It’s Freedom Friday and today gather around and hear Lady Kristin’s story. For years she and her Prince Charming Sir Chris have had HUGE medical debt challenges. Maybe you can relate? Sometimes medical debt seems like a never ending battle, but Lady Kristin and Sir Chris are proof positive that you can slay that debt dragon.
Once upon a time, a boy and a girl met. They fell madly in love and married the following year. Six weeks after their wedding they decided to do the “grown-up” thing and buy a house. In that day and age, you could buy a house with no money down. Big mistake! Huge! After that, it all started to fall apart.
Yes, that was my husband, Chris, and I. We bought and built a home in Johnson County with the “no money down” philosophy. The builder rep in the neighborhood showed us how our mortgage would only be $50 more a month than our rent. However, he failed to explain to us about how three years down the line, the back taxes would kill us.
Fast forward to 2003. We had our last baby. I had spent eight weeks on bedrest and had lost my income from that time. Two weeks after the baby was born, I lost my job. Three of us were no longer in the budget and I started to panic.
When Emilie Ann was nine weeks old, we became a Riley family. Em’s medications cost between $150-200 a week! We started to get behind on everything, living off of Chris’ salary and paying for doctor’s appointments and her medication.
Shortly after that, an opportunity came up for an associate pastor’s position that came with a parsonage. We applied and got the job and moved into the parsonage, but the damage had already been done. We were behind on our mortgage…..big time.
So, in 2004, we did something that was so radical, so unheard of…..we sold our home as a short sale, with the lender getting $3000 less than what we owed. Today, everyone has heard of a short sale, but when we did it, there were only a few agents who knew what they were and how to do them. Our first agent was awful. He treated us like we were trash and further humiliated us with our inability to pay.
After the closing, we found that we could breathe again. We didn’t have that huge debt lingering over our heads. We were living comfortably with Chris’ salary from his regular job and his church job and I stayed home with the kids.
A couple of years later, Chris changed jobs and then got a raise. About that time, the transmission went out in my van and the electrical went out in Chris’ car. Talk about luck! Chris had a promotion with a big fat raise and how did we celebrate? We bought not one, but TWO brand new cars. On the same day! We thought we were big stuff.
So, here we are, plodding along. Two new cars come with two new car payments. Ouch!
In 2008, Em was ready to go off to full-day kindergarten and I needed something to fill my days. I thought back on all of my work experience (residential mortgage, commercial credit underwriting, event planning) and decided to become a real estate agent.
In 2009, Chris and I felt that it was time to leave our ministry and moved into a rental home. Things were tight, but I had the occasional closing to pay for the extras.
Three weeks after we moved into the rental home, our oldest daughter, Paige, started having some serious abdominal pain. She collapsed on the soccer field one Saturday and we rushed her to the hospital. Our wonderful doctor just happened to be the attending that day and ordered a lot of tests, but everything checked out fine.
Two weeks after that, we were back in the hospital, this time at Riley for abdominal pain and distention. Once again, everything looked normal.
Two hours after leaving Riley, we KNEW something was wrong. Seriously wrong.
On Monday morning, we wound up as inpatient at Community Hospital North because Paige had lost her memory and started having tremors. As the days progressed, her memory came back. We left on Thursday not knowing much more than we did when we walked in.
About a month after that, she had emergency surgery at Riley for her appendix.
Finally, in December, 2009, while Paige had some neurological tests ran, Chris and I ran all of her symptoms through Google and they all pointed to one thing. Mold.
Chris and I went on a mold hunt and found it growing in the bathroom of the rental house. After $85,000 worth of medical treatment (yes, we had insurance!) we finally had a reason why she was so ill.
Ten days after consulting with our doctor and having a note from him stating that she had to be removed from the home, Chris and I moved our three girls to Greenwood into another rental home. Two weeks after we moved in, all of Paige’s symptoms stopped and haven’t been seen since!
As I am writing this (April 2) I am looking at a stack of envelopes to go out in the mail today. As of today, all of the medical treatment will be paid off and the hospital bills are getting insignificant. Our creditors are crying because they can’t harass us any longer. We are down to those pesky car loans (our goal is to have at least one GONE by the end of September) and one unsecured debt, which we are hoping to have eliminated by mid-summer.
Finally, the reason I told you about the short sale is not to air our dirty laundry, but to educate anyone who finds themselves in that same situation. In February, 2010, I was awarded the Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource certification from the National Association of Realtors. Because of what Chris and I went through, my heart is with those homeowners who may have found themselves in a bind where their mortgage is concerned. I show them how there is an alternate to foreclosure and how they can either stay in their home or get out of it with the least amount of damage to their credit or finances.
And yes, Virginia, there is life after financial disaster. You just have to have enough faith in yourself and God to get there.
Thanks so much for sharing your story Lady Kristin and Sir Chris. I know that you can finish your race and pay off the debt. And you’re going to feel freer than you ever imagine at the end of the road. Keep fighting the good fight!
Want to share your debt slaying tale on Queen of Free? E-mail me at thequeenoffree@gmail.com with Freedom Achieved or Freedom in Progress in the subject line. I’d love to encourage other Money Saving Lords and Ladies, fellow debt slayers with your story. Together, we’re better AND stronger. We can bury those dragons in the backyard. Join our fray! Today is the day!
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