Any ideas?

Hi Readers...

I recently got this email and I'm sure you can come up with some good ideas for them.

Simply respond to this post and I'll see that they get your ideas.

Thanks!

Leo

My situation is pretty desperate right now.

My husband is a mortgage lender, and works on commission. Right not, because the housing market is so depressed here, he is not making much commission at all. We are not making enough money to pay our monthly bills, much less any extra for groceries. We have been living a nice lifestyle for several years, but unfortunately not saving any money. That is no one's fault but our own.

We have used all the equity in our home (probably more than it is worth, because values have gone down here). We have a hefty first and second mortgage. We recently got a no-cost consolidation loan to pay off our $45,000.00 in credit card debt. The loan repayment will save us about $400.00 on what used to be our minimum payments on those credit cards. We have not cut them up, but put them in our safety deposit box. Our next step is to contact the credit card companies and ask them to drastically reduce the credit limits on the cards for us. Even with the $400 a month savings, our adjustable rate mortgage is increasing about that much in October and will probably wipe out the difference in savings.

I am looking for a better paying job, but so far am having not much luck. My husband wants to try and sell our house, but I don't want to do that. We most likely wouldn't be able to sell it anyway, because there is a huge amount of houses on the market in this area and nothing is selling. If we were able to sell, we would not be able to get enough money to be out from under that debt, and would still owe on the mortgage. Then we would also have to find a new place to live that would be affordable.

Both are cars are paid for, but they are older (mine is a 1991 and his is a 1998). We don't have anything major that we can sell to raise money. We do have a good credit score up to this point. I have already taken $10,000.00 out of my IRA this year just to help in paying monthly bills, but it is now gone, and we will have to face the tax consequences for that next year. We do not know which way to turn. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the situation we are in right now.

I'm wondering if you have any advice to offer. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Sincerely,

C.M.
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