Debt Consolidation

[ramanth]

I'm not sure about an EAP, but I do still work at the Law School. Thanks Sara!!

Thanks everyone for the advice.

[Rachel]

I would like to say that the information and stategies needed are not rocket science and can be gleaned from many fine books available on this topic. Phred mentioned one of the respected authors in the field and there are several others. Your local library would be a good place to find these books and start gathering your own information.

The hard part is for both you and Andy to make the commitment to a goal of becoming debt free and to set in motion the behavioral changes that are going to accomplish that goal.

[ramanth]

Very true and a very good point Rachel.

I must say that it's not so much that we are spending beyond our means right now, it's just that we suddenly found ourselves over our heads when Andy took the new job that made less money. We found that we only had money for rent or the credit card payment. Have food in the fridge or make a payment on a loan.

Those decisions stink.

[jennielynn1970]

Do you belong to a credit union that you can do a debt consolidation with? They tend to have lower rates than regular banks or mortgage companies (unless you have an FHA loan... I was able to reconsolidate my 1st, 2nd and ugh... 3rd mortgages into one single FHA mortgage).

I'm not good at finances, and had a my 1st mortgage as an FHA, my second was a debt consolidation through same company, and 3rd was a line of credit. I never thought I'd use the entire line of credit, but when they hand you a credit card so it's "more convenient", yeah... you get the picture.

I was lucky enough to be able to reconsolidate all three back into one FHA.

Before I had a mortgage, I did use my credit union. They were fantastic. Much nicer to work with than a mortgage company.

[ramanth]

I do belong to two credit unions, but only one loan is through them (my car).

I borrowed money from my 403b (Valic) to help finance the wedding and that's what I've been struggling to pay back.

It's that and the Visa credit card that I'm behind on. We pay rent, electric, gas, water, two car payments, phone, cable/internet, life insurance, and Chipper's vet bill on time. After all that, groceries, and gas, there is only so much to split between Visa and the Valic loan. I guess I just figured payments to those were less critical.

[jennielynn1970]

I had borrowed money from my 403(b) too, and then had to pay a nice tax penalty on it. That stunk.

About 10 years ago, I had "settled" with Discover Card (hate that company, and never got another one of those cards), and when you settle for over a certain amount, you have to claim it as income on taxes the next year. Be careful of that, if they still do that.

Bills just seem to pile up. I wish I had three jobs, cause I could put all money that comes in towards utilities etc. I even tried to trade my car back in to get an older one with a lower payment, but my car isn't worth what the balance of the loan is (like, $7000 less...), so no matter what I'd get, even a Yugo, I'd still have a big monthly payment. Sigh.

I hope you can find something to make things easier financially.

[ramanth]

Oh man.

Yeah, we got the letter from the 403b loan that if the payment isn't paid in full by May 3rd, we'll get a tax penalty.

Thanks for the info Jenn. I'll be taking on a part time job soon so hopefully that'll help.