Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills

Re:Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills by grawprog on Saturday April 25, 2020 @03:16PM (#22980550)

We have one here in my country, yet I see the same thing happening in my town. The first of April saw a handful of businesses permanently close, around the middle of the month a few more did. I expect the first of may to bring more. Jobs here are limited as is.

Each of those businesses employed people who relied on those jobs to survive as well as the owners of the businesses themselves. The building owners require those businesses to be running and pay leases and rent so they can pay their employees and so them and their families can have income. Every permanently closed business affects everyone that relies on that business and it's not always obvious how many people rely even on a small mom n pop business existing.

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Re:Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills by wpietri on Saturday April 25, 2020 @03:58PM (#22980933)

I think rent should be a pretty easy one to sort out. Rent basically goes 3 places: landlord, landlord profit, and paying mortgages. The first is solved through broad income supports, the second can be eliminated for the duration, and the third can be postponed by just extending the mortgage. That requires coordinated government intervention, of course, but it's not impossible.

If landlords don't have to pay for themselves, furloughed staff, or rent, keeping a business in suspension seems much more doable.

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