Husband was laid off.... again.

[AngelzFyre]

We're laid off right now also and same thing with the UE benefits, husband is on sub/callback so if he goes in for even a day..he has to re file with UE office and start all over. He's been laid off since before November and we've gotten 2 checks total from UE. They were supposed to start calling them back in May but now have decided to lay 15 more off and cut the ones there work back to 32 hours a week. WHO can live on that anymore? The last laid off get called back first so there goes April!

But like others have said..we'll be okay and it will make us stronger. We are very blessed and it's made us appreciate what we do have more and get joy out of the little things again. We're trying to pay bills down one by one...biggest stuff first and move on to the next. It's really working!

As far as anyone's "fault"....in reality it's probably everyone's fault a little bit for getting into the gotta have it now realm and having to have bigger and bigger, and more and more when they really didn't NEED it, and putting payments off until tomorrow. Well..tomorrow is here! Hopefully everyone will learn and do better next time. That's all we can do.

I will keep all these that have posted in prayer to find jobs and be at peace with their circumstances and come through this fire intact and stronger than ever.

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
Explain to me how that is the GOV'T's responsibility? This is exactly what I'm talking about. Bailing out the people that got themselves into hot water through bad decisions hurts the rest of us that make good financial decisions and plan for the worst with a contingency plan. I don't feel a lick of sympathy for the people that thought they could play the housing market and win. That's like going to Vegas and expecting to come back a millionaire. Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. Like a baby with a hot surface, some lessons need to be learned the hard way. Now we as a country are rewarding bad financial decisions? Please.


Quote:
You just reiterated my point. I don't understand why it feels like we are on opposite sides of the issue. It's obvious to me you know exactly what I'm saying. Those people need to learn too. The learning curve should be steep with consequences. CC companies are here to make money, this country is founded on FREE ENTERPRISE. What do you get if you take that away? Socialism. Sorry, but I'll take my chances with the "predatory lending" any darn day of the week over socialism. Do the legwork, read ALL CONTRACTS in their entirity before you sign on the line. A credit card is a contract. Legal and binding, like any other contract.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS PEOPLE!

Any time you sign a document it is your own responsibility to know what it is you are signing. Making excuses about how people didn't know is not the way for them to learn. More unearned rewards.

 

[what was i thinking]

my husband still has a job barely. they gave him the choice of demotion or layoff. he took demotion and makes about a third of his pay. but he thought it would be best to keep his foot in the door.... well now that he has been making this less money, he may still get laidoff. now he shot himself in the foot because they will give the unemployment off of his new pay.... we can't will.
to top it off, we are just finishing up a bankruptcy from a business that he closed a yr and a half ago. while some people maybe using credit cards to live on (not saying it is the best way, but if you have to eat) we don't have anything because the business failing ruined all of that....
so when you see me buying eggs on here it is a treat to myself, with money from selling eggs or chicks.
good luck everyone it will get better just don't know when.......

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
I don't buy into the sob stories. At 18 years old I worked two full (one paid $6 an hour, one paid $6.50 and hour) time jobs until I paid off my $15,000 debt, while paying rent, car, insurance, etc. Never had a spare minute to call my own. I haven't had tv, internet, etc at home in 7 years. Don't tell me that having responsibilities causes a lapse in judgement. I worked hard at it for several years to get it to a manageable level. You grit your teeth and you get through it. I didn't expect some magic fairy to come and wave a wand to relieve the debt that *I* was responsible for. And neither should anyone else. I've worked hard for what I have, so has my husband. That's the American dream, success through hard work, not Gov't handouts.

 

[cluckychick]

You've never experienced what they have so how can you be so judgemental? You have never had a starving child nor have you ever gone without. I haven't either but never would I think someone was below me in any way shape or form because they fell on hard times.

You absolutely believe that all this is caused by people not working hard enough? I suppose that's also what caused the depressin in the 20's and 30's?

 

[cluckychick]

Seeds of the meltdown
The seeds of the meltdown and bailout were planted with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977, passed into law under Jimmy Carter. The intent of the CRA was to ensure banks gave housing loans to low-income families. The Act wasn't just to encourage the banks, it actually created penalties with stiff fines for banks that didn't commit to making those loans, even if the bankers were convinced those loans were risky.

On the heels of the Act's passing came activist groups, such as the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) which began to ensure—and often bully—banks into making nontraditional loans. If banks didn't comply, the activists took them to court contending the loans were denied because of racist policies, not sound financial policies. The result was that banks, to avoid harassment and fines, began to lower credit standards—everywhere. They began granting mortgages to subprime borrowers.

Then, in 1993, under Bill Clinton, Fannie and Freddie were directed to increase the number of subprime loans they were carrying. Though there was initially some resistance, legislation was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress so the loans were ultimately guaranteed by...are you ready...you and me, the taxpayers. With pressure from regulators and the guarantee the taxpayers would bail them out, Fannie and Freddie understandably gave in and bought even more of these mortgages.

Finally, just months before Clinton left office, Fannie and Freddie were told they had to increase the number of subprime loans until they equalled half of what they carried in their portfolios. No prudent lender would have taken these risks, but Clinton felt Fannie and Freddie, both GSEs and both backed by the taxpayer, could "afford" to.

By 2004, many lending institutions realized Fannie and Freddie would buy up these mortgages, so they too could afford to grant these risky loans and "sell" them, along with their risks, to Fannie and Freddie. Hey, it wasn't just legal, it was what the Congress and community activists wanted. In all fairness, although the problem originated with Democratic Party policies, when the Republicans had a chance to correct it...well, they weren't going to be the bad guys who turned off the mortgage spigot.

In 2001, and now in control of both the Congress and the White House, many Republicans pretended that the CRA, Fannie, and Freddie were not problems just as the Democrats had done before them. Part of the reason seems to be that many Republicans, just as were many Democrats, were taking substantial campaign contributions from the two GSEs, and there was also the danger at that time that if you spoke out against the lending practices that today we know were unsound, you would be vilified by the press and castigated by community groups—accused of being anti-poor, racist, or both. It was better to lay low, ignore the problem, and hope it would go away. And if it didn't go away, you hoped at least you wouldn't get blamed.

Excerpt taken from: Backwoodshome.com

Edit to Add: Something else you must know about Fannie and Freddie is that they are the only two corporations in the Fortune 500 that, by government "regulation," do not have to make their accounting public to either the public or investors.

 

[beak]

Quote:
Explain to me how that is the GOV'T's responsibility? bad decisions hurts the rest of us that make good financial decisions and plan for the worst with a contingency plan. I don't feel a lick of sympathy for the people that thought they could play the housing market and win. That's like going to Vegas and expecting to come back a millionaire. Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. Like a baby with a hot surface, some lessons need to be learned the hard way. Now we as a country are rewarding bad financial decisions? Please.

I'm not saying it is the governments responsibility to bail these people out. What I am saying is it is the governments responsibility to assure that people that can't afford the mortgages don't get them. The mortgage and credit card companies have enabled these people to get all these loans and bad credit through deregulation. This in turn has destroyed the market so that now we are all (as in everybody) paying the price. Just because you made good decisions does not put you in a little bubble protected from what is happening. We are all affected. Let's say the government should protect us from irresponsible people by regulating the lenders including mortgage and credit card companies. The bad mortgages and enormous credit burden is what is destroying the economy. It is a snowball that could have been stopped. When I was in my early 30's back in 1990 or so you had to qualify and have a good down payment for any kind of mortgage. Its just in the past 10 years or so that anyone with a job and a fica score over 600 could buy a house. That's called deregulation. Same thing with credit cards. Had to have a good fica score and well established credit. Now they send credit cards to dogs.

Quote:
You just reiterated my point. I don't understand why it feels like we are on opposite sides of the issue. It's obvious to me you know exactly what I'm saying. Those people need to learn too. The learning curve should be steep with consequences. CC companies are here to make money, this country is founded on FREE ENTERPRISE. What do you get if you take that away? Socialism. Sorry, but I'll take my chances with the "predatory lending" any darn day of the week over socialism. Do the legwork, read ALL CONTRACTS in their entirity before you sign on the line. A credit card is a contract. Legal and binding, like any other contract.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS PEOPLE!

Any time you sign a document it is your own responsibility to know what it is you are signing. Making excuses about how people didn't know is not the way for them to learn. More unearned rewards.

Your right on all points as far as people should be held accountable and all that. Don't forgive for their sins. But it doesn't help you when you don't have a job because ll the businesses in town are closing down because there is so much bad paper out there that the banks won't lend and your house has lost half it's value because 50% of the houses in your neighborhood have been foreclosed and now some guy is buying all of them for pennies on the dollar and turning them in to section 8 housing.

I disagree with the idea of refinancing the mortgages and lowering the amount to what the house is now worth. I do agree with refinancing and giving a current interest rate. Only because the foreclosures have to stop.

 

[beak]

Thank You cluckychick. That's good info.It's a good thing somebody finally turned off the spigot even though all the water had already run out. You know, politicians on both sides should be ashamed.

So why did credit card companies loosen up their standards so much? Do they just figure they make such high interest they can afford the losses? Have they ever had any regulation?

 

[wjallen05]

oh, no

I didn't intend for this to turn into something political.

I'll stay out of all of this....

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

Have you all heard the news of even more lay offs?