asking for help

[kindkit]

As some of you probably know, I'm finally starting to get my life back on track after two years of unemployment.

Naturally, therefore, the other shoe just dropped.

I'm about to be sued by a credit card company for a bad debt. To avoid this, and to get on a plan where I can make reasonable payments (considering my current income, which is slightly less than $10 per hour, generally for 25-30 hours a week) of $100 a month for the rest of eternity, I need to come up with a down payment of $3400 (US).

By Monday.

I don't have it. I exhausted all my assets and savings long ago. And I've only been working since mid-November, which hasn't been enough time to build my savings back up. Especially since I had to pay $380 in January to get my car fixed.

So I'm asking you guys for help. I had to do this once before, about a year ago, and I'm sorry to do it again, but it's either that or go to court and have a lawsuit and a bad debt on my record forever, which will probably fuck me up for future employment.

I'm expecting a tax refund of about $600, so I could pay some help back soon. But by no means all of it, so if you loan me money, be aware that you're likely to be paid back slowly and irregularly. It'll be at least a couple of years before I'm at all likely to be making a reasonable income again (I'm planning to go back to school and retrain--assuming I get in to the program I applied to--but that'll mean two years of student's income).

I realize that personal consumer debt isn't a very deserving charity. You may quite reasonably be wondering how I got into this mess. Short answer: it started when I was in graduate school, trying to live on nothing, without help from parents or a spouse. Then, when for a few years I was earning a halfway decent salary, I was an idiot and assumed I'd always be earning a halfway decent salary. Then came 2008, when I left my job (primarily because of my mother's dementia and wanting to move closer to her) just as the economic collapse was beginning in the US. Once I'd exhausted my savings and emptied my retirement account, what was there to live on? My credit card.

(Oh, and the payment plan? I've been begging the company to let me pay $100 a month ever since I lost the ability to make larger payments. They kept saying no, $100 a month wasn't sufficient. Now they're saying yes, but only if I fork over the down payment first.)

I don't have any family members I can turn to for help. I don't have a partner. I've just got you folks.

If you want to help, my PayPal address is kindkit64@yahoo.com. And if you want to signal-boost, that would be appreciated.

Thanks for anything you can do.

Comments

[dingsi]

I probably messed up the transaction by choosing the wrong currency and I have no idea if PayPal notifies me (or rather, how long it takes for them to do so) in case one rejects the payment. If necessary, please tell me so I can send it again, ok?

[kindkit]

PayPal notified me that the funds were received, so the transaction went through fine. Thank you so much.

[st_aurafina]

*hugs you* Way to kick someone in the teeth just as they're getting it all together.

Hopefully that all went through okay. Paypal dumped me out a couple of times. *gives internet the side-eye*

[kindkit]

It did go through. Thank you so much. *hugs*

[hagsrus]

You might see if www.greenpath.com has any advice - they are an absolutely legitimate nonprofit free credit counseling service.

If they don't have anything helpful to say you're no worse off!

[kindkit]

I'll check it out, thanks!

[executrix]

I don't do PayPal, and I know you don't want to tell the Internet your snail addy, but e-mail me the address (dshilling@verizon.net) and I'll send a check.

[kindkit]

I've e-mailed you, thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.debtescape.com.au/alternatives-to-bankruptcy.html

http://salvos.org.au/need-help/financial-troubles/financial-counselling.php

http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/familysupport/

Wish I could do more.

[kindkit]

All help is appreciated, thanks.

[lemposoi]

I hope it works out for you. That's an insane amount of money. I'll send you some but it won't be enough.

I don't suppose you have something you could sell quickly and for a reasonable amount, or get a working gig this weekend? I also think contacting Greenpath is probably a good idea - they might be able to sort this out for the time being.

I was in a jam sort of like this once, except they gave me more notice. I had weeks to work at short cleaning gigs and not eat and humble myself before relatives. Only just scraped through.

[kindkit]

I've already sold everything I had to sell--if you click my "book sale" tag, you'll see old posts of me selling basically all my possessions. The only thing left is my car, which (a) probably isn't worth $3400, and (b) I need to get to and from work. Thanks, though.

[lemposoi]

Good luck!

[ariadne83]

I wish I could do something to help. I've been unemployed for two and a half years myself, and if it weren't for my husband and my parents I'd be in pretty deep trouble too.

*hugs*

[kindkit]

Ouch, that's a long time. I know how hard it is. I hope things turn around for you.