Can you imagine your credit cards, financial documents, assets - all attacked by, say, a hurricane? You can lose much more, but let us not speak about loss of home or dear people, rather of humane considerations. Let us focus on how you can resist or recover from the financial losses in a natural disaster.

If you faced a misfortune of suffering in a hurricane and losing ability to pay, you shouldn't fear you'll also fall victim of a ruthless creditor who will make you by all means pay your balances, without any hope of relief. Many reliable banks, credit unions loan and credit card companies run a program for financial support of their customers suffering from natural disaster's fall-outs. It especially concerns Katrina aftermath.

You can ask: how can a bank help me to recover, it can't deny getting its money back?

1. Almost in all cases, the solution a bank suggests after hearing about your distress is far from what you expect. Filing for bankruptcy can be an easier way for you, not the bank - this way they can't return at least a part of their money. They can rather offer you to extend your repayment, change the interest rate or present introductory periods. If you had debts or payment delinquencies before the disaster happened, the creditor can be so kind as to stop sending negative information to credit reporting agencies, cancel the missed payments before the disaster or disclaim late fees.

2. Victims of natural disasters, as suffering from unmanageable circumstances, are not included in the lists of debt collecting companies. Instead, the bank provides assistance in the form of extending the term of debt reducing, not increasing your interest rate or some other concessions.

3. Some companies, like Capital One or American Express, guarantee that consumers, who at least once applied for their credit card offers and have experienced serious damage from a natural disaster, will not have to pay late fees and other charges unpaid in the past. Besides, these companies promise they will consider the account and financial circumstances of each disaster victim on an individual basis.

4. The card holders with flawless credit history can be rewarded for the past responsibility - they can enjoy paying no interest rate son their credit cards and loans. Bank displaying loyalty to hurricane or flood victims, can introduce special offers with rewards or lower rates, or replacement for their lost cards, so that people could faster recover from losses.

5. Of course, you can protect yourself from all these problems by means of insurance. But in this case, you will have to pay considerable insurance payments.

6. One that is armed with knowledge is almost protected. So, it is up to you whether to protect yourself from unforeseen problems or not. Hope for the best and choose a good bank - that's the only advice!