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Re: Keyser and LadynRed - part 1 - you asked for it !
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Posted by LadynRed
(199.91.33.254) on April 09, 2003 at 13:36:56:
You want to hear my story ? Sure.. sit back and read ! First of all, I have NEVER 'charged up $25K in debt' just for the hell of it !! I don't need shopper's anonymous, I'm not a 'gotta have it NOW' kind of person. In fact, I've been accused of being TOO cautious when spending money !! My credit problems now are the cumulative result of 3 lay-offs over the last 5-6 years, not from any spend-thrift 'deadbeat' ways that your industry hags like to try to accuse of all of. Pre-judging someone and name-calling only raises my ire and I quickly turn off ALL niceties when confronted with that behavior. I'm a nice person, but back me into a corner and get nasty and I WILL fight back with all I can muster. My father was always in business for himself, my mother a graudate of what they used to call business school in the 1930 and 40's. She took care of the finances for the businsess (2) my Dad had and we were ALL taught to handle finances and I was taught to handle the books in case my mother was ill - which she was for a period of time. So, its not like I knew nothing of budgets and money, far from it. I ALWAYS had and stuck to a budget. I ALWAYS had a savings account (worthless these days), but life will kick you in the teeth every chance it gets and I've been kicked several times. When the first layoff hit, I was unemployed for almost 7 months, with NO unemployment (thanks to the underhandedness of a certain CEO). During this unemployment, my refridgerator died (it was 20 years old to start with) and I had to have a new one - it went on credit. My dishwasher also died - I replaced it much later. The roof on my house developed a serious leak which I could not afford to have fixed, so it only got worse. I came within a hair's breadth of losing my house when I finally found another job - at a 45% DECREASE in pay ! So, the bills that were easily manageable at my previous income were now quite staggering, but I managed to keep it all together and keep everyone paid. I lived on a very strict budget for 5 years - I was a virtualy recluse in my home because I couldn't afford to do anything but sit in my living room !! Over that 5 years, I did get some meager raises, but the company was project-oriented and when there were no projects, there were no raises. The last 2 years before I was laid off from that job, there were NO raises. It was quite impossible to save any money as I barely made ends meet for day-to-day expenses. The first year of that job, the A/C in my house (heat pump outside unit)died - it cost over $1000 to have it fixed. I lived in SC, it was VERY hot in summer so going with A/C was just intolerable - believe me, I tried for 2 months and fans just dont' cut it ! I had to put the AC repair on credit since my savings were ZERO after the 7 month unemployment. So, the repair had to go on credit. In the 3rd year, the Fan assembly (inside unit) of my heat pump DIED - in the middle of an ice storm in February, on a Sunday no less. I did w/o calling for repairs until Monday, thanks to a fireplace and a stack of wood. THAT repair cost around $700. Again, with no savings, it had to go on credit. The dishwasher died too - more credit. Yes, I could have gone w/o it for a while, but the picture wasn't getting any better looking to 'save' to buy one later. The job market (I'm in IT) in SC was tanking and nothing was coming up with my year-long job search. Bingo.. year 5-1/2 - LAID OFF AGAIN !!! This time no savings, no severance except 2 weeks vacation owed to me. This time, I was luckier, I had found a job in TN, but I had to move, the SC job market was DEAD (still is). So, I borrowed some money from family, just enough to make the move along with a fortunate tax refund and I took the new job. Well.. I left the house behind will intentions of renting it until it could be sold. Thanks to a shyster R.E. agent, the house never rented so now I was paying 2 mortgages (the 2nd I took out in Yr 3 of that job to fix the roof and the rotten siding) in SC AND paying rent and living expenses on a single salary. It was a decent income, but not enough to support the equivalent of 3 mortgages and living expenses. My brother's helped me get some repairs done to the house to get it ready to sell. I had to stop paying on the 2nd mortgage, I was drowning. I figured the house would sell for enough to pay off both loans. NOT ! The housing market in that area had gone into the sewer. It sat for 9 months with only 1 offer. The price was reduced 3 times to at least try to cover MOST of the 2 mortgages -- no luck. We didn't hire a RE agent because the commission would have been too much. After a lengthy conference with my brothers, it was decided to let the house go to foreclosure. NOT what I had EVER wanted to do, but I had no choice. After the bank took the house, it took THEM a YEAR to sell it at auction !! Fortunately, it sold for enough to cover the first mortgage with a tiny bit left over. So.. I have what is now a huge unsecured home equity loan sitting out there. They want more money in a settlement than I make in a year GROSS !! Then last year, Feb 1, layoff number 3 hits me. This time I had a meager $275 a week unemployment - barely paid the rent, utilities, car insurance and gas. If it hadn't been for my fiance, I wouldn't have been able to buy groceries or I'd have had to stop paying rent and been evicted. So..here we go again. What little bit of savings I'd accumulated over the 2 years I worked for this last company was GONE in just a few months. I was unemployed for 6 months. Guess what, the IT job market STILL SUCKS, probably more than a lot of others. I sent out dozens of resumes - only 1 interview came from any of them.
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