[metroschultz]

This may or may not be the place to talk about it.
I couldn't think of a better Forum to head to.
I have had a lot of personal DRAMA in my life for the last few months and have not been as involved as I would like to have been,
or done as much to my car, or
driven as well as I could have.....
SO
Without further ado,
I would like to share some personal history,
Maybe some of you are in the same situation,
Maybe some of you are just nosy.
Either way I don't mind telling the world what has been happening in my life.
From the beginning;
March 2008,
My wife lost her job. (beginning of the Economic downturn in our lives)
No biggie then, I work overtime and that will make up the difference.
May 2008,
Cost of fuel begins to rise sharply and P.O. cuts overtime to pay for doubling of fuel costs. (oops, there goes our buffer)
Barb had found another job by now so the loss wasn't as bad as it could have been. However she is working for half of what she used to earn. Finances are definitely tight. Cut as much expense as possible. Even get rid of cable TV ( I have a digital converter box now and there are 9 stations in my area with each one putting out at least 2 signals) and consider going back to dial-up for internet. (Nah)
June/July 2008,
Cost of goods and food goes up to cover rising cost of delivery.
Direct correlation to the rising cost of fuel which hit all time high in late July or early August.
First time I am using credit card to pay for household expenses. (Bad Omen, if you are here, time to re-think your expenses)
September,
First time EVER in my life I paid the mortgage late.
DRAMA BEGINS
Same story has been told over and over and over,
Using Credit unwisely (seemed the only way to pay bills at the time)
Emptying the Savings account (now we live paycheck to paycheck)
Paying mortgage late also leads to paying late charge, large loss of money when paying late charges.(If you can avoid late charges do so as much as possible, eat beans and macaroni and cheese for dinner 4 days a week, not healthy but not expensive either) makes wife mad you can't buy "Decent" groceries. (lots of crying, by us both)
October,
Late on everything, (!?!?!?!?! Holy $hit, what happened, a year ago we were doing well and putting money away!!!!???????)
November,
Paid all small bills, including late charges and promised self to pay Mortgage before Dec.
Dec, still haven't paid Nov. Mortgage. (! CRAP !)
Talk to bank about mortgage, tell them Everything, they are very nice and have several systems in place just for this sort of problem.
We put one of those into place but it will not solve all my problems.
(I had lots of them, 7.5% mortgage, Car payment, Signature loan, 13 credit cards[now all maxed out] medical bills and a tax lien)
Bank manager advises to look for refinance, He would love to help but my credit score has tanked in the last 4 months and is not high enough now for this bank to even process a loan. He told me that with the new laws in place and regulation coming now is the time to get this done. I was amazed at the candor he used and grateful for the information. ( if you are here, talk to somebody, even the Gov't has people who can help now)
I apply online for refinance, start opening those refinance letters we get every month and call friends who have just purchased or refinanced their homes.
Make all applications that don't ask for money up front.
End up with 19 offers.
Some good,
Some not.
Weed out the bad and end with 13,
Make counter offers to these with best numbers from other offers.
Comes down to 5 who will meet the offer I send back.
Make offer again with best numbers, one broker realized that was her offer and would not go any lower. (I think that was as low as her company would go) Those 5 are directly with mortgage companies, BTW, not brokers.
End up using the one who is closest to my home. Same offer as 2 of the others. Selling points;
* NO money up front, (this was a biggie, the other 2 wanted the money for an appraisal before finishing paperwork)
* Close before Christmas,
* Hometown Guy,
* Acquaintance from Church and referral from friend.
* Mortgage payment goes down. (Directly due to lower finance rate, 5.375%)(Was $1810.oo per month, now $1780.oo per. Hey $30 bucks is $30 bucks)
We were able to pull enough money out of the equity (luckily we had, and still have, lots of equity) in the house, to pay all the other debts. We were at one time considering selling to get out of financial stress.
Now I am in the process of closing the credit card accounts, (we will keep one Visa and Discover for EMERGENCIES, I need to hide these from myself and Barb)
So that brings us to today.
My house payment is do-able.
My bills are in check.
My wife isn't mad over finances.
We won't be buying that new Yaris anytime soon though.
and now I can relax and get back to modding the Metro and instead of worrying about the money on my drive home, I can concentrate on the drive to save fuel once again.
I have not put anything in the fuel log because I wasn't really keeping track. To busy. Mind elsewhere.

I put this out here for those of you who may be in a similar situation.
I was feeling as if I would become the next foreclosure statistic.
Help is available and Interest rates are at an all time low right now.
The Gov't has changed the rule on FHA loans so just about any one can qualify (even with a credit score so low you need a co-signer to pay cash)
I know this isn't really related to EcoModding.
But it is me Economizing my life. (at least the financial part)
And I hope it helps someone who may feel all alone in their struggle to keep up. Or someone who is in danger of losing their home to keep the faith and start looking for help instead of resigning themselves to becoming a statistic. (yeah, that was me too)

So, now back to work.
I have a truck in the drive that needs a tune up,( and some light ecomodding)
and a Grand Am that won't run smooth in the morning. (probably get some modding too)
And one coming that needs a belt.
THEN
I can get those wheel skirts on.