snowbunny

I wish we could all just decide. Wouldn't that be fun?

The weather sucks in the UK and it's crowded, but you get time off work and a universal health care plan. I'm desperately longing for a better work family balance -- this is killing Toon and me both and is unlikely to change.

Ash UK/US

Great ain't it We have being trying to sell our house in GR for almost a year now.

Tableland

The French are putting the squeeze on health care provision for Brits and others , so you might have to revise your plan for "free" health care. I think it's limited to those that don't pay tax but they might go further in order to pressure the British into conceding on other harmonisation issues.

Bonne chance.

E17Avenue

We "owned our own home" for five years.

Bought the 4 bed house in a nice area of Muskegon for $75,000. It was cheap for the area and there were no drastic issues with it, it was just in need of some refurbishment.

Within two weeks of signing the contract I was laid off. I was off work for almost a year until going to work at Michigan's Adventure for the next summer and finally getting a real job a few months later. Somehow we got through that OK.

Then after being in my new job for half a year we decided to refinance and were talked into rolling in some other debts including a car we got from JD Byrider. We ended up with a bunch of cash from the deal which was used for a trip home, my first in 9 years. Then we got the shock. The mortgage company had sold our new loan before we even made a single payment, and the new company was not paying our local taxes. We called to find out why, and they said they didn't have anything in escrow. They had completely screwed up the calculations on the refi and we had nothing to pay $1200 taxes with. So we talked to the new company and they agreed to let us pay $200 extra for 6 months to bring the escrow back on track. What they didn't tell us was this would be considered a late payment and it would go on our credit. Need I tell you the new company was Countrywide?

So after struggling through being unemployed for 10 months and making every payment, we get screwed by one mortgage company who quickly resells so they are no longer culpable (or at least give that impression) and that puts a blemish on our life.

Of course that job didn't last either, a year later I was laid off again.

Again we struggle through, and I get into another job. Now the two year ARM that we refi'd into is about to switch over to variable. We're behind on our payments, paying $1600 a month instead of $900. The ARM will accelerate that. We plead with the company to do something to help and they say the only thing they normally do they can't as the originator of the loan refuses to do it.

Then having talked to a number of people in the same boat, we decide to just hand over the house. After living in it for almost six years we still owed $90,000+ and 9 houses out of about 20 or so in our immediate vicinity were for sale, for not much more than that, if at all.

So all those mortgage payments were rent. And we got the $8,000 car for approximately $3,000 in the end as it was included in the mortgage.

We left Muskegon for Holland thinking we needed a change of scenery and we were both working there at the time. And we rented. We are quite happy renting. $700 a month and no repairs. We're aiming to leave for the UK in a few years so we don't need to "build equity". We don't need to build credit. We don't need credit cards. We don't need debt. We just need to survive with no stress and save up. If we're late on a rent payment cos the dog was sick or the car needed repairing we just call the landlord and they're fine with it.

As much as people think life in the UK sucks, it can't be more stressful and full of hassle as the last seven years in the US.

Dan725

Great post - Fantastic expample of what can happen here when the chips are down, thanks for sharing - may you see some improvements in future!

Dan725

Also, forgot to say, it seems to me this reselling of loans immediately is all the rage here - even before the first payment is made. Our mortgage was resold to Countrywide straight away - we had specifically not arranged an escrow, and they tried charging us for one - luckily I caught that straight away and sent them a fairly severe snottogram followed up with a phone call, and they rectified it quickly.

Our car loan was also resold before it hit the ground.

I really don't understand the reselling side of things - I mean I know the principles, but surely the costs involved are not good for anyone - yet it seems to be a thriving business, lots of people and crappy little mortgage companies making money off what is effectively a paper pushing exercise.

guest5234

Wrong, they cannot downgrade treatment in anyway to EU citizens. you have to pay the same as the French in top-ups, but it is illigal to discriminate in any way.

Roland Hulme

Yours was a sad story, but I think it could happen anywhere. The whole 'refinancing' thing is a nightmare. The reason we're on the brink of a recession is because of totally untapped loans and borrowing. Banks have given out too much and they're all screwed.

I live by your principle. Rent cheaply and save money. Live within your income. You might have less than your credit-card happy friends, but when things go belly up, you're in a much better situation.

E17Avenue

I think it's a good principle to keep in mind when we return home too, as I hear the consumer "buy now, pay never" rage is worldwide not just a US phenomenon.

snowbunny

I'm not so sure. I've seen plenty of situations where individuals and businesses have lived it up for years and then cried when they had to pay.... result was government bailout. An alley cat has more morals than these folks, but financially they were far better off. If Joe Bloggs is going to get a government-backed loan because he took out a bigger loan than he could repay and now doesn't like the terms.... where's my loan?

There are some people who are legitimately hurt in these events but they aren't the ones that Bush & Sons tend to help out (like.... Katrina evacuees who couldn't afford hurricane/flood insurance.... is the government going to give THEM a new house?).... the ones that get helped are white, educated, middle-to-upper class folks who are better off to start with. They also vote. This isn't a coincidence.

surly

There's quite a discussion going on over in the France Forum about this subject.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494357


A comment worth quoting from one of the contributors, could apply equally here in the USA.

"Come over, have a look and decide for yourself if it's a country worth settling in. But don't expect an easy ride from your adopted country, nor its inhabitants. If you want to know a bit more about what it's really like here, you can read the forums, but take much of it with a pinch of salt. The ones that generally moan are the ones who make the least effort to fit in, in my experience."

Ash UK/US

Thanks for sharing your story. Seems to be a common theme in these here parts. The almost directly across from us was forclosed on and the house a few doors down was forclosed. We do not live in a area with high housing costs either. It is amazing to me that things have a been allowed to get so bad.

Anyhow I wish you the best of luck on were ever life takes you

Tableland

No one's talking about downgrading treatment or discriminating. We're talking about free healthcare provision being revoked, because the vast number of British expats in France are retired and do not, nor have they ever paid tax there, whereas the vast number of French living in the UK are working there and making contributions to the NHS.

Fair enough, a mon avis.

Xebedee

Seriously, folks. Whats to stop things getting so bad?
Really, what is there?

Dan725

I suppose Government intervention, to promote revitalisation of the area, attract new business and so on. But not fool proof by any means.