Death by a Thousand Cuts - My Personal Story of the Every Day American Struggle

[beforeyoureyes]

Today, I am going to share the week of financial pitfalls and hell that I just experienced. There is nothing in this recount that is unusual, it is pretty much par for the course for all of us who are struggling to make it paycheck to paycheck, disability check to disability check, unemployment check to unemployment check...

A brief overview of my financial situation. I am person on a fixed disability income. Luckier then some because my previous employer offered disability insurance which supplements my disability checks. Still, this is by no means a lot of money, and it is a struggle to meet the bills and expenses each month. If I did not have a supportive family, I don't think I still would have my home. So, I count myself lucky, make no mistake. I know the hell so many people are experiencing and the following is just to illustrate the struggles and minefield that make it next to impossible to stay even, let alone get ahead.

Sunday - Took my daughter and two of her friends for a free day of fun at the river. Nice day, but on the way home I was pulled over. I had no idea for what. I wasn't speeding and the seat belts were all on. Turns out my cars registration expired last month, unbenowst to me. It was fully insured and inspected. I didn't receive any notice from the motor vehicles department, I don't know if it was an oversight on their part or they don't send reminders out anymore. In case, the car was impounded and I was left on the side of the road with three kids and given a one hundred dollar ticket and a one hundred and twenty five dollar towing fee. Plus, this offense will jack my car insurance costing a couple hundred dollars a year. The cost of the registration fee and the reason for the ticket - 48.00. Additionally incurred 20.00 a day in vehicle impoundment fees. Plus, a morning of travel to get back and forth (the car was taken about thirty miles from my home).

Well, okay, sh*t happends. Could be worse...let's move on to Monday....

I was budgeted down to the penny and no longer have money for a small order of groceries or gas...let alone money to pay my credit card bill on time...

Moving on to Monday...

Monday - Letter from my credit card company. Recent increase in expenses for medical have resulted in getting behind on my credit card bill (a few days late). The credit card company had previously jacked my rate from 9.9 to 22 percent for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, just because they could. I had never been late and I wasn't late on other bills either at the time it happened. The notice I was sent let me know they would be hiking it again to 27.22 percent, if I was another day late. I have paid hundreds of dollars on this bill in the past few months and it hasn't moved down hardly at all.

Tuesday - I go into my drawer for my medication and realize one of my major and most expensive scripts is really low. My daughter's med is also almost out. The cost of the co-pays for both is 300.00. I reluctantly pick up the phone and call my family for help which they generously give without complaint. Many others aren't so lucky. If my medication wasn't filled, it could result in a downward spiral that has in the past led to hospitalization. I thank my lucky stars that I have someone to help. I realize so many don't.

Wednesday - hocked an old favorite item of mine on eBay (with the generous help of a friend, again thanks to have loving people in my life) to get some extra money coming in from the week before...Go on line and the money to be transferred to my bank account has been frozen because of a complaint the item wasn't received. Despite a tracking number and proof the item was in the country of the buyer, they withdrew all the money from the account and froze it. Fortunately, it was released the next day, but it caused a several day delay in the transfer of money to the bank account. I have no money. Credit card bill will definitely be late, and the interest will go up to match that of loan sharks.

Thursday - noticed that my prior month's mortgage payment had not yet cleared. Nearly three weeks since I sent the check, so I gave the bank a call. Currently one month behind on the mortgage to begin with and hoping to catch up this month. I had called and asked for a one month deferrment to the end of the loan, a courtesy they used to allow twice in three years. They refused. Instead they sent me the thick packet to completely renegotiate my loan, even though under that program it would not change my mortgage payments at all. I told them I just needed a deferrment and I could right back on track. They stated they wouldn't do it, so now I am incurring monthly late fees on my loan and my payment constantly shows up late on my credit report. My credit which I have been working to rebuild for several years is now destroyed. But, I digress, that was LAST month's story. Today, I call and ask why my check hasn't cleared. They tell me they can't find it. They tell me to cancel the check (35.00 fee on my end) and they will take a payment over the phone for a fee of 20.00. I tell them to waive the fee. After several minutes on hold, they waive the fee, I pay the mortgage and post date a check for the next payment.

It is late in the day, so I put off the call to the bank to stop the check the next day. The next morning the other check shows up and clears. My bank account is now nearly one thousand dollars in the whole. The bank covered the check which will clear when my check gets deposited in the bank in the next few days. My gas money is now gone. And, I have incurred a fifty dollar fee for coverage for the check from my own bank. I will now have to put a stop payment on the postdated payment I made to the mortgage company to avoid anymore late charges, that would be another 35.00.

Fast forward to today...

Today, I am rolling quarters to find enough gas money to drive my daughter to school. I am scraping to get enough lunch money for her. I do not qualify for school lunch assistance or much else because I am slightly over the income cut-off.


My check engine light just came on in my car and the oil change is a few thousand miles overdo.

I am standing in the fixer upper I bought a few years back with the naive hope that I would be able to slowly get it in shape. I have put a lot of money into the house, but no one would ever know. The insulation, new furnace, chimney work, and structural repairs don't show. The house is a museum of unfinished projects, the outside half finished. I simply have no money to complete it. A woman at the check out counter made a snide remark about it not being finished the other day, as if it was out of laziness or something. I looked her in the eye and told her that I simply didn't have the money. She looked down and blushed.

It is embarrasing, but what the hell can I do about it? The cost of supplies has gone through the roof! I am grateful I am not homeless.

I sit down and sigh and think about my week. I look at the pile of unpaid medical bills on the dining room table and think about declaring bankruptcy. It isn't a lot of money I owe, but my credit is already destroyed and I see no way to rebuild. I might as well owe a million as the few thousand...I can't pay either amount.

And, so it is...This story is not unique, it is status quo typical for millions of American families everyday. The clueless beltway politicians can go on and on and on about the fake economic recovery, but all of us who live this teetering on the edge of the abysess paycheck to paycheck dance...we know it is simply not true. This is how the middle class has fallen away.

Death by a thousand cuts....

[FirstLight]

1. so many little injustices,

each one on their own could send us into ruin, homelessness, or just a lingering depression. No wonder suicides are up.

I get it, hun. I am in a similar boat and bailing water to survive the week. My parents are a huge help, but they can only do so much and if it weren't for them my kids would have no shoes and my gas would have been shut off in february...

Hanging on to the bottom rung is not easy for short term, but the long term effects of these 'thousand cuts' is even more devastating. i wonder how my kids will fare in the years to come. Even talking about college seems like an exercise in futility.

The more downtrodden we are and the longer it lasts, the less hope we may be capable of. I was so full of hope as Obama took office...but now i think it may not matter who is in office... the corporations own it all and we are proles.

:hug: hang in there, sister!

[beforeyoureyes]

6. Thanks - hugs to you too...

I know what you mean about college. I think my parents would spring for my daughter to go to community college, and my sister would probably help as well. I feel so sad that I can't give her a college education, on my own.

Thank god for my family. I know so many people who don't have that help, and it is absolutely brutal to have no where to turn. Many parents can't give it, though I am sure they would love to be able to do it, if they had the means.

As for shoes...and school supplies...thank god again that they do that as well. They treat her (and me) really well.

Thanks again

:hug:

[FirstLight]

14. and welcome to DU!

It's funny for me to say that, I still feel like a newbie sometimes, lol
but this is a good community, and we take care of eachother in lots of ways :hug:

if you are into it, check out the astrology, spirituality and alternative healing forum :)

take care!

[chill_wind]

2. You've given an incredibly real voice

to the growing nightmarish reality that so many of us in America are presently living. Anything I could say beyond that would seem trite. Welcome to DU and I hope you will keep writing. A lot.

K & R.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. I wholeheartedly second that!

:hug:


Edit to add: As soon as you're able to PM, please get in touch with me. Or, visit the link for Wishadoo at the bottom of my post here to contact me. Thanks, and thanks for sharing. :hug:

[FirstLight]

16. pssst!

I reposted this on FB, wanna re-share with Wishadoo too? ;) :hugs:

:grouphug: It's these rocky times that will reveal the truth of human spirit, let's keep helping one another in all ways !

[OneGrassRoot]

19. I wanted to ask permission to do so. :)

Not everyone realizes this is a public forum and may not want such sharings spread around? :shrug:

But I'm with you. :hi:

Later gator!

:)

[FirstLight]

20. i'm sorry, you're right...

I hope sharing this on fb was okay too... :blush:

[FirstLight]

17. pssst!

I reposted this on FB, wanna re-share with Wishadoo too? ;) :hugs:

:grouphug: It's these rocky times that will reveal the truth of human spirit, let's keep helping one another in all ways !

[beforeyoureyes]

4. Thanks.

I certainly have enough material :)

[Kind of Blue]

59. Welcome to DU, Beforeyoureyes!

As FirstLight says, we do take care of each other and I hope the number of DUers helping DUers increases.

I'm not in the best of shape but am doing okay. If you allow OGR to post to Wishadoo! I know many, including myself will happy to pay it forward :hug:

KnR!

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

5. This needs to be on the front page

NOW!

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. +10

[ladjf]

7. The American psyche is under attack by a psychiatric virus that

renders their brains incapable of the type of objective thinking required for survival. nt

[asdjrocky]

8. A very sad, and very common story.

It was never supposed to be this hard. It wasn't this hard for my parents.

I know how you feel on the car. I moved back to my city of birth a little less than 2 years ago, had some money saved, and that was quickly gone the first time I was pulled over and they impounded the car for a dozen traffic tickets that were not mine. Car is impounded for more than 2 weeks, costing over a thousand dollars with storage fees, impound fees, lien fees, towing fees and fee fees, and when I get to court I show them proof that I was not in town at the time of the tickets, the nice judge drops everything. Of course, I still have to pay the tow company, and all city impound fees.

Just as I'm getting on my feet, it happens again, this time they tell me it's for child support that I've never owed. Another two weeks to straighten everything out, another couple of thousand in fees. I'm now at the point where I make a monthly call to DMV because I'm afraid to drive without making sure there's no problems with my driving record.

Sorry to go on, but I want you to know you're not alone in your struggles. It seems an empty gesture to wish you better luck, but it's the only gesture I have now.

Welcome to DU.

[beforeyoureyes]

11. So sorry for your struggles as well

No, indeed. We are not alone.

I hope that all of the MAJORITY of the millions of poor, working poor, and faltering middle class can band together to transcend politics and reclaim our government for and by the people.



:toast:

[lunatica]

9. I know exactly what you're going through

I declared bankruptcy in June. Last year I went through a layoff just at the time the credit card companies were freezing my accounts because they got nervous. My line of equity was also frozen because they said my condo just wasn't worth as much anymore. My mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she was given home palliative care which was a godsend. Fortunately I got a job. My mother died in January. We had pooled our incomes because we lived together and the condo was in both our names. Of course her retirement income went away and that made it impossible for me to make the bills. I'm hoping to keep the condo but I don't know if I'll be able to. I can't pay the equity loan even though I do pay the mortgage.

It seems like it's been a slow spiral into homelessness over a period of many years.

I couldn't hire a lawyer to help me but I went to a paralegal and he helped me get everything I needed. Here in California paralegals helping with bankruptcies aren't allowed to charge more than $150 dollars (maybe it's the same everywhere). When I went to the Meeting of Creditors there were plenty of people in the room who had also declared bankuptcy. The Trustee was running behind because there were so many. No creditors bothered to show up for any of us. The Trustee calls out your name and looks at and writes down your identification and asks questions and dismisses you and your lawyer if you have one. There is no opportunity to explain much of anything. Quite a few of us had no lawyers. So now I'm waiting to see what the outcome is and wondering if the credit card companies will take my car away. They wrote the bankruptcy rules so they can take my car if they think they can get part of their money back. They can leave me with a couple of thousand dollars so I can buy a used car.

[beforeyoureyes]

15. I am so sorry...

I hope you can hang on to your home!

Maybe all of us who are on the verge of losing our homes should just walk and pool are resources for a commune...

Get a little land...grow some food...help each other out. There has to be a better way then this enslavement to the global wealth.

[COLGATE4]

10. I don't intend to sound uncaring or heartless

because this is not my intention. I fully understand the circumstances you're describing and can not even begin to understand the frustration you must be feeling at this moment. Nonetheless, let me give you my professional opinion - you really should consult a Bankruptcy Attorney. The local Bar Association can give you the names of some qualified people in your area. You shouldn't be trying to fight this fight by yourself. You've obviously given it your best shot but circumstances have conspired against you. Getting professional legal assistance will help you to get off the treadmill you're on, or at least understand the other legal options that you may have. Please consider it. And good luck to you - you certainly deserve it.

[beforeyoureyes]

13. You don't sound heartless

I am fully aware of what I need to do to declare bankruptcy, the cost, and how it will impact my debts.

Without a increase in income though (which is not likely), I don't know how things will improve all that much.

I will figure it out.

[Lost4words]

42. bankruptcy isnt going to help. I have looked into it, it will make things worse

its a nightmare.

[w8liftinglady]

12. I share your pain,and see it happening time and time again...

and in the meantime-a small segment of the nation wants us to cut taxes and encourage "Global business"...at the expense of the 98% who are suffering.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Welcome to DU

So many people going through bad times like this. Wish I knew what to say.

I don't understand about your car tags. Is there not a sticker with a date or a date on the tag? I guess because mine have expired the same month for as long as I can remember I can't relate to not knowing when I need to renew them.

[Lorien]

21. Yep, in every State that I've lived in they expire on your birthday

but maybe it's different in her State. I can relate though; I'm sick enough to qualify for disability, but I choose to try to make it as a freelancer instead (since I can't keep a roof over my head with what disability pays in my State). It's a real battle though; many weeks I can barely manage more than 20 hours or so out of bed and at my computer or board. I've been mostly unemployed for the past three years and am so far behind on everything that it's terrifying. I have to keep reminding myself; it's just money. No one in my family is dying or cancer at the moment, so it could be worse-though I totally understand the "death by a thousand cuts" analogy. It wears a person down and it becomes very easy to lose all hope.

My advice to the OP: if there's any way that family could pay off your credit card that should be a top priority. I don't use credit cards myself even when there aren't enough quarters for gas-they're just too dangerous and have ruined the lives of two of my friends. An American Express card is a safer way to go, or just an ATM debit card. If you own your home then a home equity line will offer you a much lower rate than a CC and the interest is tax deductible. Good luck to you; I know how exhausting and frightening it can be!

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. I don't know how people with credit card debt stay sane

I was there once myself. Cut up the cards and took several years to pay them off and refused to go down that road again. But the cc companies were not vultures then as they are now.

About a year ago a good friend decided to do what I had done and cut up all but one of her cards. She hadn't lost her job and wasn't having trouble making payments, she just decided to get herself out of debt. She set herself up on a payment plan and started making payments above the minimum monthly amount she had always paid. She was immediately contacted by several of her creditors who offered to extend her limit. She told them no she was paying off the account and would then cancel. One immediately raised her interest rate, even though she had never once missed a payment in 15 years. Another canceled her account and demanded the full amount owed in 30 days. Her credit rating dropped. Her mortgage company called and asked if she was going to have trouble paying her mortgage. She was deluged with offers of home equity lines of credit and second mortgages.

Remember this is someone who was not in trouble financially. After what she went through there is no way I would ever apply for another credit card. These people are vultures.

[FooshIt]

23. a bit of advice

Enroll your credit cards in a an auto pay. The minimum payment will be deducted from your checking account on the due date. You will never be hit with a late fee on your credit card bill again. Plus they can't ever claim to not get the check. No money in your checking account? Link it to a credit account that can lend money to your checking account for a small fee if used. A few banks offer this, I know US Bank does and I believe Wells Fargo does to. This will eliminate late fees and interest hikes in the future.

[beforeyoureyes]

33. No, but I could get hit with bounced check fees for not having the money in there

It's to that point.

[Dappleganger]

53. A lot of people don't understand this.

And I know folks who have had money in the bank but the bank made a mistake, then they get stuck w/the fees from overdrafts. Time to go back to all cash.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DFW]

25. You have a stamina at which I can only marvel

And I would not be ashamed to accept help from family--be glad you have family like that. Others have none,
although as some have indicated on this thread, DU people can (and will) sometimes jump in for special cases.

I despise credit cards. I was one of the last people I know to get and use one. My overseas posting made it a
necessity, but I HATE all of the big credit card companies. They keep trying to suck me into all this great
stuff they supposedly offer, and then in the fine print, add 3% for foreign transactions. I'm posted overseas,
Hello? Ten months out of the year, my transactions are "foreign!" I'm Stateside now for ten more days, and I
keep getting weird looks from people when they ask how I want to pay for something, and I ask, "do you take cash?"

I hope you and the millions like you get to see an end to the "thousand cuts." There has to be more to life than
waiting for the next one. I was just in Wellfleet and Truro, Massachusetts, where the number of community-organized
projects to help out the people who live there is tremendously encouraging. Maybe it only works in small towns, or
maybe it's the New England mentality (no such animals here in Texas). I love visiting up there, but there are many
times that I'm glad my toehold in Europe is as permanent as I want it to be.

[starzdust]

26. You are kinda lucky

At least you still have a home and are getting disability payments. I lost my home last year, similar experiences with my bank and my credit is shot. Now, I am in the process of applying for immediate disability retirement and social security disability. Talk about a load of paperwork. You gotta love the feds, they call the money I "might" receive as an "award". I guess the 30 years slaving in the classroom (another 10 years in other employment not as a teacher) doesn't count.

No matter what road you choose it will cost you and me alike. I was hit by those $35 overdraft fees one after another during the same day. I had to physically go to my branch, close one account and open another. I will never give anyone access to my checking details such as is required for a payday loan. Talk about loan sharking. We now have a choice either to have the bank pay the overdrafts or reject them all together. I chose the latter. I simply can no longer pay for the overdraft protections offered by my bank (dare I state who? Wells Fargo, there I Id them)

Now I have no income while waiting for a decision from both above and must move out of my government supplied housing soon. To where I don't know and how I am going to pay for the move I haven't a clue.

I now have an attorney who has taken my SS case on contingency, if they don't win my disability they don't get paid. The other, filed through my employer is a load of paperwork and medical proof of my disability including sealed letters from my doctors supporting my claim. I spent a week and a half, this past week, keeping appointments with my doctors. My medications have been changed to increase the dosages and some new ones. And now, possibly a new and life threatening medical issue discovered by my ophthalmologist requires me to see my cardiologist.

I saw a bankruptcy attorney several months ago before I became so sick and unable to work anymore. I too have a pile of medical bills that I simply can not pay along with credit card debt. The CC debt was accrued because of needing medical treatment, medications, medical equipment purchases and rental and the cost of travel back and forth to my doctors. The attorney advised me to not pay them. I will most likely have to file a chapter 7 now that I am disabled and unable to work anymore.

I can relate.

[sueh]

27. I'm so sorry you're going through this...

it must have been very difficult to share this. :hug:

[Land Shark]

28. There are many of those little things that send people down - "poverty" is NOT moral fault

usually.

It we just returned excess credit card interest and other interest paid after reducing it to a reasonable amount, millions of americans would be back in the black. If we consider copays and costs of pharmaceuticals rising in the last decade it's not even challenging to do this analysis any more, and a challenge is always good. ;)

[SheilaT]

29. Ahh, living on disability.

Several years ago when I was in paralegal school I did an internship with an attorney who did Social Security Disability Appeals. Meaning she only took on as clients people who'd already been rejected once for the SSDI, but who she thought would win on appeal.

Every single client of hers I saw or dealt with would have preferred to work. One of the clients kept on undermining her appeal because she'd find a job, and then because of both health and, what I can best describe as personality, issues would lose the job. So she inadvertently made it look like she could probably work permanently in a full-time job, when in reality she couldn't.

The other thing that struck me was how remarkably low the SSDI payments were. No one can live on that amount unless they're living rent-free, don't need a car because they can walk everywhere, and have a good garden in the back yard which provides most of their food. I get so furious at people who think all those on Disability are gaming the system and getting rich off it. Ha!

[eilen]

30. People on disability

really need it. They really can't work. If they get Worker's Comp they are victimized by the State Insurance Co. who slashes their payment in half -- it is an established scheme. The individual must go to a an attorney to appeal and then go through all the rigamarole with their doctors, their employer's doctors and the WCB doctors meanwhile, how to pay for the court ordered MRI? It's no wonder people settle for a lump payment so quickly, they just don't want to deal with it again.

[SheilaT]

34. I know.

And I hope I made that clear in my post. If I didn't, I apologize humbly and profusely. As I mentioned, I was horrified to see just how low the disability awards were. I spent a lot of time in that internship photocopying the very large files that the supplicants had already amassed, and it was clear to me, over and over, that these were people who could not work, or at least could not reliably work full time.

In a truly humane society there would be provisions for people who have some sorts of disability but who want to and who can work occasionally or part time. We'd figure out a rational way to accommodate those people, without adversely impacting their income. But I realize that even the best-intentioned of such people often cannot predict just when or for how long they can actually work at whatever job, and our system just isn't able to deal with that kind of on-again off-again work. Too bad.

And of course, for those who simply cannot work, no matter what the accommodation for them, they shouldn't have to work. Our society is rich enough to take care of our needy and helpless and disadvantage.

[madmax]

31. I second the poster s sentiment in reply #2

Your situation and your voice are so needed to keep us all attuned to what is at stake.

You're among friends - some in the same boat, some worse off, some on the verge of either. :grouphug:

Keep up the positive attitude and don't give in to de pair - 'a change is gonna come'.

[beforeyoureyes]

32. Thanks all and thanks for the donor star too!

Thanks for the kind comments and concern.

[Skittles]

35. there's always someone here

feel free to unload anytime :hi:

[OffWithTheirHeads]

36. Last year I was out of work for seven months. Not a lot by today's standards

but enough to use up all my reserves and pull every rabbit I had out of the hat to get by. I then got a job that lasted about three months and was laid off once again. There was simply no way I could catch up with the bills but I learned some things. First was that I could get by with a lot less than I was accustomed to. The second, and most important was an attitude adjustment toward those I "Supposedly" owed money to. I came to realize that I was not in this situation because I was lazy or unwilling to work, I was in this situation because the "Haves" have stripped the middle class and the poor of their ability to even keep up, much less get ahead. They have used every trick in the book to extract money from folks, especially when they are on the ropes. As you said, they make up arbitrary fees upon fees.

The problem is that most of us have been instilled with this Judeo-Christian sense of obligation to pay our debts. The big money has no such moral compunction. If an investment does not produce, they will just walk away from it and to hell with who gets hurt.

We need to adopt the same attitude, and I have. I feel NO moral compunction to pay debts to usurers and their ilk. If you are going to arbitrarily raise my interest by several hundred percent, I simply stop paying you.

The phone # my commercial creditors get is my land line. My land line has been unplugged for over a year. My personal version of corporate "Customer Service".

Frankly, it's amazing that if and when they actually reach me and I tell them to "In essence" go fuck themselves, they become so much more polite and willing to compromise.

You need to realize that they are dealing with millions of people in the same situation and once they realize that you can't be bullied, they will take anything they can get because it simply costs too much to deal with millions of folks in the same position.

Fuck em! Pay the bills you have to pay and tell the rest to kiss your ass. The simple fact is that there is nothing they can do about it.

[ipaint]

47. +1 Starve the beast.

I don't have credit, don't deal with banks, rent a small studio apt., don't have cable, my computer is 8 years old, pay as you go cell phone I rarely use, pay only two bills a month (rent and car ins.). I food shop local if I can, don't buy processed food, buy used clothes and household items. I never could afford health ins. but there is a community health center close by.

I am corporate america's nightmare- a non consumer.


The credit card companies lose the right to sue you in court after a certain number of years, in my state it was 5 years. Just don't make a payment or in many states it resets the clock.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-state-statute-limitations-1282.php

[midnight]

37. K&R

[laughingliberal]

38. K & R nt

[shireen]

39. i sent a note to the WH

sent them this link.

i'm so frustrated and angry reading this thread. You all deserve better.

:grouphug:

[OneGrassRoot]

40. Dear beforeyoureyes, I sent you a PM....

a private message here at DU. I hope you see it soon! :hi:

[OneBlueSky]

41. I empathize completely . . . my financial situation has deteriorated . . .

considerably in the past year . . . I have no idea how I'm ever going to catch up on everything . . . starting to sort through my belongings to see what there is of some value that I might sell online . . .

good luck to you, friend . . . hope your fortunes turn for the better sooner rather than later . . .

[JNelson6563]

44. I wish I could help you!

I'm just hanging on myself, thanks to unemployment.

Hugs and encouragement,
Julie

[Wednesdays]

45. K&R

:kick:

[HillbillyBob]

46. I understand . I hope things turn better for you

I have been on that spiral and even was homeless and hungry a few times.
We are sort of making it..we are more or less caught up on the bills, but I had to lose everything and end up on disability, never quite enough.
My partner is working, but had to take a 45% pay cut to do the same job and the company does not give raises at all nor paid vacations, they chip in some on health insurance, but as bcbs raises the rate his pay goes down.

So much around here needs to be repaired or replaced. Im lucky that my meds are covered by Medicaid and medicar and adap. My partner has to pay the majority of costs for his meds. I m 48 and partner is 53 it was very hard for him to find this job, no raises, but they pay part of his health ins which has raised his rate 3x in the last 1 1/2 yrs coming out of his pay meaning he is making even less now that 7 yrs ago and he had to take a job that pays much less than his last job doing the same thing. We were next to homeless, considering the place we had to stay it was only slightly better I almost died from the mold in the wet basement, and no heat.

I heard my parents and grand parents harp about save some $$ how the hell are you going to do that when you can only manage to get hand to mouth jobs that let you go at the drop of a hat?

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nessa]

50. That has been my experience as well. (nt)

.

[Roland99]

52. I got pulled over once for expired tags and the officer told me he *could* impound the car.

My car was registered in Ky and I was in southern IN at the time, leaving work. I'd been driving for 25 years and been pulled over several times before for expired tags (I was always bad at getting them renewed...such a pain) and never had heard that before.

[seabeyond]

56. just sayin. all the people i know that has experienced this, i find it hard to believe

a cop would impound and leave stranded, with kids... over tags.

[Roland99]

57. I've had cops make snide remarks about the bumper stickers.

although, they're not on the car anymore (but I just can't take that out of my sig)

I need to get some new ones on there...esp. for Grayson. :)



But, yeah, that's a pretty freakin' lame reason to impound a car!

[beforeyoureyes]

63. Every damn word of this story is true

Shit like this happens all the time.

The cop told me he would be libel if he let me go and I had an accident.

I really wish I was making it up. Hell of a lot better then living this endless financial nightmare.

[RobinA]

49. Although I Am Not

in the dire financial straits that you find yourself, I am by no means well off. I can sympathize with the woes of dealing with financial institutions. I do everything right, never get behind, and they STILL find ways to ding me for a fee here and a fee there. The "we did get the check, pay immediately including a fee" followed by the missing check clearing two days later - happened to me. My auto loan suddenly stopped sending me bills, so I waited for one. Phone calls and scathing letters, why hadn't I paid. Explained, so they helpfully told me where I could pay on line. For a fee. Wound up paying at the bank, where the teller explained that they had been experiencing problems that were now fixed. Tell that to the rude young woman who called and demanded to know why I hadn't paid my bill and asked where the car was located. Three months go by without any bills and I have to trudge to the bank to pay in person. Finally I paid off the bill so they couldn't snag me again. I live a busy life and would rather not have to keep track in my head of when the car payment is due.

Once dinged for paying a credit card early, a day before the billing cycle closed. I didn't know this was a problem until I got a letter from the credit card company threatening to cut off the card. Uh? I'm paid up? Called to cancel the card, the guy asked why. I told him I didn't need a card that could be cut off, while paid up, when I am traveling. Asked the guy what would have happened if I was on a month long trip to Mumbai and my paid credit card was stopped. He airily told me that I could just call the bank and they would have reinstated it. Right...

[Roland99]

51. Well, as soon as those tax cuts for the top 2% go through, you'll be A-Ok.

I'm sure the job offers will be streaming your way as soon as that happens.




I've been in your shoes before and been lucky both times that family and friends have been there to help as much as they can.

What an indictment that in this country, some medical bills can put a person on the road to the poorhouse and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people has distorted to cater to corporations at every turn.

[Evasporque]

54. Those of us not living in a econmic disaster are one paycheck away from it...nt

[Usrename]

55. I hear ya. Me too.

what's ironic is how lucky we feel while we're being shat upon. I know it is much worse for some people, so I feel fortunate.

It's like boiling frogs.

:shrug:

[orbitalman]

58. A MIRROR image of my situation with a few different caveats...

:) :-) :mad: :puke: :argh: :hurts: :grr: :thumbsdown: :cry: :banghead: :hide: :daily:

My republican brother says this is the GREATEST country in the world even though he's been out of work for almost 2 years supported by his wife!

[GreenPartyVoter]

60. I'm sorry I came too late to recommend this

[uncommon]

61. This is a great post. It really is regular people who are trying who are having

a hard time.

There just isn't ever enough money. I went from making barely more than minimum wage to a pretty decent $45K a year job in the last year and there still isn't enough money.

And I don't even own a house, or have a car payment.

I need to replace my 1990 Honda Civic and there just isn't any money. Paying the few bills I have and putting food on the table seems to just eat everything away.

Hang in there - there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, eventually.

[Riley18]

62. A relative in Baltimore also had her car impounded for an expired registration.

Her and her kids were left out on the road with no way to get home until she got someone to come and pick them up.

Your post reminded me that I had never seen a bill for my registration this year. It had expired earlier this month so today I went and bought the $98.00 sticker.

I am sorry you and the kids had to go through such an ordeal over a sticker. Thank you for sharing because you helped me get mine in time.

[beforeyoureyes]

64. I don't think they are sending reminders anymore

[glitch]

65. Thank you for stating the issue so clearly. Too late to R but here's a K :) nt