Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And now I'm facing my boyfriend's imminent blindness because he is 28 years old with advanced glaucoma and can't afford the surgery needed to *maybe* save his sight.
I do not want to hijack the thread, but your boyfriend should contact the nearest Lion's Club. They may be able to assist him with his eye surgery.
It sure does when you are paying half your income on rent because you weren't able to buy ten years ago and therefore weren't able to lock in a monthly payment one-quarter of your income.
Fixed-rate mortgage means your monthly payment declines over time as a proportion of your (rising) income. Renting means rent inflation and a (rising) monthly payment that doesn't decline over time as a proportion of your income..
You are lucky that you couldn't buy ten years ago. There is no time like the present! The prices are down and the rates are as low as they have ever been. If you want to own rather than rent, then now is the time to do it. If you don't want to do it that's fine... but don't whine about it.
The people that succeed in life do it because they don't hold others responsible for their fate. The people who fail generally find others to blame for their failure. Decide which one you are.
How exactly did I screw up? I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer a month after my 23rd birthday. Before getting sick, I had no debt (had over $150,000 in scholarships to get through an elite college debt free), several thousands in savings, and good savings habits in the few months I had been working. I continued to work full time against doctor's orders in order to be able to pay my bills. My out of pocket costs far exceeded my income. 3 months into chemo, I had maxed out my credit cards because of the mounting bills that I had no way to pay. I was as well prepared as a 23 year old could be for crisis - but no 23 year old expects to be diagnosed with Stage IV cancer.
I'm not looking for an enemy - I'm looking at economic reality. When you take home around $20,000 a year and in 6 months you wrack up more than $20,000 of debt purely from medical costs, copays, and having to pay people to do things that you can't do yourself (like laundry, in my case - I couldn't walk 3 blocks to the laundromat), what do you do? For the next 5 years, I'm about $5000 out of pocket just for follow ups, so that debt never really goes away. I'm also on hundreds of dollars of medication a month. I am still struggling with long term effects of chemo like severe lung damage and chronic fatigue, which prevent me from taking on 2nd jobs because I cannot be on my feet and my full time job is 9-5.
I ask again - what did I do wrong? I am not saying that I shouldn't pay it - and I have been steadily paying down my debt and haven't missed a payment since ending treatment where I no longer was in the hospital or bedridden when bills came due. And now I'm facing my boyfriend's imminent blindness because he is 28 years old with advanced glaucoma and can't afford the surgery needed to *maybe* save his sight, and my parents are close to losing their house due to my dad's recent diagnosis of early onset Alzheimers with the huge medical bills associated when he can no longer work at what should be the peak of his earning years. My parents had immaculate credit until facing my dad's rapid decline. My big safety nets are crippled with their own medical debt - and we all are limiting our futures because of the credit damage done to save our lives/sight now. Do you know how helpless that feels?
Sometimes things go out of your control. With my parents, they own a home so damaged credit won't negatively impact their lives too much. I'm about to turn 25 and I worry about when my financial situation is better (not making entry level wages, paid off debt) if my credit will not allow me to buy a home - further forcing negative financial implications on my life because I happened to get sick.
I'm sorry you made poor decisions, I really am. But unless your poor decisions happened because of the financial devastation of illness, you can't compare your situation to mine.
Life 101. Creditors don't care why you were behind in paying you're debt off or making payments as you agreed to do. As cold as it sounds the facts are the facts. I am not saying what you are saying is an excuse but creditors heard every excuse in the book and because you did not pay as you agreed it hurt your credit score.
Again, Life 101, life throws all kinds of things at us and you should expect it (loss of job, sickness, death) it's a fact of life and you "should be prepared" for it and that is why you should have an emergency fund. It is you're fault you were not prepared. The cold hard facts of life.
You are lucky that you couldn't buy ten years ago. There is no time like the present! The prices are down and the rates are as low as they have ever been. If you want to own rather than rent, then now is the time to do it. If you don't want to do it that's fine... but don't whine about it.
The people that succeed in life do it because they don't hold others responsible for their fate. The people who fail generally find others to blame for their failure. Decide which one you are.
Don't waste your breath/typing on it. I think freemkt is really "one of us" but pretends to be broke and ignorant. Knows much to much and yet still acts ignorant.
Originally Posted by petch751
At one time I did all the wrong things but when I woke up I took full blame. Instead of feeling sorry for myself I decided to climb out of my self-induced financial mess. As I was doing that, I got a self-made financial education. The problem is Obama is encouraging people to continue feeling sorry for themselves and gave you an enemy. You screwed up so he found Americans for you to blame. All that does is keep you in the same place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charolastra00
I'm sorry you made poor decisions, I really am. But unless your poor decisions happened because of the financial devastation of illness, you can't compare your situation to mine.
My poor decisions was made out of pure stupidity. Again, I was never late on any payment but was heading into disaster. Thank god I woke up out of my stupor and worked to pay everything off before a financial meltdown.
STUPIDITY should be classified disease. A curable disease. I wonder if I would have gotten out if I blamed anyone and everyone like Obama is encouraging us to do.
For many reasons, but here is one that gets me:
You can have excellent credit if your score is between 750 and 850, a 100 point range.
You can have good credit if your score is between 660 and 749, a range of about 90 points.
You can have fair credit if your score is between 620 and 649, a range of only 29 points.
However you have poor and poor is a very strong word, credit if your score is between 350 and 619, almost 270 points!
How do the credit card companies get away with this stuff, along with all the other crap they get away with (like runing credit over unpaid/underpaid medical bills)?
Of course, I can hear the conservatives say, manage your own credit properly and you won't have this problem.
Well, it is not always that easy, again, always, that easy.
90-100 = A (10 point spread)
80-89 = B (10 point spread)
70-79 = C (10 point spread)
60-69 = D (10 point spread)
0-59 = F (WTF!?)
Quote:
Originally Posted by petch751
My poor decisions was made out of pure stupidity. Again, I was never late on any payment but was heading into disaster. Thank god I woke up out of my stupor and worked to pay everything off before a financial meltdown.
STUPIDITY should be classified disease. A curable disease. I wonder if I would have gotten out if I blamed anyone and everyone like Obama is encouraging us to do.
They're taking volunteers for medical trials for that.
Originally Posted by petch751
My poor decisions was made out of pure stupidity. Again, I was never late on any payment but was heading into disaster. Thank god I woke up out of my stupor and worked to pay everything off before a financial meltdown.
STUPIDITY should be classified disease. A curable disease. I wonder if I would have gotten out if I blamed anyone and everyone like Obama is encouraging us to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LordSquidworth
They're taking volunteers for medical trials for that.
No need for that. The first part of the cure is to be able to admit it was I who screwed up. No blame game because blame will keep anyone who is blaming others right where they are at.
We do need to establish some sort of program for it though. It appears that over 50% of the population still suffers from it. Syllabus below:
Blaming Others Will Get You Nowhere
It's Your Fault
Take A Hard Look At Your Finances
Understanding Money
Understanding Debt
Understanding Cash Flow
Understanding Income and Expenses
Understanding A Balance Sheet
Plan For Emergency
Tying It all Together / Your Personal Finance
No need for that. The first part of the cure is to be able to admit it was I who screwed up. No blame game because blame will keep anyone who is blaming others right where they are at.
We do need to establish some sort of program for it though. It appears that over 50% of the population still suffers from it. Syllabus below:
Stop Blaming Others
Take A Hard Look At Your Finances
Plan To Be Cured
Plan For Emergency
Understanding Money
Understanding Debt
Tying It all Together / Your Personal Finance
Pft... Try like 90%. Nobody likes taking responsibility for their failures. We've been taught our emotions are more important.
Your 50% is just coming off as a pathetic partisan political jab based off your other postings.
You are lucky that you couldn't buy ten years ago. There is no time like the present! The prices are down and the rates are as low as they have ever been. If you want to own rather than rent, then now is the time to do it. If you don't want to do it that's fine... but don't whine about it.
The people that succeed in life do it because they don't hold others responsible for their fate. The people who fail generally find others to blame for their failure. Decide which one you are.
But I still can't buy, and rents are going through the roof so I'm now paying a lot more to rent than to own.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
