Mortgage company, you are damaging my vacation calm.
I paid the mortgage before leaving on a two-week vacation. I couldn't find the April statement, so I paid the usual X amount to ensure we wouldn't be late. When we got home, there were FOUR identical letters telling us we had not paid our mortgage of Y amount, which was $150 more than what we usually pay. WTF? I double checked the bank account, and SOMEBODY got amount X. Checked online with the mortgage company and they showed no April payment. Called them up and it turns out they had received amount X, but not the full amount of Y.
Seriously? You couldn't at least show a credit of X to the account? No record of having received 97% of a payment? FOUR IDENTICAL LETTERS??? You people are messed up. Sure, increase our non-variable mortgage without telling us, then fuck up our vacation glow.
Ahem.
So now we have to dig in to why there was an increase in the escrow portion of the account and why we're paying hazard insurance through the mortgage company when I thought I had all of the insurance covered separately as I have for ALMOST 20 YEARS.
Add to this our attempts at trying to get a little assistance on the morgage. So many offers of HAMP and HARP to help the little people. First of all, I am absolutely willing to accept that the debt we incurred is our own. However, Charles's nicely paying job was essentially shipped overseas about 3 years ago. And when I gave it some thought, I remembered that the line of credit I secured many years ago was about $50K more than I wanted or needed. That company wouldn't credit me for LESS THAN $70,000, knowing full well I'd just use all that rope to hang myself. I tried not to, but tell me how many people wouldn't touch that extra $50K? That's what they count on.
Of course, Charles didn't just sit around and collect unemployment. He spent hours and hours looking for work, only to be told he was overqualified. He took on all kinds of odd jobs. And we started a business in the worst economy possible. Hey, when duty calls, you answer. Meanwhile, I'm busting my hump trying to make a buck at three different jobs, including the brand new business and one I've owned since 1993. That much effort and stress took its toll on my health, and I've been battling adrenal fatigue since last summer (add some medical bills to the pile.) That's another post entirely.
We're still here, getting by, learning how to not stress so much, and being creative financially. We keep getting offers to help us with the mortage. We apply and get turned down. Oh, hey the rules have changed! We apply and get turned down. Try this person! We apply and get turned down. For those of you who have ever refinanced, you know how much paperwork goes into that. Now do that 5 or 6 times. We're not upsidedown on the mortage, but not far from it. Our debt-to-income ratio is not favorable, they say. Can they not take into account that I have never missed a mortgage payment and have been late exactly once in 20 FUCKING YEARS?!?!?
I'll be fine. I always am. But it sure is harsh to come back to this after two lovely weeks in Hawaii. Two glorious weeks that we pinched together with some help from a lot of people. For two weeks, I knew that everything was absolutely taken care of. Sigh.