Now into its second week, the US government shutdown has started impacting federal workers, prompting some to take out new loans to help make ends meet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed since the shutdown began on October 1, while others deemed essential \u2014 including some military personnel \u2014 have been required to turn up to work without receiving a paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe kind of feel like we\u2019re like a bargaining chip to an extent,\u201d a long-serving US Air Force employee told AFP. \u201cWe\u2019re not getting paid because people in D.C. who are getting paid can\u2019t get on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot only are we working without pay, we\u2019re actually doing more without pay, because our civilian teammates have all gone home on furlough,\u201d added the man, who was not authorized to speak publicly. \u201cThat\u2019s not good for troop morale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first test will come next week, when federal workers will start seeing their paychecks affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if no deal is reached by the end of this month, federal workers will receive nothing in the following paycheck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very stressful,\u201d said Marilyn Richards, a 46-year-old Air Force and Navy veteran in Missouri, who has been furloughed \u2014 forced to take leave \u2014 from her job as an administrative support worker at a federal agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richards, who is the main breadwinner at home, told AFP that she was concerned about how the shutdown could affect her finances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor most of us who live paycheck to paycheck, you\u2019re counting on your next paycheck to continue to keep the lights on,\u201d she told AFP. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Bridging the gap \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The uncertainty unleashed by the shutdown is pushing some federal employees to make use of paycheck protection programs being rolled out by credit unions across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy Federal Credit Union \u2014 which helped around 19,000 people with loans totaling more than $50 million during the last shutdown in 2018-2019 \u2014 has already seen applications for its program this time around, according to a spokesperson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These loans are designed to help federal workers get through a few weeks without pay and \u201cbridge the gap\u201d until the shutdown ends and they receive their back pay, Haleigh Laverty, a spokesperson for the Defense Credit Union Council, told AFP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of their members are offering short-term, interest-free loans of a few thousand dollars for between 90 days and six months, helping to protect consumers \u2014 and their credit scores \u2014 during the shutdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among them is the Cobalt Credit Union, which serves around 120,000 members with ties to Nebraska\u2019s Offutt Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of the US Strategic Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe still have active duty and a lot of essential positions on the base that have to report due to missions all over the world,\u201d Cobalt Credit Union president and CEO Robin Larson told AFP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The credit union helped thousands of its members get through the last shutdown, and has received several applications for new loans since October 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Mortgage challenges? \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While federal workers are the most affected by the shutdown, many in the private sector could also soon feel its effects, according to mortgage brokers who spoke to AFP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest impact of the shutdown on the mortgage market is likely to be a slowing down of the lending process, said Alex St. Pierre, a Charleston, South Carolina-based broker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flood insurance \u2014 which is vital in some coastal areas of the United States \u2014 is also likely to be affected, as many state-run lenders are currently shuttered, potentially pushing borrowers to look at more expensive options in the private sector, he told AFP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government workers looking for a mortgage face additional pressures, including the very real threat of dismissal by the Trump administration, and delays to identity verification checks while their departments are closed, he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now into its second week, the US government shutdown has started impacting federal workers, prompting some to take out new loans to help make ends meet. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed since the shutdown began on October 1, while others deemed essential \u2014 including some military personnel \u2014 have been required […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[3786,193,1276,3787],"class_list":["post-8784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-federal","tag-news","tag-us","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8786,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8784\/revisions\/8786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}