So, long story short... the last two years have been tough financially. We went from very little credit card debit to almost 30k in credit card and various unsecured debit, plus a few medical bills. We're beyond the point of sink or swim, we're just flat sinking now and trying to figure out the best way to dig ourselves out. I'll add, I'd prefer to avoid bankruptcy... I've been down that road once and I'd really prefer not to do it again.
Income wise, we aren't in horrid shape. I'm employed full time and make just under $50k/year. My wife is a stay at home mom, however she watches other children at the house and brings in a bit over $18k/year doing that. Working full time is just really not an option for her, we have 4 children, 2 below school age, child care would run us $1000-$1500 a month. She was employed FT until our 3rd was born, at which point she was bringing home about $1800/month... the math didn't add up for her to keep working and us wind up with less money in the end. All told, we have a take home of about $3800-$4000/month, we live in a relatively small town in the midwest, so cost of living isn't insane either.
Due to the past couple of years, and the rapid wracking up of unsecured debt, our credit scores suck... mine is in the 580 range, hers is in the 610 range... and this is where it gets interesting...
We've lived in our home for 14 years, however the home is not in our name. When we "bought" it I was just out of bankruptcy, she had no credit, so we could not get the loan. Her great aunt, who really wanted us to move next door, and her dad got the loan. Sometime in the past 10 years or so they signed financial power of attorney on the house over to us... we deal directly with the bank, always have, never missed a payment (habitually late but a payment is made every single month and never one past 30 days late). The power of attorney gives us control over everything financially, also specifies that we would receive any profits from sell/etc. When we bought the house, it was appraised at around $70k, we bought it for $58k, financed $50k plus a home equity to cover the other $8k. Home equity is paid off, currently we owe a bit less than $35k on the house. Only upgrades since we bought the house were new roof and siding, however based on sales of houses near us I suspect it'd easily go for $70k, and valued a bit higher than that.
This is where my "if a bank would loan us the money" comes in. I'd like to get the house in our name, due to some family issues I suspect my father-in-law may soon try to yank the rug out from under us, and winding up homeless isn't high on my to do list. I have a 401k, not a lot of money in it... maybe 20k, but if need be I can access that to help with a down payment. I'd either like to "buy" the house from ourselves for enough to roll all of our debt into it, then get rid of our credit cards and start fresh. Or, "buy" the house and get a home equity loan to consolidate our debit.
I'm not entirely sure which options we would have, technically we are first time home buyers which may help us... but it all comes down to the question of whether we can even get the loan.
Or... and I don't know if this is possible... is it easier to have something like a home loan transferred from one person (her dad) to us? Can that even be done?
I appreciate any advice you can give, like I said, bankruptcy, while something I would consider as a last option, is not something I want to do b/c I fear it would make it more difficult for us to purchase a home based on my previous experience.
The only other debt we have is a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan, payment is low... $180/month b/c we dumped our taxes into a good down payment last year. Our current house payment is $500/month and includes taxes/insurance. We are shelling out close to $700/month on unsecured debt payments. If I could get the house and unsecured debt down to a total of $700-$800/month that would be ideal.
Submitted December 18, 2017 at 08:58AM by KalEl8180 http://ift.tt/2oA0IJK
