DCLPublicationDate: 1/1/97 DCLID: Disaster Letter-97-2 AwardYear: Summary: Updated listings of declared disaster areas for recent floods in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington. January 21, 1997 SUMMARY: Updated listings of declared disaster areas for recent floods in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington. Dear Guaranty Agency Director: In our previous letter dated January 14, we notified you of the areas that President Clinton had designated as flood disaster areas in California, Idaho, and Nevada, as of January 14. As explained in our previous letter, the listings of designated disaster areas were complete as of January 14. Since then, President Clinton has designated additional flood disaster areas in California, Idaho, and Washington. We are including those new areas (underlined) in the comprehensive list below. These new areas should be treated the same as if they had appeared on the January 14 flood disaster letter you received a few days ago. NEW DISASTER AREAS: In response to the flooding that occurred in early January in California, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington, President Clinton has declared the following counties and jurisdiction to be disaster areas (new areas are CAPITALIZED): California: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, MERCED, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placar, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Mateo, SANTA CLARA, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo, Yuba, and the city of Morgan Hill. Idaho: Adams, Boundary, Bonner, Boise, Clearwater, Elmore, Gem, Idaho, Latah, NEZ PERCE, Payette, Shoshone Valley, and Washington. Nevada: Douglas, Lyon, Storey, Washoe, and the city of Carson City. WASHINGTON: KING, SNOHOMISH. The list of designated disaster areas is complete as of the date of this letter. If additional areas are designated by the President after the date of this letter, we will send a revised comprehensive list to you. In the meantime, lenders and guaranty agencies may contact the Department's toll-free number at 1-800-433-7327, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST for further updates. REMINDER: As explained in our January 14 letter, the Department believes it must reevaluate its current policy for handling natural disasters. Please refer to that letter for more details. Until a "Dear Colleague" letter is published providing additional guidance, the Department strongly recommends that lenders and guaranty agencies take the following steps to provide relief to affected borrowers who contact them: 1. Loan holders are strongly recommended to grant forbearances to borrowers who contact them and indicate that they have been adversely affected by the disaster and need temporary relief from their loan obligations. If the holder believes that the borrower has been harmed and needs assistance, the holder may grant a forbearance for up to 3 months based on either the borrower's oral or written request for assistance, which must be documented in the holder's files. 2. The holder does not need to obtain supporting documentation or a signed written agreement from the borrower to justify a forbearance for this initial 3-month period. The Secretary will decline to enforce the requirements of 34 CFR 682.211(c) for this period. 3. A continuation of the forbearance past this 3-month period will require supporting documentation and a written agreement from the borrower. This interim policy is effective immediately, while we continue to reevaluate our current policy. We hope to balance the interests of borrowers and taxpayers with those of loan holders, but our primary concern must be for the borrowers and taxpayers. If you have comments or questions concerning this interim policy, or if you believe other approaches for handling these natural disasters would be more appropriate, please contact me at (202) 708-8242, or by fax at (202) 708- 7196. Sincerely, Pamela A. Moran Chief, Loans Branch Policy Development Division Student Financial Assistance Programs cc: ED Regional Offices National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs, Inc. Consumer Bankers Association National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators |