Thank you for reading my request. I am DESPERATELY in need of financial assistance that could prevent a waiting cascade of problems that would send my already messy life over the edge! I come from a family that has always helped others with what we had. We didn’t rely on charity or ask others for help. My siblings would not approve, and I don’t want them to know. I am very ashamed about this.
I am in a horrible predicament with unmanageable debt. I have always been responsible with money and paying bills, but I made some bad decisions in a 5-year relationship. We never had the same respect for money, and she earned more than twice my salary. I didn’t have money to waste, so I chose my contributions carefully whenever it was at all possible. She shamed me when I complained about us renting a house bigger than we needed, purchasing fancy furniture, spending money on trips, shopping, eating out every weekend….so many things outside of my upbringing. There is a reason for the saying that being prideful is a sin. Unfortunately, my pride let her talk me into purchasing a large luxurious RV at a lakeside resort with her. While things weren’t perfect before that, suddenly, a significant portion of my paycheck was going towards paying debt, and I could only pay a scant amount more than the minimum due. She paid a little more of the rent than I did on our house, but we were splitting the payment for other bills, groceries, and the RV. Not surprisingly, the pressure of always arguing about money and my inability to continue to keep up with what she deemed “my share” of HER spending led me to leave the relationship about 3 years later. Two years later and I am drowned by $80,000 in debt not even counting the RV for which the loan is upside down – the balance remaining on the loan significantly exceeds the best case used sale price. That will likely leave me to come up with $10,000 to $20,000 more to pay off the difference in order to sell the thing.
When I left, she stopped paying her share for the “luxury-liner” (she said her share was covered because she paid more of the house rent?!?) and I am trying to save my credit by continuing to make payments while I try to sell it. We both signed for that loan, but I’ve had to keep paying the $1,300 payment on my own for the last two years. I don’t make enough monthly to pay that and my credit card payments of $536, $491, and the one I’ve paid down to $241 after selling all of my jewelry. I also have a student loan payment of $600, my rent of $1,450 per month, car insurance, electric bill, internet bill, and water bill totaling about $550 per month. My car is paid off, but it’s damaged and just driveable due to an accident that was not my fault. The other party’s insurance denied my claim. I will have to file with my own insurance and pay the $1,000 deductible until they make the other insurance pay them back. Not only do I not have the $1,000 deductible to get my car fixed, but it’s also only worth a few thousand dollars, and I’m afraid it will be totaled out and I don’t have savings or a down payment to purchase another one. It is 11 years old but has been reliable and has gotten me where I needed to go. I also have another car, but it’s 21 years old. I don’t drive it because the compressor has been out for a couple of years. It’s often 100 and hell degrees where I live, so driving a car with no A/C is definitely a hard no!
I started driving Lyft and Uber after 2021 to help with monthly payments. Often, I still can’t make enough money, and juggle partial payments on the utilities. There is no way for me to make more money, even working the two jobs. I do rides every single day after work and on the weekends – 7 days a week. I have my faith, and I believe that God is with me in the storm, but sometimes my spirit is just broken. I am so tired of pushing through each day, constantly thinking this shouldn’t be my life at almost 60 years old. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to purchase a home, even if can manage to keep my credit decent. I am so frustrated by the growing credit interest fees. It will take the rest of my life to get out of this mess and I don’t know how I can keep doing this. I know that I made the bad choices that brought me here, but I really need some help.
I recognize that my life, as described here, is a wreck in several ways, but that is why I’m asking for help. My financial problems are interdependent/multi-pronged. It’s a lot to manage. There’s no point in coming here for help and not disclosing all my (well … all my important!) dirty laundry. Again, I feel bad even asking for so much, but otherwise, I’ll continue to do what I’m doing that isn’t working and is just causing me exhaustion, depression, anxiety, and deprivation. I know that I won’t get help just because I asked, but one thing is certain – I definitely won’t get help if I don’t ask!
Completely paying off credit card balances, then getting a cheaper place to live are top priorities. I don’t know if the RV situation will end up having to be resolved in the midst of Step 1. Consignment said that the pricier used RVs can sometimes take a while to sell but who knows. Step 2 would be talking to insurance to see if my car is able to be fixed if I can pay the deductible. I have no extra funds to work with until some of Step 1 is resolved, though. I am living on next to nothing. I am at least $95,000 over my head in this mess, however, any donations at all would be a lifesaver. Even small blessings would add up. Please find it in your heart to help me! May the Lord bless you and your family.
PayPal: paypal.me/LoriDRogers
Venmo: @LoriD-Rogers