Coronavirus (COVID-19)

With reports of COVID-19 dominating every media outlet, there is no doubt there is a lot on your mind. You are probably taking precautions to keep yourself and your family healthy. You may also be worrying about how to weather the financial storms that you may experience as a result of this public health crisis.

BALANCE wants to let you know that we are here to support you during this time. This is how we can help:

Firstly, we want you to know that for the last 24 months BALANCE has moved from an office-based environment to a remote nation-wide workforce. We are 95% percent remote and the other 5% is making the pivot now. We tell you this because we want you to know that having this business model in place already means we are not scrambling to work from home while trying to serve you. We made that pivot long ago and we are glad we did, we are confident that it leads to better service in times like these.

Secondly, we want to provide some helpful tips to those who are experiencing financial hardships associated with the virus:

Tips for Providing Financial Triage during a Financial Crisis:

1. Calculate your financial runway. How much money do you have? How long will that last? How much work (unpaid) will you be missing? What bills are coming up? What is the financial gap?

2. Prioritize your payments. Housing should be first. Perhaps student loans can be deferred for 6 months?

3. Look into solutions that will help you with temporary relief and an increase of cash flow during this temporary setback, (skip-a-pay, loan extensions, loan modifications, low interest loans for disaster recovery, waived fees, etc…) Reach-out to creditors/lenders to seek temporary relief too.

4. Here is a great BALANCE tool-kit called, Surviving a Financial Crisis.

5. Here are a couple of articles that may be helpful too:
What to do if your income is reduced?
Cut these costs immediately if you are facing a financial hardship.

Every time we see a crisis like government shut-downs, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, or in this case, a virus outbreak, the financial fragility of American’s is brought “out of the closet” and into discussion. Helping those we serve get from barely surviving to financially thriving is our collective goal! If you are not prepared for this sort of financial setback, we hope this information can assist you in moving forward. As you recover, don’t forget to plan ahead for the future. Our hope is that we can keep the “Financial Health” conversation alive every day, not only in times of emergency.