Congrats to those doing better so far this year than last, and to Averysmomma for the pgcy!
Frugalmama, I ask only because I had to have someone ask me before I REALLY thought about it. Have you considered walking away from the house and renting? When it's falling down around your ears, and you're at constant risk of losing it anyway, and you're probably quite upside down on it... We were 3 yrs ago, and someone asked me if I'd really thought about why I was hanging onto that piece of crap. I realized 1. I was proud and didn't want people to know I lost my house 2. It was the only thing of ANY value that I owned and 3. I was afraid no one would rent to us/wouldn't be able to come up with a deposit. It was then that I took action, found a place to rent, and we never looked back. Now, we're using our tax refund to buy a house this spring. One that will hold it's value and be an actual good investment. At least, that's the plan...
I second and third every recommendation for creditboards.com I've read on this thread! I started on our credit in May of last year. We were both in the mid 500s. Dh just hit 750, and me with the bankruptcy and foreclosure, still over 700. I never have to worry about creditor calls again, and we've got credit cards, a great car loan at a great rate ( that we'll be paying off w/taxes), and will be getting a good mortgage w/o a manual review. Too sweet! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE creditboards.
So, that's our update. Still hanging in there and making slightly more steps forward than backward, FINALLY. My mother moved in with us a year ago, but her worker screwed up her case so badly that her benefits stopped. Then we were afraid to sign her up at our address because technically she shouldn't be living with us (too many people for the size of our rental and we would be evicted if the leasing office found out). Because we can't sign a lease to live here again (because just the baby alone puts us at too many people to live here), we're out of here one way or another in 4 months. So we just said screw it, got her signed up here, and we've got collectively $200 more per month in FS. That's so helpful! Especially since we were docked when dh got his promotion+raise last summer. Plus, we get student loans/grants in 3 weeks and tax returns in 2.5 weeks. Plus, with the help of creditboards we knew enough to sue a debt collector for illegal debt practices and we're expecting a $1000 settlement check any day. Hooray! Now, we just have to keep this up...
Oh, also, we got into our local housing development office last year. We got signed up for an IDA (individual development account), where they match your funds 3 to 1 for buying a house. So, you save $1000 and they give you $3000 for your down payment, closing costs, etc. We'll be using that for our down payment and prepays. And they also helped us figure out the best mortgage for us. A USDA Rural Direct loan will give us a loan at 1% interest. This will enable us to buy twice the house we could usually afford, plus we can have the little homestead I've wanted for so long. I'm very excited. But, everything I have is crossed because it seems like every time I get optimistic my hopes are dashed yet again. Here's to a MUCH better year than last!
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