Has the recession effected you yet?

[chergh]

Yes, that's vampires.
We're talking about the other set of blood-sucking creatures.

Politicians?

 

[statsman]

About 10 years ago the federal government in Canada allowed people to take money out of their tax exempt retirement funds to put a down payment on a house. You had up to 10 years to replace the money without having to pay the taxes on the withdrawal. This was the same time the banks reduced minimum down payments from 10% to 5%.
Shortly after that, interest rates hit rock bottom and a lot of people crunched the numbers and figured they could just make it by buying homes 2 - 3 hours out of town.

What they did not figure on was a doubling of the price of fuel, the need to buy a new car every 2-3 years (mileage) and the downturn in the economy which caused reduced family incomes.

What's occuring now: they can't pay the mortgage (which is more than the house is currently worth) and they're getting a whopping tax bill from the government.

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

I was made redundant back in July, from a job I had held for more than 10 years, when the company went insolvent (which means I didn't get a full redundancy payment package - the government's insolvency service pays it instead, but at a capped rate that was less than two-thirds of what I should have got).

Fortunately, I had mortgage payment insurance and we got Council tax relief, plus Job Seeker's Allowance, but it was a bit of a lean time.

After about three months, I managed to get a great job in local government, which includes aspects of one of my old favourites - Access database programming - hence my reappearance here after a long break from posting.

 

[ColinEssex]

The last post here was in December - are things getting better or worse for people here?

Col

 

[Alc]

It's been hitting the bank I'm contracted to for a while, but it was all played very close to the chest, so those not directly involved didn't hear much about it. I only got an idea of how many people had been 'let go' last week.

All departments (I believe) have been given a percentage of people to cut loose and some are finding it much harder than others. In my experience, a department of 20 people can always find 2 who don't pull their weight and should be out anyway. Being asked to find 5 or 6 is harder.

Fortunately for me, the team I'm working for has had one retirement and two inter-departmental transfers out since November. As long as they don't try to replace anyone, they won't be asked to lose anyone else. Couple that with the fact that noone else is the slightest bit interested in learning how to do my job and my role appears to be safe as long as I want it.

 

[Pauldohert]

Yes - I have just negotiated a mortgage on a 200,000 house which was 290,000 a year ago. And the intetest charges are less too.

Bring it on!

Happy days

For every loser theres a winner.

Then reality bites, One can only dream! If only I had some spare cash. Nevermind.

 

[Friday]

The last post here was in December - are things getting better or worse for people here?

Col

My wife ran into a strange situation. She was let go after 35 years for a HPPA violation that she knows she didn't commit, but cannot prove it. Now we will be fighting the state for her unemployment benefits. Spare change, anyone?

 

[scott-atkinson]

Yes - I have just negotiated a mortgage on a 200,000 house which was 290,000 a year ago. And the intetest charges are less too.

Bring it on!

Happy days

For every loser theres a winner.

Then reality bites, One can only dream! If only I had some spare cash. Nevermind.

Thanks for calling me a Loser, that really helps at this moment in time...

 

[scott-atkinson]

To update you on my situation...

My court case for the repossesion of my house which was due firstly in December of 2008 and them moved to January 2009 has been adjourned twice due to the claimant withdrawing the repossesion order, this is due to them trying to get more money from default charges out of me.

To counter this I have as of early this month, surrendered the keys to the property to the first Mortagage company, and am since then waiting to here back from them.

My life at the moment is pretty much in Limbo, I just want the mortagage company to sell the house, releease the funds tied therein and then offset the debt by this amount, then and only then will I know exactly what I am up against.

As with most things where Banks are concerned, they are trying to delay to get more default interest added to the loan amount, a completely pointless exercise as at the end of the day I can only pay what I can afford, and either by using an IVA or declaring Bankruptcy they will only get a certain amount out of me.

That's Banks for... Bunch of Merchant Bankers....

I have been saving hard to get a new car, my wifes car which was on a 3 year finance plan with a Balloon payment is being repossessed early next month, so have put a deposit on a second hand car that has done Starship Mileage, as that is all I can afford.

 

[SQL_Hell]

Starting to effect me now.. although I wont truelly know until about a weeks time.

I have 4 more days contracted work then I am job hunting, but looking at the market it looks the worst I have ever seen it. I saw a grand total of 3 contracts in London on a job website and 2 of them were the same job...

Getting a bit worried now

 

[oumahexi]

To update you on my situation...

Scott it totally sucks what you're going through, and there's not a lot anyone can say to make it better.

I had a very near miss back at the turn of the century. I bought a house and two weeks later was made redundant. My firm persuaded me the best road was for me to take on their clients and continue but as self employed, which I did until 18 months down the line they decided to take their clients back and I was left high and dry with a sick husband and a mountain of debt. The only job I could get was working as Shady Sadie (a dinner lady in a canteen) which covered the mortgage but not the other debts.

I let the other debts be taken to debt management companies, once they get their hands on your debt the interest is frozen and you can then start to reasonably pay it all off. We worked out how much each company was to get and it turned out that it would take forever to pay off, but at least it would be paid off. Forever arrives at the end of this month !

My point is, it's tough, but you'll get by it and there will be light at the end of the tunnel. You also have loads of friends right here who are rooting for you and hoping that life will turn around and smile at you sooner rather than later.

 

[scott-atkinson]

Scott it totally sucks what you're going through, and there's not a lot anyone can say to make it better.

I had a very near miss back at the turn of the century. I bought a house and two weeks later was made redundant. My firm persuaded me the best road was for me to take on their clients and continue but as self employed, which I did until 18 months down the line they decided to take their clients back and I was left high and dry with a sick husband and a mountain of debt. The only job I could get was working as Shady Sadie (a dinner lady in a canteen) which covered the mortgage but not the other debts.

I let the other debts be taken to debt management companies, once they get their hands on your debt the interest is frozen and you can then start to reasonably pay it all off. We worked out how much each company was to get and it turned out that it would take forever to pay off, but at least it would be paid off. Forever arrives at the end of this month !

My point is, it's tough, but you'll get by it and there will be light at the end of the tunnel. You also have loads of friends right here who are rooting for you and hoping that life will turn around and smile at you sooner rather than later.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, my family are a lot more upbeat than we were when we were still in the house, It came to a point where I had enough money to put fuel in the car to get to work, or put food on the table for my family, and that is no way to live, it was at this point that we decided to vacate the house. Our life is much better now, we still have the shadow of the debt hanging over us which we cannot do anything about until the house is sold, but at least I can now get to work and feed the family...

 

[dan-cat]

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, my family are a lot more upbeat than we were when we were still in the house, It came to a point where I had enough money to put fuel in the car to get to work, or put food on the table for my family, and that is no way to live, it was at this point that we decided to vacate the house. Our life is much better now, we still have the shadow of the debt hanging over us which we cannot do anything about until the house is sold, but at least I can now get to work and feed the family...

You are going through a crappy time, no doubt but happiness is the key. If your family is more upbeat now that is great.

It's extremely difficult to function well under stress and unhappiness. With less stress and more happiness floating around you will function better. That means the chances of an improvement in your situation has increased. You will do better at your job, less chance of getting fired or perhaps even a pay increase? You will be able to devote more time to problem-solving (job-seeking, economizing) and recuperation because your stress levels are down.

Take that 'upbeat' feeling and use it to speed your recovery.

 

[scott-atkinson]

To update you on my situation...

My court case for the repossesion of my house which was due firstly in December of 2008 and them moved to January 2009 has been adjourned twice due to the claimant withdrawing the repossesion order, this is due to them trying to get more money from default charges out of me.

To counter this I have as of early this month, surrendered the keys to the property to the first Mortagage company, and am since then waiting to here back from them.

Heard from the Mortgage company last night, and they have acknowledged that they now own the property.

Good news in part, as it now means that they will either sell the house via estate agent or auction, or rent the property out to offset some of the arrears.

Hopefully I should start to get somewhere now...only been nine months

 

[Alc]

Heard from the Mortgage company last night, and they have acknowledged that they now own the property.

Good news in part, as it now means that they will either sell the house via estate agent or auction, or rent the property out to offset some of the arrears.

Hopefully I should start to get somewhere now...only been nine months

Congratulations. Must be a weight off your mind.

In theory, if they auction it at a low enough price, could you buy it yourself, or are there rules against that?

 

[oumahexi]

In theory, if they auction it at a low enough price, could you buy it yourself, or are there rules against that?

I think you'd have to have the cash to do that as I don't think you'd be able to secure a mortgage once the repossession has gone through.

This really sucks, it's like the banks aren't giving people any chance. After all we have done for THEM! Giving them free reign to fudge the whole thing up and still paying them massive bonuses to say "thanks for making a mess of things". It's infurating!

Merchant Bankers, is that some sort of Cockney rhyming slang???

 

[Pauldohert]

I didn't directly call you a loser in this Scott. Though you do seem to be having a bad time through no fault of your own, so you are right I wouldn't put you in the winners category on this current predicament. Otherwise I am not quite sure what your point is?

There for the grace of God go I, I have every sympathy with you. Whether of someone elses making or you own. Good luck to you.

I am slightly curious how this came about for you, have you been made redundant or your partner lost her job? I saw travel costs had gone up 30% .

 

[Lil' Rascal]

A year and a half ago I lost my position in a fairly lucritive real estate business when it went under because of the recession and had to get a 'real' job.

Since my forced slavery to The Man I have not been made redundant, yet. I haven't been and *hopefully* I won't be laid off. I luckily found myself in a position where I am the only person that has knowledge of most of the departments at my current job. That does not make me irreplaceable or indispensable though, just harder to let go.

I currently work for a not-for-profit electronics recycling company. We are the largest e-waste recycler in the area and luckily while there has been a decrease in recyclables this year it hasn't come down to lay offs in my department. However, around this time last year the decrease caused everyone in the company to be forced to go to a four day work week but thus far we've been relatively blessed to not have to resort to that this year.

I do have friends in the construction, mortgage finance and real estate sectors that have been and are continuing to be laid off.

My heart and hopes go out to those, like Scott have experienced the very bad side of these horrible economic times.

 

[statsman]

Heard from the Mortgage company last night, and they have acknowledged that they now own the property.

Good news in part, as it now means that they will either sell the house via estate agent or auction, or rent the property out to offset some of the arrears.

Hopefully I should start to get somewhere now...only been nine months

That's very good news. You still have the debt, but at least you know where you stand.

I went to court with a friend of mine (to hold her hand) in a similar situation recently. When the bank rep asked for a delay, I had her well schooled. She requested of the ajudicator that the interest meter be stopped effective today. After all, the delay was at THEIR request. The adjudicator agreed.

 

[scott-atkinson]

I didn't directly call you a loser in this Scott. Though you do seem to be having a bad time through no fault of your own, so you are right I wouldn't put you in the winners category on this current predicament. Otherwise I am not quite sure what your point is?

There for the grace of God go I, I have every sympathy with you. Whether of someone elses making or you own. Good luck to you.

I am slightly curious how this came about for you, have you been made redundant or your partner lost her job? I saw travel costs had gone up 30% .

Paul.

I am still in work, although my wife does not work, and cannot work due to the cost of child care... Long Story..

My predicament has been caused simply by struggling too long treading water, and coming to a point last summer when the cost of fuel rising dramatically caused us to sink..

Was not insinuating that you were specifically calling me a loser, it is just hard at the moment, and you are right there are winners and losers, and although I am not on the winning side at the moment my aspirations are to get back on that team as quickly as possible...