Baby Babble

I’m kind of fed up with financial institutions lately.
I am just going to come right out and say it, we tried to buy a car last week but we couldn’t because our credit is dinged pretty badly right now.
My husband’s credit, well, that’s partially his fault and partially the fact that technology doesn’t work like it should. The part that’s his fault is the credit card that is in collections. Once that comes off, his credit will improve, I just didn’t realize when we walked into the dealership last week that it was still an issue.
Then there’s my credit. This is where the financial institution has become the enemy. We sent our mortgage lender checks. They didn’t get them, didn’t cash them or didn’t apply them correctly to our loan. We set up online bill pay instead. They lost our payments, misapplied them or the payments disappeared into the ether. Next thing we know, despite the fact that we sent them money, we’re the bad guys because THEY lost the payments. Sigh.
So, they brought the hammer down on my credit since the mortgage is in my name and despite spending the past five months trying to resolve the issue (our bank traced five of the six payments the lender said they never received so, yeah) it is still crushing my credit. I had hoped it would be managed before the baby arrived so we could get Jason a new Subaru Outback.
As it stands, no one on earth, apparently will finance us.
Jason’s credit can probably be fixed relatively quickly so we may still be able to swing this by the end of the month. The salesman at the dealership was positive he could get us financed somehow and I feel bad for walking in the door of the place unprepared. Unlike other dealerships, this gentleman was no-pressure, plus he knew we’d come back once we got it sorted because it’s such a laid back place — for a car dealership, at least. And he pretty much bent over backward trying to help finance what we couldn’t cover with our cash down payment and trade in value of Jason’s truck.
The whole scenario frustrates me because this never should’ve happened, we shouldn’t have had to babysit our mortgage payments, but apparently we did. But now the lender doesn’t want to deal with us so we’ve enlisted the help of a counselor who specializes in this kind of thing to help us speed the process along.
All we need is the paperwork. Our loan has been re-worked, it’s a win-win for everyone, but unfortunately with the millions of people in trouble with home loans in this country lenders are swamped with people trying to save their homes. So there aren’t enough analysts to review the paperwork, put the final stamp of approval on it, then send it out. Once we get it and return it, my credit will be repaired in two weeks.
Sweet! Too bad the lender has been telling us for two months that the paperwork is on the way. Sigh. Hopefully this loan counselor can get it across that we’re serious about getting this done and that we will be here until we get it done.
Initially this was a devastating blow to my ego. All my other bills are current. My car is paid off. I have two credit cards with a zero balance. I am a responsible adult. Plus, I’m pregnant, so the hormones really let this knock me for a loop.
Friday morning I woke up with resolve. We’re getting this taken care of not because it’s important for my ego but because it’s important for us to have a safe car to drive my daughter around in and because it’s important for us to have a good mortgage situation so we can provide a home for our daughter.
It’s amazing how my priorities have changed. My focus has shifted so that everything is about making sure my little girl has the best we can afford, the things I didn’t have growing up, and I can’t believe myself. I never knew I had it in me.
So, everyone cross your fingers we can get all this resolved, not for us but for our baby.