Homeowners throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee face extensive damage after Hurricane Helene touched down in Florida last week. The category 4 storm caused record-breaking floods and tornadoes to rip through communities, but real estate associations, banks, mortgage lenders, and non-profits are showing up to provide much-needed relief.
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, yesterday, announced a donation of $1M to assist Hurricane victims, including their own clients. Since then, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Regions Bank, and Regions Foundation have stepped up to the plate.
Picking up the pieces to help rebuild, NAHB reported today that it’s working closely with state and local home builder associations across the Southeast to meet the needs of members and their communities.
NAHB has helped to establish home builder associations in both Florida and North Carolina to provide assistance in communities most heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene and ease the cost of recovery. The North Carolina Home Builders Association’s disaster relief fund is accepting donations, and The North Carolina Home Builders Association is currently matching all donations up to $100,000.
Likewise, the Florida Home Builders Foundation has established a disaster relief designated fund, encouraging “individuals, businesses, members and friends of the industry… to make contributions to help defray the cost of recovery.” Any donor that gives more than $100 to the Florida Home Builders Foundation will receive a special edition Florida Home Builders Foundation Disaster Response Team hat.
Regions Bank also announced today a series of disaster-recovery financial services designed to help victims, including people and businesses, recover from Hurricane Helene. Regions Financial Corporation serves customers across the South, Midwest, and Texas, with its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operating about 1,250 banking offices. Some bank associates are even volunteering in support of first responders in affected areas.
“We were honored to feed 90 first responders Sunday night in Elizabethton, and we are doing it again today,” Regions’ East Tennessee Consumer Banking Manager, Aaron Madron, said. “Wherever you see a Regions Bank branch, that means our people are not just working in the community, we’re a part of the community. Our hearts are here. Our families are here. And our commitment is here. We’ll keep finding ways to serve because we’re all invested in the long-term recovery of these communities.”
The areas covered by Regions Bank's services will be expanded, the announcement noted, to include additional communities based on formal declarations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the coming days.
- Regions will waive ATM Surcharges for non-customers in the impacted areas within Regions’ footprint for two weeks (Oct. 1 – Oct. 15).
- Provide Mortgage Disaster Relief Purchase and Renovation loan programs
- Waive fees when customers use other banks’ ATMs in the impacted areas for at least 14 days (Note: Fees charged by other banks or ATM owners may still apply).
- Remove check-cashing fees for FEMA-issued checks when cashed in a Regions branch.
- Provide personal and business loan payment assistance.
- Provide payment deferrals for current credit card holders.
- Provide business loan payment deferrals of up to 90 days.
- Provide one penalty-free CD withdrawal upon request (unless within seven days of issuance or renewal).
- Provide a Disaster Response interest rate discount of 0.50% on new personal unsecured loans when you apply in a branch or by phone.
- Provide a Disaster Response interest rate discount of 0.50% on standard rates for new business loans or lines of credit of up to $1 million to help with recovery needs in impacted areas.
- Provide a Disaster Response interest rate discount of 0.50% on new unsecured business term loans of up to $50,000 with up to 36-month terms, including waived origination and loan document fees, as well as options for the first payments to be deferred by up to 90 days.
- Provide a Disaster Response interest rate discount of up to 0.50% on non-business auto loans when you apply in-branch or by phone.
“The impacts of Hurricane Helene are simply astounding, and we are heartbroken for so many communities where flooding, high winds, and other impacts have taken their toll,” said John Jordan, Regions Bank head of Retail. “Our associates have years of experience helping people and businesses recover financially from natural disasters. This is a time for us to lean on that experience and offer financial tools that can help make the recovery a little bit easier.”
Meanwhile, the Regions Foundation, a nonprofit funded primarily by Regions Bank, announced a commitment of $150,000 in initial grant funding for organizations providing disaster relief. The $150,000 total from the Regions Foundation will be allocated to provide:
- $100,000 in support of the American Red Cross.
- $15,000 for Second Harvest of the Big Bend, providing urgent food relief in Florida where Helene made landfall.
- $15,000 to United Way of the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) for victims in Augusta, Georgia..
- $10,000 for the Region A.H.E.A.D. Small Business Flood Recovery Relief in Northeast Tennessee.
- $10,000 for United Way of East Tennessee Highlands’ Disaster-Relief Fund for Northeast Tennessee areas ravaged by record-breaking floods.
“Relief organizations are on the ground meeting urgent needs, and we are honored to support their important work,” said Marta Mendes-Miguel Self, executive director of the Regions Foundation. “These organizations have experience serving their communities. The greatest way we can help as an organization is to provide resources that further enable them to do what they do best. And we encourage people and businesses who are in a position to donate to consider joining us in supporting these agencies.”
In addition, the American Red Cross and the veteran-led disaster response non-profit Team Rubicon are also accepting donations to support their life-saving response efforts to all those affected by Hurricane Helene.
