CT banks agree to delays for mortgage payments, foreclosures

Gov. Ned Lamont said he is studying more ways in which people can be kept in their homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Ned Lamont said he is studying more ways in which people can be kept in their homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 135 Caption Close CT banks agree to delays for mortgage payments, foreclosures 1 / 135 Back to Gallery

HARTFORD — Homeowners affected by the pandemic through job loss, furlough or other circumstances will have 90-day grace periods on mortgage payments and 60-day delays on foreclosures, Gov. Ned Lamont and his banking commissioner announced Tuesday.

Lamont and Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez said the relief was the result of agreements made between the state and more than 60 lending institutions including credit unions. Perez said that homeowners who miss payments will not be subject to credit-score violations, and any delays in paying would simply result in extending monthly payments.

For instance, a homeowner who has 200 monthly payments left on a mortgage would still have 200 payments left, but the length of the mortgage would be pushed out in time by up to three months.

Perez said 62 credit unions and banks have signed on the initiative so far and expects more to join, and suggested that homeowners wait until later in the week to contact their banks or mortgage servicers to work out individual agreements.

“I know this is March 31,” Lamont said. “I know this is a day of some anxiety because bills are due.” He hopes that between flexibility from banks, insurers and employers, workers and homeowners can weather the pandemic with as little financial damage as possible before the state can return to work. “I just wanted to give everyone a little more confidence.”

Also Tuesday, the state released its highest single-day total of 16 fatalities in the coronavirus pandemic, plus there were another 17 COVID-19 victims recorded over the last two weeks by the chief medical examiner but not previously released, bringing the total dead to 69.

Lamont said the state received 50 ventilators on Tuesday, but he was disturbed that the national strategic stockpile of personal protection equipment for medical personnel seems to be empty at a time when the peak infection rate is still ahead in April. “For now, we’re on our own,” Lamont said. “For now we are working our hearts out scouring the globe for PPEs as best we can.”

President Donald Trump, in the White House Tuesday night, said “It’s not empty. Wwe’re trying to have supply sent directly to the states.” He said that materials are not being delivered to the stockpile, but materials are instead being sent direct from manufacturers to states and hospitals.

Trump also suggested that some governors - like Andrew Cuomo of New York - believe they need more ventilators than they really need. He also suggested some states are hoarding supplies. “Some people, no matter what you give it’s never enough,” Trump said.

Cases of infection rose to 3,128, including an apparent overnight near tripling of cases in Stamford, from 157 to 401, with the possibility that a lag in test results resulted in the big one-day increase. On Monday, there were 2,571 confirmed infections statewide.

Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, said that the lengths of tests vary because some hospitals, contract them out to private testing groups that could take days longer.

Lamont claimed Connecticut is the fourth most affected state by the virus, per capita, in the country, with New York first, followed by New Jersey and Louisiana. “I feel like a general sending troops into battle without protective gear,” Lamont said, praising first responders and medical personnel.

Lamont, who is in regular communications with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed that the pandemic peak is expected in seven to 21 days, when hospitals will be the most-stressed.

Earlier in the day, Lamont said voluntary social distancing isn’t working very well among young people who might spread the coronavirus to vulnerable populations, and he’s thinking about narrowing the list of so-called essential businesses as the state anticipates the infection peaking over the next couple of weeks.

“We’re definitely at a point where you’ve got to stay home and probably we have to take a look at what is an essential worker and to continue to tighten that up in terms of any possible confusion,” Lamont said earlier Tuesday, during an interview on WPLR, the classic rock station. “I’m looking at more ways to keep people at home, at least for this 30-day period.”

But a lot of social-distancing is succeeding, he added, then voiced concerns about what is coming.

“Certainly I think that April is going to be a horrible month,” Lamont said during the 15-minute radio interview. “That’s based upon what we saw overseas, in Italy where it may be slowly beginning to recede; a little bit of Seattle, Washington. Those places that were a month, a couple weeks ahead of us. That’s really the best indicator we’ve got. We’re obviously looking at the trend lines here in the state, where we continue to accelerate.”

“I’ve been a little reluctant to close our big parks because it’s one of the few outlets that people have,” Lamont said. “Stay six feet away. It’s a relief. I do worry about going by the basketball hoops where I’ll see, you know, sometimes 15 kids having a game. So I think we’ve got to be a lot stricter on some of these places where people tend to congregate.”

The governor said that he expects he will soon be tested for COVID-19. He plans to scale back public appearances such as the Sunday visit to a Guilford ventilator manufacturer, during which social distancing was not occasionally observed, according to a pool report on the event.

“I’ve scaled that back a lot,” Lamont said of his public schedule. “I am here at the Residence in Hartford 90-plus percent of the time.” He has not been tested for the virus. “I have been telling people look if you don’t show symptoms save the test for those really in need. But I’m thinking about it.”

Lamont said there is still capacity among the state’s nearly 9,000 hospital beds, but in Fairfield County, hospitals are closer to capacity. “Fortunately, we’ve had a little time to plan and we’ve increased the number of ICU beds, the number of other capacity by about 50 percent, just by getting rid of the elective surgeries, putting off anything non-urgent, getting volunteers back on the battlefield. We’ve had 2,000-plus nurses that thought they were going to enjoy a happy retirement, you know, coming back into the game and helping us.”

Lamont said the availability of personal protective equipment for medical personnel is “desperately short,” while Fairfield County is one of the nation’s hotspots. First responders and medical workers do not have the equipment they need. If too many first responders fall ill, he’s hoping that trainees and “cadets” could be utilized in some kind of backup roles, such as the way nursing students and recent retirees are being recruited to help in hospitals.

During a morning conference call with leaders of the Metropolitan Council of Government, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that the key goal at this point is to obtain more medical supplies to equip medical professionals. He called the economic challenge the nation’s largest since the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s.

“This will take longer than a few weeks,” Blumenthal said, stressing that another peak of the virus outbreak could likely occur in the fall.

He called the $100-billion approved for hospitals last week, plus $30 billion for equipment is crucial to the battle against the virus. He hopes for follow-up legislation in Congress to approve more aid, including public transportation, including Metro-North. “We’re going to need it when the economy surges back,” Blumenthal said, stressing workers, families and small businesses must be helped.

He stressed that those who were laid off or furloughed will be supplemented by as much as $600 a week, in addition to state unemployment benefits through the state Department of Labor should help many, “which should bring them up to what they were making when they were at work.” Blumenthal said that checks from the DOL will include the federal support.

Vicki Tesoro, first selectman of Trumbull, asked for details on how towns and cities will access $1.5 billion in support. Blumenthal described that the money will go to the governor, who will divide the funding. “The governor has a lot of leeway here,” Blumenthal said. “The good news there’s a lot of flexibility and discretion in the way the governor can use the money.”

Tesoro said that many residents are voicing concerns about making their quarterly tax payments due at the end of April. “The trickle-down effect from the economy is monumental right now,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be medical services and supplies are going to be our biggest thing, maybe manpower,” said Easton First Selectman David Bindelglass, a physician.

Ken Flatto, director of finance for the city of Bridgeport, said there will likely be a deferral on interest and fees when city taxes are due this summer.

“We’re beginning to only see the chasm that awaits us,” Blumenthal replied during the half-hour call. “It will be a while before we find our way out of it. We know education police fire are all being funded out of local property taxes you collect.” The Metropolitan Council of Governments includes Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull.

In other virus-related events, Attorney General William Tong and seven other attorneys general are trying to permanently block the Trump administration from diverting $3.8 billion the southern border wall, including $790 million from the Connecticut National Guard.

“The Connecticut National Guard needs every cent of its budget right now to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, and our state’s economy cannot afford to lose any more revenue,” Tong said in a Tuesday morning statement. “The President has no legal right to grab lawfully appropriated taxpayer dollars for this unnecessary vanity project—not now, not ever.”

In the new motion filed Monday by Tong and officials from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin, they ask for an expedited ruling in a process called summary judgment.

Tara O’Neill and Emilie Munson contributed to this story.