A Message to Canadians Borrowers

Covid-19 has impacted the daily lives of millions of Canadian families from coast to coast. As individuals, we are all experiencing tremendous levels of financial stress, as are the small businesses that define our neighbourhoods. Our primary goal at the CLA is to play as active a role as possible in alleviating this financial pressure and helping the Canadian government better assist those in need through credit.

During this critical time the CLA has taken several actions to support our communities.

 

Working with the Government

The CLA submitted a public letter to federal ministers offering our support in the adjudication and distribution of Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP). 1/4 of Canada’s small businesses will close permanently in the next month without access to capital. So it is crucial to get federal aid to these businesses as fast as possible.

Lenders of the CLA work with these mom and pop storefront every day and are best suited to underwrite and fund these businesses. We are asking the federal government to allow us to help them implement their aid program effectively. Please read our full open letter: here

 

Quickly adapting to borrower needs

We know that time is of the essence for affected borrowers. Many of our members are specially training their customer support teams to deal with the enormous volume of credit inquiries they are receiving on a minute by minute basis.

 

Offering payment relief

This is a crisis unlike any we have experienced before. Our members are taking unprecedented action to provide borrower assistance through programs like payment holidays and interest freezing programs in order to help our borrowers make it through this period of financial uncertainty.

 

Making more capital available

Our lenders are working hard to safely extend credit to as many in need Canadians and small businesses as possible. Lenders are constantly adapting their underwriting models to meet the critical needs of our clients.

 

Canadian Lenders Care Fund

The CLA is proud to offer interest-free loans to charitable organizations that service youth across Canada. Organizations in the charitable sector do incredibly important work for our communities during difficult times. Due to the Covid-19 crisis these groups are seeing their donations dry up and grant programs cancelled. The Canadian Lenders Care Fund was set up by canadian lenders to support their local charities and help them get through these economically turbulent times.