Reply #1: yes, no, either, neither, it depends [View All]

[pitohui]

some ppl can get a few hundred from red cross for emergency funds

also you may be able to get the red cross to pay for your motel room if you have no relatives to stay w. in your new area & have not yet been able to find housing, getting housing is v. v. difficult at the moment

fema is giving $2K *if* you can prove it doesn't duplicate insurance coverage you already have

most ppl i know have not been able to get anything because of the difficulty in getting an insurance adjuster to sign off on our losses & explain what is & what is not covered to fema even if we have uninsured losses


if you happen to be completely uninsured & have access to internet, you can sign up w. fema online & they will deposit the $2K in your bank acct by direct deposit, from what i'm told, for the completely un-insured they are working pretty fast & ppl are actually getting those funds quickly

this makes sense, as the un-insured are more likely to have no fall-back savings or credit cards to tide them over so they would need the help first

if you have relocated, be sure to tell yr new bank that you want to be able to accept direct deposits & also that you an evacuee from katrina, the bank will likely waive any fees for you to open yr new acct