Those whiney people in debt relief ads

[Ghel]

It's true that the majority of the "mortgage crisis" was caused by mortgage brokers, people who get paid a commission for each mortgage they book. Mortgage brokers immediately sell the mortgages to other businesses, usually banks, so the broker never has to deal with collection on the loan if it goes bad. As you might expect, this is a huge opportunity for less-than-ethical people to "cook the numbers" to make the borrowers' creditworthiness look better so that they can get the loan closed, sold, and off their books as quick as possible. Such mortgage brokers might also try to convince borrowers that they can afford to take on more credit than they reasonable should, then the broker gets their commission and the borrower gets stuck with a home that they can't afford, isn't worth what they paid, or both.

[KellyHabersham]

Yes, it can creep up on you, and sudden changes like losing a job, especially if it takes a long time to find another one, can turn what was manageable before into an impossibility... but what killed me on the cards was that, while they seemed happy to keep my interest rate reasonable so long as my balance stayed the same or rose, as soon as I got serious about paying them down they doubled the rate, making it impossible. This does not seem, from what little I've gathered, the usual way of things, but it sure stuck me with a pickle.

That's kind of what happened with me when it came to having debt issues - after I'd gotten laid off from Macy's, it took almost a year before I got hired on at the church. And in the meantime, I just didn't always have the money to keep up with bill payments......most of what I made at the library had to go towards rent.

[Mytical]

I will be one of the first to say I've not always been the smartest of people. Sure I knew a long time ago that 22+% interest on something was not the smartest move on the planet. So yeah I never got into any CREDIT CARD trouble. In fact the biggest thing on my credit history is medical bills. Being laid up because of an accident for 6 months really piles up the bills.

However, there is one thing I got myself in trouble with. Central Air. Let me explain (patience padawan ).

We call around asking for quotes/etc...and finally we get a company I'll call Fakeuahar. They come in, show us our options, and we settle on a 6k one. They do the math .. 176 a month..great not bad at all. We shake hands, get our 100% money back guarantee, and they come later and install it.

From day one after the install, the thing never worked right. The air unit would freeze up, and stop working..it was a mess. Sooo.. we call them to fix it. Yeah... ok that is like pulling teeth. Meanwhile we get the first bill. 176...and 176. Yeah..ok...something isn't right..maybe a clerical error and they are accidentally trying to bill us twice.

Nope..seems that they installed a 13k one instead. Huh? No..no that is not right...so we go and tell them 'fix it, or come remove it'. Showing our 100% money back guarantee. ((Which by the way had TWO years so not like we were even close to that)).

Within notime the place folds up..filling bankruptcy and moving to another city. We get contacted by the credit place. We explain that not only is it not working, but that the wrong one was put in. "Well it's not something we can repossess, so pay up."

We contacted a lawyer, who did nothing. Claimed there was nothing that could be done (after taking a ton of our money of course). Pretty much broke, without options..our credit took a huge hit. Cause I don't know about anybody else, but I am not paying for something that has NEVER worked.

[smileyeagle1021]

Mytical, that has to be one of the most reasonable reasons for not paying a "debt" (I hesitate to use the word debt since based on what you said, it is entirely possible the company committed fraud against you) I have heard... sadly most people are just coming out and making shit up about how mean that bank is for loaning them money and actually wanting it back and why didn't the bank know that they couldn't pay it back when they loaned it to them, blah blah blah... the bank is NOT your nanny, stop treating it as such.

[blas87]

That and Payday Loans and Title Loans completely depend on the stupid and/or most desperate and despondent of people for their business, which is unimagineable interest rates. Now, some people honestly need a few hundred and pay it back the next week. No biggie. That's what places like that were intended for. A pinch. A crisis.

But then they got greedy and too many people became like my coworker, Drunken Victim, who cannot budget, his gf refuses to work, he got so far behind in rent and bills and whatnot that he had to take out of one of those loans just to pay rent and not get evicted. Now he'll probably be paying way more than just $1,000 back. But, those places depend on people like him.

[guywithashovel]

Throughout life, I haven't always made the best decisions (who has?). However, I'm fortunate to say that I've never gotten into any serious trouble with debt. The only debt I have right now is student loan debt and my car loan. My student loans are kind of hefty (or so it seems), but I've never carried a credit card. A few times, at department stores, I've signed up for a card when they've had those promotions where you can get a discount on your purchase if you fill out an application. If I got approved for the card, I always cut it up as soon as they sent it to me. One time, at Sears, they approved me for the Sears credit card right there and put my purchases on it. I paid it off as soon as they sent me the bill, and the card got cut up. These days, I never sign up for any of those cards, even if there is a discount on my purchase for doing so. One time, I was buying a dress shirt at Sears, and if I got approved for a Sears credit card, the shirt only would have been 99 cents. I didn't do it. I've heard that even having a credit card can drag down your credit score because it is seen as "potential debt," even if you don't use the card at all. As of right now, my credit score is somewhere in the mid 700s, and I'd like to keep it there, at the very least. Preferably, I'd like to get it up to around 800.

My student loans haven't caused me any problems thus far, but because of them, my debt-to-income ratio is currently about 44%. That's not bad, per se, but I would like it to be a little lower. I've heard that if you buy a home, it's best to have it somewhere in the 30% range at most. I'm sure some people get around that, though.

[Ginger Tea]

Warning Long (and might veer off topic):

When I decided to move back to Cambridge, I said yes to nearly every bit of over time on offer and saved up £4k as I knew rents for rooms would be similar to rents for houses back oop norf and I wanted to have a good buffer on me.
My first job's income wasn't that great (National Minimum Wage circa 2003) I think nearly 3 weeks of my wages went to rent, fine I had that £4k, thing is I also wanted to go out and had skipped that part of my life saving money for around a year, TBH I think when it came to rounds I always ended up with the more expencive drinks on my money when a few of the guys at the house went out for a drink and I lost 3 or so days work after one needed to go to A&E and I was the soberist of us as I was working in the morning, or would have if I wasn't leaving in a taxi (that I paid for) come 6am when I'm meant to start at 8am, just cos he punched a brick wall.

by Christmas I'm out of work and I'm down to less than a grand and I only moved in in August, I had money coming in to pay rent, even if it was NMW and I hate to think that I litterally pissed the rest away.
come the new year and a new job, I opened a building society account and paid my rent via cheques instead of cash, and these cheques CAN NOT bounce, unlike the rent cheques of one house mate who even with a job owed 3 months rent (and he never got evicted and still lives here albeit in a smaller room), now I live within my means and have 3 bills I have to take care of
Rent
A storage unit in cambridge (as I only have one room and a few thousand DVD's and CD's that I don't want ending up in some cash converter whilst I'm at work)
A storage unit oop norf I had to take after my mother died and we had no where to put her or miy stuff I left up there and my brother was in a tiny flat and could just barely make room for her dog (aswell as his own) and two cats that I living in a bed sit couldn't accomodate.

Now someone I know (whom truth be told wish I never met) can not live within his means even though he is up to his eyeballs in debt and at one point was using credit card A to pay off credit card B, he once asked me for advice on his situation, this was maybe 3 years ago and I asked him how much he owed £15k or more, he had maxed out both his cards and thankfully cut up one of them, he is now paying it back £1 yes ONE POUND a month.

(this bit deserves its own soap opera)
Over a year ago he met this girl whom I knew didn't like him in that way and even though he had his debt hanging over him, showered her with gifts, some expencive (2 iPod touch's a new mobile phone) and alot on baby clothes for a child she lied about being pregnant with just to get a council house.
And she didn't sleep with him so she wasn't lying about him being the father, she just wanted a council flat, yet chose to lie to her friends as well
He no longer has contact with her, I heard, from a third party, that she took out a restraining order out on him, which he denied and probably spent £2k or more on this woman.

Nine or so months ago, he came close to being evicted by his mother, whom he lives with, his own mother, not a land lord, he ended up taking a 2nd or 3rd job, this one involved driving escorts to and from clients residents or hotels, yet he paid for his own petrol and sometimes had to drive into the sticks, I think his mother changed her mind on evicting him due to this choice of employment as he stopped doing it after a few months even though he was hemmoraging money due to his debts. she is now in controll of his finances and gives him a maximum allowance, takes out his rent and keeps the rest safe, I assumed this was to ensure his credit card got paid back, but I found out only a few weeks ago that he is infact only paying back a token quid.

[jackfaire]

My first car and military uniforms (needed new ones) were the only things I ever bought on credit.

The car was a necessity I was living off base in a small town with a wife and infant child. There was no public transportation, they said there was but in the time I was there I never ever saw a bus. I will admit I let them talk me into overpaying at the time I was horrible at negotiations and was just desperate to stop spending so much on taxis.

The uniforms unfortunately beyond what I was issued in basic I had to buy all my new stuff when I needed it. (Yes I got a clothing allowance but again I was horrible at budgeting and was in the red making more than I make now)

Anyway that being said if you have to for example buy groceries on credit because god forbid your out of work and for some reason you can't get food stamps that I get but if your contemplating buying something and the only way you can afford it is through credit then you need to think long and hard about doing so.

When looking at buying a house you cannot absolutely cannot only look at "well I make this much money now so sure I can afford it" You have to look at every angle and think okay if I am out of work and living on savings can I afford the payments?

Disabled? etc.

Nor should you be relying on the person selling you the mortgage to tell you whether or not you can afford it. You should before signing anything know exactly what the terms are and if they are realistic for you.

Really there isn't an excuse not to. It's not like your buying a candy bar and hey you didn't know about the recall cuz hey it's a candy bar something you casually buy all the time.

This is a house and for most people not a purchase they plan to make a lot. You should before signing on the dotted line know every single aspect of the finanical situation from how much your payments will be to how much the gas furnace is going to run you on average.

If you do all of your research thoroughly plan for every eventuality and do your best to be prepared and still get screwed I will have sympathy for you but it's hard to feel sympathetic to people when most of those buying houses can't even tell you where the furnace is.

[Ginger Tea]

begin rant:

I'm going to be skint till new year and I've told captain Dickhead (the guy from my other post) that I can't afford to go out, last pay cheque wasn't as big as normal due to taking anual leave, so after the £700 I put in my savings account for rent and storage units (both here and oop norf), all my DD's were paid and I found myself with around £50 to last me from the 13th to today which is pay day.
I told him then I had no money till pay day and he still asked if I wanted to go out every day
what part of "still havn't got any money" didn't he get?

I told him he proabably had more money than me (not counting my savings account), he himself managed to save £10 a week and had ammassed £300 which he was going to book a nightclub with to host his own event, which I knew would be doomed to failure. Having given up on the idea he decided that he would spend the money instead, just as he had done with his "I'm moving to Belgium" money a few years ago.*

Now although I get paid today (but I've not been into town to check how much) I am still going to be skint and skinter, why?
when my brothers council evicted the street he lived on so they could build more shops I had to be his guarantor with his letting agency should it hit the fan and he couldn't pay and with his job f-ing him around re wages for the last 2 years he sometimes owed them here and there and I was called in to pay some back pay last year.
He told me he was short, but was sorting it out with them and told them not to contact me as he should have the money owed by this comming wednesday.
I get a letter Tuesday saying I have seven days to pay £600 (£350 rent and the rest back payments)
I was going to get a cheque made out yesterday (my cheques can not bounce unlike normal bank ones, once its written out that ammount is "deleted" from my account), he told me not to and to pay £250 on my card and he will sort out the £350 and pay me back next week, I told him I would much rather do either ammount via building society as I don't want a £250 let alone £600 hole in my bank account.

anyway Captain Dickhead asked if I fancied going out after he got back from London, I told him that not only do I have my usual £700 to sort out, I now have an unexpected £600 to sort out too (I didn't tell him why as its none of his business) and my wages minus both ammounts = skinter than I am now, hell I don't even know if I have enough for both, luckily I have a buffer for rent sorted out for emergancies like this, so I don't have to put the whole £700 in, but still.
"I won't have money till the December pay day." I told him
"So you won't be comming out on my birthday?"
"I couldn't even afford my own." I snapped, which is kind of true, if I didn't finish nigh on 9pm and get the latest drWho box set I could have had something to drink, but I don't do my birthdays as a rule, havn't done for years.

hint, please get it
/end rant

edit:
*Moving to Belgium:
He got a job as a driver at my place and was there for about a year, but he loved long distance driving going to London daily was boring to him, although after he left we got a route that circled most of the east Anglian coast.
He decided that one way to escape his debts was to move to another country, he chose Belgium as he was learning French around the time I first met him via another course, I told him that, no matter where he moved to, he needed enough money set aside for a minimum of 3 months rent, incase he didn't have a job already lined up for himself and to preferably keep that buffer going incase he lost which ever job he had and being the only person he would know in Belgium, he would not have anything or anyone to fall back on.
I knew he was paying off his two cards (full whack at the time not a paltry quid) and money would be tight for a while so saving would take forever.
He got a job lined up in Sunderland driving to mainland Europe, he was happy as larry so handed in his notice and we hired an agency driver to cover his place before he left.
Then at a late bar that holds regular student nights he meets this Brazilian girl and is smitten, they trade msn details and he thinks hes in with a chance and turns down the Sunderland job, he's now left our place and we have drivers so hes not comming back (general consensus is they wouldn't have him back anyway) and a week later the girl says shes going back to Brazil and he would never see her again.
he literally threw an ideal job away cos a girl smiled at him and gave him her msn, no hint of come back to my place or anything. he threw it all away over a smile.