Need insight or advice please.

[tinkerbell41]

Okay, I am a Tradesman. I have been unemployed for a year,we have over 2000 out of work in my local. I cannot just go out and get a job in my trade, I have to wait until my number comes up to return to work. I have been on interviews, filled out applications, for a part-time job to tide me over no luck. In the past when times were slow I always took a part-time job, now I am applying and no one will even talk to me.
In the near future I will be unable to keep up with my debt payments, I do not need a lecture about that, I used the cards for groceries, car repairs, union dues, etc.. I have nothing of extravagance. I am currently on a trial for a mortgage modification to hopefully give me breathing room.
I don't know what to do, do I stop paying bills that are not a necessity, what are the ramifications? I own my cars outright, 10 & 11 yrs old, the only debt I have is C.Cards and Mortgage.I do intend on keeping my home, I have had it for 11 yrs, I could make the payments without the mod if I neglect my other debt. I have talked to various family members and they don't say much. I am frustrated about my situation, I have always been able to take care of myself but I feel like my hands are tied.
I am scared to death to ruin everything I have worked for, I know there are people in worse shape,
this eats at me night and day. What would you do??

[NMDemDist2]

1. you gotta pay the mortgage first, then utilities

if some CC get missed.... oh well.

but call the CC companies and see if you can work out a deal with them under the circumstances...

[Oceansaway]

3. good advice ! i agree ...n/t

[DKRC]

7. Good advice

plus I would sell one of the cars to have a cash reserve on hand for emergencies.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Keep making the mortgage payments. Sell one of the cars and apply it to the credit cards.

[tinkerbell41]

8. Thank you

My kid is using the other car, for work and school and volunteering. I wish that was an option, I wish her father would contribute to SOMETHING but that is another story.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. If you have a child under 18, you should file (it's free) for the father to pay child support! I

went for 16 years without any until Congress finally passed the bill that allowed a parent in one state to collect from the other in another state (back in late '70s or early 80's). I was able to recover all of the 'outlandish' support of $110 a month from my son's dad.

[tinkerbell41]

28. Somehow the jackass thinks because she is over 18

he doesn't have to pay shit. Including what he owes, I told him past due child support NEVER goes away. I have enlisted enforcement services. You would think, after I successfully got her off to college, he would make an effort to offer money for books, tuition, something? He will pay, believe me.

[BonnieJW]

4. Don't know what you think of her, but

Suze Orman was on the other day and she has always been for paying down CC debt. Now she says screw the CC payments and concentrate on mortgage, utilities and food. She is outraged that the CC companies have been jacking up interest rates across the board before the new laws kick in. I agree.

[tinkerbell41]

6. Thanks

I have been looking at her website this morning. I couldn't find what I was looking for. Also went to a couple other financial websites, always bad bad bad if you don't pay your debts. I don't feel guilty at all, it's not a moral issue for me, I just waffle between "Well I would have the money for car repairs if I wasn't paying the debt, and if I had had full employment since 2001 I wouldn't be in this mess. Work has been shitty since 2001 believe it or not.

[rubberducky]

5. Bankruptcy? Unless you have a lot of equity in your home.

[Vincardog]

11. Bankruptcy, dissappear the CC bills and keep your home.

[WillowTree]

9. Try calling your CC company and see if they'll work with you while you're out of work.

Lots of them will now because it's more in their interest to do so than to have you just walk away forcing them to go to the expense of trying to track you down. And they will track you down and it'll only be worse then.

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But even if they don't, you're no worse off than you were before you made the call, right? It's worth a try, anyway.

[tinkerbell41]

10. I called them

I explained my situation, they referred me to CCS and I did phone counseling they told me my payments would be the same. If they track me down and I am unemployed, what can they do? Even if I eventually return to work, I change contractors every 3-6 mos. I only have about 10,000 equity in my home due to falling home prices. What can they really do?? I am asking as a question, not a smart ass provoking way.

[bkkyosemite]

15. Nothing! They will say they can sue but there is too many to sue...when they send them to a

collection agency and they start calling get an unlisted number. And send a cease and desist letter.

[WillowTree]

19. Nonsense.

A close friend was served just a couple of weeks ago (here in Illinois where the OP is, by the way) for a suit over a credit card balance that was only a little over $5,000, a small amount compared to what a lot of people have racked up over the last few years. They can and they will sue.

[bkkyosemite]

43. The majority are not sued .........

[WillowTree]

16. They can put a lein on your house.

And you have two aging cars. You're going to have to replace one or both eventually. Are you going to be able to do that without credit?

Not being judgemental. I've been there myself and I know someone who's there now so I know how it happens. It was only a suggestion. All you can do is the best you can.

Wishing you the best of luck in finding something that can at least tide you over in the meantime and something good and stable in the long term.

[tinkerbell41]

20. Goes thru my mind everyday

I am fucked! I am soo aggravated. I am grateful for your input. What if I do need a new car is right! My line of work requires me to travel to various jobs everyday. Sometimes 5 miles each way sometimes 30! I do think about this, it is a serious issue. Really that is why I got the second car, in case my first one had problems, I could get to work.

[WillowTree]

23. OK. Another suggestion.

Talk to a counselor at IDES. They offer quite a few resources other than just job searches and th UE checks, which I assume have already run out in your case. See if they can recommend something that might be of assistance with your debt situation. Again, it couldn't hurt, right?

[tinkerbell41]

26. Thank you!

I knew i came to the right place. Sometimes your mind just goes in circles. Getting outside advice really helps.

[WillowTree]

32. Would it be OK to PM you?

[tinkerbell41]

34. Well another Chi-towner!!

Go right ahead. Any advice is appreciated!

[WillowTree]

37. Just sent.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. You are not alone friend. Have you tried going to a service to

help you consolidate your debt in to one. We did that a few years ago. It helped us. Ask some of your friends where you could go and find a agency that will help you and it would be free service. They are out there. You have to ask around. My husband for the last 2 years had been having seizures. He had all kinds of tests. He was so drugged up. Just the month of Aug he was in the ER 8 times. That is how bad things got. He has had MRIs, and CT scans and all kinds of tests. Finally he was sent to Vanderblit and he stayed in 3 days while they were giving him a test to see if he had eplisey(?). Finally the doctor talked with him and told him that he wasn't having seziures at all. While he was in the hospital they took him off all the medicines and he stopped having seizures. The doctor said he was anything physical. He wanted him to see about his mental state. That was what caused his problems. So he has been home a few days now and we have talked. Alot of his problems are the same thing you are worried about. We are alittle luckier because our home is almost paid off, but really needs alot of work we don't have. He worries every month that something is going to happen and we don't have the money to pay for it. We have been lucky, but you can't always go on luck. I told him sometimes you can handle only so much. Pay what you can and pay the other bills when you can. We have been lucky so far. Hang in their things will get better.

[tinkerbell41]

22. I am sorry.

I can relate. I have been having vertigo attacks for about 7 mos, along with panic and anxiety some days I can't even drive to the store. I am going for testing today for vertigo thing. I think it is stress. I am a pretty easygoing person, but I am being driven nutty by not being self sufficient.

[Brickbat]

25. About the vertigo -- I came down with that a couple years ago and the doc wanted to write me a

prescription for valium. I said O HELLZ NO and he said taking the non-drowsy version of Dramamine, I think it's called Dramamine II, works just as well, and it did. So you can try that. Vertigo is hell -- I couldn't believe how bizarre it was.

[ctaylors6]

13. what kind of work do you do in your trade?

[tinkerbell41]

18. Electrician

I have also tried doing sidejobs, knowing if I get caught I could lose my membership, pension etc..
I seem to have a problem when I show up, I am a woman and people are surprised and make snarky comments, and question me, don't want to pay going rate etc.. It just makes me more depressed. I have done a few but no one wants to pay what it costs for quality work. If I were a guy no one would question me. I have family in the trade, and it never happens to them.

[bkkyosemite]

14. To hell with the credit cards. Use your money for necessities only!

You have no job. The credit cards are not secured debt. They are at the botoom of your list at this time. That is reality. If your mortgage payments will be low enough keep the house, keep the cars (if you need money sell one of them) and pay in this priority........(believe me I know)

1. Roof over head
2. Food/medications
3. Utilities
4. Gas (ration it don't go anywhere that is long and take one trip instead of two to do things)
5. Anything left over SAVE for the future that you do not know at this time because of no job.

[tinkerbell41]

31. Thank you

I have always been pretty frugal. Since I have never had a problem getting a second job I figured
I would use that to deal with the debt. But it never materialized. Even when I do go back to work, once I work 45 days and get laid off(sure to happen,there is no work) I go to the bottom of the list. So, I missed a year, work 45 days and then I am out for???? Who knows. I will have family to live with if it gets to that. God I am just so aggravated at not being able to pull myself up. I always have, but in this economy.....

[bkkyosemite]

42. Have faith YOU ARE NOT ALONE......believe me.....you will come out of this but essentials first and

if you have an option to live with family that might help you get out of debt while looking for work ask and give back when you can....pay it forward when it's there again :-)

[Brickbat]

21. Hang in there, sister. My partner and I have been through that before and I know what you're going

through.

Pay the mortgage first, whatever you do.

Can you transfer balances on your credit cards to cards with lower rates? Can you ask if you can skip a payment? If your credit is OK, sometimes they allow that to give you a little breathing room.

Does your hall have a food shelf? Some trades do and often let other affiliated trades use it.

It's hard, it's damn hard. Working in the trades can be a real boom/bust, and the years of recession before this big crash have trimmed so many opportunities. We went through a really bad time in 2001-2005. My partner juggled credit cards to find the best rates, kept up on the mortgage, and delayed other bills as long as possible. We were very lucky and I'll be keeping you in my thoughts.

[tinkerbell41]

24. Thank you!

My frickin Hall doesn't even acknowledge what the fuck is going on. We had bad times beginning in 2001 also. I have worked about 4 yrs total since 2001. My father was out for 18 mos in the early 80's, I did know this going in. But... I always had back up I waited tables during the lean times and got thru it. Now, I can't even get an interview.

[Brickbat]

27. My partner finally got out of his trade because things are just so damn slow around here. We moved

for my job to a place where construction is at a snail's pace. I thought about becoming an electrician back during our slow time, just to learn something new and useful, but had a baby instead. Not exactly the best economic development. :eyes:

I *think* that it's better to go to the bank, if things get so terribly bad, and level with them and say you want to look into bankruptcy, rather than just stop paying the mortgage and have them come to you. I could be wrong. It depends on the bank and the people you're dealing with (I live in the country near a small town). But a bank, at the end of the day, doesn't want to lose on its investment.

[tinkerbell41]

29. Well now....

If I didn't fear losing my HEALTH INSURANCE I would walk away. I love my job and the benefits, but
it has been a nightmare for the most part. I can never go to work and just work. ALWAYS have to deal with the female thing. I was different 20 yrs ago, now I have just become bitter and angry. Instead of the stress of just raising my family, and paying the bills, I have to deal with can I keep my job because they don't want women here. You know, only men have families to feed, I am taking a man's job. The trades are seriously still in the fucking stone age.

[Brickbat]

30. That's so true.

It's twice as hard for women.

(I also wasn't trying to suggest that you find another trade, either. The very hardest part is when you find something you're good at and love to do and everything -- the economy, the patriarchal bullshit, the bank, society -- finds a way to wreck it for you.)

[tinkerbell41]

33. I didn't think you were.

I just answered sarcastically because of all you just mentioned. It is a fucking joke. my apprenticeship was a nightmare, many times I went home after work crying. But i knew it was my only chance at bettering myself. 20 yrs of this bullshit, and my female family members knew they could never do it for a month let alone... The only way females get to work in this industry is if they "know" someone. Other than that good luck. I know my trade, I can do whatever the guys do, I never complain about being cold, hot, dirty, job too hard, whatever. I don't know anyone, so I don't work
and they don't keep me.It is really a downer emotionally, it really fucks with your head.

Welcome to DU by the way!!!

[madmom]

35. Bankruptcy, keep the house and car. Worked for me.

[tinkerbell41]

36. Ch7??

I don't have income so no ch 13. I pass the means test, I don't think I have enough equity to lose the house. So ch 7 looks pretty good right now. Just worried about ever getting a loan in case i need a car within the next 7 yrs.

[madmom]

39. Yes we filed chapter 7. That's the biggest problem, if you need to

get a loan, you will have higher interest rates. We were able to keep the house. The main thing is to keep up with any payments you need to make after bankruptcy, this will help with fixing your credit.

[emilyg]

38. I'm on the verge of

telling my daughter that's the way to go. Unemployed, no child support. She's drowning.

[GreenPartyVoter]

40. We did that too. Can't remember how much the lawyer was. between $700 and $1000, I think. But this

was about 8 years ago now.

[RebelOne]

45. It's much more now. I just had a Chapter 13 bankruptcy discharged

in April and it cost me almost $4,000 to file. Back in 1989, I filed a Chapter 7 and it only cost me $700.

[GreenPartyVoter]

46. Ouch! Did you find it more difficult the second time, what with the "reforms" and all? (We just

squeaked in under the wire when we got ours, so the reforms weren't in place yet.)

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. I will give you a big hug and suggest you look into bankruptcy. (If you can

get some money together for the lawyer. We had help from family.)

If you owe money to favorite local businesses, pay them off before you see the lawyer otherwise they will be frozen out like the CC companies. Had we known this we wouldn't have had to change oil companies.

[quiller4]

44. Paying housing expenses first, then other bills as able. Consider

selling one vehicle and reserving the proceeds for debt payment. If you have only one card and have had it for a long time, consider negotiating with the creditor.

Another option might be renting out your house and relocating to work out of another local. Construction is picking up in some areas much faster than in others.

I don't know your trade. I do know that the out of work book at one of two IBEW locals had 1700 names on it in April. Now fewer than 20 are so listed and my godson who is a young journeyman has been working steadily since May after being off for 7 months.