The COVID-19 Pandemic Financial Experience Scale | Treading Mode

Where are you on the COVID-19 Pandemic Financial Experience Scale? Working-class people are experiencing this pandemic very differently financially. There are 3 benchmarks on the scale. This is a look at the second benchmark, "Treading."
TREADING MODE
For you, the crisis is disruptive but not destructive. You have some reserves and a safety net. You are experiencing diminished income. You can maintain most of your lifestyle with a combination of reduction of non-essential expenses and subsidies from your stockpiles of food and finances. There are finite amounts of those resources available. Here are some tactics you can use to help you maintain the status quo for a while.

• Pay your bills on time, especially credit cards, a crucial part of your safety net. Don't leave yourself cash-poor. Cash on hand is a priority in a crisis.
• Consider forbearances and other payment assistance options. Successful treading requires sustained minimum energy expenditure over time. It not about speed rather endurance. Reducing your outgoing monthly expenses allows you to conserve your cash resources. Be proactive with your creditors. Seek assistance before you fall behind.

A mortgage and other installment payment forbearance allows you to stop or reduce payments for a while. This will enable you to keep those payments in the bank. Those funds become discretionary during the forbearance. They can be used to plug short term spending leaks or added to your emergency fund. That deferred monthly payment becomes a cash cushion for you during this time. Understand a 'deferred payment' doesn't mean a 'never payment.' You will eventually have to make up any deferred payments. 

Credit card forbearances can be tricky. It's all about the interest and how it reports to the credit bureaus. I've heard of some very generous terms. ‘Current balance held at no interest until paid in full as serviced by a minimum payment.’ It is also reported to the credit bureaus as "paid as agreed." If you currently have a statement balance that amounts to an interest-free loan instead of the legally usurious interest rates credit cards charge now. Double-check to see if the terms apply to cash advance balances also. Often you "voluntarily" agree not to use the credit card during the forbearance period. If your credit servicer is not offering generous terms, make your minimum monthly payment during the pandemic. (If you are unable to make your minimum monthly payments, you are in Surviving mode.)

​Keeping your word is paramount in this situation. Do not make commitments you can't keep. You may have to go back to your creditors for additional relief. Broken payment promises may make them less likely to provide help.

• Invoke austerity measures. Change your lifestyle. Fund needs and not wants. You don't know how long this is going to last for you. Your place in the economy will determine how fast you rebound after the pandemic. No matter your situation, prepare for a long slow recovery and be wrong. Aggressively shed or reduce expenses, especially daily and seasonal energy costs. This may require you to invest in upgraded technologies like LED lighting, Energy-Star appliances, more insulation, or Smart thermostat. When you reduce your energy usage, you reduce your living expenses.
• Keep your head up. The water-treading survival technique may be executed differently. Still, in this atmosphere of depression, anxiety, and stress, head-up is the way to make it. Self-care is a necessary part of your success. You should not perilously neglect and ignore the impact of the pandemic on your 'being.' And its effect on those you care about the most. Be grateful your head is above water and plan for the future. Sustainable financial well-being should be part of that future. Then do the slow grinding work that treading requires to get you there. Treading builds the knowledge, wisdom, and "#MoneyMuscleMemory" ™ to get there and then stay there. ​