Huzzah! We're Not Moving

[Fierce Critter]

We decided to bank that refund, spend the next year clearing up some credit, and look next year.

We'll be paying off our truck this year, and I should have eBay up and running again come Spring. So we'll be in much better shape next year. Hopefully credit-wise, too.

So, we're stuck in tinyville with the neighbor from hell for a little while longer.

[Steven]

We decided to bank that refund, spend the next year clearing up some credit, and look next year.

We'll be paying off our truck this year, and I should have eBay up and running again come Spring. So we'll be in much better shape next year. Hopefully credit-wise, too.

So, we're stuck in tinyville with the neighbor from hell for a little while longer.

Smart girl. I like the way you think......you run the risk of de-victimizing yourself you realize? you are actually displaying the audacity of taking control of your life, and people will mock you for it.

But I'll be your secret cheerleader.

[torn asunder]

But I'll be your secret cheerleader.

me too!

[Fierce Critter]

Aww, thanks guys.

It's going to be a real test of our resolve. We are the first to admit we have difficulty holding on to money. But what we're going to do is give my dad a big envelope, and inside it, put the cash from our tax refund in a small envelope. And with each paycheck, or bonus, or eBay sale, or spliff (Jon gets incentive money for selling upgrades), we'll put more money in a small envelope and give it to my dad to put in the big envelope.

We have a few bad debts (repo'd motorcycle, credit card we stopped paying on when we still owed $1500, etc) that we'll need to pay off and get off our record before we'll achieve a score that will get us anywhere near a mortgage grant. We'll have to buy without a down payment, but with a better credit score, hopefully we can get a lower interest rate and make a better house more affordable.

Just sick of the rental/landlord dance with the pets and all. We're relatively safe in the place we're in now, as the landlords don't give a flying fuck about taking care of their renters, so they're rarely around. Might end up having to confront the neighbor about his noise, though. Guy probably weighs 110 lbs but he stomps around like he's wearing lead Nikes, at all hours of the night.

We're going to allow ourselves the "luxury" of a new/used mattress for our bed, but that's it, and I've already hunted down a couple used ones for under $200. Then, it's save, save save.

THEN - housewarming party!!! :D

[AstralCrux]

The key to credit card debt is to have a decent sum at hand, you can usually negotiate 1500 down to 1000- I've done it. But, they want a lump sum payment. They won't do a payment plan, usually, that you can get a significant drop from. I imagine it will work the same way with most other debt. Medical debt can be harder, because they are less likely to negotiate- if they don't, opt for a payment plan. Good luck with it.

When you do manage to free up the debt, don't disregard foreclosed homes. Find someone who deals with foreclosures and look into mortgage approval amounts. You can save a ton of cash that way.

[sass_in_the_pants]

Aww, thanks guys.

It's going to be a real test of our resolve. We are the first to admit we have difficulty holding on to money. But what we're going to do is give my dad a big envelope, and inside it, put the cash from our tax refund in a small envelope. And with each paycheck, or bonus, or eBay sale, or spliff (Jon gets incentive money for selling upgrades), we'll put more money in a small envelope and give it to my dad to put in the big envelope.

We have a few bad debts (repo'd motorcycle, credit card we stopped paying on when we still owed $1500, etc) that we'll need to pay off and get off our record before we'll achieve a score that will get us anywhere near a mortgage grant. We'll have to buy without a down payment, but with a better credit score, hopefully we can get a lower interest rate and make a better house more affordable.

Just sick of the rental/landlord dance with the pets and all. We're relatively safe in the place we're in now, as the landlords don't give a flying fuck about taking care of their renters, so they're rarely around. Might end up having to confront the neighbor about his noise, though. Guy probably weighs 110 lbs but he stomps around like he's wearing lead Nikes, at all hours of the night.

We're going to allow ourselves the "luxury" of a new/used mattress for our bed, but that's it, and I've already hunted down a couple used ones for under $200. Then, it's save, save save.

THEN - housewarming party!!! :D

You definitely sound like you're doing the right thing. I do some volunteer work as a credit counsellor and you sound like you are in ALOT better shape than some of the people that I see. And, FC, I think you're a smart cookie, so probably what I'm about to say you already know, but just in case you don't...

I'm not sure how feasible this is for you to do, but is there a way you can consistently do an automatic withdrawal from your account to your dad's? I mean, any bank will do it, I just don't know if Jon's pay check has enough wiggle room. Automatic is the key word here. What often helps is if you can't see the money AT ALL. It just goes to your dad, and what you never had you can't miss. The frequency with which you save your money is often more important the the amount. If you consider this money to your dad as if it were a bill that had to be paid, like your electric or something, that might work for you. And your ebay sales, could you just have the money go directly into your dad's account, rather than coming to you at all? You said in your post that you have a problem with resolve. I hear that alot from people. That is why all of this automatic withdrawl is such a good thing. You set it up once, and then you don't have to think about it EVER. And definitely, any 'extra' money you get, give that to your dad. Again, you don't miss what you never had. Again, I'm not sure how feasible this is, but even if you give yoru dad $10 from Jon's paycheck, and then if that doesn't hurt you guys, give another ten, and another.

There are ALOT of free credit couseling agencies out there, but be careful, some of them aren't exactly 'free'. I would go through the state of MI website if I were you, they tend to have good resources on that. And one more thing, there are new mortgages out there, offered through the state of MI. Here's the link:

http://www.michigan.gov/mshda

The rates offered there are MUCH lower than what you will find through any traditional mortgage lender. YThey don't realy advertise this. You have to meet certain criteria first, but if you do, I would strongly recommend you look at those loans first. They weren't around when I bought my house six years ago, and if I had known they were coming, I would have waited to buy my house, THAT'S how good of a deal they look to me.

if you have any questions, feel free to email me. I'd be happy to help answer any questions or give you any resources I know about.

[Homicidalheathen]

Good luck. Michigan economy sucks.

[Fierce Critter]

Sass -

I was going to post here asking if anyone does credit counselor work. Looks like you're the person to ask.

What I really want to do is see a credit counselor who can bring up our credit records and tell us which debts are the ones that REALLY need to get paid off to fix our score. For instance, I know the $800 or so we owe from the motorcycle repossession is probably high up there, as is the one single credit card debt.

But after that, there are things like unpaid final bills from phone companies, Sirius satellite radio, auto insurance (we have a bad habit of cancelling services and not paying our final bills), then there's the usual medical bills that have gone to collections.

Back when we applied for our first home mortgage years ago, they weren't very concerned with the medical debts. As they put it, "everybody's got 'em". So I'm assuming those are the lowest priority.

The majority of the debts we've got are actually exceptionally small. Late fees have boosted them up, but again, we want to eventually see a credit counselor who can intervene and work their magic to get the creditors to drop the late fees & give us a lump-sum amount we can work with.

The $1500 credit card is our ONLY credit card. We have always tried to at least be smart and honest with ourselves that we shouldn't allow ourselves access too too much credit. That has really helped. That's also probably our highest outstanding debt, besides one or two emergency room visits sans insurance that go back 8 years.

As for automatic payments to my dad's accounts, we want to avoid that. My dad is 80 years old, and while I hate to think of things in this light, he is a heart patient and could die. My sisters would end up in charge of his affairs, and it would be difficult to figure out a way to differentiate what is his money and what is ours.

And frankly, we don't want my dad knowing how much money we're putting in that envelope 'cause we owe HIM money, too. We pay him a little bit each month, but he could tend toward wanting ALL extra money we've got, and if he knew we were saving thou$ands, he'd want a hefty chunk of it. Not that he's not entitled, but we want to move next year, not in 5 years.

We're really ready to do this. I keep checking our account for that refund so I can get my envelopes, go down to the bank and go right to my dad's.

I really appreciate the link about the mortage, too. Since we're going to have to purchase with no down payment, things like that are really going to be necessary to get us into the kind of home we really want. Not just the "cheapest thing on the market".

if you have any questions, feel free to email me. I'd be happy to help answer any questions or give you any resources I know about.