A few days ago I opened a new checking account for a very nice lady that came in asking about our free checking accounts. As I was talking with her about her lending needs, she asked me about “the loans that let you make flexible payments”, AKA home equity lines of credit. I was telling her about how they work; the minimum payment is interest only, so if you only pay the minimum payment you won’t get anywhere, but if you pay the amount you pay now on your mortgage, everything above the minimum payment goes towards principal. She thought it was a great idea, she’d be paying less than she pays for her mortgage payment each month, and it would free up some money for her and she’d be not as strapped for cash each month. I put an application in for her.

Declined.

I was a little taken aback, until I looked at her credit report. Her credit score? 494. That is the lowest credit score I’ve ever seen! I took a look and realized why it was so low. She had been 60 days late on her mortgage 3 times, and 90 days late 9 times. I was shocked. When I called her to let her know the decision, she acted surprised. I asked her if she had been late on any of her payments lately. She told me she’d been late a few times. A few times?? How can you be 90 days late 9 times?

This example is a perfect example of one of the sub prime loans and why it is a good idea to not get into a mortgage payment you can’t afford, and also why it’s important to make your payments on time. Because of her being late so many times, her credit score is trashed. I feel sorry for her, but on the other hand I don’t. She is the one that got herself into the situation, and she’ll have to get herself out.

Do you feel sorry for people like this who have overextended themselves?

Posted under Loans, Money Mistakes

You know what makes me mad? Stupid money decisions. Whether it be a huge one, or just a small one, either one irks me. It seems like lately I’ve just had some bad luck when it comes to being frugal.

The other day, Mr. Money’s employer bought them lunch. I think that was such a nice gesture to show the employees that he cares about them. Mr. Money went to pay at Qdoba, where they were getting lunch (he was going to be reimbursed), he swiped his Qdoba card to add those extra burritos on there, and I’ll be darned if it wasn’t time to get our free burrito! I get so excited when we get free burritos, and darn it, if it didn’t happen when his employer was going to buy his lunch anyway.

I rented a Redbox movie the other day with a promo code for a free Redbox rental, and forgot that I needed to return it by 9 PM the following day (it was 8:30 when I realized it).  We made it to a Redbox machine at about 8:45PM, and there were a couple people in line.  No big deal, I thought.  The guy at the front of the line ended up taking the whole 15 minutes!  Here I was, chomping at the bit to return my movie, and he’s taking his good old time.  By the time I returned the movie, my cell phone said 9:01 PM.  Talk about being frustrated!

I had a mail in rebate for Behr paint that I bought over Memorial Day Weekend.  I can’t find my receipt, and I can’t find the darn mail in rebate form.  There’s another $5 down the drain.

I am fully aware that none of these are going to make me or break me.  It is just frustrating when you pinch pennies so hard, and then stupid things end up happening that are just aggravating.

What are some of the aggravating or stupid money mistakes you’ve done or seen lately?

Posted under Money Mistakes

Lately I’ve been so homesick it’s not even funny. I’m frustrated with my job, I’m sick of paying off debt, and I’m just generally over everything. I have had such a bad attitude because of the stupid economy, and I realize I probably haven’t been the most pleasant person to be around lately.  (Sorry Mr. Money!)

This weekend my parents were in town and brought down some (free!) furniture for our guest bedroom.  While they were here, we were discussing the hardwood flooring that has been sitting in that room for about 4 months now.  We’ve got plans to install it ourselves.  Actually, that’s what we’re going to be doing this weekend.  While we were him-hawing around the subject of whether it would be better just to have someone else install it ourselves (heck no, I’m thinking!), I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with all the renovations that we’ve done to this house and continue to do.  At one point I was like, “let’s just sell the darn house and move back to Colorado and live with the in laws until we can afford our own place”.

 Wouldn’t that be nice.  If money wasn’t an option, I would totally go for it. Looking back, I sometimes question if buying this house was a good decision.  I know that (almost) everyone says that home ownership is the right thing to do.  I sometimes feel that we are throwing so much money away on interest each month, we’re forever fixing something or dreaming about improving something, and we don’t have the flexibility that we had when we were renting.  Of course I absolutely love our house, but I think sometimes that we made a bad decision buying this house.  It’s a love-hate relationship.

 Have you regretted buying (or not buying) your house?

Posted under Home Ownership, Money Mistakes