Personal question

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This is my second post, so I'm new so please bear with me. I'm 71 years old,my wife is 69. We are on S.S and a small pension check, total a little over $1,040.00 a month. If my S.S. does not get to the bank and my pension check stops, we are out of money. We have an eqt. loan on our house with a $20,000 line of credit,it is set up so that if there is no money in the account when the payment is due it is added to the line of credit. If the interest rates donot go through the roof there is enough in the line of credit for four or five years. My problem is I owe about $9,000.00 on credit cards and my main cocern is what will the card companies do (or can do) if I am unable to pay them after the roll over????

I feel someone out there may know something about things like this and I will appreciate any help given.

You can E-mail me if you care too. My address is true. Thank You

"redball@techcomm.net"

-- Fred M Clem (redball@techcomm.net), November 26, 1999

Answers

I don't "know" anything for sure. But I would think that if its so bad that SS doesn't have its act together in a couple of months, the credit card company won't either. If it gets that bad, there won't space to park all the repossessed cars, trucks, boats, etc and the LAST thing the banks/or anyone will want are empty houses. If its that bad the empty houses would soon be full of squatters who would be ripping out the interior walls to burn in the fire place. The banks and mortgage lenders know this and know that their only chance is to leave the owners in the houses. We hold two mortgages. Both are in the construction business and both build hospitals, schools and that sort of thing, not houses. We expect, if it gets really depressed economically that we will cease receiving those payments. But we are not about to reposess them. What would we do with them? We are in Florida and the properties are in Washington State. You can't even get insurance on an empty home. All in all, I wouldn't worry TOO much, but I would do all I can to keep the payments going on those credit cards. Good luck.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 26, 1999.


Hi Fred, nice to hear from you.

DON'T PANIC! You are actually in good shape, as you have equity and - almost as important - you are clear about your financial situation. That combination puts you way ahead of most people.

Think of it this way: if things DO go wrong with your Social Security, they are going to go wrong for a lot of people. The banks and credit card companies are just going to have to accept that, and be flexible. They won't want to, but they'll have no choice. If things go wrong, then courts are probably going to be backed up for years with big corporate and class action lawsuits, compared to which your $9,000 is small potatoes.

I used to work in a bank in the UK, so I can tell you how much a credit company (in the UK) can do to get their money: almost nothing. It's unsecured. They have to go through a court, which will allow you to make arrangements to pay off the amount over a long period. UK courts only allow companies to sieze your assets if you reject the court's decision on the repayment terms. It's a long process, and if you continue to be reasonable and make it clear that you want to pay off your debt, then it's far more painful for the credit company than for you. They know this, and will bend over backwards to accomodate you rather than have it go to court.

If you do get threatening letters from your bank or credit company, then DON'T PANIC. They will most likely be automated, and they will be going to a lot of people. Remember: you won't be alone. Just be patient, make sure you retain all of your documentation - I'd advise sending them copies in the first instance, even if they ask for originals, as things DO get lost, especially at busy times. Make it clear that you intend to pay off the debt as soon as possible, and don't worry too much about any "deadlines" that they try and set, just make sure you keep in touch with them and you'll find that they will be accomodating. You should have no problems.

Warmest regards, and best wishes,

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 26, 1999.


"If its that bad the empty houses would soon be full of squatters who would be ripping out the interior walls to burn in the fire place.

Sorry, but this has to be the all time, #1, most idiotic Y2K statement I have ever seen. I can't even believe I just read it.

-- (Polly@troll.com), November 26, 1999.


Polly Moron;

That is exactly what happened back in the 30's! People also left the cities and took whatever the could carry to build shacks (house's) out in the country!

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), November 26, 1999.


Fred, I called our mortgage company and asked if someone was in charge of y2k. They gave that person but after listening to my question she transferred me to another officer. My question was: "If our paycheck doesn't come through because of a y2k problem, what are your contingency plans?" There had been news of a law that would give protection to those who had actually paid mortgage payments but the Mort. Co. screws up the records and tries to foreclose. I keep thinking I don't understand this news - We need a law to protect people who have actually paid and can prove it? So what I was doing was trying to put a bug in the ear of this rather large company that they should have as part of their contingency plans a description of how a homeowner must prove that they are a victim of a y2k glitch [hate that word]. They said anytime a homeowner can't pay for whatever reason, they need to call and "wrok something out." Could be unpleasant, could be no big deal.

I SUGGEST EVERYONE IN DEBT CALL THE LENDER AND ASK WHAT THE CONTINGENCY PLANS ARE CONCERNING INABILITY TO PAY DUE TO A COMPUTER MALFUNCTION.

Good luck.

-- Becky (rmbolte@wvadventures.net), November 26, 1999.



Flame, you're right. We have taken care of so many people with incredible stories of their survival during the Depression. Some people feed the entire insides of their home into the fireplace to stay warm. This is true and we have heard these accounts from the people who did it.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), November 26, 1999.

speaking as someone who has fallen into deep credit card debt, i can confirm that the CC companies have almost NO POWER to collect on that debt. the worst that they can do is to place liens on any property that you own, but they cannot 'confiscate' it in any way.

i would be much more worried about the bank holding the equity loan. in the 1930's they took people's houses whether or not there was a market to sell them in.

PAY THE MORTGAGE, blow off the CC companies.

concentrate on the essentials first, though, buy some food, store some water and have some way of staying warm.

-- Nomad (idiots@bubble.com), November 26, 1999.


If the economy stutters or falls, most will be in a similar boat, Fred. They will not be able to do anything about it. Banks are even offering to advance people their SS payments. The main thing now is to provide food and heat for yourself after rollover. God bless.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), November 26, 1999.

1)As part of the y2k legislation that the president signed, there is a section for mortgages. It said that if you are aware of a y2k problem with your mortgage payment (ie. social security), if you notify the bank within 5 days (it might have been seven) the mortgage holder cannot come after you.

2) Check the archives, down below. It was discussed on this board.

3) Don't forget that the company to whom you pay your mortgage could only be a collection service. The actual mortgage holder could be somebody else.

4) We have a very similar situation. I did this: I arranged for the social security payment to be deposited to a small savings account. That started last month, and only required a telephone call to my local SS office. Then I arranged for the collection service to have an automatic payment from this account, beginning December 1th. About December 6th, I will call around and make sure this has happened. Then I will write the Mortage Holder, who is actually the bank that has the small savings account, telling them what I have done, with a copy of the letter to the collection service. In this letter I will use the phrase "that we have done our due diligence" to see to it that the mortgage committment has been made. Does this idea help?

-- Mary (CAgdma@home.com), November 26, 1999.


Thanks to all of your response. I have received some good advice of whitch I am grateful.

I am a positive GI. My wife and I both love to can veggies and meat and about anything that will go in a glass jar.

Some of the credit card balance is due to Y2K but I'm not sure if I want to go another $8,500.00 or so to pay off the mortgage. What do you think about that???.

Thanks to all.

-- Fred M Clem (redball@techcomm.net), November 26, 1999.



Oh Polly Ball! You don't know how wrong you are! My deceased Mother's house is in another state(okay, it's an old Double Wide). I have renters move out and I don't find out about it until a month or so later. Then I go there, and the local rural cops tell me they have seen someone living there in the past week! See, the cops aren't concerned nor knowledgeable about to whom I am renting. Thank God, no one has trashed the walls yet. Of course, it isn't exactly a palace.

-- Nasty People WILL take yours (Seenit@liveit.com), November 26, 1999.

---that post on how to set up with a local bank and direct deposit and auto mortgage withdrawls seemed right on to me, as pertains your mortgage and laws and you doing the best you can with your responsibilites in advance. Sounds like a plan. And nomads advice (Hi Nomad!) is right on, too. Prepare first, make sure you and your wife can actually live and eat and stay warm and have clean water, etc. You aren't trying to weasel your debt with the plastic, no one wants to do that, but if "it" all falls apart, well, it'll have to "get back together again" before normal type bill paying resumes, and that might be for awhile. I had to make that decison, too, and I sez to self-- "SELF-you have yourself and girlfriend to provide daily living sustenance and security for, this is your first and primary task". If/ when any sort of "normality" reoccurs, then, swell, plastic borrowed on before this mess reared it's ugly head can be repaid, but not until "it's" fixed. "Stuff" happens, and I would definetly class y2k as "stuff".

first things first zog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), November 26, 1999.


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