Yet another car problem and no emergency fund

Same song and dance…..we have been scrambling since my wife last got salmonella poisoning while eating salmon at a TGI Fridays. Losing that one entire paycheck hurt. We had actually gotten back to the point where we could almost breathe……then her truck broke down. LOL, figures. We had it towed to a repair shop, they worked on it and we paid $390……..two days later, the SAME EXACT problem crept back up…..had it towed back to the idiots to fix it this time, of course they discover a new problem…..$403 in order for us to drive it home……we get @ 8 miles from home and guess what happens? Yep, truck breaks down again, SAME EXACT problem again……we had it towed to a Ford dealership who fixed the problem; the first repair shop had broken the part as they installed it, causing it to make intermittent contact. There went another $105. Negotiated with the first repair shop and they only refund us $321; better than nothing, but still not what we wanted. So, my entire paycheck was gone at this point. In fact, we had to rush the refund check to the bank in order to prevent multiple bounced checks…..then the $403 check rolls into the bank……the account had $401 in it….LMAO……at the moment, we have a $400 truck payment and a $403 repair payment out there in limbo……with $792 in the bank……hmmmm, donate plasma? Sell some more stuff (which we are running out of)…….what do you do? We actually have about $300 in materials from Lowe’s sitting downstairs…..so, that is going back for a refund…..OK, so it seems that we will be able to escape it again this time…..sure do hope so because this is getting old.

At the same time, we are averaging about 20 collection calls per day through the week. NCO Financial (collection arm of JC Penney Co) has a habit of calling up to and beyond 9 pm; so, we have reported them. Typically, if I am at home, when the phone rings I answer it and as soon as Apu the Collector begins his script, I just laugh and tell them that “I don’t want any” and hang up on them. If they call back, I either let it ring or screw with them. For example, try Simon Says with them:

Collector: “Sir, your account is severely behind and this will affect your credit rating”

Me: “Sir, your account is severely behind and this will affect your credit rating”

LOL, just repeat everything that they say and see how long they will stay on the line with you, heck might as well turn it into a game. Yes, they do have a job to do, but that does not mean that I have to quiver behind the couch just because a collector is calling our phone number. They can not scare me with the credit rating angle, our credit rating is shot. What can they do? Put me in jail? Nope. Can they follow me in their super secret collector mobile? If they want to they can lol. So, about the only thing that they can do is call my home…..ooooh…..we could change the phone number, but that would be pointless IMHO.

If you are not severely behind on your payments (like we now are), if you learn anything from our poor example, make sure you learn the importance of getting and maintaining an emergency fund. This is the third occurrence this year that not having a fund fully in place has almost destroyed us. We are not headed towards insolvency, we are there. We have realized this fact and have dealt with it mentally. The next large hurdle for us is to complete the bankruptcy procedure, no big deal people do it every day.