Background

Well I'm 26. I've made incredibly bad decisions up to this point and hopefully this will stop with my recent endeavors.

I graduated high school and left Albuquerque, NM for Orange, CA to attend film school. It has been and always will be my dream to be a cinematographer.

I received a $6,000 scholarship to attend Chapman University, but that hardly made a dent to expensive private school tuition.

My parents never saved anything for me to go to college. My father is an electrician and my mother is a middle school cafeteria manager.

They have always lived paycheck to paycheck, so saving just wouldn't have worked.

I applied for "emergency" credit cards before I left for college. I clearly stated on the applications that I did not have a job and that I would be attending college. A week later they arrived in the mail. I left for college ready to accomplish my dreams. The friends I made in Cali were great, but all were pretty well off. I tried my best to keep up with them. I used my credit cards of course. By the end of the first semester, my cards were maxed out. My parents had taken out loans that were already too much for them. I packed up my stuff and went back to Albuquerque to attend community college to finish up my basic courses with the intention of moving back to Cali. To make a long story short, I got employed at a law office being a legal assistant to of all things, a bankruptcy attorney. I was in school and making what I thought was good money. I don't know what possessed me one day, but I made my way over to a car dealership. This marks my FIRST mistake. I traded in a 1998 fully paid Ford Escort that my family got me for my high school graduation. I was now a proud owner of a 1999 Ford Mustang with monthly payments to boot. No idea how I qualified in the first place, but I didn't care. I had the hot car I always dreamed of.

I of course didn't stop there. i was so used to living on my own for 6 months in college, I thought I needed an apartment.

I hated the studio apartment. It was clear across town and no one came to visit. I hated parking my nice car at such a dumpy place. I ended up spending most of my time at my parents house so I just moved back. I then got sick of working. It was too hard to balance work and school. I couldn't afford my credit card bills and car payment. My dad went with me back to the dealer and I got a cheaper car, which of course I had no doubt I could pay. 2000 Ford Focus with an upside down amount carried over from the Mustang here I come!

With the Focus came my first real relationship. Also came being best friends with a rich boy. I tend to like to keep up with people. I was taking trips to Denver and charging up my cards yet again. I was buying Tiffany and Prada. I was enjoying life. Oh wait, I can't have such a great lifestyle with such a mediocre car. Off to the dealership. This time it's a Nissan Xterra. I can't even remember what year it was. That is sad. It was fully loaded with a moonroof and 6 disc cd player with a remote for it built into the steering wheel. This one cost $35,000 not to mention the upside downedness from the Focus and Mustang. Oh well, life is great. I'm young, I can do it!

I do remember the payments were way over $500. After a few months enjoying my ride, the ride was over. I couldn't afford the payments again. By this time my credit card payments were ridiculous as well. Before my 22nd birthday I found myself completely broke. I thought I was broke before, but I had no idea. I ended up dropping the Xterra back off to the dealer and filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. Six months later, my bankruptcy was discharged my debts were wiped clean. I was ready for a fresh start. I still had the student loans since they can't be discharged, but everything else was great. I had an apartment with my girlfriend at the time. She didn't pay anything because it was just mine, I did give her a closet. My parents paid cash for a 1990 something Explorer so I wouldn't have car payments again. Everything was fine for awhile. Credit card offers started finding their way back to me. The companies were aware I didn't have high debt and they knew I couldn't file again for 7 years.

I of course got more just for emergencies. No problem. I had small balances and paid them off. I really didn't like my Explorer though. It was old and dirty. No matter how much I cleaned it, it was still gross. My girlfriend had just gotten a cool car and I felt left out. I went to a used car dealership and picked out a Chevy Cavalier. It was gold and had ghetto rims. I don't know what I was thinking.

I was back to having car payments. I shortly started hating the car. It didn't work. It died on me numerous times. I was done with it. I managed to get my mom to go with me to the Honda dealership. She got talked into buying me a car in her name. A 2000 something Honda Civic. I think it was a 2003.

The payments were pretty affordable. I graduated with a BA in psychology from the University of New Mexico. A school that if I would have stayed at originally would have been free for me to attend. The psychology degree is useless by the way. Well unless you want to be a social worker. I then took a job in Denver, CO and moved out there. Things were good. I then got laid off from the job. I got a new one a social worker paying more money. Loved the job and it changed my life, but still I wanted a new car of course. Off to the Ford dealership.

And the carrying over negative equity begins again. Oh, then my partner and I got joined in a civil union. Figuring it would last forever, I pushed us into buying a house. It was in 2005 and a great time to buy. Everyone was getting a house. Why throw rent money away?

We were the proud owners of a re-modeled house with 646 square feet in Denver County. We paid $150k for it. Well not literally. We got 2 mortgages. The first one being one of those lovely ARMs you hear about on the news. The 2nd one was since we didn't have any money to put down. That one came with 10% interest. The mortgage broker didn't really explain what the ARM was. She just said don't worry, before 2 years is up we will get you re-financed. No problem. Well our "marriage" lasted about 6 months. I made some mistakes and kicked her out. I couldn't afford the mortgage on my own, so I had a brilliant idea to go for my Master's! I was receiving financial aid money which I used to make the payments. I was in a new relationship and thought, hey why not get a new car again? Off to the Ford dealership. This time for a 2006 Ford Mustang.

So this Mustang was carrying over negative equity from the Civic and the Ranger. Nice!!!I loved it. Payments in the $500s again not include insurance. Then came an opportunity for me to work for the government in Albuquerque. I put the house on the market. No takers of course. So here I am in Albuquerque paying for an apartment (since I lived with my parents for like a month and wanted freedom) and a partial mortgage. My ex-partner moved back into our house and was going to pay. That lasted like a month. I was paying for everything with magical financial aid money. No worries about paying that back for awhile. Live in the moment I thought! Well after a few months of paying EVERYTHING, I just couldn't take it. I stopped paying the mortgage. The ex wasn't paying. We were on the verge of foreclosure. I got another job with the government in Denver and moved back to rescue it! Woo hoo everything is great. I enter into another relationship and this time I can tell it is the one for me for life! I love her dearly. A few months later, I want a larger car. Off to the Chevy dealer??!!? I vowed not to buy another Chevy, but in typical Ter fashion, I change my mind.

This is my current car. A 2007 Chevy HHR which I apparently paid $25k for due to my other upside down deals. It is worth like $12k according to Kelly Blue Book. Now on to the point of this long long blog. I'm graduating with my MBA next week. I have a loan modification now meaning no ARM but I'm paying $1070 a month for a house that is valued at $60k. Who knew that they can over appraise your house when you are buying it? I certainly didn't. My house is on the market. I'm trying to do a short sale. 1 person has looked at it. NO offers. Other houses are like $60k and bigger in my neighborhood because they are bank owned. We have too many foreclosures in our neighborhood. My student loans are coming due. I'm $98,800 in student loan debt. I had no idea that I'm facing payments over a $1000 a month. I am officially at rock bottom!!!!

TER'S NEW FINANCIAL PLAN (OR DISASTER)!
1. Give my HHR back to GMAC.
2. Buy my uncle's 2000 VW Beetle with cash in my mom's name so I cant trade it in at any given whim I have.

3. Apply for government jobs in Albuquerque, NM so I can move into my parent's mother-in-law quarters in the back of the house with my current partner. (No rent payment!)
4. Foreclose or short sale on the house once a new job is obtained.
5. Pay off credit card debt.

While I realize that foreclosing and performing a voluntary repossession on my car have consequences, it is the only thing I can do. This blog will detail my journey from escaping my debt. I'm hoping the deficiency judgments won't be much if anything, but that would require living in a perfect world! I want others to learn from my mistakes. Please please college kids....avoid credit cards and just pay cash for cars. Houses are HUGE decisions. One I took lightly. I'm preparing for my consequences...stay tuned.