Monthly Archives: March 2020

Tips and strategies when dealing with lenders and creditors

• Contact the lender/landlord/creditors/utilities ASAP
  • make arrangements for new payment schedule as needed
  • Student loans – StudentAid.gov – speak to your servicer to discuss your situation
  • Forbearance option – no payment for several months – payments are added at the end of your loan
  • Deferred payment option – smaller payments until you are able to resume normal payments
  • Get your new payment agreement in writing to ensure you understand your new agreement and adhere to it
  • The new payment agreement should not negatively affect your credit report or credit score

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Governor Northam is increasing access to healthcare for Virginia’s 1.5 million Medicaid members and thousands of low-income residents

These actions include:

• Eliminating all co-payments for services covered by Medicaid and Family Access to Medical Insurance Security (FAMIS) including COVID-19 related treatment as well as other medical care
• Ensuring Current Medicaid members do not inadvertently lose coverage due to lapses in paperwork or change in circumstances
• Permitting Medicaid members to obtain a 90-day supply of many routine prescriptions, and increase from the 30-day supply under previous rules.
• Waiving pre-approval requirements for many critical medical services, and enacting automatic extensions for approval already in place
• Expanding access to telehealth services, including allowing Medicaid reimbursement for providers who use telehealth with patients in the home.

Visit: commonhelp.virginia.gov

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At the 211 website, 211virginia.org , people can search for resources, view important alerts, and find out how to contact by email, chat or phone. People can dial 2-1-1. This is a free phone number that provides information about local resources such as food assistance, shelter, utility assistance, and healthcare. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When someone dials 2-1-1, a trained professional listens to the situation and suggests sources of help using one of the largest databases of health and human services in Virginia. All referrals are confidential.

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If you are a worker who has been totally separated from your job due to Coronavirus, please note that no claim for unemployment insurance may be filed or processed until an actual lay off from employment has occurred, or until there has been an actual reduction in hours. When filing your claim for unemployment benefits, please be sure to check the reason for separation as lack of Work/Lay off. If you will be filing because of a reduction of hours, you will not receive benefits unless your gross earning are less than your weekly benefit amount. Currently, the maximum weekly benefit in Virginia is $378. Call the Customer Contact Center by calling 1-866-832-2363 Monday- Friday 8:30am-4:30pm.

OR

Online www.vec.virginia.gov/unemployed

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While you wait for your money to arrive, consider these options for what to do with it. The federal government may be about to send you a check. A coronavirus-related stimulus bill package that’s being debated in the Senate today includes a provision that would pay most American adults $1,200 each – amounts vary dependent on you family income up to $198,000.

In addition, each family with children will receive $500 per child under the age of 17. Here are seven smart ways to spend your money:

1. Tithe
2. Use it to live (food, shelter, insurance etc.)
3. Put it into an emergency fund
4. Pay down debt
5. Invest it
6. Blow some of it on fun stuff (not too much)
7. Donate it

If you owe child support you will not receive a stimulus check https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1170596

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Coping strategies are important during the pandemic. Today, the stimulus package was signed and taxpayers can expect to receive funds based their 2018 tax income by mid to late April 2020. Individuals that are laid off can also apply for unemployment insurance. These two sources of income can lessen the financial strain. It will require all of us to focus on the bare necessities such as:

1. rent/mortgage
2. food
3. medicines

At this time, student loans are interest free for approximately 60 days. Contact other creditors as soon as possible to let them know your financial status. This will keep you from defaulting on car loans, mortgages, credit cards etc. Try to create a repayment plan you can live with. If your spouse/partner is working from home without a break income that is a plus.

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How to pause your federal student loans.

1. The U.S. Department of Education has granted a payment waiver of at least 60 days to many people, but it is not necessarily automatic. In general, you have to call your loan servicer to request a waiver and to make sure that your loan is eligible. If you are already more than 31 days late, your loan servicer will suspend your payments automatically.
2. Your servicer will not charge interest during this time, and the waiver is not supposed to hurt your credit score. The waiver does not apply to private student loans.
3. One private lender, Sallie Mae, said it is offering suspension of payment for up to three months, with no damage to a borrower’s credit.
4. Wells-Fargo says, it will offer help, but a spokesman said it will not commit to a set number of months or any other specifics. Using a waiver to pause your federal student may not be the best move for people in distress.
5. If your income has fallen dramatically, it may be better to enter an income-driven repayment program. Low-income borrowers enrolled in those programs for as long as their income stays low.
6. If you do make any changes to what you’re paying, don’t forget to adjust any automatic payments you have set up.
7. Last week, the federal government announced an automatic student loan interest waiver for federally held loans. That remains in effect if you don’t request the new payment waiver; Instead, you’d pay what you normally do, and the full amount will go toward the loan’s principal.

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If your income has fallen or been cut off completely, this guide will connect you to the basic information you’ll need to get through this, including on government benefits, free services and financial strategies.

1. How unemployment insurance works – a lot depends on where you live. You might not have to lose your job to qualify. If you are quarantined or have been furloughed – and you’re not being paid but expect to return to your job eventually – you may be able to get unemployment benefits. Some states are more generous than others, but typically replaces 45 percent of your income. Most states pay benefits for 26 weeks, but some have pared down to as little as 14 weeks.
2. Most states cover only full-time workers, and some have made it more difficult for temporary workers to get coverage. Part time workers will be paid the amount they typically earn in a two-week period Gig-only workers also unlikely to qualify (ie. Uber and Lyft drivers).

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These are some of the longest-lasting groceries you can buy. If you haven’t previously thought about how you would build up a food supply for an emergency, the new coronavirus probably has made you consider it. What kinds of foods are best to keep in the pantry and freezer in case of a natural disaster or pandemic that drags on for more than a couple of weeks? Start with the following options. These foods can last years before going bad.

1. Oats
2. White rice
3. Popcorn
4. Dark chocolate
5. Honey
6. Powdered milk
7.  Dried beans
8. Certain cheeses
9. Canned foods (avoid cans that are rusted, dented, scratched, and bulging)
10. Frozen foods

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The federal government has moved the tax filing deadline to July 15. You don’t have to file your return or make payments until then. The I.R.S. said there will be no interest or penalties for those who wait to pay until July. If you are owed a refund, you’ll still receive it as you normally would if you file your tax return, no matter when you submit it. Don’t forget about your state income taxes. Check your state to see what changes may apply.

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