "Have a vehicle loan? Damage to your car or truck does not eliminate your responsibility to make your loan payments."

💥 "You may be subjected to over limit fees for exceeding your credit limit. This could have negative repercussions on your credit as your score may continue to drop as your balances get closer to your limits."

💥 "An unintended late mortgage or credit card payment could cause the greatest damage to your credit, on top of fees and a possible increase to your interest rate.  If you cannot cover the amount, due to loss of employment or delay in a deposit, fees may be added on top of the missed payment ding."

The SECU Board can and should act to eliminate this unjust penalty on Western North Carolina members. Why?  Because it is the right thing to do; and,  SECU is a member-owned, not-for-profit, North Carolina-focused credit union ... or once was.

... or the SECU Board can  "Let "them" eat cake"!