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To: Federal Government

Stop Banks from Profiteering from the Covid-19 Pandemic

Stop the banks from profiting from the Covid -19 pandemic.

Banks are currently profiteering on mortgages and loans in this time of record unemployment that is a direct result of the government (correctly) shutting down the economy to fight the virus.

Banks are currently offering to defer payments. (This has always been available to consumers.) Now, they will continue the practice of continuing to charge interest on the loan/mortgage principal and add that to the principal. Then they will charge interest on the interest.

Every month you defer your loan/mortgage will get bigger and make the possibility of default that much greater. This will dramatically increase the potential bankruptcies when this is over as people will realize that they owe much more than the item they borrowed on is worth.

This is the worst kind of profiteering.

Banks should postpone any payments and interest due from people on their mortgages and loans where the people affected are unable to pay because of unemployment caused by the pandemic. During the few months that the economy is closed down they should postpone payments and not charge interest for the interim.

The banks will still get all that is due to them but they will not get to profiteer from the disaster. When the economy begins to open up and people can get back to work, they can resume payment of loans and mortgages.

In effect they will freeze the loan/mortgage in time for the period of the economic closure. As soon as things get back to whatever normal arrives, they will still get all their money and interest that was due when the economy closed down.

Why is this important?

I would suggest this affects millions of Canadians. In a time where money is getting very tight for consumers and food is more important than making a loan payment the banks should be prevented from profiting from the disaster.

Updates

2021-03-25 20:30:08 -0400

10 signatures reached