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Help our Struggling Family

We are a family of five. Our children are 7, 8, and 16. We live paycheck to paycheck and some months are harder than others. We've always met our obligations despite carrying a large debt burden.

We were in a deep hole of debt that was getting deeper and then I became ill. For a time, we didn't know what was wrong and I was having trouble walking. For some days, I couldn't get out of bed. Thankfully, things are better now. I am able to walk although sometimes it is still a little hard, but continues to get better and I am on medication for my other medical issues.

Our health insurance is very good and still for the last three years, we have run out of benefits midway through the year and needed to meet a deductible before getting additional HMO benefits.

We are still paying for medical care from 2011.

In addition to that, when we bought our house in 2006, we were taken advantage of with misinformation and repairs that we did not know needed to be made. I would call it fraudulent. This resulted in our taking out a home equity loan one year later to maintain the home.

We have paid this loan on time every month since then until this past December (2012) when the minimum monthly payment TRIPLED. We had been told by the bank when we took the loan that in the event we did not have the funds, we could extend our current payments for another five years. Now that the time has come, they have told us that no, we may not do that; we will have to pay the full amount.

We do not have that amount.

Fortunately, our children are very healthy and rarely need to see the doctor, but when they do, our money goes towards my medical (and any medical that our children need) and with the economy the way it's been and our one income not getting comparable raises (although we are grateful for the job), there is just no way to meet these obligations.

I am still paying for eyeglasses that I got last year, the first new ones in four years.

The thing that put us in the position that brought us here was two-fold.

First, our home equity company is suing us and is requesting a summary judgment from the court system. This means that if they receive the judgment in their favor, we would be required to pay over $41,000.00.

Second, my mother in law, who is 80 was struck by a car two weeks ago. She has multiple fractures in all of her limbs, torso and pelvis. She lives (and is hospitalized) over 200 miles away and our one car cannot make that kind of a trip once, let alone more than that, and is in fact, waiting for a necessary repair for the last 9 months. She will be hospitalized and in rehabilitation for several months. We need to rent a car and pay for the extra gas, and doing that in the emergency led to us missing our main mortgage payment for June.

This is our only chance at saving our home and getting back on track.

I realize that much of our debt is of our own making, but that doesn't change our circumstances, so we are here, asking the so many generous people reading this for help.

Organizer

Karen Bond
Organizer

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