I need help with my score

[annah]

I think Maxq gave some good advice there- I would check into a loan against the 401k if possible.

And to jump back OT, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's been cussing at the state of events in the US. I'm so aggravated over the need to have a 2 income household, it's just not even funny. What absolutely kills me, is that it was WW2 that started this whole mess. Women working while the men were away, got too used to having the $, and suddenly felt better about themselves because they were being "useful", led into the womens rights stuff, the companies say "oh look, they have more money to spend now, since the women want to go back to work, so we can charge more" and before you know it, here we are now.

It just irks me, because it's a great thing, I can't imagine where I'd be now in pre-women's rights days, but come ON!

You know, back in the day, a house cost 3 times as much as your car. I wish! I don't think I could find a 60k one room condo even around here!

And I feel for the families who can't afford to work either, that's just ridiculous too. I've got 2 kids, and due with the 3rd in April. When I priced daycare back before I was preggo, I would have gone to work for about $2/hr, minus my gas, work clothes, etc. Now with 3, I'd be paying THEM for the priviledge to work. What a mess!  Good thing I'd rather be a SAHM anyways!

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of opening those cards back up - just so I can raise my score back up. I am on hold now to open the cards and apparently they are not going to re-open one of them - that's fine at least I got the others open to help. I can not borrow against mine - I've looked into all the options on that. The tax penalties are high, but I think that is what we are going to do. When you borrow against your 401K - how do they figure the interest? - do they base it on your scores as well?? We have had 2nd mortgages before and know what those are all about, but the rate we can get is at more than 1/2 what we are paying on the card. I'm checking into some other daycares that may be cheaper, but it all comes down to - is this what I really want for my son?? I think I am going to try selling some things on eBay - anybody ave advice on eBay?

[Anonymous]

On the financial side - since you are self-employed ARE YOU MAXIMIZING DEDUCTIONS on your tax returns.  I too am self-employed and I sometimes think my entire life is a tax deduction.  Hire someone a s a daycare provider for your business (it does have to generate enough money to justify it), Are you deducting the space in your home devoted to your business?  Get a tax pro (their fee is deductible) to make sure you maximize everything.  I deduct computers, printers, cameras, my car, my home office and trips to conference (2 days each side for vacation) - this year it's Las Vegas, last year was New Orleans.

[Anonymous]

oh yeah - we deduct everything. Now we have 2 business' out of our home so it is even better. Most of our trips last year were for work, but we got an extra day or two for vacation - my poor husband worked his hinny off, but it was fun for my son and I. Unfortunately we probably won't be doing as much traveling this year - but this could be good - less money out of pocket that we can use to pay on bills. Chase wouldn't let me open my two cards back up but BofA did - imagine that that's the one that said i paid late once. What's with chase??? I had one card with them for 18 years and was always in good standing with them. I guess I will wait until I get some of the balances paid down. Not that I want to use it, but I need the positive from that account to reflect on my score.