Hurricane Sandy and Credit Cards Payments

As everybody knows at this point, Hurricane Sandy caused an incredible amount of damage to the New York metro area. I have been asked by many of our clients what are the specific policies in regards to missed or late credit card payments. There are as many answers to this question as there are credit cards. Each credit card company has their own internal policy in regards to waiving fees and credit reporting. Although I have seen many creditors post that they have a willingness to cooperate with consumers, I have rarely seen specific policies posted on creditor websites. My suggestion for consumers would be to call your creditors directly and find out what the specific policy of the creditor is regarding the missed or late payment. It would be best to get a copy of the specific policy in writing, but realistically that may not be possible. Many of the creditor policies will be handled on an individual basis. For this reason, it is important for a consumer to make the phone calls to their specific creditors. It would be a mistake to assume that each creditor will waive fees and not report negative information to the credit bureaus. A phone call may be all that is necessary to let the creditor know the details of one's situation. On a positive note, there is a high degree of cooperation on the creditor's side to work with consumers. Remember the creditors will not automatically help a consumer without receiving some information from the consumer first. A small effort on the part of the consumer could be very beneficial in terms of avoiding additional fees and negative credit reporting issues.