Nov 21, 2009
Talking about:
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820 visits
financial crisis
Nov 12, 2009
My name is Wanda. I'm married to a wonderful guy and we have two children, 11 and three. I must admit that we were not affected by the declining economy at first. My husband is a driller and things were going very well. As time progressed, the overtime in which he normally worked became less and less. We were soon faced with him barely getting 40 hours a week and a nonexistent savings account.
I was able to apply for food assistance and Medicaid for our kids. In June, I was able to get assistance paying our electricity bill. We are now faced with the prospect of my husband getting laid off and he's only getting about 30 hours of any work time right now. I am a stay at home mom. When our daughter was born in 2006, I had medical issues that prevented me from returning to work during the timeframe in which my employer had wanted. I was instead fired. At the time, it was seen as a blessing in disguise. I am still very thankful that we were blessed enough for me to stay home and take care of our children. I wouldn't change the experience for nothing in the world. I have been looking for jobs outside the home but of course, no one is hiring. He is putting in applications as well but no call backs thus far. Our utility bill is now past due by $325.79, our car payment is past due by $957.89, water bill $127.35, students loans...the list goes on. The IRS sent us a notice stating that we owe $240.00 from 2007. I made a very dumb mistake of taking out a payday loan online for $650.00 last month. We were in jeopordy of having everything disconnected unless we made some sort of payments. At the time, my husband was supposed to be going out of town project that would have guaranteed him at least 80 hours per week for two months. Guess what? He wasn't chosen because the company decided to send two drillers instead of three in an effort to save money. I was able to postpone the first payment due two weeks ago but tomorrow I will have to repay $203.00 which will send our accounts into a negative balance. We also have only been able to pay a portion of our $900.00 rent.
I know we are not the only family in this situation and that there are thousands of others that are worse off. We have gotten rid of luxuries such as cable, internet, and unfortunately, the family pet to help cut expenses. I have never been the type of person to get my nails done. I don't go to the salon for my hair...in fact, I deperately need a relaxer now but I could care less if my hair falls out. We don't eat out anymore. As of now, we have two vehicles but I only use mine to take our son to school, pick him up and go the the grocery store or doctor when necessary. I haven't had new clothes in years...and I'm okay with that. Neither my husband nor myself come from families that "have money." My husband's father has been able to help us in the past but he is dying from lung cancer. He was diagnosed a few months ago. He was supposed to have a portion of his lung removed last month but the amount of cancer present prevented that. He has had pneumonia for a few weeks and that is hindering radiation and chemo. Without treatment, he has only had four to six months to live. We haven't seen him since 2007. There is no way that we can go as a family to see him but it would be nice if my husband were to be able to see him one final time. I can't promise that we can pay back any donations that are made. We aren't able to keep our head above water as of now. We can only give our undying gratitude and thanks. My husband is planning upon applying for the police academy next year. It's something that he's interested in and it's definitely a secure job. I will begin going to school at night next summer so that I may complete my degree and become a teacher. That's something I'm interested in and once again...a secure job. We aren't selfish people but obviously we took advantage of thinking that our financial situation would never look so gloom. I have shared our family's disparity in hopes that we are able to reach someone that is in a position to help. I swear to you that this story is true (I'm not creative enough to make up something like this) and there is more to it but I figure this is enough doom and gloom for one person.
Once again, I can't make a promise of repayment...at least not anytime soon. I can PROMISE that my husband and I WILL help others as soon as we are in a position to do so.
Thank you for reading and may God bless you and those you hold dear to your hearts.
Sep 21, 2009
My daughter is in a program through social security that lets her save money for expenses that will go toward her education and a career. Over the last year we've had many set backs and disappointments. Saving the money has been terribly hard and we are way behind in what she should have saved because of it. Now we are at risk of her being kicked out of the program.
I am not working and have not been able to find substantial work to be able for her to save and still take care of basic needs. At this moment I have $40 in the bank and barely any food in the house. We haven't even had a Christmas for the past few years.
I wrote a book that I'm told is very good, but it hasn't sold much yet and if I could get some sales I think it would boost interest in it and all the money will be going to help my daughter.
Aug 20, 2009
Greetings to all....
A brief description about myself, and a financial situation that has me left me desperately seeking the aid of others.
I am a 38 year old disabled & unemployed male from the S.W. My wife, who has worked extremely hard at providing for the two of us, has become increasingly stressed over the fact that two months ago her employer began cutting her hours, and that she is the only one of us that can work to pay these financial obligations.
For some time now we have tried to manage this situation by asking for extensions and bill payment plans from each of the places where we owe money, but, although, this may have helped temporarily we are now to the point that we have nothing left to live off and we still haven't the needed funds.
Although, I cannot honestly say that we are in the midst of a forcluser or that we are about to lose our car, but I can honestly say that we need help. We are trying to figure out how we are going to make it this month since the majority of my wife's money will go to pay on our mortgage and car payment, but this has left us with little money to buy food and pay on other expenses, such as food, electricity, water, doctor visits & medicines.
If you feel in your heart that you can help us in any way possible, please do. I cannot convey enough the sincere amount of gratitude and apprectiation to any of those who would choose to help us in our time of need. If you feel that you can afford to help us please feel free to send anything that you can, I am possitive that God will see us through. God Bless You!
Sincerely,
Life's Journey
May 25, 2009
If you sense an even larger storm approaching and want to consider meeting someone like-minded for mutual support –m(49)4f, please send me a message. Andy8033@hotmail.com
Mar 3, 2009
My 13 month old son was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder that causes high rates of malignant cancer among many other terrible condition, both cognitively and physically. My wife and I have been, to say the very least, DEVESTATED over this news. He is our first child and we love him so much it hurts us more than I realized one can hurt to know that he may not have the same opportunities we all have been so blessed to have. My wife has to stay at home with Kenny and I work in the Financial Services industry. My net pay over the past 4 months has averaged about 1200 per month. My rent is 1220 per month. Needless to say, it has been a very trying situation. I am very depressed and am feeling the effects of this in every facet of my life as is my beautiful wife, Jennifer. It is like a downward trending spiral that has increased in its speed way to fast for me to catch. We were served with eviction papers and have to be out of here in 3 weeks. There are no new applications for rental assistance (HUD).My family is not going to help because they are not well off either. I work 60 hours a week trying to get something going. I just dont know what else to do. I fear we will be homeless soon. And with Kenny and his condition, it is not a good thing. If someone can find it in the kindness of their hearts to help, please HELP. I am begging you.
Sincerely,
A very hardworking, honest DAD who needs a hand.
Sep 2, 2008
I am one of those families in an extreme crunceh. I am loseing my home. I have 5 children and I am an emotional reck. I am recovering from spinal meningitis...how I got it I have no idea. But all the insurance in the world could not save my life from becoming an emotional and financal reck.
I am in desperate need of funds to pay this mortgage...or rather catch it up. It can be done but with the tight money...I can't do it. Any and all help is appreciated...from one dollar to ten dollars to a hundred and on and on... or if you know of any person or organization that can help a family in crisis "thank God" for you. ready willing and able to accept any help available.
sincerely;
Lynn Hinn
Aug 1, 2008
Hi there to everyone who sees this. What a great site this is. I am a married woman with 4 wonderful children, ages 16, 15 , 12, 8. I am a homemaker and disable at this time do to a type of neurological condition called psuedo tumor cerebri, as well as kidney failure. However I am a fighter because I have so much to fight for. My husband is a hard worker but the other day we learned that we could loose our home due to our septic leach field failing. 2 months ago we were told we had several yrs before this would happen, but they were wrong, and at this point we have not been able to save enough to replace it immediately. I am not sure what we will do. If the septic starts backing up due to the failure of the leach field, we will have to leave our home, and will still be responsible for the loan on it. (152,000.00) I feel very stressed about this which complicates my medical conditiontand any suggestions or help is very welcomed. God bless.
Mar 16, 2008
My fiancee, one month old daughter, and I will soon be homeless. I am a 26-year-old U.S. citizen who is currently residing in Calgary on visit. My fiancée Portia is a foreign worker here from the Philippines. We met a little over a year ago, and fell in love at first sight. The best way to describe it is when you are putting a 1000 piece puzzle together, and you are working on the sky section. You sit there and stare at two hundred pieces that are all the same shade of blue. Finally you find a piece that fits with the piece in your hand. It’s a great feeling, almost magical. That’s what happened to our souls. At the time I was living in Ohio and Portia was here in Calgary. We knew that we had to see each other on a regular basis, but an airline ticket from Ohio to Calgary roundtrip is a small fortune. That’s when I had a stroke of genius. Knowing that airline employees get free flights I left my job at the time and started working for Northwest airlines. Now that move had considerable pros and cons. The pros being that I could fly to Calgary, or anywhere for that matter and pay nothing for my flights. On the other hand the cons consisted of a considerable drop in income, going from a white collar profession to a blue collar, getting my shifts covered to even go to Calgary, flying standby, so when flights are full or oversold (which they usually are) then I don’t go or was left stranded in the airport. Still the job gave me the ability for Portia and I to see each other each month. In about May of last year we decided that Portia would come and stay with me for three weeks. During the three weeks we would drive down to South Carolina to visit her aunt and celebrate her grandparents anniversary. So Portia found a service here in Calgary that would help her file for her tourist visa. She paid three hundred eighty dollars for them to file her application and another hundred dollars for her appointment with the U.S. embassy. During the weeks before her appointment our excitement grew. I couldn’t wait for her to meet my mom and Portia couldn’t wait to introduce me to her family. On the day of her appointment I waited anxiously for her to call and tell me the good news. But the call wouldn’t be good news. The U.S. embassy denied her for a travel visa. They did not feel that her grandparents’ anniversary was that important of an event to grant her access to the U.S., nor did they think that she would return to Canada. So she was considered “high risk” due to her age, single status, and her ties here in Calgary. The news hit me like a sack of bricks dropped from a ten-story building. That was our first taste of how the border between the U.S. and Canada would affect our love. With the denial of her travel visa I decided to go to Calgary instead. That trip to Calgary last May change both of our lives. The next month Portia felt different so when I came up to visit we went to the doctor. On June 18th we found out that Portia was pregnant. At first it scared both of us. Were we ready? Did we make a mistake? What’s next? We knew that we loved each other. We knew that we wanted to be together. We decided that we would make this work. Our plan was bringing Portia back to the U.S. and we would start our family together in Ohio. Even though we thought that this was a good plan the U.S. government felt different. There is this long drawn out process that has fees attached to every form you have to fill out called U.S. Immigration. I started calling every immigration lawyer I could find. One would say two years, the other would say nine months, and another would say twelve months. On top of all the confusion about processing times the lawyer fees were in the four-digit bracket. It was then apparent to Portia and I that we were going to be in for the struggle of our lives trying to make this work. Don’t get me wrong; there was no problem with our love for each other, just the borders that separated it. It started to feel like a modern day Romeo and Juliet story. I could not accept the fact that it would take a year to bring my new family back to Ohio, and I would not accept it. I continued searching every day for hours on end trying to find a loophole in the system. There had to be a way to get around a year of waiting. But after a while the match of hope and optimism started to flicker and then eventually went out only leaving a faint trail of smoke behind. For once in my life I felt defeated. There was no way around the process, the wait, and the fees. I continued to visit Calgary each month, and in September of 2007 I started coming twice a month. The constant traveling made a huge impact on my bank account, and I wasn’t getting enough hours at work to make ends meet. That is the time when money problems would enter the equation and has been a constant factor to this day. We found out that the best way to get Portia to the U.S. would be through a K-1 visa, or the fiancée visa. It has the shortest processing time of nine to twelve months. The other option was a spousal visa, but that would take two years at least. I found a lawyer that would process and file our K-1 visa for sixteen hundred dollars. That was the best price I could find, and that particular law firm specializes in K-1 visas with a money back guarantee. Portia was nearing her sixth month of pregnancy and was having problems taking the bus and train back and forth. Only hearing about the development and growth of my daughter, and not actually being there to experience the pregnancy with Portia and my daughter was depressing me more and more. I knew I had to be there with my family. I had no work or no means of money, but I had to be there. In November of 2007 I drained my bank account. I paid the sixteen hundred dollars to the lawyer, fourteen hundred for a small bachelor suite in southeast Calgary, and had eight hundred dollars for the drive to Calgary. I left Ohio on November 10th and made it to Calgary on the 12th. I have been here with Portia and Miyah (my daughter) since then. Things have been tough. With so many jobs in Calgary, I can’t work any of them. And it has been an impossible task for me to find an employer who will go through the process of getting me a work permit. I could marry Portia, but that would mean that all the money I paid the K-1 lawyer would be for nothing, and it would take the two years to process the spousal visa. Portia cannot collect any form of unemployment of maternity leave either. I started putting a home theater together at the beginning of 2006, but now I’m having my friend back in Ohio sell it piece by piece so that Portia and I have money to live on. This past week we received a bit of good news. The lawyer called and said that the California processing Center is running ahead of time so he expects our approval to come at the end of next week. That means that we will be going home in a litlle over two months. That news made us smile, but only for a moment. Two months is a long time away and we are currently sinking fast. We haven't paid rent since January and I am out of money and things to sell. If it weren’t for Portia’s support I’d have already been on the strongest anti-depressant on the market. People tell us all the time that this is the happiest time of our lives, but it truly doesn’t feel that way. We worry for Miyah, for her well-being. People say things aren’t that bad, that we should be happy that we have each other and Miyah. It’s been hard to make people understand our pain. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of both Portia and I. We’ve made it so far, but there is still a rough hard road ahead, and both of our feet are sore. We pray for strength, and we hope for miracles. We live day to day, and give thanks every night for making it through each day. We are desperate for any type of help to get financially caught up, and to have money for our bills, rent, food, and for the future trip home. Thank you for reading.
Jun 22, 2007
Wow...I never thought it would come to this. I am truly hoping that finding this site will be a blessing to me and my family. I'm an elementary school teacher in Arizona, single, with two children. Within that sentence you can tell a lot about me and my financial situation. Unfortunately, it seems that instead of life getting better, each year my challenges get...well...more challenging. I am currently seeking part time employment and/or financial assistance until I begin teaching again in late August. I don't want a handout or people to feel sorry for me...I am genuinely looking for a way to pay my bills until my teaching contract is underway again.
I'm sure most who know about the educational system and how teachers are paid would say, "what happened to your summer money?" Good question! I've had some unexpected expenses come my way and I was forced to take out way too many "pay day" loans (please don't EVER get yourself into that trap because that it JUST what it is....a TRAP). Summer came and I had to pay them off..plus had to cover some costs of a back tax bill...blah blah blah. You get the point. Now I am looking at it being almost the end of June, and almost no money and no prospects of employment. Funny how employers don't want you if they know you are going to quit in 2 months!
PLEASE help....advice is welcome as long as it's constructive. Assitance is also welcome as long as I can pay back the source.
Thank you!
Apr 4, 2007
WE ARE A HAPPY FAMILY OF 5. I HAVE 2 ADDITIONAL CHILDREN LIVING OUTSIDE THE HOME. I AM FROM TAMPA, FLORIDA AND MY WIFE IS FROM MARREKASH, MOROCCO. WE HAVE 2 GIRLS AND A BOY. MY OTHER 2 ARE ALSO GIRLS. THEY RANGE IN AGE FROM 10 TO 2.
I WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT WHICH LEFT ME UNABLE TO DO VERY "HARD WORK" DUE TO MY BACK AND NECK INJURIES. I HAVE HAD TO TAKE A JOB OF LESS PAY. AND WITHOUT A CAR, IT HAS BEEN VERY HARD TO GET A BETTER PAYING JOB. WE ARE IN DESPERATE NEED FOR FINANCIAL HELP AT THIS TIME. MY WIFE AND I BOTH WORK F/T WITH A COMBINDED INCOME OF $450. A WEEK. WE DO NOT OWN A CAR AND UTILZE THE PUBLIC BUS TO DO EVERYTHING. WE LIVE IN A TINY 2 BEDROOM 1 BATH APARTMENT OWNED BY A "SLUM LORD" WHO JUST RAISED THE RENT AGAIN. I HAVE $650. A MONTH IN CHILDSUPPORT THAT I PAY TO MY 2 GIRLS LIVING OUTSIDE THE HOME. WE PAY $650 A MONTH FOR AFTER SCHOOL DAYCARE. WE WANT HELP WITH A CAR AND MOVE-IN EXPENSIS TO A BIGGER, CLEANER AND SAFER HOME TO RENT. ( AT LEAST A 3 BEDROOM 2 BATH. EVRYTIME WE THINK ABOUT IT, REALITY SETS IN AND TELLS US THAT WE ARE STUCK. AT $450 A WEEK, WE PAY OUR BILLS ONLY AND NEVER HAVE ANY TO SAVE FOR A CAR OR MOVING EXPESIS.
ANYTHIG YOU CAN DO TO HELP US WE ARE SO VERY APPRICIATED AND THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.
I need someone who is willing to invest in me as a rsponsible person with a future. January 13/14th 2000, my landlord attacked me with two men at my flat on a Friday night. They forced me inside where I was cornered, hit and bullied. One woman is no match for three men. Somehow I escaped to the street, but they had the door off hte flat and changed the locks. I was locked out with very little other than my thin jacket on a freezing January night. I live in Prague as expat American-- so this was disaster. During the night while I was locked out, they stole everything of value that I had fom earrings to computer to walkmans, dictionaries, eyeglasses, wine--whatever their fingers wanted. Apparently during that time, they also tried to kill my beloved cat in my oven.
I escaped, but not unharmed. In my desperation I called more thn 36people for help as it was late night and I had nowhere to go. When the men came out, I was again attacked by the big thug who jumped me and bashed my head against the pavement and stole the binder that I was holding in my arms. It contained all my legal documents... This was just the beginning of a nightmare and crisis that is still ongoing in my life.
A month later-- February 10th, I was attacked the second time by a professional thug who took my purse, the newly replaced telephone and passport and month's income and the last shred of my identification. I didn't even have a birth certificate or pictutre to identify me and the US Embassy was the least helpful organization in the world. It wasn't until October that finally I had a passport sstamped with the full extension of time because without that, there was no way for me to replace the stolen documents. So the US Embassy with its refusal to help me in crisis added incredible stress, emotionally and financially, to my life.
The third attack came in March when a car ran me down. It threw me across the street and did some unpleasant damage to ribs and gave me nice contusions to internal organs. I had no money and all my properties of value had already been stolen from me. I was rather in permament state of shock and the poor do what they always do: they work. So despite cracked ribs on both sides of my body and severe trauma, I went back to work within 24hours and taught 12 straight hours... The trauma made it impossible for me to function very well as I had suffered a series of serious concussions and could not remember very basic things. The students had a great time ridiculing me because when I wrote on the blackboard, gibberish appeared. My knees were smashed to hell and I had to go to a doctor three days later because I ws in agony. He could not believe I ws able to stand, much less walk. A doctor told me I would not be able to see to rad for about 6months as a result of postconcussional syndrome. In that time I was stalked and terror really ruled my existence and I disappeared into silence.
I have CFS and no medical insurance.
So as a result of pain and trauma and stress, teaching English was not exactly viable-- I never understood what an opera singer was doing teaching English, so at least it relieved me of a very schizophrenic existence. Photography is only silent singing.
My life became a vicious cycle of hardship after that.
I don't know how I survived these things, but I try not to think of anything-- I try to ignore all the hardship and pain I have suffered and go on becasue I don't know what else to do.
A year ago, a Kodak franchise owner brought me a writing project to do :to develop a community newsletter for expats that would contain travel articles, restaurant reviews, business profiles and free community news note and ads such as birthdays, weddings etc-- The newsletter was to be bi-weekly with pictures and links that would be set up on his website. I would have all the writing and pictures to do initially and tp set up a monthly photo competition as well. Okay this is serious work and I calculated that it would be over 27pages in length to about 40pages which is a great deal of work for a person to produce and mount on the internet every two weeks, but on the other hand I am a very good writer and this could be the foundation of new life. However, before you start the circulation of such a newsletter, you must prepare the first 6-10 issues so that once it starts it continues.
So I did-- and he disapppeared with nonpayment. He didn't want to pay for the articles. He didn't want to pay for the pictures. He didn't want to reimburse any fo eh expenses and after all I'm native English speaking person so English must be easy for me. There was no regard for my university education or my past portfolio as a writer. When I sat him down to show him the amount of work it takes just to set up basic web pages on a blog with hyperlinks, he didn't want to waste his time on me, but he wanted to claim "all rights."
And in the end he just disappeared after months of my work with sampe articles mounted on the internet at Gather.com
This left me in serious crisis. He angered me with his comments that I could just copy the articles off wikipedia.org and my phyotgraphy wasn't worth payment. Anyone can take pictures.
This truly angered me-- I started submitting my pictures to photo contests in October 2006 and started winning Picture of the Day Awards with a dysfuncitonal, crappy Kodak camera that he had given me because he didn't want to pay me anything. The camera had been used when I opened it, so it really wasn't new, but it was discontinued product. It was also technically faulty and he did not maintain the guarantee on it. Two settings worked, but not the light meter and the shutter often didn't shutter or rather it shuttereed/ shuddered things to a smear.
Through the images winning picture awards, I realized that this was serious competition and I was very good at it. I started studying how I could use these skills and reading the legal stuff and technical specifications on Stockphoto sites because I am really good at-- I have the self-discipline and critical skills to work at a subject or to produce a subject after hours of effort. I do still life very well even with a bad camera, but I haven't a professional instrument to sell my images off to good stockphoto companies like Getty or Corbis.
The best way to help someone is to invest into their profession and their future, I can't pay rent right now and I havenn't an acceptable camera to do stockphoto, but it's really what I'd like to do. The computer died in December which added complications to expense and life. I have the skills, the tenacity and self-discipline that's required to achieve this. I understand problems of copyright and as a writer I can exploit this skill for writing articles, but I haven't money right now for basic things like rent.
I need help and I wish to have establish myself and repay myu debts to those who can help me.
I have a portfolio of winning photos, but none of them could ever be sold on the commercial market. The camera is technically faulty and professiional photgraphy requires a minimum of 8MP camera with RAW data files. Getty accepts a list of 4 cameras starting with the lowest model of the Coanon XT Rebel, but not for commissioned assignments. However with such a camera, I would be able to sell off the images and recover the money invested and stabilize my life.
I am exceptionally good at macro, still life and I want to do architecture in Prague-- I took an interest in Czech butterflies and found out that very few people are tracking them or identifying them. Butterflies are difficult subjects because they don't pose for the camera and require tremendous patience. They also sell for good prices if the photography is technically excellent.
All three are good for stock photo but architecture requires property releases whch I can obtain through an attorney for real estate. This would be a good niche for editorial a nd commercial stockphoto because of all the beautiful art deco in Prague.
I want to open a storefront on a site like Shutterfly where I can sell off the small images (4MP) privately at my own prices, but again I don't hae the money to pay the annual fees of 200USD or I would have done it before.
It would be nice just to have a decent keyboard.
I need help for rent and help for the future to establish myself. I am very hard worker, but I have CFS and in 2002 both shoulderss were broken and I had no medical care: it was agony to endure. My right arm is shorter than my left bu about 4cm as a result of an overlapping fracture and this causes problems for typing and my hand can be quite spastic at times. I just try to get on with it.
I am looking for a partner who can help me begin a ne life and invest into me as a worthy venture for the future. I need the help and faith of someone who can understands how hard it is to always be on the bottom and be given inferior products but demanded to produce the best.
I wish to establish myself and be able to have medical care and go to a doctor when I suffer serious injuries and feed myself.
I wish to regain my personal sense of dignity and value to society. The work I do is good and I wish it always to improve, but for me to escape this crisis I need a future and a camera will provide it. I need to pay the rent, but tht's short term-- the profession though is all important. This gives me my sense of dignity and self-worth. It will also pay the rent and return the investment.
Tthank-you for reading this. The police reports are in Czech and seriously I just tried to survive the attacks.
Jan 14, 2007
I am a 37 year old man whose wife is very sick. I am in sales and recently I lost a very imporatnt "bread and butter" account for reaons beyond my control. I am struggling to replace it as my income has gone way down. My wife and I have I exhausted our savings as I have worked as many side jobs as I can find to make ends meet. We live in a rural area where there is not alot of work to begin with.
My Wife cannot work as her conditions (she suffers from multiple health problems) continues to get worse. I am affraid we are going to lose our house which I don't have alot of equity in at this point. My credit is in bad shape as I have been using credit cards to pay bills.
My wife is applying for state disability but we are not hopeful that will come through immediately as I'm told most people get denied several times. I feel as though I have let my family down completely. I am exploring new career possibilities that are more lucrative than what I do (printer supplies). I don't want to lose my family. Can anybody help me?
