As it was, we were just scraping by. I mean, we had food, shelter and our bills were getting paid... but we certainly weren't eating out every night or building our savings with all of our extra money. The bed bugs have really robbed us of everything. On top of our safety, peace of mind and furniture, we have also dug ourselves a hole of debt.
It looks like I need a job. With the craziness of exterminations and laundry (doing laundry in our home has become a full time/ 8 hour a day job), I will need to wait it out briefly. But, maybe by the end of next week I can start trying to find a job. Anything would help.
We're taking my engagment ring (the only expensive piece of jewelry that I own) to the pawn shop today in hopes that it will help cut down on our credit card bill. I doubt that they'll give us much for it... but, we'll see.
And we're considering filing for bankruptcy.
Both Jay and I feel so overwhelmed.
Also, we got a letter from our apartment managment company saying that we owe them about $4000 in charges. Pretty sure that they are going to sue us. We really need to take a step toward taking legal action against them. I HATE them. When I think about it I can't breathe.
Jay spent the evening last night watching the cleaning crew remove all of our old belongings for disposal. I can't believe that losing our stuff is hitting me so hard. I'm crying as I write it. I mean, it's JUST stuff. We'll get more stuff. It will be okay. I just feel stripped of everything.
Jay is working all the time in hopes of recovering from this a little bit.
Did I tell you that we are holding off on moving our things. We couldn't find anyone to help us. This strikes me as being so insane. Jay asked everyone he knows. No one would help. The only person who even offered was someone who we haven't been close with in years. I couldn't even find someone who was willing to babysit the girls while I helped Jay load the storage facility into a uhall. So, we'll have to hold off and go longer until we are able to find people to help. Honestly, I wasn't that comfortable bringing furniture into our house right now anyway. So, maybe it's for the best.
aww man, that really sucks =( if you decide to go the work route, i would put up fliers at the girls school offering child care and house cleaning, easy $ and under the table.
ReplyDeletewhy on earth do you owe the apt. place 4K? that seems ridiculous to me. try to find a lawyer that offers free consultation, go in prepared and see what they have to say. also, out here they have free legal clinics, i don't know where to tell you to look in philly.
try to just take one step at a time, i know it must be overwhelming but make a list, talk to the right people, you can do it! have you talked to your parents? they usually seem to have good advice for you.
best!
btw, i saw jc offered help on facebook, that might be who you're talking about........
ReplyDeleteOh no. It wasn't. But that's nice to know! I was speaking out Ana's exhusband Len.
ReplyDeleteI have spoken to my parents... who have been incredibly helpful!!!!
My mom sent me an itemized list of what to do, who to contact and how to get this taken care of. Also, my parents really believe that we have a legal case. We were never, at any point, informed that there was a bed bug infestation in our building or in our neighborhood. Had we been, we never would have brought boxes to our new house... which in turn became contaminated. Also, we could have recognized the signs of bed bugs earlier. The signs were there... we just had no idea what they were related to.
Here's something weird, the security company with all the logs of who comes and goes in our building was FIRED this week. All the guards are gone and replaced with new people.
I know that sounds total conspiracy talk... but I totally think that these things could be related. I was going to go in and ask Hazel (the consierge) how many exterminators were in the building before the day ours came. And now I can't.
Also, there's a service that you can use for landlord/tenant complaints and they provide you with a lawyer. If that doesn't work... my parents have offered to help us retain someone.
Also, they are saying that we owe them for October's rent (which per our lease agreement is true... but becuase of the financial hit we took due to their incompetence and negligence we couldn't possibly pay them.) Also, they are saying that we did not pay Septembers rent.. which Jay can easily prove that we did.
Also, they are saying that we were evicted.
Fuckers.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This makes me SO angry I don't even know where to begin!!!
ReplyDeleteYou MUST fight them. I know it's like, the last thing you want to do, but they are BULLYING you, driving you into debt, and ruining your credit and good name. OMG!!! A lawyer should be able to get those records from the security company. Or, perhaps you can ask the security company yourself? Speak to a manager there?
You need to do exactly what your parents lined out. I bet they have a great, comprehensive list. Also, do NOT file bankruptcy if you can help it. It's takes, I believe, 10 years to get over that one.
One thing to consider: go to your bank and see a) what interest rates are for personal loans, and b) if it is lower than the rate on your credit card (which I'm betting it is) see if you can get a loan to pay off the credit card. This will get the creditors off your back and you won't be killed with interest. I've done this a couple times before (when I was living in D.C., and making no money on the Hill and had racked up a bit of debt).
I am furious for you!
Get the bastards!!
Hey Kim,
ReplyDeleteThey're bullying us because they know that what they're doing is wrong. But they're f'ing with the wrong tenants. We're smart and we're right. We're not going down without a fight. And no one should have to go through what we've been through.
We have decided not to file for bankruptcy. We're going to call our credit card companies and work something else. We've just been charging up a storm and the only account that we have large enough for the kind of balance that we ended up with is an AM/EX... which has to be paid off on Tuesday. We both decided that we'd regret filing for bankruptcy... but neither of us has ever been in this situation before and we both pannicked.