On March 19, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a series of measures designed to ease the economic impact of COVID-19. Most notably to the consumer financial services industry, Cuomo announced that New York would “offer 90-day relief on mortgage payments. Waiving mortgage payments based on financial hardship.” He also said the state would be “postponing or suspending any foreclosures during this period of time and waiving fees for overdrafts, ATM credit cards.”

At a press conference in Albany, Governor Cuomo spoke extensively about his administration’s efforts to curtail the spread of the virus through a combination of school and business closures as well as “encouraging” seventy-five percent of the workforce to work from home. You can read the full text of Governor Cuomo’s remarks here.

In addition to these directives, the governor also announced this series of actions to help ease the economic impact of the virus on individual consumers. The Governor’s office has yet to release written details on exactly how they will expect lenders and servicers to implement these directives, or what will constitute qualifying “financial hardship.” However, in his remarks, the Governor also noted that “we’re not exempting people from the mortgage [payments], we are just adjusting the mortgage to include those payments on the back end, no late fees or online payment fees.”