So much for that. I should have known it was too good to be true. It turns out that I can't get a mortgage because I was an irresponsible person in a bad marriage with bad luck and then had medical bills: I went bankrupt in September, 2005. The old laws say that if you are a good person and reestablish credit and all that stuff, then you are eligible to get a mortgage three years after a bankruptcy. Now - as of last fucking month - it is four years. I could maybe get a subprime loan, but those are a) bad and b) disqualify me from getting any money from any of the low income programs I was counting on to make up the difference between my nonprofit salary and the cost of housing in this increasingly gentrified city. So I can't buy a house. This year, anyway. Maybe, of course, ever.
So I guess I get to stay in an expensive rat infested rental I don't like and sure as hell won't be able to afford to heat next winter (I couldn't really heat it last winter; somehow, I don't think it will be cheaper this year. Heh. Heh heh heh. Funny.) for at least another year. It's either that or find another rental, spend everything I've saved for the last year on moving costs and then not be able to buy a house again because I won't have any savings.
A friend of mine and I used to talk about this place called Bad Girls Debtor's Prison: it's where you go when you do incredibly stupid financial stuff in large part because of the men in your life. We used to laugh about it: Ever gotten car insurance for your boyfriend only to have him total your car? Ever put your husband on your credit card only to have him rack up $5,000 in debt in two angry months? Hee hee! Fun fun! Ever buy a guy a car but then when you break up he doesn't put it in his name and he doesn't get it insured so that you're still liable for that "lapse" in insurance even ten years later? Wheeeee! Ever buy a house you can't sell and the tenant gets further and further behind on his rent to you and the person who bought the house with you, your ex-husband, won't do anything and, since he's not even paying one thin dime in child support, you can't come up with the money to save the house? Ever pay out a fortune to get your child health insurance and then when they need surgery it turns out that what the insurance doesn't pay is still $9,000 and you don't have and never will have $9,000 and, you know, look above if you think the father of that child might step in and help out. Yeah. I love it here in Bad Girls Debtor's Prison. I must love it; I never leave. Because even if you think you've worked for years to straighten all that stuff up and you're doing the best you can and pretty much debt free, driving your ancient car and going to work for a good nonprofit and being nice to everyone and acquiring karma points left, right and center, they still won't let you out. You're in Bad Girls' Debtor's Prison forever, honey, and don't you forget it.
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7 comments:
I'm so sorry, Felicity. I'm living in Bad Girl's Debtor Prison myself -- two autoimmune diseases + no health insurance + being fired due to "absenteeism" (also known as "being in ICU for nearly four weeks) + can't work but can't get disability either = whopping bills and BGDP.
what bank did you try? did you try more than one? you should go to a mortgage broker like the one at the head of montford and see what they can do for you. It may not be a bank, but it's not subprime. You should also go to a loan counselor at mountain housing or consumer credit counseling.
Ah, shit. This sucks. I'm sorry to hear this, F. *hug*
I have a friend who went through a bankruptcy and had to get someone to help him "clean up" his credit after the three-year window had passed, before he could qualify for another loan. Once you recover from missing this house, and feel like thinking about it again, it may help to find a service like that and sort of start laying the groundwork for the next time.
You've probably thought of all this and maybe even have tried it, but I'm just grasping at straws here. Ugh. So, so sorry. :P
Damn, F! That so so sux but we still believe you'll be a very close neighbor somehow someway.
damn this has james mcmurtry written all over it...you two need to get together - he can write a few albums of songs based on your stories, and hanging out with him might cheer you up & he might take you & your dogs to live on his tourbus.
I am madly in love with James McMurtry - you just said the nicest possible thing in the world to me! Except that he doesn't have a bus, unless he's gotten one since the last time I saw him at the Gray Eagle - he's got like an old van. Which I would so live in with him, house be damned. I did stand around near it one time a few years ago trying to summon up the nerve to go up to him and say something classy like, I want to be your groupie, but then I ran into an exboyfriend and we had to walk down Lexington and have an argument instead. Ah, memories of my dysfunctional adulthood.
well see, there ya go, that's another song or two right there! i say send him a myspace or facebook message with a link to this story, there's nothing to lose & everything to win.
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