Congressman San Nicolas cautions Guam financial institutions against defrauding customers.
In a letter to Guam financial institutions Congressman San Nicolas praises certain financial institutions for proactively helping their customers, and cautions others against defrauding them.
In particular, the Congressman cited constituent complaints made to his office about certain financial institutions requiring lengthy documentation and proof of need to get mortgage forebearance as a result of the COVID-19 disaster.
"The federal law we passed does not require loads of paperwork for mortgage forebearance to be processed," opened Congressman San Nicolas. "We were notified of one bank in particular that was falsely claiming that paperwork and proof of need were required by Freddie Mac guidelines and that is untrue," Congressman San Nicolas added. "Fraudulently making the process of disaster relief more difficult is a serious offense that should not be inadvertently committed," Congressman San Nicolas concludes.
Any resident experiencing difficulty in getting service for their mortgage forebearance is urged to contact the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) at fhfa.gov, or the Office of Congressman San Nicolas at sannicolas.house.gov.
If you believe you are being fraudulently required to go through more steps than you should for federal relief you can also contact the Guam U.S. Attorneys Office at justice.gov/usao-gu.
To expedite and ensure the mandate and intent of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Guam should pass mirror legislation relative to distribution and qualification. The people do not need anymore obstacles, barriers, burdens and stress attributed to this crisis which is not of our making or design. The people have complied, continue to comply with government directives and orders to curb the community spread of COVID-19. LIFE MUST CONTINUE and to allay any employment or personal financial setbacks, we the people are hoping for immediate short term and long term relief. Get it to the people as quickly possible so we can start up our economic engines and begin to revitalize our economy to pre-COVID-19 levels a…