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Friday, July 31, 2009

Bad day

Well, DH was in the credit union to get a lien release for an old car that we've been meaning to send to the junk yard, when the branch manager called him into her office. According to DH, she asked him "When are you going to be making the payment for the 4-wheeler?" (like he would know). "You have a history of frequently being late." And proceeded to be very demeaning and sarcastic with him.

As an aside, the 4-wheeler payment IS late, 2 weeks late.....and anyone who checked the payment history would see that it always gets paid, and that if they dug even further, into my credit report, they'd see that despite the dire financial straits that I find myself, I have NEVER made a payment on any loan or credit card that was 30 days late. Ever.

It made me so upset when he told me about that. I am doing the absolute best I can, and I think it's pretty darn good, considering what I have to work with...but part of me knows that "pretty darn good" is still not all that good, when you look at how responsible I was before this all happened. I know the circumstances were beyond my control, but I feel like my integrity has been questioned, and I don't like that feeling.

And then, I went to DD's therapy appointment, and I was upset, so the therapist talked to me alone and asked me what was wrong....so I told her....and she said, "Are you in foreclosure, losing your house?" "Is your electricity getting turned off?" (The answer to those are a resounding "NO"--those are the two bills that get paid on time every month--before anything else....) and reminded me that people are going through money problems all over the place right now. And then I started crying because DH's pills need to be picked up, but I didn't have the money for them....so she went and asked the pdoc's nurse if they had samples....I got the impression that the PDOC nurse wasn't all that impressed either. Made me feel more bad.

And THEN....I got a reminder about our dentist appointments in the mail. August 17. There's not much I can stress out about with that, right? Except that DH had dental work done in the beginning of the year, and after insurance we still owed $364.00....and it still isn't paid....days like today, I just want to quit everything. It's too hard. I've been fantasizing about just quitting everything and starting over....but that's not who I am (yet, anyhow)....

I have to remember that all I have to do is make it until February--the tax refund should allow me to pay off that damn truck. Then, I not only won't have the $274 truck payment any more, but I won't have to pay for full coverage on it, either. Right now, though, January seems like it's a long ways away.

5 comments:

DogAteMyFinances said...

Sell the four wheeler? I don't even know what that is, but I'm pretty sure it's a toy.

Miz Kizzle said...

Can you save some money by dropping the insurance on the 4-wheeler? You have to turn the license plate in when you do that on a car but that's all you have to do if you want to stop making insurance payments on a vehicle that's going in storage for awhile.
My college professor MIL did that when she stored her car in our garage for a year while she went on sabbatical to England.

Grace. said...

Carole--I think your hubby's therapist is exactly right. If the mortgage is paid, the lights/water bills are paid, and there's food on the table, you did fine. The dentist isn't going to take back the fillings, the vehicle payment WILL get paid and there's no real reason to obsess about any of it. {Not that my words will STOP you from obsessing, but pick up a good book from the library, hide out in your bedroom with the air-conditioning on, and hang out a "Do Not Disturb Unless the House is On fire" sign on the door!}

LovingGrand said...

Everyone I know is having money problems...

idea one - apply for medicine help through RX Outreach.com, it's according to your income and perhaps they can help with the medicine or at best you can purchase it through them on bulk pricing ~ a bit better than Walmart's, it worked for us (taking care of Gram's medicine, she even gets some really expensive ones she got for free) The doctor's office will have to help with the forms, but we've had an totally great experience with the whole "free-reduced" medication programs.

idea two - tell the auto insurance that you drive the vehicle like 4K a year, it will drastically cut on the cost of that in the long run - you might want to consider that on all vehicles for the short term to help on costs.

idea three - when you catch up the truck's payments ask for a forbearance... some lenders do offer that - it's where you get to skip a payment because it's added on at the end, or since it's a credit union, sometimes the lender lets you pay just the interest for a month or two to help get other finances sorted out. They like that better than a voluntary repossession. Usually, the loan must be current though, so if this bank contact is too rough on you, go over her head. For me, Chrysler's Credit allows up to three skips in a loan... You can also refinance the truck through them, hence lowering your monthly payment until you can pay it off in the lump sum as you plan to.

Finally, relax. Easier said than done I know, but honestly, my boat is in no different shape right now then yours. I pay the mortgage, lights, and food everything else when times are tight, stands in line and believe me, the ones that treat me horribly are the last to see any dime.

Take care, there's a silver lining somewhere.

♥♥♥

Reighnie said...

Welllll... I know how you feel and the way I've come around so far is to think in my mind they should be grateful they are still getting money from me. Default rates are high and it's not like late payments don't come with a cost to them either.

If I were you, I would totally go speak to that woman's supervisor. Totally. She was out of line. 2 weeks late is nothing.

If she is a supervisor, I would lay it all out there on her: DH, DD and your Mom stuff. Seriously, she needs a wake up call. Tell her off. People have lives and sometimes shit happens....for a looong time. lol What can she do about it? Close your account? If she meant to be that way why would you do business with a place like that?

Then I would still go above her. You've done nothing wrong...but this bitch needs to be brought outside her box and given a taste of reality if she really feels she had the right to lecture your DH like a child over a payment that is two weeks late.

A good company would have asked if things were ok because they noticed the payments were late and they might even go as far as to change your due date for you.