Amy: I really need to talk to you, I need some help.
Me: Sure, what's going on?
Amy: We're facing foreclosure if something doesn't happen soon. We're 3 months behind on our mortgage.
Me: Oh no, what happened? Did one of you lose your job?
Amy: No, we just got behind.
Me: But I don't understand, yall make a pretty decent income. What happened?
Amy: Well, we just did some stupid things. We knew better, I have no idea why we did it, we just didn't do the right thing.
Me: Okay, we've all done stupid things, but I still don't understand. What happened?
Amy: I'm telling you, we did some stuuu-pid things. We owe the IRS for back taxes and we've been trying to get that straight for several months. I know you don't know this - we filed bankruptcy last year, but we kept the house.
Me: So why is the home in foreclosure. I'm very confused now. You have a decent income and all of your debt except for the house and the IRS was discharged. You really have to tell me what happened because I'm not getting it.
Amy: Well, see, our daughter got married in September and we had to pay for the wedding.
*****crickets******
Amy: We paid cash for it (the inflections in her voice suggested that she was quite proud of the fact that they paid for the wedding in cash, despite the fact that the mortgage went unpaid.)
****crickets*******
Amy: And then Christmas came around a few months later and we had to pay for that as well.
****crickets*******
Amy: So see, we just did some dumb stuff. We're trying to get out of this hole.
Me: Well what is it that I can do for you? You know what to do, why you didn't do it is beyond my understanding.
Amy: Yeah, you're right. We were just stupid.
****crickets********
And again I say, I don't get it! I know this is pretty extreme but I promise you that it's a true story. Just crazy. And yes, this person knows better. Is it possible to know something and never act on that knowing? Is it possible to know something and constantly do the opposite. Maybe it's just me but I think actions demonstrate what you really know. Perhaps she doesn't know as much as she says. She says all the right things, but gosh doggit, did you read the decisions she and her husband have made recently? I don't get it! (sighing).
***Amy is not the person's real name so if there is an Amy reading this, chances are that I am not talking about you:-).
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4 comments:
Hi there-Thats such a sad story, I truly hope they can get some sound financial advice to help them through this situation, Personal finance does take years to grasp and I think we can all say we've made financial decisions we're not proud of!! Thanks a lot for stopping by my dear-as you can see from my blog, I do love to thrift, rather than buy new. I would suggest to you to maybe shop around online and try to stick to good quality brands such as Gap, J Crew for essentials and cheaper brands for trends, such as H&M or Target-good luck!
Often when people take the easy way out to get out of debt (e.g. taking HELOCs from their home, filing bankruptcy) without really fighting to pay down the debt first, they often get right back into debt because they haven't remedied the underlying behavior that got them into the mess to begin with. Hopefully by getting foreclosed upon, your friend will have learned a lesson that will stick for life. Very sad.
I can't believe they ruining their second chance with a wedding (will those kids be married in 2 years?) and Christmas?
sad indeed.
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