What missing from this is for large numbers of Americans, losing their jobs, phone being cut off, debt collectors calling is the normal. Difference between now and before is they have an excuse. Sorry landlord, can't pay rent cause I'm not working like all your other tenants. Mortgage holders are kinda bending over backwards not to ruin their paper as well.

If the banks and mortgage lenders wanted to look like great people (ha!), they could easily push payments during the months of COVID lock downs to the end of the note. If they want to look like f*king heroes, they could even make those months go interest free. The payments aren't being forgiven and wiped out, they are readjusting the amortization tables. The same could be applied to car note. Credit card companies could give you a couple of months of no interest on existing balances. Of course, none of the groups mentioned have ever been accused of being decent.

Landlords/renters are different, and I don't have a decent suggestion for that.

Not to be trite, but who's paying the debt collectors to call?

Morality aside, it seems like a proposition with a poor chance of success to be hounding people for money right now.

They're robocalls. Robots don't need to be paid.

But aren't people getting money through unemployment and the CARES Act? Won't that help them keep the stress level down a bit?

At least as a self employed person, unemployment seems...tenuous. And confusing.

I’m a photographer. The website says I’m supposed to report income the week I work, not when I actually receive payment. If someone gives me a deposit for a wedding next year should I count it? Should I be reporting the deposits I got last year when I cover a wedding this year?

I’m allowed to deduct expenses, but they don’t go in to more detail. If I spend more than I make in a week can I carry over the rest of the expense?

It’s pretty stressful just knowing if you’re doing it correctly.

Just an anecdote, but my father lives in Tennessee, and applied for unemployment 6 weeks ago. The website reports he has been paid every week, but he still hasn't seen any money. He has spent about 12 hours on the phone with various agencies and has no answer to why he has not been paid. From what he can tell this is not an uncommon situation in TN.