Bank of America CEO says struggling customers can defer loan payments online with ‘two-clicks’

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that retail customers who are struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic can defer loan payments online with a simple two-click process.

“What we’ve told people is we’ll defer payments,” Moynihan told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday. “If you have a cash flow interruption because of your employment and you need to defer your payments for 30, 60, 90 days, call us up.”

The second-largest U.S. bank by assets has had 150,000 requests for payment deferrals since the coronavirus crisis began in earnest in the U.S. this month, Moynihan said. To streamline the process, which can tie up call center lines, the bank is ramping up a way to apply for relief online, he said.

Here is the bank’s site to defer credit-card payments; other products may be added in coming days.

“We’re implementing massive digital capabilities; now people can do it with two clicks,” Moynihan said. “We’ve had about 25,000 of those so far. Over the weekend, we’ll implement even more.”

Last week, Bank of America said it would allow retail customers to defer payments on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages and would pause foreclosure sales, evictions and repossessions. Moynihan added Friday that the bank was waiting to get direction from the federal government on exactly how to defer mortgage payments.

For corporate clients, in March alone the bank “has extended more than $50 billion in outstanding loans to help those clients to build the cash they need to survive,” Moynihan said.