Your Money: Wells Fargo Should Be More Generous With Federal Workers.

Big banks have more resources and don’t have as high a percentage of customers who are facing the prospect of no federal paycheck. So why can’t they make similar loans? “That is probably a great question for you to ask them,” said Bill Thorla, chief operating officer of the State Department credit union.

Bank of America wouldn’t comment when I asked about zero-interest loans. JPMorgan Chase does not offer personal loans. Citibank isn’t offering any in this instance. If any national banks are doing so, please raise a hand.

For-profit financial services firms are not heartless. American Express, Chase and Discover said that if eligible federal employees contact them first and explain their circumstances, there may be ways to put off debt payment for a month and not pay interest or fees while avoiding negative credit report repercussions. Citi says it is offering fee waivers, but the home page of its personal banking site makes no mention of its efforts. Bank of America has a general assistance program where people temporarily in trouble can ask the bank to cancel certain charges and make other modifications. (It has no website, but you can call 844-219-0690 for help.)

Banks are rarely cuddly, but there is no close reading of the government shutdown assistance page on Wells Fargo’s site that doesn’t feel conditional, lawyered and a wee bit stingy given its recent history. The bank dangles “forbearance” — a word that generally suggests mere toleration, but is specifically dirty if you’ve learned about it the hard way: when your student loan interest kept piling up while you took a timeout from payments.

On Thursday, I began to pry a bit more information out of the bank’s spokesman, Tom Goyda. He confirmed that there were no zero-interest loans available, so the bank can’t match the credit unions there. He was concerned, given how different each individual customer’s circumstances may be, that other promises of relief might feel misleading. But he did allow that there may be some situations where the bank could do what American Express, Chase and Discover say they are willing to do: help federal employees who might not be able to make their payments.

As of Thursday, the site said the bank “will consider reversing overdraft/non-sufficient funds fees for individual and business banking customers whose income is disrupted as a result of the shutdown” — making it sound as if its customers must be supplicants.

By Friday, that statement had been replaced. Instead, the site said Wells Fargo “will work with” that same group, without the word “consider.” The site no longer mentioned specific fees at all, but Mr. Goyda said the change did not mean the bank would not still try to help with those charges.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/your-money/wells-fargo-government-shutdown-loan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss