topic Re: Job Loss & Damage Control in General Credit Topics

Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:05:41 GMT

DS who has been on his own for barely 4 months has hit on hard times. Room-mate skipped on him the middle of November after writing a hot check (late at that) for his share of the rent ... AND ... he lost his job a few days later.

Even if he replaces the job ASAP, he can't maintain the apartment on his own and options to replace the room-mate don't seem viable. No one available is stable enough to be dependable (and the environment at the complex is one he would do well to get away from) so he is faced with breaking the lease and heading home temporarily.

The priority is to get the $3400 that will be due the apartment complex taken care of so that isn't hanging over his head. He will more than deplete his future "car fund" (he's driving a 20 year old car now) to take care of this. Trying to collect from the vanishing room-mate will be a challenge ... so he is left holding the bag.

His more pressing small financial obligations are due during the last week of December. Hopefully by then, he will have pulled himself together and at least have a part-time job to provide for these nominal expenses. He needs approximately $100 for car registration renewal and safety inspection and another $100 for a monthly car insurance payment, $25 for the last water/trash/sewer bill that will be coming in, and $60 for his cell phone.

As we evaluate where to apply available resources, the one thing I am uncertain about the consequences of is ... his checking account is now overdrawn, including a couple of $34 overdraft charges. I think the car related expenses are probably more pressing for him to deal with than the bank account, at this time, but I would like to know how hard to coax him to get it taken care of sooner, rather than later.

If he lets the bank account ride until next month when he will more likely have the money to get it out of the red, what happens? What types of records do the banks turn over to ChexSystems? Do they start reporting on overdrafts right away? Or do they wait until after they have started sending collection notices?

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

fishbjc — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:18:00 GMT

In this instance, he should call his bank. Some banks are now charging $35 additional fees every few days in addition to the over drafts. As far as the ChexSystem...I think that's for accounts that have been overdrawn and turned to collection. Banks are now beginning to put those unpaids on your CR.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

SmartCookie — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:44:34 GMT

Small claims court for the bad check from the roommate and related rent issues. It's very easy to fill out the papers and put a public notice in the paper... and can't hurt. If he gets that money together I hope they will release him from the lease in writing.

This is the best time of year to at least get a seasonal job. He might want to check out snagajob.com

I am not sure how soon Chex gets notified of what sort of issue. I actually would try to get that settled first because of that reason.

Happy Holidays Poor kid... life experience stinks sometimes. I hope it goes well denbar.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:06:03 GMT

SmartCookie wrote:

If he gets that money together I hope they will release him from the lease in writing.

Gee ... I had assumed that after they hit him up for a little over 5 months rent that they would release him.

Makes me wonder if he would be better off siphoning off his car fund at least for the next month to see how things are gonna go with the job search. He might be better off financially, assuming he gets a suitable job soon, if he continued using the car funds to cover his ex-roomie's share of the expenses, and finished out his lease. Eventually, he might be able to find a suitable room-mate and would no longer need that supplemental source of funds.

Edit: I wonder if NOW I could convince him of the wisdom of Elizabeth Warren's & Amelia Warren Tyagi's approach in All Your Worth that encourages a money management approach as follows:

50% Must Haves

30% Wants

20% Savings (this would have saved his B*tt)

Message Edited by denbar2003 on 12-06-2007 09:06 AM

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:03:14 GMT

My sister had to break her lease a couple months ago and they gave her 30 days to pay all the fees so maybe that is an option for your son as well. Has he explained the situation to the leasing agent?

My bank will chargeoff an overdrawn account after 45 days, give or take (also depending upon the amount of the overdraft) and send the account to ChexSystems, of course YMMV. He definitely needs to call the bank though--mine charges $5 a day for every day that your account is in the negative. If his bank does the same thing it will get expensive FAST.

I'm sorry your son has fallen on hard times, and got stuck holding the bag b/c of his ex roomie. A similiar thing happened to me and now I have a collection on my report until 2011. One of the biggest reasons I will never have roommates again.

Good luck.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:11:58 GMT

MeganML84 wrote:
My sister had to break her lease a couple months ago and they gave her 30 days to pay all the fees so maybe that is an option for your son as well. Has he explained the situation to the leasing agent?

They know the situation, but he was doing good to just get the numbers yesterday. I don't think they discussed the pay-out options (other than they refused to only hold him accountable for 1/2 ...which was expected.) If they will talk to me, I will call as soon as their office opens. He asked me last night if I wanted to talk to them since he couldn't answer all my questions, and I think there may be options available to him that he hasn't thought about.

I will make sure he gets the bank account taken care of ASAP. I was hoping to minimize any advances because I want him to be fully committed to making the sacrifices necessary to deal with all the day-to-day issues. But .. I have his attention now ... as far as all the things we warned him about before he started this endeavor ... and he's listening now. So ... a little help seems to be warranted, as long as he pays me back off the top ... before fun with his friends.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:21:19 GMT

denbar, My heart goes out to you. It sounds like he ventured out before, he was ready. It happens all to often. It's a tough life lessen to be sure, but one that I pray will sink in and stick with him.

I hope he gets the jobs soon. And I agree, take care of the bank situation, before it gets out of hand.

Has he moved back home, or is that even an option?

Good luck to you....and him.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:26:39 GMT

Sylviatob wrote:
denbar, My heart goes out to you. It sounds like he ventured out before, he was ready. It happens all to often. It's a tough life lessen to be sure, but one that I pray will sink in and stick with him.

I hope he gets the jobs soon. And I agree, take care of the bank situation, before it gets out of hand.

Has he moved back home, or is that even an option?

Good luck to you....and him.

Thank you all for your compassion ... won't it be nice if all that energy somehow comes together to create a better good?

Coming home is the current option if he really can't make this work ... but not really a very good one ... unless a LOT of maturity has occurred over the past few months. I see some signs ... but some of the old battles will still be there.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:04:42 GMT

Has he been in contact with the landlord? The worst thing he could do is not inform them of his situation, if he hasn't he should ASAP, they just may be willing to work something out.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:08:43 GMT

Honey, trust me when I say, I am waging the same battle as you.....just on a different front.

Need I say welcome to adult parenthood! lol

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

fishbjc — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:06:50 GMT

I would definetly SUE the roommate for 50% if his name is on the lease. If not and your son has it 'in writing' that he would pay 50%, I'd SUE.

What about the option of the apartment being re-rented?

These checks need to be taken care of ASAP though. Just a thought...does he have any items to sell on eBay to raise funds?

Good Luck to all!

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

MidnightVoice — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:43:03 GMT

Sylviatob wrote:

Need I say welcome to adult parenthood! lol

Tell me about it

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:41:27 GMT

Latest update ... he has cleared Nov and Dec charges with the apartment and gave his two month notice today.

Since he has to pay for that two months whether he stays or not, he's staying for that amount of time. Then, he will still owe almost two months' rent for a re-letting fee and repayment of the first month's free rent special they took advantage of.

They really anticipate being able to re-rent ASAP, so there shouldn't be any additional charges other than damages. There are some sheetrock repairs that my husband can make and we can have DS repaint the walls. The carpet is another story though ... I'm thinking it's going to have to be replaced. :-(

He's not wanting to even try for another room-mate ... says he doesn't trust anyone anymore. I don't blame him. As it is, we haven't been able to figure out what to do about the electric service. The room-mate ran off with the electric bill that was set up by the room-mate in his name (but he added DS's name to it.) When we called the provider we thought it was with, they insisted they couldn't find a record of the account. The apartment is checking to see if it has rolled back over into their name. I hate to think that there is an electric utility account out there that has DS's name on it and we can't even track it down. This other kid left owing several other people money and a maxed out credit card that was not being paid on. I don't think he cares one bit if DS's credit is impacted by an unpaid electric bill.

I left him with enough cash to clear his checking account, put gas in his car, some food in his belly and a promise to send him an accounting of what he has depleted from his car fund.

Hopefully, he will get a job ASAP and not need the extra boost for long.

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:51:49 GMT

Sylviatob wrote:
Honey, trust me when I say, I am waging the same battle as you.....just on a different front.

Need I say welcome to adult parenthood! lol

A friend of mine emailed me a "Crankshaft" cartoon the other day (I don't know the characters) ... the woman was lamenting about "Max" and talking about getting his own apartment now that he had graduated from college. She had hoped she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. The man says, "Being a parent is a life sentence."

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:17:22 GMT

Truer words have never been spoken. I'm serving 2 concurrent life sentences LOL

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Dawn — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:22:35 GMT

Sylviatob wrote:
Truer words have never been spoken. I'm serving 2 concurrent life sentences LOL

LOL ... Mine's X3 ...

My life just gets more and more interesting. I just found out that my younger daughter's boyfriend was mugged last week after someone rammed his truck to get him to get out. Took his wallet and sent him to the ER with a concussion and other injuries. This is all just too much excitement for me!

Re: Job Loss & Damage Control

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:36:43 GMT

Good grief! How much interestingness can you stand? Not supposed to be this way at Christmas time.

I pray he recovers from his attack.