COVID-19 has thrown the economy into a tailspin. As people have been laid off, furloughed, or are working fewer hours, bills can pile up. This week, for Financial Literacy Month, we’re looking at ways to manage — and today, it’s all about dealing with debt. Here are some ideas to start regaining your financial footing when you have more month than money.
- Gather your bills: Consider creating a budget so you get a picture of where your money comes from — and goes.
- Ask for help: If you’re behind on payments, contact the companies and try to work out a new payment plan. Ask for lower payments or delayed due dates, and get changes in writing. Also, check for pandemic assistance programs.
-
- Find out if your state or local government has programs that let you hold off on paying some bills right now.
- If you have a government-backed mortgage, you may be able to delay payment. Contact your servicer and read more.
- Look for help with your rent and utilities and housing assistance. Facing eviction? You may be able to stay in your housing if you act now.
- If you have eligible federal student loans, make sure you’re taking advantage of the temporary payment relief available. If you made any payments after March 13, 2020, you may be able to get a refund.
- Watch out for scams: In stressful times, scammers follow the headlines. Any company that guarantees they can get your creditors to forgive your debts, or that makes you pay up front for help, is probably scamming you. If you’re looking for debt relief, look for help you can trust.
If you come across debt relief scams like these, we want to hear about it. Tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.
We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.