Why do poor people have to pay extra???

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I saved a TON of money when I stopped buying soda and fast food.

Now I eat steaks and ribs at home, the food costs less and I lost 20 lbs.

Vices truly cost much, much more than we think.

I'm not sure how it works in your part of the world.

Here we have pay day loans at 2670% APR

I would rather have my car repo'ed than take out a payday loan.

Shopping around is a responsibility and like all responsibilities, you earn them or you lose them.

It would be peachy-keen if it was just me. I could plan my life down to a T (barring natural disasters, traumatic illness/accidents, and violent crime). Unfortunately, I have to factor in a DH who doesn't have a good track record at staying employed but who still considers himself the head of the household and in charge of everything and a DS4 with developmental problems. I have considered the idea of divorcing DH in the interest of financial stability but DS loves his father and needs his concept of "family" upheld now. He would do very badly if there were any shakeups in his life right now. With all DH's ups and downs of working, it is nearly impossible to plan. Right now my plan is to sock away change (literally) in a sock in my dresser.

I can't see that you are poor if your choice of diet is fast food or steak and ribs.

Um, some of you guys do realize that many people post in The Haven just to vent, right? And that just because the title to a post is in the form of a question, it doesn't mean the OP is necessarily is soliticing literal answers? This isn't PPR.

It sounds like she is dealing with a lot right now, there are many factors involved in her current financial situation and she is not stupid, just frustrated.

Good point. I hope your situation improves soon.

And when you are on a low income, you are excluded completely from loans with a low or medium interest rate.
Giving you the shopping choice of extortionate or extremely extortionate.

When you pay bills yearly, you pay a set price. When you pay the same bills monthly because you can't afford the lump sum, you pay "handling" surcharges. For example, $30 per quarter extra on a yearly bill of $800.
Incurred on a computing system which is a tax deduction for the company sending the bill.
And is automatically sent electronically after using computer calculating time of less than one second per transaction.

A parking fine, for example, that you get because the doctor is late for your appointment.
In the old car you need to transport a disabled person for medical treatment.
That fine is $60. Flat rate and equal for all citizens.
Except for a poor person earning $400, that is 15% of their weekly income in punishment.
For someone on $2000, who just nipped in for a latte, it's 3% of their income.

Fines supposedly reflecting the offence to society, the poor person's tardiness is considered five times more heinous.

My thoughts exactly.

But don't you know that the universe is just and poverty is simply the visible sign of mental and moral defectiveness?

Here's a good book that takes an objective look a America's Working Poor (click).

To the op:

I'm sorry and I feel for you...

The situation with the car just reveals the heartlessness of capitalism and shows why capitalism should be regulated so that people cannot be so exploited.

As for what you can do to help yourself... Sounds like you've already tightened your belt, but you might give the ledger book idea a try (for a month or two). You might find a bit more to squeeze out of your dimes.

Also, you might check and see if there are any resources in your community that could help. Around here there is a nonprofit that makes low/no interest microloans to people so that they can avoid those "easy used car payments."

Good luck.

Thank you Blue Roses and Goon Squad and Keni.

There was a book that came out several years ago by Barbara Ehrenreich called Nickel and Dimed to Death. She spent some significant amount of time trying to get by on minimum wage or some other low amount of money and wrote about her experiences. I haven't read it since I don't buy books and getting to the library without Mr. Crazy in tow to get us kicked out is problematic. but it sounds like the root of the problem.

On a side note--driving a beat up car can get you profiled as an illegal immigrant. I was stopped for having a no tag for a beater I'd just bought two days before (the time allowed by law for getting a tag is 10 days in my county). The officer who stopped me was surprised to see my pale, red-headed self behind the wheel with all my papers in order. He thought he was gonna bust some Mexicans. He came right out and told me that he stopped me because in addition to having no tag, the car was old and junky and illegals often drive cars like that because they're poor and can't legally apply for tags. He seemed disappointed that he couldn't give me a ticket instead of pleased that everything was above-board.

Sadly the key to good credit is to be in debt and pay it responsibly. Its the only way metrics can be gathered on your paying habits and its what your credit score is based upon.

The OP's problem with the bank wasn't her fault... and even if she goes to the bank and forces them to make it all right..letters of apology, reporting to cred. agencies of the error, etc.. it still takes 2 to 4 years for credit to return to how it should be. The system is very slow in updating.

One thing the OP could do is get legal advice and get the bank into small claims court. If she can prove with hard evidence she was not at fault and because of the bank error she is now losing money, the small claims court would force the bank to pay what she lost -and- fix her credit in a timely manner.

Actually, the bank error thingy happened a while back, and the credit card issuer was WAMU, which is now gone and the bank was Wachovia, which was bought by Wel;ls-Fargo.

All this buying out and selling out of local banks is so nutty that if I didn't have to have a bank account because of direct deposit,--and if I was single still-- I'd go back to my old ways of a cash-only existence. Back then I always knew exactly how little money I had.

It does not matter if Wells Fargo or whoever bought your bank. They also assume the responsibility/liability for its actions.

Because we have a system that caters to the wealthy and successful, and treats things like poverty, poverty due to disability ect as problems they wish would just go away than actually trying to ensure all citizens are treated fairly or trying to ensure we keep a successful social safety network to help. I think most of the wealth sits underground in vaults with those in control of most of the worlds money sitting on top.


But that is just my very negative opinion of the system we have here in the U.S based on what I've read/researched and the attitudes of many americans.