It has been just over 2 weeks since my last update here, and shortly after I updated…things just went haywire.
Where do I even begin?
My husband no longer has a job with the company he was working for. That was brief, huh? The sale of the company was going through, then it wasn’t going through. It was a mess.
They then started bouncing checks and going on a COD only basis with many vendors my husband would encounter on a day-to-day basis. Not only was this embarrassing but it had my husband worrying when his paycheck was going to start bouncing.
He made a couple of calls and sent some emails out and secured some work doing what he does best. One of the companies that ended up having a lot of work for him was the one he had to cut the cord with a few months back.
I am glad he did not burn his bridges with them but let them go nicely. They are not the easiest to deal with at all, but when they pay, they pay, and the checks never bounce. He just knows he needs more than that egg in his basket.
It is good he is back doing what he likes doing and has a flexible schedule doing it. Our youngest starts school again in a few weeks and we were worried about who would care for her while we both worked. We looked at after-school childcare options…wow have prices gone up!
My work schedule…well, it has been interesting. A long-time coworker was fired and I was asked to cover some really wild hours…including overnights, weekends, and a few very long days covering for my bosses while they were out of town.
I figured that even though it totally screwed up the family’s schedule, I would be getting paid overtime to do it. Nope. It turned out that I did not get overtime at all. In fact, I was asked to stay home for a few days after busting my tail so that I wouldn’t get the extra money.
Well, I guess that was their way of saying thanks.
I really don’t think I am going to have to quit this job. It looks like financially, this company is not doing so well either. Luckily, I have my writing on the side which I have always wanted to make my full-time source of income anyway. Looks like it may just be happening soon.
Yes, I know I have been complaining about this job forever. The truth is, I have been so scared to quit because of the job security and the steady paycheck—even though I am currently hired on with some pretty good writing companies.
But now with everything going on, it doesn’t look there is so much job security there anymore either. Why can’t I just bail? I get so nervous. Look at how many companies my husband has gone through in the last few years? It is scary out there!
As I write this, we are totally flat broke. You would think with all the working and writing that I do that we would be caught up. Nope, but I am working on it.
Besides the normal stuff, a few things happened over these past few weeks that emotionally and financially drained us…
Our family dog got sick and our oldest daughter dropped a bombshell on us.
Not having money in savings for either, I ended up having to sell my engagement ring for quick cash. Something I thought I would never do.
Well, our dog ended up dying—crushed the whole family. He was sick and he was getting up there in age. A few days later, our oldest daughter moved out of state. Our family has totally done a 360 in a matter of a few weeks.
There is so much more to add but I have already written so much, and really don’t want to turn this post into more of a somber post than I have to. Isn’t this a financial blog anyway???
I think I have cried and made myself sicker than I ever thought possible. For what? There are just some things in life we just can not change. So why flip out about them?
My daughter is doing well in her new hometown, and my dog is in heaven wagging his tail and probably eating everything in sight like he always did. That makes me happy.
All of these things that happened, would have happened whether we were the richest family around or a family that had zero in the bank(yup, that’s us!). That’s life.
However, the process with my dog especially, would have been a lot less stressful if we had the money in-hand to pay the vet fees and not have to worry about finding a way to get the money up to treat him.
If I had a credit card when all of this was happening, would I have used it? You betcha. Now, if I had the right emergency fund up, I wouldn’t have needed credit. Which is just a strong reminder that emergencies can and will happen…so be prepared. Have that emergency fund up…because you just never know.
Did I know any of this was coming when I last posted July 15th? Nope.
Things are moving fast here on our end and I have way too many updates! I will try to keep it brief though because I have loads of work to do and so very little time to do it. I just do not like leaving this site sitting dormant. I enjoy posting here, and again, it helps keep me stay accountable for my financial actions.
I am now working part-time at work and full-time at home. 
How did that happen? Well, to make a super long story short, cuts were being made at work and I hopped on the opportunity.
Eventually, my hours would have been drastically cut anyway so I chose to dive in and take this opportunity to give my writing a chance while still being able to make enough at an outside job to cover the bills. Yup, the economy is finally affecting even my line of work, crime prevention—go figure!
My husband is still working at the job he got making peanuts he says, but it helps us financially. No word yet on his other application. He still looks for other opportunities but they are just not there. He loved what he did but right now the money is not there either. Not until the housing market picks up anyway. Who knows when that might be.
I finally got my credit reports all 100% updated, but my husband’s credit reports look like they are going to be a task to tackle. I will post more on that this weekend too when I finally get some free time to do it!
Any other time posting this news would be dreadful for me to do, but since bad luck just seems to follow us…what the heck, right?
So in my last post I wrote about my husband getting a job and we were finally catching up again. Until he got that first check from this new job, we were literally screwed.
I had to ask for our first payment extension for our electric bill. We actually had the money to pay it from an item we sold on eBay, but a scam artist buyer put an illegitimate dispute in to Paypal resulting in a hold put on our account.
Our Paypal account was in the negative and it was a MESS. We had to close our bank account that was linked to the Paypal account…yuck. eBay and Paypal figured it all out after a few days and our money was returned, but the money came a little too late. I learned a lot from that experience and I will write about it in the next post.
It was our first really bad experience with eBay, but a bad enough experience to pull all of our ads until we decide if we want to sell there (or buy there) anymore.
Luckily, we had a stockpile of food I had from all our couponing trips. It wasn’t the greatest or healthiest week of eating, but we all ate.
Then my husband got his first two paychecks, combined with my check for working overtime and payment for some writing work, we were 100% caught up.
My husband, only a few days into the job, called to tell me a few observations he noticed. He went to pick up some supplies for the company and was told there is a note on their account that it was “COD” only.
A few stops later, another company told him that they could not do business with his company because they were over 90 days past due with them too.
Warning signs? You betcha!
How the hell does this happen to my husband? This is the SECOND company in what, less than 2 years? I want to point out that these two companies that have done this have both been in business for years in our area…at least 25.
So this past Friday, he reports to work anyway. Right away he sees employees chattering and feels an awkwardness in the building. Everyone just found out the company has been sold and changes will be happening.
There was very limited information given and everyone had all weekend to worry about this crap. Why do companies do this on a Friday? Worst of all, if this was happening, why did they just recently hire my husband?
Today he got answers from the guy who hired him, who swears this was a total shock to him. The company that bought the company my husband is working for is a well-known company in our area, but isn’t doing well themselves in this economy. So we all know what is going to happen.
They are making the transition and all employees from the company my husband works for need to apply to this new company and go through the whole application process. My husband and I both agreed he will not do this. So, he will work as long as he can to collect a paycheck, and then on to the next.
We all know what happens when companies buy others out. They use the existing employees to help with the transition and then “can” their asses. That’s corporate America for ya.
I tell ya, this economy is crazy. No job is secure anymore…no job. Even poor teachers here are getting pink slips this summer. Teachers! We need teachers!
I am not freaking out. Not at all. In fact, this is just another chapter in our lives, or another hurdle to jump through, as some might call it. As you see, we get through it and come out stronger in the end.
We are still waiting to hear back from the family friend about the other job my husband applied for. If he doesn’t get that one, we’ll keep on looking.
I wish I had time to update here on a daily basis so I wouldn’t have to write a “book” to catch everything up. I really need to work on that.
Let’s talk finances first…
After I posted here about my husband having no work, he got emailed a ton of work. The problem is, the work was spread out all over South Florida. What that boils down to is my husband driving all over town putting wear and tear on our car, wasting gas and time to make less than minimum wage…and making tax time for me a nightmare.
The bad thing about getting all that work? We didn’t even have the money for gas for him to even complete it—even if he wanted to. That’s how broke we were.
I mentioned my husband had an interview on Tuesday. Well, he got the job. This was not the job with the family friend, although there is still hope for that one. This job doesn’t pay much at all but it will get our bills paid until better opportunities come up.
So the work that got emailed to him, he had to decline. He had to cut the cord with the company that has let us down once too many times.
He started working last Wednesday and will get his first check tomorrow. Yay! The only hitch we ran into was childcare for our youngest this last week of school. We honestly did not think my husband would get the job so quickly, but he interviewed Tuesday and started Wednesday.
Since I am working a million hours for my boss while she is on vacation next week, I worked it out to leave early to pick up my daughter from school these past few days. It has been hectic driving across town to work and then back to pick her up. It all worked out though.
As far as childcare for the summer, I am clueless as to what we are going to do. Camp is so expensive, my mother-in-law is not doing well health-wise, our oldest will not be here most of the summer to help…I just don’t know.
We were so broke this past week, I can not tell you how crappy it felt. Getting a steady income coming in to have all bills paid will feel nice and we can finally start saving again. Figuring out childcare is going to be an issue but we need the money so we need to figure it out.
Money, Money, Money…
I will totally disagree with anyone who says money will not solve your problems. The only problems in my life revolve around my lack of money!
I don’t how it has been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. Boy does time go by so fast. Here’s my mixed bag of updates.
In a quest to get ourselves in better shape (uh, lose the fat!) and get healthier, my husband and I both made a strong effort to eating better and exercising more.
I especially wanted to do it because I need to stay well. If I get sick, we are up the creek without a paddle for sure. Sucks not having savings and only one income coming in. That alone puts stress on me.
Anyway, to the story: I guess I overdid it and injured my foot somehow. Yeah, kind of defeated the purpose, huh? I don’t know how I did it since we don’t do any strenuous exercising, mainly just walking and bike riding. But I did it, and one day last week I woke up, went to put my foot on the ground, and I felt a pain like…WOW!
It’s been about a week and the pain is slowly subsiding. I am pretty sure it is nothing serious; actually, I am confident it is nothing serious. I did a lot of research…yeah I am self diagnosing again—not good I know. From what I am feeling and from what I have read, it seems I may be suffering from plantar fasciitis.
I couldn’t go to the doctor, partially because I don’t have one now. Also, I don’t have the money for the high co-payments to see a doctor/specialist. Since I got the cheapest insurance plan available, I pay out the wazoo for things like this. On top of it all, I don’t like going to the doctor. I am sure there are some great docs out there. I just haven’t found one. Maybe I need to.
Next update: Hubby’s work
We are waiting to hear back from a job my husband applied for that was recommended to him by a family friend. This guy seems to think my husband has a chance of getting hired. I have my fingers crossed. It is no glamorous, high-paying job by all means. However, it is stable income with benefits. You can’t find that around anymore.
As everyone knows, you can’t put your eggs in one basket though. So we are continuing to look for more job opportunities. There are a lot of jobs here in South Florida, but there are also a lot of people out of work. So for every job that opens up, there are thousands of people applying for it.
I helped my husband update his resume and we are hitting it hard and sending it out to every job that looks decent. Out of the many inquiries we have emailed or faxed, he has gotten only one response. However, that response got him an interview next week. So out of these two jobs we are waiting on, something has gotta give.
We are OK for now. All bills are paid for May and it looks like we will have rent covered on the first of the month for June. I will just need to keep working hard to make sure everything else gets paid. Hopefully one of these jobs will come through for my husband so we can breathe a sigh of relief…
Oh, it would be such a relief.
I don’t like writing these types of posts, I prefer to report only good news. But then again, this is a debt blog and from day one I planned on documenting the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So here it goes….
With less than 30 days until our lease is up, we have no choice but to stay put where we are. We had a couple strikes against us trying to move out this month:
- We just couldn’t find a rental that fit our needs…the dog, the school district…
- My husband’s work came to a sudden halt. Actually, he has been without work for 2 weeks now. 2 weeks with no income. We used any money we had saved up to move to pay our bills.
So there went the savings. There went any safety net we felt. Without savings, I get nervous…very nervous. My husband I can tell is beyond nervous. He looks like how I did over a year ago when I was stressed. He is usually the calm one too. His face is breaking out, he looks stressed, and he is quite uptight.
I’ve had to step up my game a little more and get out of the “comfortable” mode. Since my bosses are away again, I was asked to put in more hours. I do. When I come home, I woof down dinner and begin to write. I write until I am tired. I wont write when I am tired because I notice the quality is just not there when I am writing while half asleep. I wish I could, but I can’t.
I am grateful I found ways to make extra income from home or else we would really be screwed. That is partially the reason I am not freaking out. The work is there, I just need to do it. Hubby hates the fact that I am pulling all the weight and it bothers him as a husband and a father, not being able to provide for us as a family. Hey, how many other dads are without work right now? I am OK with it. Really.
My husband is a little pissed off at the company that he has been subcontracting for. Months ago when they really needed him, they told him there was a ton of work and they had even more projects coming up. Well, he has since found out there isn’t.
Basically, they promised him future work so he would plow through the time-sensitive projects they had. Now that they have nothing for him, he doesn’t hear from them. They don’t give a crap that he has a family to feed and is stressed about how he is going to pay his bills. Companies suck. I am sorry to say, they just do.
This is the same company over the past few years that screwed up his checks, left us without money one Christmas because they failed to process payments, and just play games with people. It’s not right.
While he did not tell them officially to bug off, he is out every day applying for a real job. Right now it’s what he has got to do.
I took a break from writing for a few minutes to post here. I have been writing and researching on the same subject for days and just need to talk about something else…:)
This is a reminder that money comes and money goes. It is important to have savings, and we need to get our savings going again.
As I sit here now, I have all the bills that need to be paid for the month sitting in front of me. When I start writing and feel like stopping, I look at the bills we need to pay. As I finish a project, I put it towards each bill. It is helping so far. Sometimes I just want to come home and relax. But right now, I can’t.
It will all work out though. I know it will.
Tags: Financial distress, out of work, savings
With the economy in such shambles, I guess it is only natural for scammers to be and about causing more headaches for everyone. Like we don’t have enough to worry about already. As I have mentioned before, our lease is almost up and we have been looking for a rental. What a pain it has been.
99.9% of the rentals that we inquired about were bogus ads set up by Realtors who tried to show us other properties they had or scam ads. Yup, scam ads. Brilliant little scams that even I almost fell for. Luckily though, I know what to look for and caught it before we got dooped. However, I think this scam is worth mentioning here so others don’t get screwed.
Before I give the scenario, I want to point out that I have always enjoyed using Craigslist to post things for sale, inquire about jobs, and have even bought things from others on there. Lately though, I don’t know what the heck is going on. It seems Craigslist now is a portal for scam artists and people out to screw you in some way or another.
The last few times we have listed things for sale, we got bombarded with emails from people telling us they are sending a friend with a cashiers check…blah blah blah…SCAM!
So since our local paper and flyers aren’t showing too many rentals, we turned to Craiglist. Immediately, I seen a house right down the street from my daughters school. I recognized the house right away because we drive by it every day.
Anyway, the ad listed it for rent for $1200-By Owner and dogs allowed. The only way to contact the person who listed the house was to send an email through Craigslist. I did. No response.
I figured the house rented. I moved on to look for another house. Guess what was re-listed at $1000 a month? Yup, the same house. So I am thinking…SWEET! It is in our price range, close to the schools, they are OK with dogs, the house has a yard.
This time the ad had a full name of the owner, an email address with the owners name in it, and cross streets for the home. Sounds legit.
Maybe my last email went to their spam box? So I emailed from another email address. This time I sent our phone # too. I wanted this house.
A few hours later we received an email asking if we were still interested in the house. They even gave us the exact address and told us to drive by and see if we liked it. I took it a step further and looked up county records, etc. Just to see if the house is pending foreclosure, etc. Everything looked good. Yes, the name on the ad and email address matched the real owners name.
So we emailed back that we were very interested. He emailed back immediately with a story on why he is renting the house. This email was full of broken English and gave some story about working in the UK under contract for 3 years and…well, it just didn’t make sense and sounded fishy.
Next email we got was a rental application from this guy (or girl…who knows?) asking us every bit of personal info you can imagine. I decided to research this a little more. I wanted that house but something didn’t feel right.
I “Google” the phone # he gave us. Immediately I found someone posted about a UK rental scam going on. They posted the EXACT email info word for word that I got! So right then and there, we knew it was all a hoax.
I wanted to see though why the heck they picked this house in our little area. So I searched the address, and sure enough, the home is on a real estate site for rent and gives the owner info.
So basically these scammers go on sites and steal pictures and listings…whatever they can get, and make bogus ads and email addresses (with the owners names in them to seem more legit) to get people to give out there person info.
I am sure they probably would ask for a deposit wired to them or something but we stopped it right there.
Incredible.
So needless to say, I have a month and we are having no luck. If we stay here month to month, they will charge us hundreds more per month. The least we can renew for is 7 months. Yuck, I can’t stand this place.
My daughters have resorted to calling our apartment complex “gangster’s paradise” and my husband and I are just fed up with the garbage and thugs that are moving in. In the last few months this place has gone even more downhill. The apartment next to us sits vacant and I can only wonder who is going to move in soon. I guess it could always be worse, we could be homeless.
It’s like Forrest Gump says” Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.”
My parting thoughts:
I have since gone on Craigslist just to test my theory and found quite a few scams within the last few hours on there. So for anyone out there looking for a rental, be very careful. Not just on Craigslist but on any website. These scammers might not ask for money upfront but just giving them your personal info is enough to cause you identity theft problems that will take forever to clear up.
Tags: rental scam
After weeks of waiting for our apartment renewal notice, it came. They upped our rent just as we feared they would. Again. Luckily it was only $30 per month this time vs $55. But even $30 a month is just ridiculous.
Like before, they did it at a time where half of our building sits vacant. I started to look up homes for rent and ran across advertisements by my complex offering incentives to new renters. They are even offering our apartment for a cheaper rate.
So, seeing that ticked me off more. I responded to a few ads on Craigslist for homes for rent only to find that 99.9% of them were offered by Realtors. After my short sale, I don’t do well with Realtors.
I took a chance and set up a few appointments with a few Realtors anyway because they seem to dominate the rental market now. Where the heck are the private owners advertising nowadays anyway?
Our first appointment was suppose to be a 2/2 condo: dogs and kids allowed, private entrance on the 2nd floor, nice…
The Realtor brought us to a 1/1 no dogs, no kids allowed, on the first floor smack in the middle of a busy hallway. Yeah, I knew the day was going downhill from there. And it did. That condo never existed, neither did any of the properties that were advertised. It was more like “Oh yeah, that one is taken but let me show you this one”.
I later found out from a coworker that dated a Realtor that these are pretty much “bait ads”. They were bait alright. Wasted my weekend. Now that I am hip to this practice, I see it clearly. If you are looking for a new home on a site like Craigslist where it is free to post classifieds like real estate and rentals, proceed with caution.
With our move-out date fast approaching and little money to deal with as far as 1st month, last month, security, and a pet deposit, I have a feeling we are going to have to stay here for a while and pay the extra money. Unless we find a private owner to work with us. I did send an email off to our existing rental office though in a last ditch effort and asked them one last time if they wanted to deal. We’ll see.
I tell ya, I am so sick of moving. I drove by my old house the other day on the way home from work and realized how much I miss having my own home. I did not have an attachment to the house because of all the debt that came along with it; but if I had it now, boy would I appreciate it. Especially after living in these past 3 apartments.
Renting is OK. Not better than having your own home. I wont even begin to complain about our apartment because I know there are some people these days living out of their cars and on the streets, things could be worse.
We’ll just have to see how this one plays out.
Tags: renting in a bad economy
You know, even after our bankruptcy, I still receive a lot of email and correspondence about debt relief, debt settlement, and even get periodic newsletters and “tweets” from some of the credit bureaus. Usually, I will skim through it just out of curiosity. Other times I just discard it.
Well, after reading for the “umpteenth” time about how I should not file bankruptcy and how it is so bad and sooo traumatic, I thought I might weigh in. Wow, is this a rant week or what?
First of all, filing for bankruptcy is NOT as traumatic as some people make it out to be. In fact, once I stopped listening to people that were saying comments like the ones below and figured it out for myself, filing bankruptcy was the BEST thing we could do!
I got all kinds of comments about filing for bankruptcy. I am sure you have heard some of them too:
Bankruptcy will ruin your life!
Bankruptcy will ruin your future!
Bankruptcy will ruin your marriage!
You will never get credit again after bankruptcy.
Filing bankruptcy is one of the top life changing events–and not a good one.
Sure, these scare tactics worked for a few years. I avoided filing bankruptcy like the plague. My husband and I wasted away our young adult years working our butts off to try and do the right thing and get our debt paid off. We sunk deeper and deeper.
Being in debt was ruining our lives.
Being in debt was ruining our future.
Being in debt was putting stress on our marriage.
When we stopped listening to the naysayers, and started looking beyond the box, we realized filing for bankruptcy was a way out of our debt hell. After all was said and done, I don’t have one regret. I am not glad we ever got into debt in the first place, but I am so glad that we no longer have that black cloud over our heads.
Endless collection calls, credit card minimums that were larger than most people’s car payments, and the endless “what ifs” were driving us nuts.
Now, over 1 year after filing bankruptcy, I realized that most people that told us NOT to file for bankruptcy were people that:
Did not know anything about bankruptcy.
Had something to gain by US not filing bankruptcy. (Debt settlement programs, credit counseling firms…creditors)
Of course there are some people that say they regret filing bankruptcy for their own reasons. I am not one of them. Either is my husband.
Look what is going on in the word today. Filing bankruptcy is nothing compared to being homeless, having no food to eat or clothes for your children to wear.
I didn’t write this to advocate filing bankruptcy. I just want anyone who may be looking into their options to know, that from our firsthand experience, filing bankruptcy was not a bad thing.
Tags: Bankruptcy, Debt and Bankruptcy
Our taxes are done and we owed. Luckily, I got it down to a little over $100 vs. owing a couple thousand. I was nervous. Boy was I nervous. Yup, it seems that the more you make, the more they take.
I have come to the conclusion that working more doesn’t benefit us…not at all. And while being self employed or owning your own business gives you some perks (i.e., no boss breathing down your neck, demanding schedules, office politics), you end up paying come tax time, unless you try to cheat the system…and even then you will eventually get busted, so why bother?
There are tons of people who say they benefit from tons of business expense write-offs and home office deductions, hmmm? Granted, I claimed the car allowance, deductions for my husband’s office supplies,and other things we were entitled to. But all that did was lower what we would have owed. Taking those deductions also puts us more at risk for an audit…so what are the benefits really?
Maybe I am wrong, but I think being considered “middle class” or making any kind of real money is a joke. Why work harder and put in more hours if it is just going to go to the government? Then the government turns around and bails out companies that don’t need it(uh, AIG, Citigroup, BOA— just to name a few) while the middle class and those that don’t make squat are losing their houses…and it goes on and on.
Sorry for the rant. Taxes and this whole broken economy just piss me off. On top of that, I watched Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore last night which only fueled the fire! If you get a chance over the weekend, watch it. You will know where I am coming from.
Tags: capitalism, taxes
Yes, I am still here. I just can’t stand when I don’t post for a while and by the time I do, I have a million updates.
First update: Taxes. You know. Since my husband became self-employed, doing our taxes is something I absolutely dread. Most people like tax time. Mainly because they are expecting a big refund. I don’t want to expect a big refund, because for one, that means I let the IRS hold my money interest-free for the year. I rather have my money right now-not next year.
Last year we got a decent tax refund for a few reasons:
- Child Tax Credit
- My husband’s work was slow so we had less income
- We qualified for the Earned Income Credit
- I claimed the home office deduction for the first time
- We claimed the depreciation of our car and anything work related for my husband’s work. I was always scared to for fear of an audit-but hey, why not? I am not lying.
- I did not have my exemptions right taking out too much from each check. I updated them last year.
We are definitely not getting anything back this year. Did I take out too little? Nope. The exemptions are fine. Here’s what I have got so far…
- My daughter turned 17 at the end of 2009. So she is no longer eligible for the child tax credit. She was 16 all year… We are legally responsible for our kids until they are 18 but lose the tax credit when they turn 17? What is that all about?
- My husband had more work this year, resulting in more income—not a lot but enough to surpass the Earned Income Credit Limit.
- We fell into a different tax bracket-HA! So “the more you make, the more they take” is even worse for the so-called “middle class”.
Just these factors alone has caused us to owe THOUSANDS. I actually got so irritated doing our taxes, that I just stopped doing them. I will deal with it this weekend. I am going to pull out every single receipt, every single donation and claim it to lower our tax obligations. I am really ticked by this.
I didn’t want a refund, but I didn’t want to owe either. Yuck.
Second update: Work. I took some vacation days off last week. It wasn’t planned but the opportunity presented itself. It was more of a take it now or take it after everyone else takes theirs…so I took it. Besides, I got to stay home and watch the little one while she was home from school on Spring Break. I worked the whole time (writing) but took a day off just to hang out with her. It was nice.
Third update: Our living situation. So far it looks like we need to move in June, but we are waiting to hear from the property managers for more info. I inquired already but was told they will have more info closer to my lease end date.
Apparently our complex was sold to a group of investors in February and they are in the process of changing a lot of things. They assumed our lease but other than that it, who knows what they will pull when our lease is up.
All I see is moving trucks every week…more than usual. So I am thinking it might not be good. Gosh, I am really sick of moving. We were not planning on moving until the girls were out of their schools next year. Moving is not only a pain but it costs money…so I don’t want to move this summer. I really don’t. We’ll have to wait and see.
Other than that, it’s been the same old around here. I just figured I would update here. Gosh, my last post was weeks ago. My next post surely will come sooner than that.
So how are things going since my last update? Ya know, they are going OK. I am feeling better than I was when I wrote my last post. Let’s see, I posted last Sunday. Monday came, and I felt no better. To sum up a long story…I finally had my little break down or whatever you want to call it. I did not make it in to work pretty much the whole week.
After a talk with my other boss (the nice one), I went back to work. However, I am sticking to my guns. June is still the month I plan to, no I am going to leave. I am cutting the cords. It’s done.
Why June? Am I waiting for the stars to align or that perfect time to quit? Nope. June is just a convenient month to do it. It’s the summertime and the kids are out of school. It also helps that I have an actual job reference for potential landlords to call on because as you know, our credit isn’t the best right now and we need to move to a new place. It also gives me time to work on my writing and other stuff while working and getting a guaranteed paycheck.
Oh, did I mention? It gives me time to cash in my last vacation time before I lose it. Is it unethical? Nope. I don’t think so. A boss that walks up to you and tells you to “speak” is unethical and flat-out rude. Yup, he actually told me to speak like I was a dog or something. Naturally, I completely ignored the “command” until I was spoken to with more respect. If you think that one is bad…I got plenty. But why reminisce?
I can not tell you how sad, depressed, worthless I felt these past several months. Several years really. It all goes back to taking whatever I had to because I had so many bills and debt that I just could not afford to take the leap. I sure as heck can now.
You know the saying ” You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take”? That’s kind of where I am right now. Some people say if you don’t take action on certain things in your life, you regret those decisions 5,10,15…years later. It’s true. I regret many things every day. But I will not dwell. Luckily, I am still at an age where I can make life fun and exciting for me and my family.
Being debt-free makes it that much easier to do. No more depression, sadness, whatever you want to call it. No more “waiting for the right time”. There is never a right time. That is one thing I have learned out of this whole ordeal.
Well, until my next update…Have a great week everyone!
Tags: motivation
It’s been a while since my last post. I have been meaning to update here, but things haven’t been going any better really since my last post. I just didn’t want to come on here and vent, which is probably what I am going to end up doing anyway. I am just all bottled up inside. 
I did however, have an epiphany yesterday at the cemetery. Yes, a cemetery. Ever since the death of our loved one in December, we make sure we go at least once a week to visit her and bring her fresh flowers. It just so happened that there sure were a lot of funerals taking place yesterday while we were there. It just got me thinking…a lot.
Did all of these people enjoy life to the fullest? If I died tomorrow, could I say I lived a happy life? Did I accomplish everything I ever wanted to do? I can honestly say:
Absolutely not!
I know one thing I am beyond thankful for, and that is my family. I would never have it any other way with them. My husband and my girls are just perfect in my eyes. However, everything else in my life seems “off”.
For years, my husband and I gave up everything in life to work, work, and work to even try to make a dent in the debt load that we had. All of those years of trying, and we went bankrupt anyway. My husband and I wasted all of our 20’s into our 30’s trying to get from under the debt cloud that was hovering over us. All we did was put a band-aid on the situation.
We tried. I can honestly say we tried. I listened to a lot of people who told us not to file bankruptcy, that bankruptcy was the worst thing we can do. And debt settlement was a scam. Boy were they all wrong. I can’t believe we wasted so many years listening to everyone else.
When I look back now, all of those people that were so wise to tell us what not to do, were nowhere to be found when we truly needed help. There were many times I wondered how we were going to eat or pay the mortgage. How many more months could we go without getting our power or water turned off?
Pawn shops, payday loans, selling anything and everything became a way of life for us. We always made sure the kids ate and had a roof over their heads. It was hard. We did this with no help from anyone, especially those who told us we were nuts to even consider filing BK.
So anyway, enough of my rambling.
What I am getting at, over a year later I can honestly say that filing bankruptcy was the best thing that we could have done. And we missed out on so much in life because we didn’t do it sooner!
Now we are left in a predicament of cleaning up our lives afterward. I miss my house. I am sick of apartment living. I can honestly say that apartment living with kids is a joke. Since the short sale of our home, we have moved….um, 3 times, will be 4 in June. I am honestly tired of it.
As far as work, I have been holding on by a thread and don’t know how much longer I can do it. I struggle with the fact that I am one of the lucky ones who still has a job, with a boss who knows that if I don’t take his crap, there are thousands out there who would jump at the chance to.
I told myself that June was my deadline. June is only a few months away…but feels like an eternity.
So what’s up with my writing? Well, I have one client that is sending me work and keeping my busy. I am also signed up with a few companies that offer me work consistently. A few weeks ago, I did a “test” to see if I could duplicate my daily income by writing. So one day I stayed home and just wrote. I fell short and made a little over half my income for the day. I wrote quite well, but apparently I am not that efficient in my writing. To make it short, I am a perfectionist that sweats over details. So a quick “snippet” that should only take me 30 minutes or so takes me twice the time or longer.
I really have to work on that. I know once I do, I will be alright.
The last thing that has me depressed the most… is my weight. Over the years, I noticed my husband and I gained some weight. Well, I weighed myself and cried. I am not talking just gaining 10 or 15 pounds. I am talking over 50!
I gained over 50 pounds! I was so disgusted when I seen it. My husband gained, but not as bad as I did. Besides, he’s a guy who doesn’t show it as bad either. Between the debt and my job–I am surprised I don’t weigh over 500 pounds!
I know why I have gained weight and I know why I feel there are a few things that are “off” in my life. I am working hard to correct them. It’s hard.
But as I was sitting there in the cemetery yesterday, I made a promise to myself to stop obsessing over things. I just need to make some changes.
- June we move out of this dump apartment complex.
- Stick to a healthy eating regimen and get moving so that I will not only be a thinner and happier person, but a healthier person too.
- Work on writing more efficiently so I can transition as soon as possible to writing full-time.
I really need to stick to this and not just talk about it. Clearing up these 3 areas of my life will help me live life to the fullest—the way life should be lived.
Good news to report. I heard back from Experian and the things that I disputed have been removed. They sent me an updated copy of my credit report and while there are still a few errors, it is starting to look 100 times better! I am going to now finish off what I have started with them and get everything cleaned up. Meaning, now I can actually start on my own stuff, not someone elses stuff on my credit report! lol
I had to update one of my last posts because I totally screwed up with my Equifax. See, since I got my score and report using myFico.com I was not able to dispute online. I had to print out the information, sign it, and mail it in. Well, I did it all but never mailed it in! No wonder why they did not get back to me…lol 100% my error! So obviously I am over the 30 day limit so since I have one free credit report left through annualcreditreport.com, I will get it there. I absolutely love myfico.com, because I usually get a deal with my credit report and score, which obviously with the free one you don’t get the score.
I really want to get everything cleaned up with all 3 credit bureaus. I am going to start working on clearing up my husband’s credit reports now. Of course he has an even more popular and common name than I do and I can guarantee he will not have the mix up that I had! We already pulled his Equifax report and naturally I filled out the dispute errors and guess what…? I found his with mine…not mailed! So I need to do all 3 of his credit reports. I can’t wait to see his Experian credit report. It will be interesting to see if it is all screwed up with someone elses like mine was. We will just have to see.
All the buzz today is about the new credit card rules and how this is going to be a great thing for consumers…blah, blah, blah. While I think these rules are a step in the right direction, I don’t think they are the solution to many credit card problems that exist. However, since they will affect many people, they are worth mentioning here. Here are a few of the new credit card rules that I found interesting.
The age requirement. Awesome. In the past you only had to be 18 to get a credit card on your own. Thanks to the new credit card rules, you need to be 21—unless you have a cosigner or can prove your ability to repay your credit card debt.
My husband and I personally got into credit card debt way before we turned 21. Me, I was living on my own way before then and credit was a huge crutch for me when money was tight. Yes, credit cards helped me stay afloat, but in the long-run they did more damage than anything. I do believe there are tons of responsible 18 year olds that can handle credit, but there are many more that probably can not. They end up wasting their young adult life (hmm, hmm like yours truly) trying to dig out of debt.
You are given more time to pay. Instead of 14 days, you now get 21 days. However, my view is if you don’t have the money in 14 days, will ya have it in 21? Maybe, maybe not.
Creditors need to give advance notice to hike your rate. We all have probably dealt with this before. I know I have. Banks loved to hike your interest rate up for the stupidest reasons, and sometimes for no reason at all. Of course, if you don’t agree to the rate hike, some creditors may close your account. Yeah, that’s a downside to this rule. If you recently have been notified of a rate hike, do your research before committing.
There are fee restrictions. You know the fees these credit card companies love to charge. There are some new restrictions to over-the-limit fees, late charges, and more. It is a good idea to read these rules over to educate yourself on the changes.
What paying the minimum payment is getting you. Yes, creditors now need to provide you with a disclosure along with your monthly statement that shows you exactly how long it will take you to pay off your balance if you only make the minimum payment. This is by far my favorite! You will clearly see that making a small $62.50 minimum monthly payment for that $2500 plasma TV @ 18% interest will really cost you. Yup, that $2500 TV will take you 204 months to pay off! Totaling over $3,173.22 in interest alone. By then, that TV will probably be long gone, and you’ll still be paying on it.
I have turned into a real numbers person after my deal with debt and seeing that stuff just blows my mind.
These are just some of the highlights of the new credit card rules. I could write about this stuff for hours, but luckily they are already online for you to see. I did a lot of reading on the new credit card rules and found this article very informative. It is located on creditcards.com
Happy reading!
Tags: new credit card rules
Well, here is my update for the week. I am really trying hard to keep up here because when I do, I keep myself more accountable for things.
OK, we’ll start with savings. After my last post, our savings dwindled down to just under $1k. Not where I wanted to be, that’s for sure. I will get into why in a minute. But, I did step up my game and I am really still aiming for my $5k by May goal. It is a savings goal I need to stick to because I need to move in June…yeah, I am not happy about that one either.
Why did our savings get down so low? Well, things at work went from bad to worse and I have been home a lot more. Instead of taking the time and doing it smart and writing when I was home, I fell into somewhat of a depression mode. I should just stop calling out sick and being a baby and just quit already. My fear is losing that “steady paycheck” and the stability of having a “job”, but this place is sucking the life out of me. I look like crap, I feel like crap, and I am upset that I can’t just cut the ties all together. Besides, what money am I really making going in a few days a week anyway?
Yes, I have my writing and I write part-time every week. Do I think I can do it full-time? It certainly looks like there is enough work for me in the field for a while, I am just so scared. You know, the company I got hired with months ago, I have yet to do a project for. I still have a job with them, but in order for me to complete any assignments for them I have to create an author bio and give them a pic of me for all online to see. For one, that is stepping out of my comfort zone. Two, I was fearful my job would see it. However, if I want to leave my job and make money writing, this company would be the way to go. I guess I need to get over it and get that bio and pic up there…
I do ghostwrite and actually love it! This other job would pay more so I guess I need to toughen up–this is my way out. I can’t believe I actually cried about this all week. I feel as bad as I did now as when I was carrying over 100k debt on my shoulders. I just really need to take that leap and get over my fears. I have been through a lot, how will I know if I can make it on my own if I don’t try? Surely I can’t keep up like this. I feel so miserable and unmotivated, yet I remain hopeful that I will get through this. Life is just too short…
I was reading a really interesting article earlier this week and it helped a lot. You know, everyone has it rough some days at work. We all have had a jerk boss or two in our lifetime. Not to mention our fair share of office politics and company BS…”did ya get that memo?” crap. Some of us have it worse than others. It just stinks that the economy makes it harder for many to leave a job that they do not want to be at for fear there won’t be another to go to. I am sure many put up with BS every single day…just to put food on the table each week. It sucks. I am there.
There is no use complaining about it though, I gotta do something. Here is the link to the article. Reading the comment section was a real eye opener…WOW, I am not alone.
Tags: quitting your job, quitting your job in a bad economy, the economy
Sorry for not posting my credit report outcome sooner. I have been so busy with work and side work, and really working hard to build my savings back up. I did over the course of the weekend get thrown off because of the shuttle launch, which I think is the neatest thing in the world to watch. So anyway, working long days and nights, combined with 4am wake ups 2 days in a row for shuttle launches(the first one got delayed) has really thrown me off–sorry.
Experian: They were the ones who really had everything all screwed up. Well, they mailed me an updated credit report last week and I am somewhat happy with the outcome… so far. All the really crazy stuff was taken off, but the things I initiated a dispute about are still “pending”—all except for the other bankruptcy that was showing up—that’s gone. Now, that all that whacked stuff is gone, I can finally dispute my own account info that is reporting wrong. There are a few things that are showing charged off, when in fact they were included in my Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That stuff I can do an online dispute for.
The other girls employer info and phone number still show up on my credit report too. I tried calling Experian, but was on hold for way too long, and eventually hung up. This stuff is minor, so I will do the online dispute option for that as well. Let’s see though if they are going to erase those things I started a dispute about. Why did I do that? Well, you live and learn…
This is a lesson for anyone who may find themself in a similar situation as mine–DO NOT DISPUTE MIXED UP CREDIT FILE STUFF ONLINE–CALL THE CREDIT BUREAU that is reporting the inaccuracies. Now, I am not talking about a few minor report screw-ups, I am talking about having tons of wrong info on there. If you have way too much stuff that does not look like right on your credit report like other birth-dates, social security numbers, etc. that are obviously not yours, there is a problem.
Transunion: They emailed me to tell me that all of my info is reporting corrrectly now. And yes, it is all good.
Equifax: Haven’t heard a thing since I initiated my disputes.***update 3/1***my error! Since I obtained my Equifax report a different way, they did not allow me to dispute errors online. I filled out the paperwork but never mailed it in(I just found it in a pile of paperwork…ooops!). Totally 100% my fault! Now that 30 days has passed, I am going to get my free Equifax report (without the score) and dispute online rather than doing it by mail.
So there’s my update on my credit reports. The only thing I am not too thrilled about is the way my house short-sale is reporting on all 3 credit reports. One shows my short sale as a foreclosure–but then in the status part is says: Paid in Settlement. Apparently this is going to report until 2014 like this. They all word it differently, but it basically means the same thing: foreclosure. I am not sure if I should pursue getting that “foreclosure” off of there or just leave it. Hmmm? With so many home short sales in the past several years, they should really have an option for that, instead of automatically putting “foreclosure”. I don’t like that word. I didn’t go through a foreclosure, I sold my house for less than I owed the bank.
Let’s see what Equifax comes back with and then I will take it from there. And only time will tell if Experian ever gets my report 100% right.
Our savings were looking mighty well around December, and well, things happened. We had a death in the family, we got sick and missed some work, and last week we had major car troubles. None of these things that happened are ever planned, so it helped when we had money saved up for them. The problem now is, we have just hit under 2k in savings…so quickly.
Usually, if there are minor car troubles, my husband will work on them. If they are more involved, our mechanic friend will handle it. However, my husband had a feeling there was a major issue and since we had an extended warranty, we decided to get it checked out at the dealer. Long story short-we ended up paying almost $700…and that is after the warranty. Otherwise, the costs would have been in the thousands. We really thought long and hard on just picking up the car and getting the parts and everything ourselves, but by the time we averaged all the prices and labor costs–it was cheaper to get it done by the dealer. Our friend is a friend but doesn’t work for free–and we do not expect him to. We decided it would be cheaper to let the warranty cover it’s part and we will cover the rest.
So my Civic is out of the shop–again. With even more newer parts on it. Geese, that car is almost brand new if you go by everything that has been replaced on it. Word to the wise–if you ever get in a car accident in a new car–stick to your guns. These insurance companies will try to repair it and give it back to you to save money. I know the car wasn’t right and I refused to take it back. Of course, it was only by the advice of an attorney that I ended up back with the car. I did not want the car back-it should have been totaled. Look at all the problems I have with it.
Anyway…
Now it is February (where the heck did January go?) and it is time to get really budget-minded. I need to get that savings back up quickly. Who knows when another emergency might happen. Before, if emergencies would happen–credit cards were our crutch. Not anymore. So it is off to work I go. My goal:
$5k in savings by March …oops, had to edit that one. I meant May. May is much more realistic. 
Can I do it? Yeah, I think I can
Tags: savings
I waited all weekend to call Experian and when I got the chance to yesterday–all I did was deal with an automated machine that after 50 million prompts would tell me that no agent can help me because the office is closed. Hello, I was calling after 8am all the way to 9am and got the same recording. Their hours are 8am-5pm. I could not deal with it any longer. I was already late for work, my little one was sick and we ran into major car issues (more on that later). So yeah, “Monday, Monday” was playing in my head.
I would have loved to call from work but I have a boss that sits right on top of me..all day. So basically, I make no personal calls all day–and I don’t have a lunch break to do it either. Yeah, it’s legal…don’t even make me go there. So I am home because the little one that decided to go to school sick yesterday–so she wouldn’t fall behind, is flat-out sicker than ever. My husband is overloaded and can’t stay home. So I am here and I needed to be. Great time to catch up on my other work, be here for my little girl, and get someone on the phone at Experian.
I remember talk about sites that will tell you how to get a “live” person on the phone at some of these big companies. Wow-What a lifesaver. I found a number and directions for Experian. I am posting a link here and let me tell you…I was on and off the phone in less than 13 minutes! For them, that was awesome. As I was on hold, I was reading horror stories and I was nervous. Experian did alright. I am still pissed I had to wait all weekend, but I think I got to the bottom of it.
Basically after giving my basic info to the first rep(that was very nice by the way) that helped me, she recognized right away there was a problem. She then transferred me to “that department”. My next rep was nice too and she was helpful. My main concern was if creditors were going to start hounding me for this other person with the same name. She could not offer any answers about that but assured me they will handle my “credit reporting issues”.
She also seen there was a mix-up and I was getting questioned on what names and addresses were mine. I was then told my file is obviously mixed up with someone else and that there is another “special” department that will go through everything and clear it up. I will then receive an updated copy of my credit report when it is all straightened out.
So now, it is a waiting game. I am sure there will be the few legit discrepancies, but I am not touching anything until they are done with what they are doing. As far as the 4 disputes I initiated, I can only hope Experian intercepts them so the creditors do not get them. I don’t want to deal with relentless creditors and collection agencies again. Luckily, my credit report info shows my PO Box and Cell #. If they start, well then I guess it will be finally time to get a new phone number.
I’ll update here with the outcome.
I wanted to update my credit report situation. Well, Equifax had a few errors that I am going to dispute online. TransUnion, Believe it or not, was actually the credit reporting agency with the least amount of errors. I did a quick dispute of the 4 minor problems I found:
- The CRV showing a balance and repo-this was included in my bankruptcy
- The CIVIC is showing that it was included in my bankruptcy
- Mohawk GE showing charged off but it was included in bankruptcy
- City Furniture-same thing
Not bad for TransUnion. Now Experian, well pulling my credit file on a Friday night was not a smart idea. Experian nearly gave me a heart attack and I literally could not sleep at all Friday or last night. I have been on edge all weekend. Put it this way, my Experian report included almost 50 pages of charge offs, collection accounts, thousands in hospital bills, inquiries, multiple bankruptcies–apparently that are not even mine. I started disputing them until I realized there was a serious problem.
At first I thought identity theft but then I looked at the age of some of these accounts and it was during my bankruptcy period. All of that would have came up when I filed. Also, the other 2 credit reporting agencies were showing the correct accounts–they just were not reporting correctly. So I felt a little better.
When I got to the final pages of the credit report, I found something really alarming. I found my name, address, and other correct personal info like my phone number and husband’s name. What also showed up was personal information of other women–with the same first name as me! It also showed their DOB, last 4 of their social security numbers, their employer info. It goes on and on. Not only did that bother me–it is just disturbing on so many levels!
For one, the same way I am seeing their info–they are probably seeing mine. What also bothers me is the fact that after trying to research this, I see this is somewhat common but not so common where I could actually figure out what to do. It sounds like my credit file may have been mixed or split? Not sure really and not sure if it will be a hassle to fix. Experian, well they are closed on weekends so all I had was their 24/7 automated Fraud hot-line to get aggravated with.
What has me the most concerned is: now that I started disputing items that I thought were not mine, did I open up a can of worms? Because technically these are “someone’s” bills and creditors and collection agencies are going to be looking for their money. Once you open a dispute, the credit report agency contacts the creditor to verify information and may update your info with them. Great. Does this mean they are going to start hounding me for accounts that are not mine? This is what has me worried!
I just went through this whole debt nightmare and do not want to relive this crap all over again. So I am hoping I am just reading more into this than what I should. Gosh I hope so. My weekend has been screwed. I was feeling really good until all of this. I backed my work up because I could not concentrate. I did get to do my Disney Give a Day Get a Day volunteer work yesterday. That helped me get my mind off things for a while. But, as soon as I got home I was back to researching this stuff.
I can not wait until Experian opens tomorrow. I am calling before I go into work because I can’t sit and think about this all day. It will drive me crazy. I will update here with the outcome–if there is one.
Tags: credit reporting, credit reports, disputing credit report, Equifax, Experian, TransUnion
I have decided that I am going to take up the whole “cleaning up my credit” thing on my own. I am not going to consult our bankruptcy attorney or anything. I don’t think there is a need to. I have done a lot of research on cleaning up your credit after bankruptcy and I think, no as a matter of fact, I KNOW I can do it on my own.
I don’t have time to do it today because I have a HUGE deadline to meet for a writing client I have. I am so loving the fact that I can write on a subject I love. However, I have been writing about the same thing for a few hours now and I need to take a few minutes away from writing so I don’t start to sound too repetitious! lol
I got my FICO Score from myfico.com and just paid for my Equifax score. I didn’t pay for them all because I am not interested in all my credit scores right now. I also think Equifax is the leader, and to me their score is what I am going by–it let’s me know where I stand. When you get yourFICO score, you also get a copy of your Equifax credit report.
I then plan to get my free annual copy of my credit report from the other two credit reporting companies…Experian and TransUnion. Remember, you are entitled to one free credit report a year so if you haven’t checked yours…why not? It’s FREE! If you want your score though, you will have to pay for it. I have included the actual link to the “REAL” free annual credit report site–not one that will scam you! If you do decide to “google” free annual credit report on your own, make sure you get the official site, not one that will try to get your info and charge you for your reports.
Once I get my 2 other credit reports, I will compare all three and start doing my disputes. I am sure if Equifax is off, the others are wayyy off. I am pretty sure there will be some inaccuracies on both. I will dispute everything that is not correct and see just how “good” my credit can get after all the credit report cleaning up I am gonna do.
Tags: cleaning up credit, credit reports, credit scores, disputing credit report, improving credit after bankruptcy, improving credit score
Last January, my husband and I were told our credit scores were in the 400’s–478 to be exact. 1 year later, how do we measure up? Well, not so bad. First off, let me say that after owing so much and losing pretty much everything–the last thing I want to do is apply for credit or anything like that. I truly believe that the better your credit is, the more credit you get, and the more trouble you get into. The purpose of getting our score and credit report is for 2 reasons:
- To make sure everything since the BK is being reported accurately which I found out is not–not at all.
- Curiosity. In the past, we both loved seeing our high credit scores and were proud of our on-time payments and good credit history. Obviously, we let that all go down the drain once we we let that first credit card payment be late. After all that we have been through, we no longer care about credit scores or credit reports, but we were interested in knowing if what they say is true–after we file BK, our scores would jump. Did they? Well…
My score is 644 and my husbands is 631. OK, not great credit scores BUT not too shabby. Our scores would be a lot higher if things were reporting correctly. I want to take the time to go through it and post here because I think it can be useful information to anyone who is curious about how filing bankruptcy will affect their credit. The problem is–I am confused as heck on how to handle “cleaning up” our credit reports after filing bankruptcy. I am going to research more before I start disputing anything and may have to contact our BK lawyer to see what he says. Here’s why:
My husbands credit report:
- The bankruptcy is only showing up under hubby’s name only as a public record–not mine. Almost all of his creditors show up as ” Included in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy” Some of them are still showing 120 days past due.
- The car that we have as a joint account-the Civic that we kept is showing up as “Included in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy”–closed account and they are not reporting anymore for him. We want it to report–one purpose of keeping the car was so that he can re-establish his credit.
My credit report:
- The bankruptcy is not showing up under my name. In fact, all of my accounts show either charged off, transferred, sold, or have some kind of negative mark on them . Some are still showing 120+ days past due. So one of the negatives for me per FICO is that I am currently delinquent with some accounts–about 11k. Huh?
- The repo’d car is showing up as a revolving credit line that still has a balance owed. They did put “voluntary repossession” on the notes but never cleared the balance. It should read “included in Chapter 7 BK” . However, the Civic is showing up under my name as an active revolving credit line-and they are reporting that I am paying on it(which that is good).
- My house that I did a short sale on shows as–I don’t even understand how they are reporting it. The notes say “Paid for less than full balance”–closed or paid account/zero balance. Then it shows repossession/foreclosure.
It seems my credit report is just all screwed up. My husband and I both have an inquiry on there from 6/09 that we are still trying to figure out. It is a bank but neither of us has applied for anything. I have a call into our leasing office to see if they ran our credit when we transferred apartments in June. That is the only thing I can think of. However, the inquiry clearly states a name of a bank that neither one of us does business with…hmm? That one I will be following up on.
Everything else…well, I am just not sure what to do yet. Usually when I see things wrong, I just dispute them. However, I am not sure why my BK is not showing up. Is it because we are married and it only shows up under my husband? Also, we never got reaffirmation paperwork to keep the Civic and they do not bill us, but they report my payments to the credit bureaus.
If all this sounds confusing…it is. I have loads of questions and I am not sure where to direct them. Looks like I got some work cut out for me to get our credit reports all cleaned up. I’ll keep my progress updated here of course, whenever there are any changes.
If I don’t care about credit or credit scores, why proceed with all of this? Honestly, because it is all such BS this whole credit reporting system. I busted my ass for years to pay on time, every month to keep my “good credit” and high credit score. I filed for BK for over what…$100k less than a year ago and my score is almost up to where it was when I was the “perfect” credit card holder. It sickens me actually. Geese, my score would probably be even higher if things were reporting correctly.
Another reason is, this whole world seems to be going by credit these days. If you want to get insurance or even cable TV, they want to pull your credit. I want to make sure everything is right on there.
My last reason, so I can share my experiences here with you. Some people care about their credit and I get it. I use to. Maybe my ramblings here about it give someone else a sense of direction…
I’ll post more when I have updates.
Tags: Bankruptcy, credit reporting, credit score
I am a huge Disney fan and last year when I knew this opportunity would be coming in 2010–I jumped all over it. Naturally, I signed up but had to wait like everyone else until the program officially started. Before I promoted it here, I wanted to make sure there was no “fine print”. Nope, I got the email today and it looks great!
I know times are tough for many and a trip to Disneyland or Disney World may sound far-fetched, but thanks to this program–it is not. In fact, up to 8 people in your family can sign up for a volunteer opportunity and score a free ticket to either park. It looks really simple actually.
It looks like the email went out today when we were not home and by the time I logged in to get a volunteer opportunity for us to do as a family, they were all taken. We had few options because my daughter is under 10. However, there were a ton of volunteer opportunities for older kids and adults–we were just trying to do it all at once as a family.
I have always been interested in volunteering so getting this kind of information is great. I want my kids to get more involved in things that are actually important in life–not movies or video games…you know what I mean. If we get free Disney tickets for doing so–great. If not, volunteering is a great way to give back and help others who are going through rough times.
Here is the link if anyone is interested:
Tags: Free Disney Tickets, Volunteering
I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years Eve. I welcomed in 2010 with open arms. 2009 did not start off so well since we were still in debt up to our eyeballs. It did not end so well either with the death of one of our closest family members. But you know what? We declared bankruptcy and we are pretty much debt free. All we owe is the car and I am working hard to pay that sucker off. The debt is gone, and our family member though gone, is in a much better place. So I know she would want us to move on.
These past few weeks, I got very ill–which would explain my lack of posting. Needless to say, I was sick all last week and enjoyed Christmas in bed and New Years Eve and Day working to catch up on all the money lost while I was sick. Because I was uninsured, I did not seek medical help. We are not really sure what I had, but I passed it along to my husband rather quickly, so he too was out of work for a while too while sick.
A few things happened while we were sick:
- I definitely took the health insurance for myself!
- I realized missing a couple days of work–non-paid is not going to financially cripple us since we have savings.
- I aggressively looked for private health insurance for hubby that we could afford and found a few plans through our state. Now we are in the process of narrowing down our choices.
So while we used some of our savings to catch up, I worked hard to replenish it-fast! Luckily for me, I have opportunities that I didn’t have a year ago to make more money. Isn’t it something? It is sort of like when you are unemployed–you can’t find work. But when you have a job, there are so many opportunities available to you.
As a matter of fact, I just accepted a small writing gig that allows me to write about something I enjoy writing about–debt settlement and bankruptcy. It is small but it wont feel like work at all.
We did blow our budget in December because of unforeseen circumstances, but I guess that is part of life and things will come up that we don’t always plan for–or don’t want to plan for…like death and sickness. As long as we don’t put it on credit-we are good.
Promise I will be posting more now that things have gotten back to somewhat normal…whatever normal is.
I mentioned earlier that it is open enrollment time at work for our health and life insurance. First I wrestled with the idea about even getting insurance coverage through my work because I felt like if I took the insurance, that was an incentive to get me to stay. But, as my husband pointed out–it doesn’t look like I am going anywhere anytime soon. I am not ready to give up a job that pays me on time and correctly–even though I can’t stand it 99.9% of the time. At least I have a job and that is more than what many people have right now. So while I have it, I might as well take advantage of what I can get, while I can…huh? My side jobs I am keeping and could eventually become my full-time income, but I don’t feel too comfortable yet going 100% on my own. Not in this economy.
First off, due to the death in the family and seeing what costs were involved–life insurance was my first priority. I upped mine, got hubby and the kids life insurance too. It is gonna cost only a few dollars a month for peace of mind. You never know. You just never know. I felt such a relief getting it. I thought about how wonderful it would be if my husband and girls were taken care of if I passed away. Not like I was happy about the thought of death…you know what I mean.
My next challenge is the health insurance. My husband and I right now seem to be in a HUGE disagreement about it. The cheapest plan that would have both of us covered would be about $6200 a year premium with a decent deductible and copays. He says it is way too much. Me, I worry about everything and just one ER trip can land us in debt again. However, paying that much for insurance is crazy–especially for what they consider a mid-grade HMO.
If I get the policy on my own, (my kids already have their own policy-that one was easy!), it would only cost about $35 a week. Which is affordable, but leaves hubby uninsured. He is healthy and I obviously have some sort of issues (woman problems). He says it is better to have one of us insured than none of us. I don’t know. I really need to think this one out.
Now that we are on the subject of health, I mentioned months ago about a cough my husband had gotten. Well, knock-on-wood it is gone. Turns out there was a mold problem at the temporary job he had. He found this out when he left. So once he left, no more exposure to it. He is healthier than ever-besides the excess weight we both have-but that is a whole other story!
Well, I am off to making some decisions. I sure do hope I make the right one.
Tags: Health insurance, Life insurance
