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Having been unemployed for over a year, I am now losing my credit score (was at 755) and, if I do not find a job soon, I will not only lose my house but also be filing for bankruptcy.
The sad thing is, I did what 'they' suggested and had money in saving to cover 6 month expenses but, house payments and bills, even with unemployment, just ate it up. I wish now I had not bought the house (6 years ago) but at the time my job was stable and who was to know the economy would get so bad?
I've never been late on bills or not paid my way so this has been very shameful and devastating for me.
I have been applying for every job that I could fit in, Administrative Assistant, but there are 200-300 people applying for those same jobs.
It is happening all over, to so many of us.
I hear you! About a year ago I was sure I was going to end up in bankruptcy.
I was rebuilding a toilet for an elderly gentleman the other day (I'm a plumber) and he said while this is not as bad as the great depression, it's the worst thing he's seen since.
I don't know when 630 was ever considered a 'decent' credit score. At one point it one one step up from terrible....which is still pretty bad. These days it might be even worse.
Its actually considered a fair score. I probably couldn't get a mortgage but I got everything else with that score. You don't think that 100 points is a lot to add to a credit score in 2 years? People act like a low credit score is the end of the world its not.
I didn't do anything special and my score recovered quickly. My credit score is now 690. People like to pretend their credit score is this magic number that tells the world all this stuff about them. It doesn't the fact of the matter is credit scores are down only for a short time and it is very easy to get a high credit score (As long as you don't have any big life events). After a year late payments hardly register.
Having been unemployed for over a year, I am now losing my credit score (was at 755) and, if I do not find a job soon, I will not only lose my house but also be filing for bankruptcy.
The sad thing is, I did what 'they' suggested and had money in saving to cover 6 month expenses but, house payments and bills, even with unemployment, just ate it up. I wish now I had not bought the house (6 years ago) but at the time my job was stable and who was to know the economy would get so bad?
I've never been late on bills or not paid my way so this has been very shameful and devastating for me.
I have been applying for every job that I could fit in, Administrative Assistant, but there are 200-300 people applying for those same jobs.
It is happening all over, to so many of us.
You do only what is best for you and your family! Don't be ashamed its not your fault (I know easier said then done). The banks are parasites! If I lost my job I wouldn't worry about stiffing the banks. They are the ones that caused this mess in the first place! I hope you find a new job soon. Good luck and remember to pray (It will give you peace about the situation).
Having been unemployed for over a year, I am now losing my credit score (was at 755) and, if I do not find a job soon, I will not only lose my house but also be filing for bankruptcy.
The sad thing is, I did what 'they' suggested and had money in saving to cover 6 month expenses but, house payments and bills, even with unemployment, just ate it up. I wish now I had not bought the house (6 years ago) but at the time my job was stable and who was to know the economy would get so bad?
I've never been late on bills or not paid my way so this has been very shameful and devastating for me.
I have been applying for every job that I could fit in, Administrative Assistant, but there are 200-300 people applying for those same jobs.
It is happening all over, to so many of us.
I can't change anyhting for you but you need to keep tough. Just to show your not alone. My father moved here from pennsylvannai in the great depression;1937 to be exact;without my mohter to take a job. She was pregeant at the time with my sister. She satyed with her parents for a year until my father had gotten things together.Tyhewn WWII hit.In 1964 my brother was drafted after finishing college and in 1969 I went. By 1970 both of were home and vietnam was winding down. I and my brother each had just started jobs when the 70's recsssion hit. My brother took a job in Ohio where he married his wife.I worked several jobs until 1974 when I found the job I retired in eventually.There was double digit unemployemnt and inflation but i guess after vietnam things didn't seem so tough that we couldn't get thru it.My wife graduated in 1972 and she went into the job market in the recession. She worked as a typist several places ;as a writer for a newspaper just making enough to keep going.Suddenly she was accepted by two positions she applied for . She picked one workig where I did and how we met. Later she was hired as the adminstrative assistent to a company director else where. We were watching Forest Gump when she told me that she felt at first that she had taken the wrong job coming to work where I did . But she said it turned out to be a box of chocolates. Weare both reried now. So I guess what I am saying is keep pressing on;life isn't over yet.
Credit scores are going to be a thing of the past, the more people realize that they are used as an extortion tool for the banks. Bad credit score? you get to pay more interest.
The best bet is to save & carefully spend. If you can be your own banker you are better off in the long run. If you don't have it, you don't need it.
It will still be a difficult get a home loan without marginally decent credit.
How about if these people just save up and pay cash... then they don't have to worry about their credit score, they won't have any of those easy payments, and guess what? They would own what they purchased.
For the average American, saving up to pay full price even on a $150K home means that they will never own a home. By the time you save that up along with retirement, school, whatever else...you're about ready for the nursing home.
For the average American, saving up to pay full price even on a $150K home means that they will never own a home. By the time you save that up along with retirement, school, whatever else...you're about ready for the nursing home.
I'm assuming debtmonger was referring to consumer and car loans more so than mortgages (even Dave Ramsey allows for mortgages, lol) but the principle is the same. If one can pay 15-30 years of mortgage payments one could just as easily pay for a house by saving the equivalent amount for that same length of time. Now, I'm not recommending that, I'm just saying it's possible.
People who take that route (saving cash for a house) will likely accomplish the goal much sooner than 30 years because they don't have other debts and have more of their income available to save (they'd also tend to be living well below their means, being frugal, etc.). Funny, we had a 30 year mortgage but without any car payments, student loans or CC we can pay it off in about 10 years. See how that works?
FTR...I have known a few 'average' Americans who saved up to buy a house, or saved for several years to put down more than 50% down payment and intend to pay off in < 5 years. They'll have many, many years to live in their home before they have to be wheeled off to the old age home.
For the average American, saving up to pay full price even on a $150K home means that they will never own a home. By the time you save that up along with retirement, school, whatever else...you're about ready for the nursing home.
Even frugal people will carefully buy a home on time...
Mortgages existed long before credit cards and the bulk of consumer lending...
My Grandmother, married in 1927 and lived through the depression as a newly wed... for most of the people she knew... the problem was they over extended themselves thinking prices had no where to go but up... just like many that bought into real estate a few years ago.
Till the day she died, she never carried a credit card... one of the things I often heard her say, "If I don't have the cash... no sense looking"
My credit tanked a few years ago with a major family breakup. And since I'm now on disability, I don't overly concern myself with it since I'm unlikely to qualify for a credit card or at least shouldn't. But I have rules about buying things. I don't buy on impulse. If I still want it in a month, if I still *need* it in a week, then maybe. We are a society where buying for buying's sake is encouraged. I don't shop on whim but with a list and keep it simple. And I'm much happier than when I did have more to spend. I would never borrow money again, because what I've learned is that you can NEVER know when that other shoe will drop. Once the bottom of your life has fallen out you know it can do it again in a heartbeat and leave you in deep problem if you have assumed.
I've also learned to enjoy what I have over dreaming of what I want. I think we are too much of a "stuff" society where we buy and get brief pleasure and then toss so we can buy again. But we never know if something has value since its so transatory.
And as more and more credit scores tank because our economy is NOT improving much for most people, the banks and lending people will have to find a different way. And a whole lot of people will have learned that you don't spend when the money isn't real.
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