When I mean debt, I mean 3/4 of the amount...
and when I say dead, I mean reincarnated at a more manageable interest rate.
That's right people, the consol loan came through (clouds parting, angels singing), but not for the full amount (boo!). I guess in these economic times, not to mention the ridiculous debt load we are carrying, it just wasn't feasible. However, about 3/4 of our debt just dropped it's interest rate by about 3/4 of it's original percentage. Small victory, but a stepping stone on the right path.
I feeling much better about this today.
Showing posts with label consolidation loan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consolidation loan. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
"Suck it Up" and other lessons...
Panic has officially set in. After pretty much wiping out my cash flow for the next three weeks (boo), I have managed to pay off the tax man (yeah!). We had a hefty sum owing this year, and I am in a very precarious bittersweet scenario in which I have no money, but I have one less monkey on my back.
The panic however, is from my husband and his way of hitting me over the head with reality. This consol loan has now been in the works for months, and he said to me today "it shouldn't take this long -assume it's not going to happen!" This of course is better than the "these things take time, if we would have done this three months ago like I said it would be solved by now" attitude from last month.
So on comes the panic. It's good, I need a bit of a wake up call, as I have left my budget and repayment plan on auto pilot for the last couple months (not in a good way) to wait for this loan to materialize, but alas I think I must return to the drawing board. I have to get reacquainted with our debt situation and devise a new plan for payoff, and getting those freakin' interest rates down. If the loan happens; bonus.
Lessons learned:
- no one is going to pay your debt for you, just deal with it. However, if there are still knights in shining armor (with big wallets), CALL ME!
-banks are not the enemy, but they can sure piss you off sometimes
-getting money loaned to you kinda requires that you have money already
-never, EVER, lose control of your repayment plan. I haven't done the tally, but I think that I am in a worse boat then when I started.
- the further you are from getting what you want, the more you want it.
This weekend will definitely be another long overdue wake up call. Fun times!
I'll let you know how it goes. If you have something more depressing to do this weekend, let me know. I might perk up a bit.
The panic however, is from my husband and his way of hitting me over the head with reality. This consol loan has now been in the works for months, and he said to me today "it shouldn't take this long -assume it's not going to happen!" This of course is better than the "these things take time, if we would have done this three months ago like I said it would be solved by now" attitude from last month.
So on comes the panic. It's good, I need a bit of a wake up call, as I have left my budget and repayment plan on auto pilot for the last couple months (not in a good way) to wait for this loan to materialize, but alas I think I must return to the drawing board. I have to get reacquainted with our debt situation and devise a new plan for payoff, and getting those freakin' interest rates down. If the loan happens; bonus.
Lessons learned:
- no one is going to pay your debt for you, just deal with it. However, if there are still knights in shining armor (with big wallets), CALL ME!
-banks are not the enemy, but they can sure piss you off sometimes
-getting money loaned to you kinda requires that you have money already
-never, EVER, lose control of your repayment plan. I haven't done the tally, but I think that I am in a worse boat then when I started.
- the further you are from getting what you want, the more you want it.
This weekend will definitely be another long overdue wake up call. Fun times!
I'll let you know how it goes. If you have something more depressing to do this weekend, let me know. I might perk up a bit.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Back...but a little disgruntled
I'm back!!!! I know it has been awhile, but with frustration comes apathy. When I last wrote the hubby and I were in hot pursuit of a consolidation loan to lessen the cash flow burden of our debt. I had planned, once this was resolved to come back with a fresh new strategy for payback, and hopefully a new lease on my problem.
Two months later...still waiting. It is infuriating. We have been at this for over two months and we still don't have an answer as to whether we are getting the loan or not! If they at least gave us an answer one way or the other I could plot my next move and get on with things, but right now I am in limbo.
First off when we went in, it didn't seem like it would be a big deal, so I started paying the minimums on my cards, afterall I didn't want to put a lot of my cash on my debt just to have it paid off in a lower rate lump sum a couple days later.
So now I am behind on my credit card payments (not my minimums, my repayment plan minimums) and I am scared to touch any of my credit for fear that my loan with get denied. Seems like a vicious cycle.
Apply for loan to get out of credit cycle and increase cash flow...have cash flow crunch waiting for approval...can't use credit to alleviate crunch (even though available) since waiting for approval.
GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
But on a happier note, I'm happy to be back and will be posting regularly again, as well as updating my blog site.
Hope you all hang around for the drama.
Two months later...still waiting. It is infuriating. We have been at this for over two months and we still don't have an answer as to whether we are getting the loan or not! If they at least gave us an answer one way or the other I could plot my next move and get on with things, but right now I am in limbo.
First off when we went in, it didn't seem like it would be a big deal, so I started paying the minimums on my cards, afterall I didn't want to put a lot of my cash on my debt just to have it paid off in a lower rate lump sum a couple days later.
So now I am behind on my credit card payments (not my minimums, my repayment plan minimums) and I am scared to touch any of my credit for fear that my loan with get denied. Seems like a vicious cycle.
Apply for loan to get out of credit cycle and increase cash flow...have cash flow crunch waiting for approval...can't use credit to alleviate crunch (even though available) since waiting for approval.
GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
But on a happier note, I'm happy to be back and will be posting regularly again, as well as updating my blog site.
Hope you all hang around for the drama.
Friday, February 20, 2009
A Date with Our Debt...
Talked to the husband the other day about the state of our debt. From our conversation we have decided that it is time to go to the bank for some assistance. I whined on about the needing to learn our lesson, and my level of embarassment for trying for our fourth consolidation loan, but he had some good points and I gave in.
First off, one of the home equity loans was not a consol loan (which I had always thought it was). It was a loan to buy our car, and our banker suggested this loan as opposed to a conventional car loan or financing. That was on our prior homes mortgage so it was eliminated when we moved.
Consol loan #1: 6 years ago $17000 - was a result of my final year of school and our first year in our new home. Yeah I had some credit card debt, but no student loans. Loan was taken out for 5 years, repaid in 1.5.
Consol loan #2: 2 years ago $60,000 (home equity)- this was a result of costs associated with our new home (ie. appliances, building upgrades, etc.) which we were told that we could add to our mortgage once the home was finished (I seemed to have forgotten that point). Granted there was some consumer debt in there (about $15,000), but the majority was house stuff.
Potential Loan: Looks to be about $90,000 when all is said and done - however, hubby made me tally up all the costs (both credit card and cash paid) to determine what money we have still sunk into our new home for landscaping and other improvements that increase the equity in our home. I am not completely finished going through the files, but I am currently at about $50,000 and I know that there is about $10,000 more in "cash" transactions where no receipt was given or my husband traded product for services. The consumer portion still exists, but it's making me a little less apprehensive about talking to the bank.
We have devised our plan of attack and have decided the following:
a.) We present the debt as equity expenses, and fess up that we should have persude a loan instead of our own "financing" efforts. Ask for a loan for the entire amount. Due to the dollar value, we are not expecting a positive response, but if you don't ask you'll never know.
b.) Propose that the debt associated with our home (the $60,000 or so) be added to our mortgage. Which is reasonable as our home was assessed last year (without any landscaping or driveway - which have since been added) at even higher than our mortgage plus the additional $60,000. I know what you are thinking, the market sucks right now, but where I am from it's still pretty solid and I have researched five houses for sale on the street over from my house (built the same year, and similar amenities) and they are listed for over $100,000 more than the 2007 appraised value of our home. We figure this way we can save on appraisal fees, and hopefully get a quicker answer. For the balance we were going to request an increase in our credit line. Yeah I know, this is dangerous, but if we have other projects, which we expect in the future I would much rather use a lower interest credit line and eliminate our credit cards all together.
c.) If this isn't feasible, see what we can get our credit line increased to and put the rest on our home equity.
d.) No dice - try b.) and c.) again with home equity and a conventional loan. The interest rate may be a little higher, but the overall interest will be lower due to a shorter amortization period.
e.) Go full boar on the home equity and work to pay down the priniciple as quick as possible.
f.) Go home.
Wish me luck!!
First off, one of the home equity loans was not a consol loan (which I had always thought it was). It was a loan to buy our car, and our banker suggested this loan as opposed to a conventional car loan or financing. That was on our prior homes mortgage so it was eliminated when we moved.
Consol loan #1: 6 years ago $17000 - was a result of my final year of school and our first year in our new home. Yeah I had some credit card debt, but no student loans. Loan was taken out for 5 years, repaid in 1.5.
Consol loan #2: 2 years ago $60,000 (home equity)- this was a result of costs associated with our new home (ie. appliances, building upgrades, etc.) which we were told that we could add to our mortgage once the home was finished (I seemed to have forgotten that point). Granted there was some consumer debt in there (about $15,000), but the majority was house stuff.
Potential Loan: Looks to be about $90,000 when all is said and done - however, hubby made me tally up all the costs (both credit card and cash paid) to determine what money we have still sunk into our new home for landscaping and other improvements that increase the equity in our home. I am not completely finished going through the files, but I am currently at about $50,000 and I know that there is about $10,000 more in "cash" transactions where no receipt was given or my husband traded product for services. The consumer portion still exists, but it's making me a little less apprehensive about talking to the bank.
We have devised our plan of attack and have decided the following:
a.) We present the debt as equity expenses, and fess up that we should have persude a loan instead of our own "financing" efforts. Ask for a loan for the entire amount. Due to the dollar value, we are not expecting a positive response, but if you don't ask you'll never know.
b.) Propose that the debt associated with our home (the $60,000 or so) be added to our mortgage. Which is reasonable as our home was assessed last year (without any landscaping or driveway - which have since been added) at even higher than our mortgage plus the additional $60,000. I know what you are thinking, the market sucks right now, but where I am from it's still pretty solid and I have researched five houses for sale on the street over from my house (built the same year, and similar amenities) and they are listed for over $100,000 more than the 2007 appraised value of our home. We figure this way we can save on appraisal fees, and hopefully get a quicker answer. For the balance we were going to request an increase in our credit line. Yeah I know, this is dangerous, but if we have other projects, which we expect in the future I would much rather use a lower interest credit line and eliminate our credit cards all together.
c.) If this isn't feasible, see what we can get our credit line increased to and put the rest on our home equity.
d.) No dice - try b.) and c.) again with home equity and a conventional loan. The interest rate may be a little higher, but the overall interest will be lower due to a shorter amortization period.
e.) Go full boar on the home equity and work to pay down the priniciple as quick as possible.
f.) Go home.
Wish me luck!!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Abort mission...
So after a long talk with the hubby last night we have decided to put off our quest for a consol loan for about 6 months or so. Some of you are probably confused as to why we would choose to do this, but there are three very good reasons why.
1.) The economy. Yes, I am sure everyone is sick of hearing about it, but while banks are on the defensive we are likely to get less than we desire, if anything at all. Plus, unless they simply give us a straight up "No," we are looking at a senseless credit check on our credit report (which we don't need if it will not be fruitful), and we might send up some flares about our mortgage (which we are fine with, but hey why call attention to ourselves). In this respect, we have decided to wait until some of the panic has subsided and the bank may be more likely to "play ball," so to speak.
2.) We will have a little less debt to come to the table with. Yeah, I know 6 months is not going to be a huge difference, but if we are already waiting, it is a benefit.
3.) My hubby's new job does not start until the new year, and with no way to substantiate the potential income until he starts making some, it will not be a good bargaining tool. If we can have a track record of his income (even for just the first quarter of the year), it will be a stronger argument as to why we should be granted the loan. Based on projections, this could be a major factor in how much we get.
1.) The economy. Yes, I am sure everyone is sick of hearing about it, but while banks are on the defensive we are likely to get less than we desire, if anything at all. Plus, unless they simply give us a straight up "No," we are looking at a senseless credit check on our credit report (which we don't need if it will not be fruitful), and we might send up some flares about our mortgage (which we are fine with, but hey why call attention to ourselves). In this respect, we have decided to wait until some of the panic has subsided and the bank may be more likely to "play ball," so to speak.
2.) We will have a little less debt to come to the table with. Yeah, I know 6 months is not going to be a huge difference, but if we are already waiting, it is a benefit.
3.) My hubby's new job does not start until the new year, and with no way to substantiate the potential income until he starts making some, it will not be a good bargaining tool. If we can have a track record of his income (even for just the first quarter of the year), it will be a stronger argument as to why we should be granted the loan. Based on projections, this could be a major factor in how much we get.
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