Verizon, Comcast to extend coronavirus customer aid through June

Verizon and Comcast are both promising not to cancel service or charge late fees through June 30 as part of individual commitments to customers during the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, the Federal Communications Commission said that several major internet service providers and telecom firms had pledged not to terminate service for 60 days, concessions made to help ease financial burdens exacerbated by the coronavirus.

With that deadline creeping up in May, Verizon and Comcast on Monday said that they will continue to avoid cutting service or charging late fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.

In addition to its commitment, Comcast said it is opening Wi-Fi hotspots and plans to extend unlimited data to all customers at no additional charge.

Cox Communications is also extending previously announced concessions, which include a promise not to cancel service and to waive late fees through June 30. Like Comcast, Cox is providing free access to its network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

More than 700 companies have agreed to the voluntary measures, and more U.S. telecom and internet service providers are expected to announce extensions of their own commitments. Last week, a coalition of 24 state attorneys general asked carriers for extensions through Aug. 11.

It should be noted that some service providers require direct notification from customers before enacting the coronavirus exemptions.

2 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 4 years ago

Yeah, right, they’re not going to shut off service for now. Bottom line, though, is they expect customers to pay in full at some time. If you are one of the poor souls that lost your entire income what good does that do you? Same goes for banks who are ‘generously’ not going to foreclose on you while you can’t pay your mortgage but they will expect full repayment with interest in full. So when you finally get back to work you will owe the bank at least three months of back payments and interest. How are you going to manage that? You’ll lose your home, that’s how. These creditors should be forgiving three months worth of payments or at least allowing them to be paid over time to make up the difference. The only reason these bastards aren’t taking action against customers right now is because of the bad PR they know they’ll get. After the crisis lessens they’ll be after you with a vengeance. So if you lost your job, you are fucked either way.

dewme 5737 comments · 10 Years

About 4 years ago

lkrupp said:

Yeah, right, they’re not going to shut off service for now. Bottom line, though, is they expect customers to pay in full at some time. If you are one of the poor souls that lost your entire income what good does that do you? Same goes for banks who are ‘generously’ not going to foreclose on you while you can’t pay your mortgage but they will expect full repayment with interest in full. So when you finally get back to work you will owe the bank at least three months of back payments and interest. How are you going to manage that? You’ll lose your home, that’s how. These creditors should be forgiving three months worth of payments or at least allowing them to be paid over time to make up the difference. The only reason these bastards aren’t taking action against customers right now is because of the bad PR they know they’ll get. After the crisis lessens they’ll be after you with a vengeance. So if you lost your job, you are fucked either way.

I was under the impression that these loan payment deferrals were just that, they'd simply tack the missed payments on to the back end of the loan. That seems fully reasonable. If on the other hand, lending institutions are treating missed mortgage payments due to the Covid-19 emergency as being delinquent and tacking on extra penalties then they need to be dealt with by government authorities who are supposed to be mitigating the larger financial and social impact of this crisis.

We're simply in a really difficult situation with no safety net in place. Everyone, buyers and lenders alike, entered all kinds of mutually negotiated financial agreements in good faith - and with no expectation of the kind of emergency we are now facing. With no safety net in place who gets to decide which people suffer more? Employees and investors in banks, service providers, and other lenders are just as much "real people" as are their "real people" customers.

There are no easy, quick-fix answers. The worst possible thing that can happen at a time like this is to pit one side against the other. Would it be fair if the furloughed and laid-off employees of home loan, car loan, and cellular service companies started referring to their customers as "bastards" for not paying their mortgages, car payments, and cell phone bills while they're wondering how they are going to pay for those same expenses in their own lives?