$70K to food bank

From $70K to food bank, one family's struggle
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/03/27/foodbank.family/index.html

Now we know that the intent of the story is to advance the doom and gloom scenario, but it appears from the story that she has other issues contributing to her demise. "...interest-only mortgage of $2,500 a month"

a mortgage loan processor who took out a $2500/month interest only loan no less.. where's Krommie at, he needs to go give her his speech on being debt free. Clearly she bought a house she couldn't afford in the first place. Crappy deal, I'll give her credit for attempting to keep the house and make the payments during the hard times, most people would just walk away.

I totally agree. I watched about 20 seconds of that video clip... Love hair that she probably paid at least $100 for that hair dye job before the news report, and crying at a food bank? come on! Wah Waaaaaaah! Rock financial and Quicken loans in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area use do pay great commission bonuses for phone loan processors, $40 to $70K was not uncommon for a 24 year old college student. NO ONE that I've met had the gnads to get a $2500/mo interest only loan! I know the Cost of Living in Cali is higher but "good, uh, lard"!

I agree, my first thought was "$2,500 interest payments ($70k/yr) tells me she has no clue what a budget means and really does not know much about money in general"

In tune with this (kinda) I have been on disability and food stamps for about 6 yrs. I just got a $21 cost of living disability raise and my food stamps went from $254/m to $73/m... they say it is due to cut backs!?!? and my raise.

meta4 wrote:I totally agree. I watched about 20 seconds of that video clip... Love hair that she probably paid at least $100 for that hair dye job before the news report, and crying at a food bank? come on! Wah Waaaaaaah! Rock financial and Quicken loans in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area use do pay great commission bonuses for phone loan processors, $40 to $70K was not uncommon for a 24 year old college student. NO ONE that I've met had the gnads to get a $2500/mo interest only loan! I know the Cost of Living in Cali is higher but "good, uh, lard"!

What's for dinner tonight? I think I'm going to have to eat my words. I shouldn't have poked fun at her crying. I just did 5 push ups and 5 sit ups for that. Truth is, it sucks being unemployed and not being able to go out and buy the simplest things without budgeting.

LOL,..."you don't walk into the food bank with your Coach purse". What are they 3 bills? Clearly someone that was runnin' with the Jones'.

i get that about an increase in one area spells a bigger decrease in others iberlin. i am wondering about the idea being tossed around for an increase in soc sec income...hell they will just have higher rent and less ssi, food stamps, whatever! and the raise is for who again?!

i would have difficulty working up much sympathy for the gal who is in dire need of kromies services.

floridafun wrote:i get that about an increase in one area spells a bigger decrease in others iberlin. i am wondering about the idea being tossed around for an increase in soc sec income...hell they will just have higher rent and less ssi, food stamps, whatever! and the raise is for who again?!

i would have difficulty working up much sympathy for the gal who is in dire need of kromies services.

I had my semi annual FS appt 2day and went through everything trying to wrap my head around it.. after they refigured everything my FS were raised to $77/m. WooHoo, I can now buy another gl of milk and maybe even some cereal to wash it down.
They must have had some serious cut backs. I have had to go to the office 3-4 times a yr every yr since I started. 2day they tell me there is no longer going to be face to face appts, all made from the phone and no one gets their own case worker, when you call, you deal with whomever answers your call. (these changes are great for me b/c I really HATE having to go there.)

iberlingirl wrote:I agree, my first thought was "$2,500 interest payments ($70k/yr) tells me she has no clue what a budget means and really does not know much about money in general"

In tune with this (kinda) I have been on disability and food stamps for about 6 yrs. I just got a $21 cost of living disability raise and my food stamps went from $254/m to $73/m... they say it is due to cut backs!?!? and my raise.

Not to be nosy...ok..maybe I am..but weren't you once in the Army? or am I getting you confused with another Board member...if this is you...are you on disability because of an injury from the Army?

Shouldbeworking wrote:

iberlingirl wrote:I agree, my first thought was "$2,500 interest payments ($70k/yr) tells me she has no clue what a budget means and really does not know much about money in general"

In tune with this (kinda) I have been on disability and food stamps for about 6 yrs. I just got a $21 cost of living disability raise and my food stamps went from $254/m to $73/m... they say it is due to cut backs!?!? and my raise.

Not to be nosy...ok..maybe I am..but weren't you once in the Army? or am I getting you confused with another Board member...if this is you...are you on disability because of an injury from the Army?

Yup that is me and yes I am a disabled veteran. I have also been rear ended (2 car accidents) leaving me with a permanent neck injury and nerve damage and unable to work. I applied for SS Disability 6 yrs ago and am still waiting, Mark Souder is now involved in my SSD case b/c of the length SS is taking to approve/deny me.

iberlingirl wrote:

Shouldbeworking wrote:

iberlingirl wrote:I agree, my first thought was "$2,500 interest payments ($70k/yr) tells me she has no clue what a budget means and really does not know much about money in general"

In tune with this (kinda) I have been on disability and food stamps for about 6 yrs. I just got a $21 cost of living disability raise and my food stamps went from $254/m to $73/m... they say it is due to cut backs!?!? and my raise.

Not to be nosy...ok..maybe I am..but weren't you once in the Army? or am I getting you confused with another Board member...if this is you...are you on disability because of an injury from the Army?

Yup that is me and yes I am a disabled veteran. I have also been rear ended (2 car accidents) leaving me with a permanent neck injury and nerve damage and unable to work. I applied for SS Disability 6 yrs ago and am still waiting, Mark Souder is now involved in my SSD case b/c of the length SS is taking to approve/deny me.

That's what I thought....it pissed me off how the vets get treated...did you happen to stumble across our posts about the Vet Hospitals. I'm curious about what your opinion is...does anyone know how other Countries handle their Vets?

posts about the Vet Hospitals

No I haven't is it here? The only reason that Mark Souder is involved is b/c I am a disabled vet and he really has done a lot for us. I realize there is FAR more that can be done, but ya gotta start somewhere.

Wow... who the heck would look at a $2500/month interest only loan and see that it was a good idea... If you make $70k or $700k it's just dumb dumb dumb. I would have walked a long time ago... no equity, go rent something for half that. I always through it was a good rule of thumb that your monthly mortgage payment be no more than 10% of your annual income, assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

pez wrote:Wow... who the heck would look at a $2500/month interest only loan and see that it was a good idea... If you make $70k or $700k it's just dumb dumb dumb. I would have walked a long time ago... no equity, go rent something for half that. I always through it was a good rule of thumb that your monthly mortgage payment be no more than 10% of your annual income, assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

I think you are being slightly conservative there ... I have always heard to keep your mortgage payment 20% of your gross pay.

Bman wrote:

pez wrote:Wow... who the heck would look at a $2500/month interest only loan and see that it was a good idea... If you make $70k or $700k it's just dumb dumb dumb. I would have walked a long time ago... no equity, go rent something for half that. I always through it was a good rule of thumb that your monthly mortgage payment be no more than 10% of your annual income, assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

I think you are being slightly conservative there ... I have always heard to keep your mortgage payment 20% of your gross pay.

Does that work out to something close to 30% of net monthly?

pez wrote:...assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

30 yr 15 yrs or else keep saving until you can afford the pymts.

LTRT2 wrote:

pez wrote:...assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

30 yr 15 yrs or else keep saving until you can afford the pymts.

Problem with the 15 year is that you get it when you can afford that mortgage payment which the 15 year is always higher than the 30 but if you lose your job and take a job which pays less your are screwed, so my advise would be to take the 30 year loan and make 3 extra payments a year or something ... that way if you lose your job or take a job making less that you don't lose your house in the end. 15 year loans are great but not for this economy with the downsizing.

Bman wrote:

LTRT2 wrote:

pez wrote:...assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

30 yr 15 yrs or else keep saving until you can afford the pymts.

Problem with the 15 year is that you get it when you can afford that mortgage payment which the 15 year is always higher than the 30 but if you lose your job and take a job which pays less your are screwed, so my advise would be to take the 30 year loan and make 3 extra payments a year or something ... that way if you lose your job or take a job making less that you don't lose your house in the end. 15 year loans are great but not for this economy with the downsizing.

You're right, but I live by the mantra of the shorter the loan the better.

Bman wrote:

LTRT2 wrote:

pez wrote:...assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

30 yr 15 yrs or else keep saving until you can afford the pymts.

Problem with the 15 year is that you get it when you can afford that mortgage payment which the 15 year is always higher than the 30 but if you lose your job and take a job which pays less your are screwed, so my advise would be to take the 30 year loan and make 3 extra payments a year or something ... that way if you lose your job or take a job making less that you don't lose your house in the end. 15 year loans are great but not for this economy with the downsizing.

I got an OUTSTANDING deal with this house, 15yr/6%, one year after filing medical bankruptcy.

iberlingirl wrote:I got an OUTSTANDING deal with this house, 15yr/6%, one year after filing medical bankruptcy.

Good for you!

wow.. that's an awesome deal on the 15 yr loan, especially after a bk.

LTRT2 wrote:

Bman wrote:

LTRT2 wrote:

pez wrote:...assuming a 30 year fixed rate.

30 yr 15 yrs or else keep saving until you can afford the pymts.

Problem with the 15 year is that you get it when you can afford that mortgage payment which the 15 year is always higher than the 30 but if you lose your job and take a job which pays less your are screwed, so my advise would be to take the 30 year loan and make 3 extra payments a year or something ... that way if you lose your job or take a job making less that you don't lose your house in the end. 15 year loans are great but not for this economy with the downsizing.

You're right, but I live by the mantra of the shorter the loan the better.

Same here, although I wasn't always that way. Bman, if you can get a 30 year loan and make extra payments a year, more power to ya. I don't feel like I'm that disciplined. If there's something I want versus making an extra payment, chances are I'll get the thing I want. When my wife and I were contemplating trading a car in after about 2 years on a 5-year loan, I really gave it some thought and finally realized that since we both need a car, in order to get to the point where we have one and only one payment constantly, we need to average 10 years per car. And I really don't want to be making payments every month of my life, so even 10 years is on the short side of how long I want a car to last. Last car I got, they couldn't even find a bank that would go less than 4.5 years.

cardinal5150 wrote:wow.. that's an awesome deal on the 15 yr loan, especially after a bk.

the only downfall is that it is on Contract... but for me, I was in a position that I had to take what I could get and MAN I felt like I hit the jackpot. I lost my house (to bk) in Dec 07 and moved into a rental home. I HATED it! the basement flooded all time and never really dried up, it stunk. I had been a home owner since 25 yr, here I was getting ready to turn 40 and was so depressed. Thinking that I would never recover from bk and own a home again. I came here actually to rent but the owner missed understood and thought that I wanted to buy, he handed me and envelope with the price and terms. I stood there completely speechless for about 2-3 mins and the longer I stood there the longer my tears got. Then I busted out bawling b/c I knew that I could afford it and would again own a home. And as an added plus to all that, my mom and I are now only split by an alley!! My parents LOVE having their grandbabies within an arms reach and I get the help raising them that I really needed.

You must be stoked... that is a great deal... I'm leary of buying on contract as you are, because you arent really in control of your equity.

aww glad that worked out so well for you..and the grandparents!