topic Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole! in Personal Finance

HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 19:27:54 GMT

I dont know how i was so stupid but i was. I built my credit to be considered good and my husands execellent. We bought our first home this past year and in less then a year I put us in more than 50K in credit card debt. I don't even know how i did that so fast. We are a family of 5 and am the only one working. My husband hasn't worked in almost a year and he doesn't even seem to be caring much about getting a job, but anyways thats for a whole other forum. I just called capital one today to volunteer surrender my vehicle. I never had a repo on my credit before but now i will. Other than pay them off slowly which of course i have to do. What can i do to not get sued or lose my house or anything? any advice? Do i call each card up and say im gonna pay you just not now? I can't do a payment arrangement with each cause i'll end in no being able to catch up. I only bring home about $2800 net. mY mortgage alone is $1747 plus utilities. I have one other car payment $450 plus $170 insurance and of course life. SOmeone please help. Is this gonna force me to do bankruptcy and if so does that mean I will lose the house? thank you in advance

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 19:40:30 GMT

Take a vacation day and set up appointments with 3-4 bankruptcy lawyers.

And honestly, that house payment is too much to afford on your income anyhow. You are going to need to move unless the income situation changes.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 19:45:05 GMT

I’m not even sure how to advise you but I’m sorry you’re in this situation.

As as mentioned that mortgage is too steep for your net income. Aside from you either taking a 2nd job, husband getting a job or meetings with bankruptcy lawyers I’m not sure what else can be done. Again I’m sorry.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

LakeLife — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:14:28 GMT

I really think you should consult with an attorney at once. You have way more house than you can afford, and the time is right to consider bankruptcy with your husband out of work. I would not surrender that vehicle until speaking to an attorney.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

steelers1 — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:38:26 GMT

There is no easy answer.

I do agree with the other replies, you do need to see a BK attorney.

It appears that between your home and car it takes up, if not exceeds, your income alone. Does your husband understand how critical your situation is? He needs to get whatever type of work he can quickly and some more work on top of that to give you the slightest chance to stay afloat or at the very least, to be able to afford a Chapter 13 payment plan so that you can keep your home.

I wish you and your family the best.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Jnbmom — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:43:44 GMT

You have way more going out then coming in. I would set up a few consults ASAP. Your income does not support that mortgage.

Did you husband have a decent income when you were approved for that mortgage? I suggest he gets back to work ASAP., does he not see the big picture here? If you keep trying this alone you are going to lose your home😞

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

mrfufoppss — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 21:42:41 GMT

Take everyones advice and By any means try to get your husband to understand any job would probably save your home atleast and if he can get a decent job yall can make it thru and climb out of Debt

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 02:42:34 GMT

Before you consider bankruptcy you should consider selling the house and downsizing. There are ways to keep your house in BK but even after BK I don't think you can afford your house on one income.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

silver_idle — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 05:30:23 GMT

Im sorry about the situtation that youre in. I would suggest contacting each creditor and asking about a hardship program. Many of them will allow you to enter into it, which may includes (but not limited to) reducing your interest, min payments, waiving interest, fees, etc., but your cards may end up being closed (or restricted so it cannot be used if its not closed) after entering into it. Your mortgage might have a hardship program as well so you should contact them and find out as that might help reducing how much you pay each month, etc. Try to explore all options, including getting a second job, talking to your husband about getting a job, ask for a raise or a maybe apply for a position that pays more, maybe even selling the house and downsizing as it was suggested. If it doesnt work out, talk to an bankruptcy attorney to go over your options, though this should be the very last option if nothing else works. Good luck!

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Medic981 — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 06:15:13 GMT

Cheese and Crackers what a nightmare! You are getting good advice up thread. Good luck to you!

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Azuieldrago — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 06:49:54 GMT

Sorry to say but looks like you need 2 lawyers. One for divorce and the other bankruptcy. Maybe that will scare your husband back to work. Then you wouldn't need either. But something has to give. Either he steps to the plate and helps save everthing or get single and a bk discharge.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Shooting-For-800 — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 11:20:41 GMT

Some states it is possible to do chapter 7 and keep your house.

IF you were to get ch 7 AND your husband found work soon after, you might be able to keep the house and both cars.

Speak with 5 attorneys with free consultations.

I would call each card and try to make arrangements,

I would quit paying cc before cars or house.

You will have to pay car regardless, so I would keep it (for now at least).

GL!

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

donkort — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 16:26:04 GMT

It's nonsense that your husband doesn't want to get a job.

You have a lot on your plate----and he's not helping!

Why doesn't he want to get a job?

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Namaste7 — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:15:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
[...]. I built my credit to be considered good and my husands excellent. We bought our first home this past year and in less then a year I put us in more than 50K in credit card debt. I don't even know how i did that so fast. We are a family of 5 and am the only one working. My husband hasn't worked in almost a year and he doesn't even seem to be caring much about getting a job, but anyways thats for a whole other forum. [...]

@Anonymous- I am sorry you are going through so much right now. I do not want to be repetitive as you've already received solid personal finance advice: (1) call lenders about hardship program, (2) call mortgage company for hardship support, (3) prioritize debt payments to food, shelter, and transportation, and (4) start FREE consultations with BK attorneys. This will at least give you tools to figure out what is next.

Other tips:

Pull your credit report and scores and see where you and your husband stand
Start looking for more affordable housing NOW. If your scores will not support prequalificiation, understand how significant a deposit will be required. (1-3 months of rent). You'll likely have to stop paying other bills to save up money for a move.
Consider maritial and family counseling (churches may be a free or affordable source for maritial counseling).
Clip coupons. Question every expense and focus on necessities and pause on the "wants".

During this process, you will need to sharpen your personal finance tools so that when life gets chaotic you can still be reasonable in the financial decision you make. All of us at some point have made emotional or irrational PF decisions. It's recoverable but it is also repeatable if they are not addressed. There are online resources and support forums. On the weekend or a day off, go to Barnes and Noble for the day and read personal finance books; my recommendation--Your Money or Your Life.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

CreditInspired — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 23:17:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I dont know how i was so stupid but i was. I built my credit to be considered good and my husands execellent. We bought our first home this past year and in less then a year I put us in more than 50K in credit card debt. I don't even know how i did that so fast. We are a family of 5 and am the only one working. My husband hasn't worked in almost a year and he doesn't even seem to be caring much about getting a job, but anyways thats for a whole other forum. I just called capital one today to volunteer surrender my vehicle. I never had a repo on my credit before but now i will. Other than pay them off slowly which of course i have to do. What can i do to not get sued or lose my house or anything? any advice? Do i call each card up and say im gonna pay you just not now? I can't do a payment arrangement with each cause i'll end in no being able to catch up. I only bring home about $2800 net. mY mortgage alone is $1747 plus utilities. I have one other car payment $450 plus $170 insurance and of course life. SOmeone please help. Is this gonna force me to do bankruptcy and if so does that mean I will lose the house? thank you in advance

This is mind boggling. I dont understand how an UW approved the mortgage in the first place because it appears hubby wasnt working when the home was purchased or am I wrong? Did you put a large payment down?

You say your take home pay is 2,800 so you need to make sure your exemptions are correct for a family of 5. If you're claiming only 0 or 1, change that.

Also, you should be getting a nice tax refund because you'll be able to write off interest and real estate taxes. If you want to list your CCs, CLs, balance owed, and APR, we can give you some pointers.

I agree with those who said to call all your creditors and even mortgage company and ask for info on hardship program. This should be the first step.

Also, dont feel stupid about getting into debt so quickly. It appears you had to make ends meet since only one meager income is coming into the household.

Also is hubby getting unemployment. It's hard to imagine a family of 5 living on 2,800 a month.

Is there extended family who can help you?

Are there things you can sell. Think of having a garage sale.

Have you or hubby thought about driving for Uber or Lyft?

Do you have a 401K plan? You may have to raid it.

If all else fails, BK just may have to be the answer.

And of paramount importance, let hubby know that you're about ready to be homeless if he doesnt get a job, like yesterday.

Hang in there.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 04:18:14 GMT

With all due respect, but the solution you're seeking lies with your husband. Either convince him of the dire circumstances your family is in, or seriously start planning for life after divorce. Always remember that "tomorrow" is your friend. You just have to believe in him/her.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:22:29 GMT

i'm very sorry that you're having to deal with this.

really hope you and your kids can get out of it.

like the post above, hopefully you can get to your husband to get him to understand how bad the situation is and he can flip the switch and care about looking for work.

you said he had excellent credit before..hopfeully he can get back up and save your family.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:57:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I dont know how i was so stupid but i was. I built my credit to be considered good and my husands execellent. We bought our first home this past year and in less then a year I put us in more than 50K in credit card debt. I don't even know how i did that so fast. We are a family of 5 and am the only one working. My husband hasn't worked in almost a year and he doesn't even seem to be caring much about getting a job, but anyways thats for a whole other forum. I just called capital one today to volunteer surrender my vehicle. I never had a repo on my credit before but now i will. Other than pay them off slowly which of course i have to do. What can i do to not get sued or lose my house or anything? any advice? Do i call each card up and say im gonna pay you just not now? I can't do a payment arrangement with each cause i'll end in no being able to catch up. I only bring home about $2800 net. mY mortgage alone is $1747 plus utilities. I have one other car payment $450 plus $170 insurance and of course life. SOmeone please help. Is this gonna force me to do bankruptcy and if so does that mean I will lose the house? thank you in advance

You need to get counciling for the emotional and psycholigical issues you and your family are having. We can talk about money and finances all day and night forever...but being honest I don't think that's going to do you any good.

Right off the bat in the post you say you got into 50k in credit card debt and you aren't even sure how you did it. You also say you have 3 kids and that your husband hasn't worked in a year and doesn't plan on working anytime soon. Being blunt here your going to lose the house and the cars and your going to have start over. That's pretty much a given from what you've stated in your post.

The big issue really isn't the upcoming bankruptcy and the disruption that's going to cause for the next 7 to 10 years of your life...it's something you can recover from and will get better after a few years and after a decade it will be like it never happened.

The big issue is preventing this from ever happening again. You need to find the root causes of how things got so bad within a year and fix it. If you don't do that something like this will happen again.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

Boragard — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:54:12 GMT

My advice would be to get rid of your husband. He's bringing you down if you have to do all of the work. You can do bad all by yourself.

Re: HELP!! I built my credit bought a HOUSE then put myself in a hole!

CreditInspired — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 12:59:45 GMT

Can we PLEASE stay on topic? Thank you.