The One Where I Ask You All to Pray

Last month, we got caught up.

And we'd submitted an application for a loan modification through our mortgage company when it became all too clear that our expenses exceeded our income, and basically that Something[s].HAS.to.give. in order to KEEP up.

Last Monday, I called, after waiting a week longer than initially told it would take to process, and discovered that they'd denied our request for a loan modification.

Rationale?

"Your expenses exceed your income."

Well, uh, DUH!!!!!!!!  Isn't that kind of the point?  I mean, we were doing just fine and then BAM!  Here's $20k in medical debt you must pay NOW.  Additionally, looking at the criteria on both the lender's site and the government's, we went thru and went:

• occupy the property - check
• property less than [roughly]3/4 of a million - check, let's all say STARTER. HOME.
• having trouble paying mortgage - uh, triple check (by that I mean we reduced income with me staying home, increased expenses by adding a family member, AND then the medical stuff)
• still have verifiable income - check, hubby's been in the same place for just shy of 10 years

Clearly I missed something, as I'd expected something along the lines of them calling me, "Ding, Ding, Ding, You're a WINNER!  You loan has just been modified such that you will be paying on it FOR. EVER, BUT your payments will be teensy, tiny, hooray!"

So I began to question, in the same chilly but civil, bordering on badgering manner that used to make my mother always sigh in defeat, "You should be a lawyer when you grow up."

At that the Indian man on the phone, presumably in the wee hours of his morning, struggled and stammered in an accent I felt I had to cut through with a machete just to comprehend the words spoken, let alone their meaning.

"I, uh, see your medical expenses are verry high - ees eet posseeble that you can lower your premium to say, $300 a month?"

And that's when I knew for a fact that this dude was outsourced, because there isn't a health plan in America that will cover a couple with dependents for $300/month.  Also, need I say it again?  Duh!  Did these people even read my cover letter that explained the whole origination of our hardship?

The call went on, with Abu (seriously, I mean no disrespect for the Indian people - my beef is primarily with the corporations who outsource their customer service agents, disregarding the fact that they communicate OVER THE PHONE and thus comprehensible SPOKEN English is of utmost importance for efficiency and consumer satisfaction) speaking fast and furiously in that ridiculously thick accent, my head was spinning, only grasping about every third word when I heard him say, "Short sale."

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

See, our neighborhood has DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY in property values, and foreclosures abound in our subdivision.  An attempt to short sale our house is nothing but a guaranteed road to foreclosure, which, uh is precisely what we're trying to avoid.

So, I ended the call - as it was going nowhere.  And I called a man from our church who just happens to work for a credit counseling/debt negotiating type of company.  Yes, I know - we should have called him earlier, but pride and this desire to make this work on my own kept me from it for months.


We met last week and are meeting again tonight.

In paying bills today, I found a way to decrease our cell phone bill $45/month - so I did.  And was feeling pretty good about it.

When the doorbell rang.

And I was served with a summons from one of the collection companies that had been hired by the medical imaging group and ER doc's clinic who treated me last year.

What are we going to do???


And how much worse is it going to get?


I am trying not to freak out here and let my fears grab a hold of me.

I'm trying to keep perspective.

Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.

After all, we're talking money here, not my actual life.  And even if it were that they're after, that's not the worst thing, is it?

So friends, I just ask that you'll pray - pray for us to really see what we need to give up and areas we need to sacrifice/be wiser about, and that God will continually work all things out for the good.

He has so far.

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