Critical Situation, if anyone can help. · 8:24pm Sep 4th, 2019
My friends, my readers, and anyone else who is willing to lend an ear...
I am so, so sorry to ask this, but I am at wit's end.
First, some backstory, because if you follow me for any reason, it's my ability to spin you a tale. This one is true, but feels no less unreal to me.
My lovely wife and I are living in an apartment, and had been doing well, if not terribly well off, for some time. Unfortunately, her health has taken a major decline and we've had to have her treated for various problems, which has not just meant no income, but also that I had to cover any medical expenses and premiums.
We finally were able to bring her back to work after months of problems. She had migraines, which were bad, but not untreatable, but she also had vertigo which essentially made it so that if she got a bad nights sleep, she could not stand up straight. A migraine made it worse, and you can see where this is going. Finally we found the right specialist, and we got her on a medication that actually helps (she has low blood flow to the base of her brain, and that gets even worse when she smokes or has caffeine, this was especially hilarious in hindsight, as it explains why she'd wake up dizzy, try to drink some coffee and have a cigarette, and feel so much worse) so we can actually reliably have her work now, more so than any time in the last two years.
But it honestly looks like it was all for naught. I've been somehow keeping us afloat for 5 months (one of those months with help from several of you, back in April), but the last month killed me because I had no choice but to take out several very expensive loans as a last resort. My income and hers will eventually catch things up, but I need at least one more paycheck to pay rent with and the office wants a minimum of 500.00 to hold off eviction.
I had hoped to get help from my job, but while we do have a critical need program, there is some glitch saying we've already applied, and that we can only do so once every six months after getting approved, despite us never even applying before. We might get disability down the line now that we have better medical documentation, but that's an appeals process since they denied her originally, (they don't consider migraines to be a reason not to be able to work, even if you're experiencing over 20 a month. Vertigo is another story) getting the paperwork in takes time, then it has to be reviewed.
I'm truly, deeply sorry to all of you. I never wanted to ask anything of you but your time and occasional comments. Please, don't feel you need to explain that you cannot help yourself, perhaps you could spread the message to others. I'm desperate to save the home I've been fighting to keep. If I can get the 500.00, I can accomplish that, but if I can raise anything more, I can pay down the horrible interest loans to reduce the burden on future income. Some of the loans are at better rates than others, but the worst of them are charging an APR approaching 700%, and that accounts for around 1600.00. Those are the ones destroying my earnings.
I'm not asking for miracles from you, my friends, for you are a friend if you're read this far. I'm just praying for one.
This is a much better idea than taking out loans, because we won't murder you via predatory interest. D: I'll spread the word!
700% APR? How is that even legal?
5116253
Payday loans have great lobbyists.
President Grant says to have a nice day. Or else.
You may be best off filing for bankruptcy. My uncle just did last year. Im not sure what is all involved but its something to look at.
5116315
As someone who has filed for bankruptcy, it's really easy. Definitely recommend contacting a bankruptcy lawyer for it, but it cost me about $300 and took maybe 3 hours of my time, total. Just filled out a couple pieces of paper showing my current assets, my debts, and my income. The lawyer submits it to the court, then you "take a debt counseling course" which amounted to about 20 minutes of reading, then you show up to a place with your lawyer and a court person and say "yes" about 4 times and you're done.
Most difficult part was that I couldn't have any new loans/credit accounts open for 3 months prior to filing, so that may be rough. I definitely recommend it if you have payday loans, those things will fuck you over.
:edit: Oh, and once you've spoken with a lawyer to begin the process, you immediately stop payments on those debts, and just tell the loan people to talk to your lawyer!
5116258
Yep. I was about to go look for that exact video. And having lived in Missouri for a long time previously, I can tell you that these lenders are EVERYWHERE. Even the fairly well-off suburb we lived in had no less than 10 payday loan shops in a 4-5 mile radius.
Hell, years ago, MO state's congress actually found some balls and passed a pretty good bill to rein them in. Literally a week later the MO arm of the PayDay Lender lobby had reclassified themselves with the state as "installment loan brokers" to evade the law entirely. And naturally, MO's increasingly stupid state congress just winks and nods at them every year. :(
How are you folks doing, SR?
5116669
Better. I plan to put out an update blog later tonight, but to anyone alerted to or reading this now. I made the immediate goal.