Friday, January 8, 2010

Working With Our Credit Union

Shane spent some time on the phone with the credit union that services the loan on our van. Because I'd been paying extra on our van payments, they were able to apply those extra amounts to our next payment, due 1/25. We only had to come up with and additional $24 to make the payment. That helped a lot.

Our next payment is due on 2/25. I have most of that payment already earmarked, so if we can hang on to that money, we won't have to worry much about that one, either.

That gives us time for Shane's unemployment to get here (it comes via debit card instead of check these days and can take a few weeks for the card to arrive). It also gives us more time to work out our plan of attack if the weather hasn't improved enough by then for Shane to be back at work.

The loan officer said that if things haven't improved for us by then, to call her back and she would try to find out if there is anything else she can do to help us. There may not be anything else she can do, but at least she is willing to consider it since we gave her an honest explanation of our situation early on.

3 comments:

A.Marie said...

Good job on making those extra payments when you could...that is definitely coming in handy right now!

The loan officer that you are working with sounds so nice; you are fortunate in that respect! :)

I'm hoping that the weather clears up soon s that your hubby can work. I heard on the radio that the job outlook is getting grimmer and grimmer...makes me really want to save what I can and where I can!

Frances said...

Credit Unions are a lot more willing to help you out than most regular banks are. Maybe they would let you skip a payment or two and tack it on to the end of the loan. It would cost a little more in interest, but would free up that money now.

I have not done this before, but know people that have.

I will b praying for you all.

Annie Jones said...

A.Marie: They are very nice there...the only problem is that they keep changing personnel. :(

Frances: Good advice, but we already did that. Each year, they offer their members the opportunity to skip either their November or December payment. We had an idea what might be in store for us, so we skipped the December payment (it was added to the end of the loan as you said it would be). So...that option isn't available to us again for a while. But I'm sure we'll figure something else out.