Hey fellers. Jason here. So, you remember the peachy stories about my fiancee and I use to work @ Citibank as collectors. I work 30 hours/wk @ $10/hr and my fiancee has been out of work since July. I received a $1,200 check from Citibank (my last check) in July so I thought I could finally get some stuff paid off. I was working two jobs over summer (20 hours @ Citibank, 20 hours @ my current job) and then school was starting so I quit Citibank and did my new job 30 hours a week. My fiancee quit Citibank in July (same time as me) and she has been going to interviews for a bank teller job since then. Her parents, my parents, and I have all given her a hard time because she quit a great job @ Citibank before finding a new job.. and now we are paying the consequences. She is not drawing unemployment... she has been strung along from this bank for the past month about getting hired on. She tried to make some crafts to sell to make some profit, but that proved unsuccessful. I am 20 years old and it has been extremely hard to pay both of our bills for the past 2/3 months. I bring home $1000/month after taxes. I have a $346 car payment, she has a $335 car payment. I have $160/month insurance, she has $200 month. We received a giant bill from our cell phone ($240) and recently received a bill for annual car tax ($170 each car) and on top of this we have 6 credit cards totally $8,000 debt. I've managed to stay afloat only because of the $1,200 savings I had over summer, but now with all of these cell phone charges and car taxes, I feel defeated. Her father (my future father in law) is very upset that his daughter would put this kind of pressure on me. And then it hurts her feelings because SHE is his daughter and she feels he is on my side or something. She is not in school either, yet tells her parents she is. She does not want to get a student loan because of "more debt" and I've tried to tell her that a student loan is an ok debt and we are only prolonging our debt situation because she isn't motivated to get a college degree. I just feel I have to vent. I always assumed college would be the best years of my life, but things are so tough. I am FORCED to work a bare minimum of 30 hours a week because of the financial mistakes I've made and that impacts my school grades. Also, I never have money to purchase anything besides gas. We love each other to death and we know we're going to get through this... things just suck right now. She wants to work so bad, but sometimes I think she won't finish school. Our credit hasn't been damaged yet, but who knows how long that will last. Thanks for listening, if you read this far =(
I've been there, done that. Don't get discouraged. Things do get better. A couple pieces of advice. Don't get in-laws or future in-laws involved in your finances. Nothing good will come of it. Perhaps your girlfriend could find some other job...ANY job...besides banking. Some money coming in is better than no money. Also, take a look at those bills you have coming in every month. Is there anything you can cut at all? I'd perhaps start with that cell phone bill. If you can't get rid of the cell phone altogether, then perhaps you can get a cheaper plan. I have a prepaid plan, and i like it quite a bit. I don't spend more than $40 a month on my cell phone, and I use it a LOT. Maybe you can also find a cheaper auto insurance plan. One of the biggest mistakes I've made in life is whenever my pay scale went down, my lifestyle didn't. If you're making less money, then of course you have to spend less money. It's no fun, but it's a necessity. Run your household like a business. Don' spend more than you make. I'm not trying to be preachy, just passing on advice based on my own experiences.
Oh, don't worry about anything you've said. We've explored and exhausted many options. Our first mistake was buying brand news cars a year ago. Made our insurance and car payment jump. And our next largest mistake is credit card debt. I have been trying for months to get out of our car payments, but our only option is to wait another 6-12 months to get the car loan paid down to where we can sell them for the amount of the loan and then buy cheaper used cars. We did cancel our Nextel phone plans because they were so expensive ($240 bill after 2 months) and have gone with Tmobile now. We are running out of options. We understand our mistakes and are trying to correct them, but it's so hard to get out of a hole.
Sorry to hear about your situation. Hope things don't come down to it, but if it does, at least try to protect one of yours credit. No reason to let both go down the drain. Is everything in your name or are each of your cars and credit cards in your own name? Just curious. Also, like the above post menioned, she should get a job...ANY job. No reason she should make you responsible for everything while she is doing nothing...school or work. Anyway, I hope everything works out for you.
Are you a member of a credit union, or is there a credit union that you would be eligible to join? You might be able to get a signature loan (unsecured) to pay off the credit cards, then cut the cards up literally so you don't get tempted. The scheduled payments will allow you to get all that debt wiped out hopefully before you've gotten through college. Also you may want to look into refinancing one or both of the car loans. I know it will push the car loan out quite a bit longer, but it may bring the monthly payments down enough to give you some breathing room. Some companies will actually allow a refinance to a 72 month which will bring payments down probably over $100+ on your car. Also note, and I'm not trying to be harsh or get you down, but if you bought a new car last year (and I hope you either are talking about early in the year, or you bought the new model year when they first came out) you will most likely be upside down on the loan for 3 out of the 5 years. Just a year and a half ago I sold my Nissan 200 SX which I had bought new, it was 3 years old, and I was lucky to find someone to buy it for the payoff. Times are tough now with the economy, and people just don't have $6-8K in cash to pay out for a good used car. Also since so many are allowing their credit to slip they have a hard time getting a loan for a used car. I can't agree more with the other posters, even if it's a job as a cashier at the local grocery store making $5.25 an hour for 30 hours a week, that would still represent around $400 a month after taxes. I did the math, and you look to be within that, also the Cell Phone is not a necessity so before you let your credit get ruined by missing payments on your credit card bills, or having a car repoed, loose the cell. And I can't emphisize this enough. You need to try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to get your fiance back taking classes. Even if it's just 1 or 2 classes a semester as you can afford, or student loans. The difference between a high school diploma and a bachelors degree is usually at least double pay with the college degree. I am gladly taking on $6,000 a year in student loans with my wife who's 32 starting her college. The best she could do was $6 - $7 an hour jobs, and that was with an outdated associates degree. The program she's in will allow her to make $30K and be home for the kids during the summer and bad winter weather days. If I didn't have my college degree, I would probably still be working for under $12 an hour having made it to assistant manager of the grocery store I worked at 7 years finishing high school and going to college. So in recap, my two points are: 1: Get her back in college no matter what. 2: Any crummy job is better than nothing. ChrisB
The new cars don't help, that's for sure. One other thing I should mention. If you aren't married, you should have your OWN checking and savings accounts, not joint. I've been married for 15 years now, and I finally got my own bank accounts, and my wife has her own. She was responsible for bill payments but (surprise!) wasn't paying them in a timely manner and bouncing checks. Now that I have my own accounts (surprise!) there are no more late payments. But I digress. It's time to make the tough decisions and CUT, CUT, CUT your expenses. It will be tough. It will suck. My kids hated it that I stopped buying junk food and started grocery shopping at discount and dollar stores. But guess what? They are happy that we can now afford to buy other things that we need. It does also help with the bills. Do you have cable TV? Guess what? You don't really need it. Rent videos? You don't need those, either. I've cut a LOT of spending in my house. It's just a matter of finding alternatives. (You can get FREE videos at the library!) I have to agree with the other posters. Besides a job, ANY job, she should also be taking classes. One of my biggest regrets is not finishing college (I had to work to support my family instead, but I still intend to finish my studies. I'll probably do it via distance education, online) There are a LOT of scholarships and financial aid available, especially for women. If she is a minority, that is another mark in her favor as far as student aid goes (I know how that sounds, but it's true). Good luck. It's not an easy road you have ahead of you, but keep reading here, find some web sites on frugal living, and whatever you do, don't spend any more money that you don't have.
