2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2020
BUSINESS & AG
Column: What to do when you can’t pay your bills
The economic fallout from the corona-
virus pandemic could be profound. Many
people are already losing jobs, with unem-
ployment jumping at a record pace. Even
those who stay employed may face reduced
hours or uncertainty about how long their
paychecks will continue.
LIZ WESTON
SYNDICATED
COLUMNIST
If you’re in a situation where you can’t
pay all your bills, or likely to be there soon,
you may have some options to limit the
damage to your fi nances.
Prioritize essentials
Before paying anything else, try to cover
the basics: shelter (mortgage or rent), food
and utilities. Transportation, cell phone ser-
vice and child care are necessities if they
allow you to work.
The recently enacted stimulus package
includes a 120-day ban on evictions for
many renters, as well as a moratorium on
foreclosures for most mortgages. People
who have federally backed mortgages
(including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA,
VA and Department of Agriculture) and
who can attest to COVID-19-related fi nan-
cial hardship can request forbearance from
their mortgage lenders.
If you’re going to miss a mortgage pay-
LOCATION
Continued from Page 1B
“A lot of (demolition)
had to be competed before
we could even think about
moving in,” Burgess said.
“There was a lot of work
that was done to this place
before we even put one stick
of product in it.”
The store’s original
soft open was going to be
in February, but then was
moved to March. The offi -
cial grand opening, which
was set for May, now
depends on how long coro-
navirus remains a threat.
The store hours are
7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mon-
day-Friday and 8 a.m. to
4 p.m. Saturday.
“We have a lot to offer
with what’s in the store,”
Burgess said.
ment, contact your lender about hardship
options and consider talking to a housing
counselor approved by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment. You can call HUD at 888-995-4673
for round-the-clock foreclosure avoidance
assistance.
Housing counselors can help renters, as
well. Another good resource is Just Shelter,
which can point you to local organizations
fi ghting eviction and homelessness. Also,
emergency rental assistance may be avail-
able. Start your search for help at www.211.
org.
Your local 211 organization can also
connect you to resources to pay for other
essentials, including food and utilities. Reg-
ulators in some states have told utilities not
to shut off service for nonpayment during
the crisis; elsewhere many utilities have
vowed to suspend disconnections. Many
also offer lower-cost “lifeline” service or
payment plans if you fall behind.
If your car payments are too expensive
and you owe less than the car is worth, you
may be able to refi nance the loan. Other-
wise, the best option may be to sell it and
buy something cheaper, if possible. If you
owe more than the car’s value, you may still
be able to sell it if you can get a personal
loan to cover the difference in what you
owe. Try to avoid repossession, either vol-
untary or otherwise, since you’ll still be on
the hook for any defi cit and your credit will
suffer.
Identify the next level
Taxes, child support and insurance
are expenses that can have serious conse-
quences when you fail to pay.
The IRS and state tax agencies can take
a portion of your wages, seize money from
your bank account and even send you to
jail (although that doesn’t usually happen
unless you’re deliberately committing tax
fraud). Similar penalties await people who
fail to pay child support.
Falling behind on insurance payments,
meanwhile, can cause your policies to
lapse, leaving you vulnerable to potentially
catastrophic expenses.
Some options for relief:
•The IRS has pushed back the tax fi ling
deadline to July 15. Many states are fol-
lowing suit. Tax agencies have payment
plans if you can’t immediately pay what
you owe.
•You may be able to modify a child sup-
port agreement if you go back to court.
•If your insurance is unaffordable, talk
to the insurer about alternatives or shop
around for a less expensive policy.
Consider everything else
Access to credit can help you pay the
bills when your income isn’t enough. Ide-
ally you would make minimum payments
on any loans or credit cards, since skipped
payments can seriously damage your credit
scores and cut off your ability to borrow.
Miss enough payments and you could
face collection calls, lawsuits and wage
garnishment.
But some bills have a “pause” button.
You can ask for forbearance on federal stu-
dent loans, for example, which allows you
to temporarily stop making payments.
Since interest on federal education loans
has been waived during the crisis, forbear-
ance won’t increase what you owe. Plus,
federal loans have income-driven repay-
ment plans that potentially can reduce
your required payments to zero. The U.S.
Department of Education’s federal student
aid site has details.
Meanwhile, some banks and other
lenders are offering their customers more
options after federal regulators encouraged
fi nancial institutions to help consumers
affected by the pandemic. For example,
credit card issuers, including Capital One
and American Express, are allowing cus-
tomers who ask for help to skip a monthly
payment without penalty. Contact your
lenders to see what’s available and how to
qualify for any assistance.
Unfortunately, sometimes the avail-
able help isn’t enough. A credit counsel-
or’s debt management plan could allow you
to repay your debt at lower rates, or you
may need to consider bankruptcy, which
stops collections activity and legally erases
many debts. You can get referrals from the
National Foundation for Credit Counseling
and the National Association of Consumer
Bankruptcy Attorneys, respectively.
OSU off ers online lecture series through College of Forestry
The Associated Press
CORVALLIS — The
Oregon State Univer-
sity College of Forestry
will start a weekly Stay
at Home Lecture Series
beginning Thursday.
Every Thursday at
3 p.m. through May, stu-
dents, professors and other
researchers will talk about
their work on topics and
issues across the forest
landscape.
The fi rst lecture is
recreation science in
National Parks by Ashley
D’Antoniom.
D’Antoniom will high-
light how the fi eld of rec-
reation ecology can shed
light on how increased rec-
reation is affecting U.S.
national parks while also
showing how to conserve
national parks for future
generations.
Upcoming lectures
include “Uncovering the
hidden world of a secretive
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The series also will
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Each presentation,
available via Zoom at no
cost, will last 20-30 min-
utes followed by a ques-
tion-and-answer session.
For a lineup of
speakers and topics, visit
the lecture series web-
site at https://www.for-
estry.oregonstate.edu/
stay-home-lecture-series.
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