Okay, Org, haven't posted on here in a while but here's the deal. My wife and I have a really good income but I have made some bad financial moves that have gotten us pretty deep in a hole. Internet loans have far too often been an "easy way out" when we hit a bind and I have gotten us in a borrow Peter to pay Peter to pay Paul type situation. About 75% of our income is going out to payday lenders and most of the money goes to interest, very little to principal. These loans have ruined our credit, caused us to have to declare bankruptcy (which we successfully made it through) and within months are going to cause us to lose our house. So I am turning over every corner to find a legitimate place to borrow money to pay off these bloodsuckers and reclaim my life.

I have been lectured to and fussed at (rightly so) by so many. My parents, my boss, my wife. I have let so many people down, I know it. But I want to make things right in my life and I have to find a way to destroy this cycle that has plagued us for a decade. I know the problem is me. I am seeking some type of counseling through my work and I definitely need to find out what causes me to continue to borrow when I know it will hurt us. We have never lived beyond our means. I have driven the same car for 14 years, worn the same clothes for the longest time, I don't buy anything. My wife has sacrificed and sacrificed. We have given our children an enjoyable life but never spoiled them. There are a few comforts we have but not many. I have never borrowed money to live beyond our means. Most of the time it has been to keep the lights on or to buy groceries and one thing leads to another and bam, we're in debt again.

We owe $9500 to online loan lenders. We pay out about $5500 a month on this $9500 debt. That's not a typo. As I said, almost nothing goes to the principle with these things, just the interest.

I have spent the last several weeks trying to find some type of company that works with these situations. I would pay $1500 a month to a legitimate company if they could make these go away. But every time I find a lead, than I Google the company and see if there have been any scam reports and there are always tons. I am looking for a legitamate credit counseling service that offers both sound financial planning and will help you pay off this kind of debt.

So anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. And as I said, I know I deserve lecturing, criticism, what have you, but let's just say right now what I need is immediate help that I can pay a pretty decent amount too. When you are paying out $5500, a couple of thousand a month sounds like a holiday.

The two things I can think of are:

1. An individual that trusts you enough to lend you the money in return for an amortized return of 18% or something like that. Or maybe even a bank. Do you have any collateral? The biggest issue is, how are you going to convince a lender that you won't borrow yourself into trouble again?

2. Are the payments you make automatic debits? If not, and if you're mailing the payments/making them electronically, maybe you can negotiate with them.

But geez - $5,500 a month on a $9,900 debt doesn't even sound legal. Maybe you can threaten to get a local TV reporter to do an expose. Maybe the threat of bad publicity will force the lenders to negotiate but then again, since they're not local, they might not care.

Good luck.

RodeoSchro said:

The two things I can think of are:

1. An individual that trusts you enough to lend you the money in return for an amortized return of 18% or something like that. Or maybe even a bank. Do you have any collateral? The biggest issue is, how are you going to convince a lender that you won't borrow yourself into trouble again?

2. Are the payments you make automatic debits? If not, and if you're mailing the payments/making them electronically, maybe you can negotiate with them.

But geez - $5,500 a month on a $9,900 debt doesn't even sound legal. Maybe you can threaten to get a local TV reporter to do an expose. Maybe the threat of bad publicity will force the lenders to negotiate but then again, since they're not local, they might not care.

Good luck.

Thank you for both suggestions. No one I am close to trusts me and I don't blame them. People have loaned me money and I have always used it to pay off part of the debt but not all. And since I left some of the debt aliveit crawled back up.

House is really the only collateral but we're a couple of months away from that not being ours.

The payments are automatic debits. And I signed contracts even though technically these loans are not legal in my state at the interest they are charging. They come in all types. I borrowed $2100 and I am charged $532 a paycheck for 8 paychecks...over $4000 for a $2000 loan. But then another type is a $300 loan that I pay just the interest on, $90 each paycheck. But this goes on forever so if you let it go a year you are paying over $2000 for a $300 loan.

I started the year with a handful I now have 13 loans. They are like pirhanas and after awhile you find yourself continuing to borrow just to live. My wife and I make over $100000 a year combined and almost all of is going to these loans.

So why do I do it? That is what a trained counselor will tell me. The fact is, I think underneath it all I have always feared being exposed and so I have borrowed just to keep the appearance of being normal. But now it has become too much. And my children are now old enough that they know something is up. My daughter asked the other day if we were becoming broke. We have kept this away from them as best they can but as my daughter has to wait for braces or other things I know she needs I think she is starting to pick up that something is wrong.

Payday loans are legal. People sign contracts. I was not duped, per se. But they take advantage of the weak and that is what I have been. If you stop paying them, even if you have long since paid your principal off, they go after you and harass you. They are relentless and if anyone has ever thought of using them, don't.

GottaLetitgo said:

Okay, Org, haven't posted on here in a while but here's the deal. My wife and I have a really good income but I have made some bad financial moves that have gotten us pretty deep in a hole. Internet loans have far too often been an "easy way out" when we hit a bind and I have gotten us in a borrow Peter to pay Peter to pay Paul type situation. About 75% of our income is going out to payday lenders and most of the money goes to interest, very little to principal. These loans have ruined our credit, caused us to have to declare bankruptcy (which we successfully made it through) and within months are going to cause us to lose our house. So I am turning over every corner to find a legitimate place to borrow money to pay off these bloodsuckers and reclaim my life.

I have been lectured to and fussed at (rightly so) by so many. My parents, my boss, my wife. I have let so many people down, I know it. But I want to make things right in my life and I have to find a way to destroy this cycle that has plagued us for a decade. I know the problem is me. I am seeking some type of counseling through my work and I definitely need to find out what causes me to continue to borrow when I know it will hurt us. We have never lived beyond our means. I have driven the same car for 14 years, worn the same clothes for the longest time, I don't buy anything. My wife has sacrificed and sacrificed. We have given our children an enjoyable life but never spoiled them. There are a few comforts we have but not many. I have never borrowed money to live beyond our means. Most of the time it has been to keep the lights on or to buy groceries and one thing leads to another and bam, we're in debt again.

We owe $9500 to online loan lenders. We pay out about $5500 a month on this $9500 debt. That's not a typo. As I said, almost nothing goes to the principle with these things, just the interest.

I have spent the last several weeks trying to find some type of company that works with these situations. I would pay $1500 a month to a legitimate company if they could make these go away. But every time I find a lead, than I Google the company and see if there have been any scam reports and there are always tons. I am looking for a legitamate credit counseling service that offers both sound financial planning and will help you pay off this kind of debt.

So anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. And as I said, I know I deserve lecturing, criticism, what have you, but let's just say right now what I need is immediate help that I can pay a pretty decent amount too. When you are paying out $5500, a couple of thousand a month sounds like a holiday.

I am not trying to make light of this, but wouldnt it be paid off in 2 months if your paying 5500.00 a month on a 9500.00 debt?

CCS can work, but creditors do not look favorably on them.. best thing I EVER did was hire an account... let him takeover everything!! he did wonders for us! And im by no means rich!!

tinaz said:

GottaLetitgo said:

Okay, Org, haven't posted on here in a while but here's the deal. My wife and I have a really good income but I have made some bad financial moves that have gotten us pretty deep in a hole. Internet loans have far too often been an "easy way out" when we hit a bind and I have gotten us in a borrow Peter to pay Peter to pay Paul type situation. About 75% of our income is going out to payday lenders and most of the money goes to interest, very little to principal. These loans have ruined our credit, caused us to have to declare bankruptcy (which we successfully made it through) and within months are going to cause us to lose our house. So I am turning over every corner to find a legitimate place to borrow money to pay off these bloodsuckers and reclaim my life.

I have been lectured to and fussed at (rightly so) by so many. My parents, my boss, my wife. I have let so many people down, I know it. But I want to make things right in my life and I have to find a way to destroy this cycle that has plagued us for a decade. I know the problem is me. I am seeking some type of counseling through my work and I definitely need to find out what causes me to continue to borrow when I know it will hurt us. We have never lived beyond our means. I have driven the same car for 14 years, worn the same clothes for the longest time, I don't buy anything. My wife has sacrificed and sacrificed. We have given our children an enjoyable life but never spoiled them. There are a few comforts we have but not many. I have never borrowed money to live beyond our means. Most of the time it has been to keep the lights on or to buy groceries and one thing leads to another and bam, we're in debt again.

We owe $9500 to online loan lenders. We pay out about $5500 a month on this $9500 debt. That's not a typo. As I said, almost nothing goes to the principle with these things, just the interest.

I have spent the last several weeks trying to find some type of company that works with these situations. I would pay $1500 a month to a legitimate company if they could make these go away. But every time I find a lead, than I Google the company and see if there have been any scam reports and there are always tons. I am looking for a legitamate credit counseling service that offers both sound financial planning and will help you pay off this kind of debt.

So anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. And as I said, I know I deserve lecturing, criticism, what have you, but let's just say right now what I need is immediate help that I can pay a pretty decent amount too. When you are paying out $5500, a couple of thousand a month sounds like a holiday.

I am not trying to make light of this, but wouldnt it be paid off in 2 months if your paying 5500.00 a month on a 9500.00 debt?

CCS can work, but creditors do not look favorably on them.. best thing I EVER did was hire an account... let him takeover everything!! he did wonders for us! And im by no means rich!!

You are logically correct. But if almost all of your paycheck goes out, you can't pay any of them off. You have to pay them off to get them to stop. So yes if the loans stopped for two months I could pay them all off in two months. But they automatically debit your account so that if you have more than a few it is impossible to pay them off.

I want to pay these off and them I am going to do everything I can to make sure someone who knows what they are doing helps us with handling our account.

i don't understand how you earn 100k and have to borrow money to buy groceries

anyway

do you have anything you can sell?... can you get a night job stocking shelves or something?

10k seems like a very small amount of money to lose a house over

First off live with in your means. Living like money doesn't matter aint going to get you anywhere but out in the cold.

How do you expect things to change if you don't? Being honest about the lack of funds with a set goal of getting out of the situation will calm your family.

Get rid of cable (You cant get dvds for free from the library), Walk or take city transportation, Don't buy any gifts for anyone including yourselves. Do not have internet-libraries have it for free. Switch to cell phones with no internet.

Is your house over 2000 square feet? (A smaller house may be more financial better for you. Smaller electric bills etc.) Perhaps sale the house before it's foreclosed. Or perhaps rent a room in your house. Does every one in the house have a job? Kids of age can work at McDonalds, that way they can pay for food. There a lot of ways to make money. Doing a lot of things can reduce the money purging.

Shouldn't your State Attorney General's office have info for you or at least your credit union would know of some one to get a hold of.

...

[Edited 4/30/13 11:20am]

Call every credit card company and explain your situation to them and ask for your interest rate to be reduced.
Then call the loan companies and beg them to see if they can lower the interest rates.
Most lenders would much rather negotiate than have a default on their hands.

1. Cancel cable, Internet (or swap to dial-up for the time being)

2. If you have a lanline, cancel it.

Call the people you have the SMALLEST loans with, and negotiate a payout. Pay those off. For a 300 loan, ask them if you can just pay it off. Then do it. That's $90 you save. Then move to the next loan, and do that.

I was in crazy debt 4 years ago. Now I don't have any credit card debt at all. I have a student loan and a second mortgage, but I plan to pay those off as soon as possible. It takes sacrifice, and giving up a lifestyle for a couple of years.

I was making 80k a year, and lived more than paycheck to paycheck. But, I got laid off, and with a fraction of that income, I had to get REALLY creative to pay off my loans. Borrowing is not a way to do it.

Another option is bankruptcy. That'll screw your credit up for 10 years, but you have ask yourelf if your credit is going to be screwed up for 10 years anyways.

oops.


I see you already filed for bangkruptcy.


Have you tried calling each lender and pleading with them, explaining your situation?


I had all my credit card companies drop my precentage rates considerably.

One went from 18% to 12% or something, and gave me a deferrment option. I can't remember all the details. But I simply had to call and explain myself, and emphasized that I was in danger of defaulting.

You have to do it with the Customer service department though--the collections department are not interested in helping.

This will add additional stress, but if you get paid for overtime, beg your boss if you can get as much overtime as he can give you.


OR... (this will REALLY suck, but it does make money). Get a part-time job.
You can sometimes bump your pay by $500 to $100 a month doing that.

If you're in IT, many companies like Teksystems are looking for people who will do weekend projects, and they pay significantly more than minimum wage.


You'll end up pretty much working all the time, but the objective here is to pay off those debts. If you can endure it for a while, it would really help.


I think Carriempls had a part time job for a while. I assume she did not do it for the money, but she might be able to tell you if it gave her much of a bump in pay.


I work part-time as a pub quiz master, and besides it being a complete blast, I earn a few hundred bucks a night doing little more than entertaining folks with questions.

MoBetterBliss said:

i don't understand how you earn 100k and have to borrow money to buy groceries

anyway

do you have anything you can sell?... can you get a night job stocking shelves or something?

10k seems like a very small amount of money to lose a house over

I agree with you, doesn't make a lot lof sense. Our account is being eaten by interest fees and if you have 13 of them that vary from 90 to 523 dollars it adds upm or subtracts up as is the case.

kewlschool said:

First off live with in your means. Living like money doesn't matter aint going to get you anywhere but out in the cold.

How do you expect things to change if you don't? Being honest about the lack of funds with a set goal of getting out of the situation will calm your family.

Get rid of cable (You cant get dvds for free from the library), Walk or take city transportation, Don't buy any gifts for anyone including yourselves. Do not have internet-libraries have it for free. Switch to cell phones with no internet.

Is your house over 2000 square feet? (A smaller house may be more financial better for you. Smaller electric bills etc.) Perhaps sale the house before it's foreclosed. Or perhaps rent a room in your house. Does every one in the house have a job? Kids of age can work at McDonalds, that way they can pay for food. There a lot of ways to make money. Doing a lot of things can reduce the money purging.

Shouldn't your State Attorney General's office have info for you or at least your credit union would know of some one to get a hold of.

Appreciate the constrcutive advice and all things we're considering. Already switched over to cell phone, cable is next. House is NOT over 2000 feet but lucky to have a house for now. Girls are too young to work. State AG is a good idea as well.

purplethunder3121 said:

Call me when you have worse problems than mine. Why would you go on a pop figure board to advertise your owm?

I know other people have worse problems...I do feel like an ass posting stuff like this when I know a lot of people have it worse and my problems are self-created. I guess I have been on this board, bad, good, or indifferent for almost 10 years and I value the Org's opinion; many of you who I have never met in person have offered very sound advice in a lot of other matters before. I feel that this board is an audience of peers, many about the same age and some having experienced financial situations of their own and gotten successfully through them.

My problems are just that, my problems. I am not comparing my situation to those out there who are starving or have a chronic disease or any other circumstance that may be much more significant. My problem is that of stupid decisions and since we fortunately would have the means to find a relatively higher price fix I am seeing if anyone here has heard of any.

imago said:

oops.


I see you already filed for bangkruptcy.


Have you tried calling each lender and pleading with them, explaining your situation?


I had all my credit card companies drop my precentage rates considerably.

One went from 18% to 12% or something, and gave me a deferrment option. I can't remember all the details. But I simply had to call and explain myself, and emphasized that I was in danger of defaulting.

You have to do it with the Customer service department though--the collections department are not interested in helping.

After I posted this, I did some more research and some of these loan companies are affiliated with a national finance union that is required to come up with payment plans...not going to knowck all of them down but might knock down one or two. Calling them is certainly a route I am going to pursue but many of these individuals are rude and unsympathetics...after all I did sign a contract and I knew what I was getting into.

imago said:

This will add additional stress, but if you get paid for overtime, beg your boss if you can get as much overtime as he can give you.


OR... (this will REALLY suck, but it does make money). Get a part-time job.
You can sometimes bump your pay by $500 to $100 a month doing that.

If you're in IT, many companies like Teksystems are looking for people who will do weekend projects, and they pay significantly more than minimum wage.


You'll end up pretty much working all the time, but the objective here is to pay off those debts. If you can endure it for a while, it would really help.


I think Carriempls had a part time job for a while. I assume she did not do it for the money, but she might be able to tell you if it gave her much of a bump in pay.


I work part-time as a pub quiz master, and besides it being a complete blast, I earn a few hundred bucks a night doing little more than entertaining folks with questions.

I work for the state so no overtime possible. I am looking now for a second job but have to find something late at night. Have never found a legitimate work at home opportunity and have pursued many over the years.

Unfortunately I think this thread will change my Org role as the stupid guy who has a bunch of payday loans. I think I preferred being the guy who wore his wife's maternity pants to work one time.

GottaLetitgo said:

Unfortunately I think this thread will change my Org role as the stupid guy who has a bunch of payday loans. I think I preferred being the guy who wore his wife's maternity pants to work one time.

dont say that!!

And I dont understand why people bitch about people coming here for advise! You are all REAL people, with REAL problems.. many of us have gone through what your going through in some way or another... Sometimes its easier to ask a bunch of people who know you but dont live around you and wont gossip to your peers!!

So these are illegal not to mention unscrupulous loans from essentially loan sharks on the internet and you've long since paid off the balance and far more interest than would ever be necessary?

Honestly I'd just stop paying. You've already gone through bankruptcy and you're losing your house. Close your bank account so they can't keep deducting from it. Then I'd report them to the better business bureau and find someone who will take legal action against THEM since what they did was illegal.

I guess I'm a little confused. You say that the loans caused you to file bankruptcy? Weren't they included in your bankruptcy?

http://www.publicintegrit...e-repay-it

Not familiar w/that site but they give an example of someone who found out a company was not licensed in his state and he got out of the loan. I would look for low cost legal counsel. Some quick googling in your state could provide decent options.

.....................

several years ago my husband and i got ourselves into payday loans too, and it was a nightmare! we were just making it paycheck to paycheck and had a newborn baby. we didn't have anyone to turn to for help, so we started getting payday loans. we were stuck in those for about 2 years, until we had enough, we closed our bank accounts, so they couldn't get the money, and i eventually paid off my loan with them little by little as i could afford to. and my husband didn't pay his off for a long time because we just didn't have the money, and they would call him at work and harass him. it was very stressful. eventually they turned over my husband's account to a collection company and they finally gave up on trying to get the money back. my husband did end up paying it back when he was able. and thank God that part of our lives is long behind us.

my advice is close your bank accts., so they can't debit your account any longer. and then pay them whatever you're able to when you can. they might call you a million times, but just let the answering machine get the calls. and ignore it....

Appreciate ALL of the feedback I got from this...kind of written at a real low moment initally but I have looked into some things, taken some suggestions and am tackling it as best I can. I talked to my boss, who is wonderful and has always been very supportive , and she is going to help me take down a couple of the highest payout ones with a very fair payback plan to her. It will take discipline but I will not fail, I cannot.

When I declared bankruptcy 7 years ago, it was to stop some of them companies and force them into some payment plans...many of them did not seek to be in the payback because they know they skirt (but don't break) the law. I still took them out while under bankruptcy and of course after.

I also closed my bank account a few years ago and opened a new one but I still had to make some installments that, while a lot less interest, still did not ease the monthly expenses that much.

I have been an addict, never for bad reasons, just made some bad choices in times of panic that caused things to snowball and snowball.

But I am working on it and I will face this head on.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who read and commented and Org Noted.

You are all strangers, don't know any of you personally, but I can't tell you how many times that you strangers have given the advice of a friend.

I don't think I have listed to a Prince CD all the way through in several months but Prince.Org, for all of it's craziness and inappropriate topics, is a place of warmth and trust and welcomeness and I appreciate all of you.

runphilrun said:

You say you are an addict, have you attended a local DA meeting? I'm in DA, and it's been a struggle for me, but I try to go to at least two meetings a week. Good luck.

Some type of counseling is definitely needed...I never got any pleasure from this process, quite the opposite, but I definitely have to figure out what has triggered my panic mode that has caused me to continue to fall in the same trap over and over.

GottaLetitgo said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Call me when you have worse problems than mine. Why would you go on a pop figure board to advertise your owm?

I know other people have worse problems...I do feel like an ass posting stuff like this when I know a lot of people have it worse and my problems are self-created. I guess I have been on this board, bad, good, or indifferent for almost 10 years and I value the Org's opinion; many of you who I have never met in person have offered very sound advice in a lot of other matters before. I feel that this board is an audience of peers, many about the same age and some having experienced financial situations of their own and gotten successfully through them.

My problems are just that, my problems. I am not comparing my situation to those out there who are starving or have a chronic disease or any other circumstance that may be much more significant. My problem is that of stupid decisions and since we fortunately would have the means to find a relatively higher price fix I am seeing if anyone here has heard of any.

I'm sorry for my response; I really do feel sympathy for your situation. You just caught me on a bad day... I hope you work your way out of this. I have a problem with the one debt you can't write off on bankruptcy--student loans.

purplethunder3121 said:

GottaLetitgo said:

I know other people have worse problems...I do feel like an ass posting stuff like this when I know a lot of people have it worse and my problems are self-created. I guess I have been on this board, bad, good, or indifferent for almost 10 years and I value the Org's opinion; many of you who I have never met in person have offered very sound advice in a lot of other matters before. I feel that this board is an audience of peers, many about the same age and some having experienced financial situations of their own and gotten successfully through them.

My problems are just that, my problems. I am not comparing my situation to those out there who are starving or have a chronic disease or any other circumstance that may be much more significant. My problem is that of stupid decisions and since we fortunately would have the means to find a relatively higher price fix I am seeing if anyone here has heard of any.

I'm sorry for my response; I really do feel sympathy for your situation. You just caught me on a bad day... I hope you work your way out of this. I have a problem with the one debt you can't write off on bankruptcy--student loans.

No apology neccessary. The next day I went back and looked and this and all I could think about is somewhere, in some part of the world, there was somebody working 50 hours a week, making the equivalent to a couple of bucks a day and here I am with a thread called "Need $10,000". I am sympathetic to your student loan situation, have those too but deferred until February 2014 when hopefully I will able to get more of my ducks in a row.

[Edited 5/2/13 9:24am]

I'm not here to harp on you about your predicamint cause I could easily be in your shoes and I'm single. WHEN ( foreclosure ) I had a condo, I would pay my mortgage every once in a while with the checks sent to me by my credit card providers. I am still paying for them while living at home with my mother. It's not as if I know your real name and am going to shame you so don't be ashamed to confess your troubles, we can learn something here. I use mint.com to keep track of my expenses and see where my money goes, the site does not offer advice but can lead you to some that may help. If you need to take an org break, have no fear as we will still be here when you right your ship.