We worked out our monthly expenses....in the red. (loan, real estate, apartment)

[suzie02]

Originally Posted by oz in SC

House is the cause of our problems,mainly the high second we took on to pay back our debts...you know,being responsible.

So you used your house like an ATM? Obviously you had bad spending habits before your income went down. I hope you learned to live within your means.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by oz in SC

House is the cause of our problems,mainly the high second we took on to pay back our debts...you know,being responsible.

This is not being responsible, rather the opposite. You took unsecured debts and moved them to secured debts and this is the source of your current problems.

You have obviously been living beyond your means with debt for some time now and you are having to pay the reaper.

[oz in SC]

Originally Posted by suzie02

So you used your house like an ATM? Obviously you had bad spending habits before your income went down. I hope you learned to live within your means.

No...we updated the home like you are supposed to.

We did consolidate soem debt into the house due to a time when a job loss caused financial problems.

Obviously you don't have any idea what our spending habits are but you sure can ASSume.

You know what that makes you.

Anyway,we will see what Thursday brings.

[oz in SC]

Originally Posted by user_id

This is not being responsible, rather the opposite. You took unsecured debts and moved them to secured debts and this is the source of your current problems.

You have obviously been living beyond your means with debt for some time now and you are having to pay the reaper.

Paying back your debts and sacrificing IS being responsible...

The Holier than thou types here are a hoot...of course they NEVER did the same things...seems almost everyone pays off their C/C's every month,buys cars with cash and lives within their means...

As to living beyond our means....ummm DUH!!!
We were doing what MILLIONS of others and ALL the experts were saying to do,silly us for listening.

[suzie02]

Originally Posted by oz in SC

We did consolidate soem debt into the house due to a time when a job loss caused financial problems.

Here we go the famous job loss. Let me tell you my dh and I both lost our jobs due to the .com bust. Somehow we managed not to accumulate debt during that period. The moment we got our notice we reduced our expenses to the minimum. We didn't even drive unless strictly necessary.

Originally Posted by oz in SC

Obviously you don't have any idea what our spending habits are but you sure can ASSume.

You know what that makes you.

I haven't assumed anything. You said you refinanced a house to include other debt. Somehow you incurred that debt (i.e. spending habits).

Originally Posted by oz in SC

Paying back your debts and sacrificing IS being responsible...

Yeah, but that is not what you are planning to do based on your posts.

Originally Posted by oz in SC

The Holier than thou types here are a hoot...of course they NEVER did the same things...seems almost everyone pays off their C/C's every month,buys cars with cash and lives within their means...

The reason we pay our cc every month is because we do not like giving away our hard earned money for nothing. Why pay 27% interest on food or clothing?.

Originally Posted by oz in SC

As to living beyond our means....ummm DUH!!!
We were doing what MILLIONS of others and ALL the experts were saying to do,silly us for listening.

Which experts have ever said live beyond your means? Or do you mean sales people? You know their job is to sell you stuff so they can make money.

If you do not accept the fact that your previous financial decisions were wrong you'll likely find yourself in the same situation again.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by oz in SC

Paying back your debts and sacrificing IS being responsible...

Taking out more debt is not paying back your debt, its a transfer of debt from one source to another. Transferring unsecured debt to secured debt is generally not a good idea, you are learning why right now.

Originally Posted by oz in SC

The Holier than thou types here are a hoot...of course they NEVER did the same things...

I have made financial mistakes in the past, about 3 years ago I started to think more about finances and started to pay off my debt and generally restructured things.

Most people make mistakes, the question is what you learn from them.

Originally Posted by oz in SC

We were doing what MILLIONS of others and ALL the experts were saying to do,silly us for listening.

All the experts? Experts in what exactly? Perhaps you mistake salesman and paid shills on TV for experts?

As the saying goes, if everyone jumped off a bridge would you?

[oz in SC]

We will no longer have credit or incur debt in the future,we no longer plan to live the lifestyle that mainstream America(and the rest of the developed world actually) does.

But that is in the future...

Right NOW,we need to figure out the best path to get there.

Continuing to do what we were doing is impossible,staying here is impossible really as well as the second house payment is the issue.

Again,we understand we were living beyond our means then,and now we are paying for it,however we thought we had a way out by paying down a large amount of the debt quickly.

This is where we fell down,we gambled and lost.

It isn't really important because in the end the ability to borrow money and debt is the problem.

If we need something in the future,we pay cash or we don't get it.

[oz in SC]

Originally Posted by user_id

All the experts? Experts in what exactly? Perhaps you mistake salesman and paid shills on TV for experts?

As the saying goes, if everyone jumped off a bridge would you?

Funny thing is the ENTIRE developed world and almost all the lending institutions and financial institutions did just that.....

As did almost every government including our own and all of the individual states...all were living beyond their means.

[oz in SC]

Found this on another forum and thought it quite true...

Honesty is the best policy, but only when you deal with honest people.

In all other cases, the world is like weather: you take what you can use and stay out of the way of the rest. You don't argue with weather, and honesty does not apply.

[sheenie2000]

Originally Posted by oz in SC

THIS house is the cause of our problems actually...and we could if necessary move to our land and live in our unfinished place there.


My truck is paid for,wife's vehicle is not but is of course worth less than we owe...it is a Chevrolet.The cards are all being reduced to the balance and that is fine.

We have set up an appointment with a Bankruptcy Attorney for Thursday.

I find this incredibly unfair. Why is it ok for people to file bankruptcy, and have two homes one of which got updated?

Originally Posted by oz in SC

No...we updated the home like you are supposed to.

Did you have to update your home? I can understand having a leaking roof that needs to be immediately repaired. But I always thought you pay for cash to make upgrades. I can understand an old vanity or countertops look ugly. But they work so why is there this need to have to take out these giant loans to upgrade it.

From my perspective, it seems like you got to upgrade your house and now get to file bankruptcy and not pay for it...