Customers Bank steps up for furloughed workers
By: John Golden Posted date: October 07, 2013
For Westfaironline.com

A Pennsylvania-based bank with a branch office in Westchester County is granting short-term relief from loan and mortgage payments to customers left without paychecks by the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

Customers Bank, headquartered in Phoenixville, Penn., today announced its Employees Furlough Assistance Plan to help workers who have been furloughed as a result of the federal budget impasse. The bank will grant affected workers a one-month deferral on consumer loans as well as a one-month forbearance on mortgage payments.

Richard Ehst, Customers Bank president and chief operating officer, when announcing the emergency program, said the prolonged shutdown “is creating undue and undeserved pressure for thousands of workers across the nation and right here in our area…This is no longer an abstract debate – it has become a crisis that is affecting livelihoods and families. In this difficult and uncertain time, Customers Bank wants our customers to know that we stand behind them.”

Bank customers who might be facing hardship because of the federal furloughs can call a toll-free number, (855) 332-6883, for assistance. Customers can also contact the bank by email at furloughassistance@customersbank.com.

In Westchester, Customers Bank operates a branch office at Rye Ridge Shopping Center in Rye Brook. The bank, with assets of approximately $3.8 billion, also operates in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

About The Author
John Golden

The Business Journal’s senior writer, John Golden directs news coverage of the county and Hudson Valley region as Westchester bureau chief. He was an award-winning upstate columnist and feature writer before joining the Business Journal in 2007. He is the author of “Northern Drift: Sketches on the New York Frontier,” a collection of his regional journalism.