[Chainblade]

ya. i started car pooling on MONDAY and my car got stolen there today. It was a piece of shit 1992 Honda Accord. It didn't even have a stereo in it!

I'm sure you're thinking, oh it's easy to replace but I am in EXTREME financial problems right now. Just a gist of how bad: tv, internet, ELECTRICITY has been canceled. I don't have insurance on the cars because I couldn't afford it. I only had liability on it anyways before I stopped paying so it's not like the insurance would replace it. I started to carpool to save on gas. I'm 30 miles away from my work.

Now I have no idea how to get to work. Nobody can come pick me up really. I can't get to the park and ride. Public transportation in the seattle area SUCKS. So if I can't get to work, i can't get paid and i'll get fired eventually. Then I'll lose my house and live in a box. I can only pray that the cops find it and it's still drivable. I don't expect anything though. Anywho thanks for reading.

oh by the way, is there any way of getting a car financed with ZERO down if you have god awful credit? I don't care if it's 100% interest, I just need a vehicle that goes from a to b. And my credit is extremely poor, not just bad. And no, I literally don't have 1 penny to put down.

[randomtask]

you poor bloke

[tweakmonkey]

I always thought Seattle was known for its decent public transportation. Maybe that's only in city limits - I imagine the regional transport isn't nearly as good.

Anyway, that sucks your car was stolen. I hope to never have to deal with that nightmare.

However, I doubt you can get a car with 0 finance and bad credit. Even if you could, it wouldn't be the best bet probably anyway (I mean, how would you pay insurance + payments on a new car if you can't afford the power bill, for example?)

People steal old Hondas all the time because they're a good reliable vehicle. I bet it'll turn up eventually but anything remaining of value will likely be stripped or destroyed.

Your best bet, IMO, is check Craigslist for cars under $500 (or so). I see them pretty frequently here in Bellingham. I know $500 isn't easy to come up with if you're flat broke, but I think it's a much more attractive option than taking on some huge debt if you could even be approved for a new car loan. Maybe you can borrow money from family or a few friends if you find a decent beater.

[Chainblade]

i thought about the $500 car thing. problem is $500 is impossible to get. I mean, my paycheck goes to rent, gas, MINIMUM bills, and food. And it goes in that order lol. Which means, I don't eat sometimes. It's just not possible to get $500. Especially by this Monday. I have no friends or family that will loan me money. I've already tapped them out previously. I have no idea what to do...

[Chris]

Don't feel ashamed to hit up Welfare and Food Stamps if you're working your ass off and barely making ends meet.

[Chainblade]

i can't get food stamps or anything as I have a decent paying full time job. It's just that I have a ridiculous amount of debt (courtesy of the ex wife).

[Jishory]

claim bankruptcy?

[chapel]

Well not to say I have been in your exact situation, but somewhat similar at times. First of all, about your car issue. You might have to put off one of your normal expenses to get a car. You listed: rent, gas, minimum bills, and food. Well you could talk to your landlord or whoever handles your apartment and tell them that you have hit extremely hard times and your car has been stolen. Explain that you have no means to get to work without transportation and that your only income is very tight. Ask for the ability to pay later than normal. Im not sure how much your rent is, or when its due, but sometimes you have to make those hard decisions. If you have any other bills, let them slip for a month or as long as possible. I know its not good to not pay things, but if its the choice of losing your job or being late on your bills, well the latter is always better.

If the landlord thing didnt work, ie they said pay up, well then you will just have to deal with it yourself and not pay them at first. They can try to evict you, but if youre on a lease and you generally pay on time, being a few weeks late is just a cost you will have to pay. I mean there are options, it takes them a lot of time to evict people, like over 2 months at times. You could easily freeload for over a month and figure out somewhere else to go in the mean time. Not great advice, but having no job is worse than being in debt.

About your debt in general, I would recommend you look at filing for bankruptcy. Its not a cheap thing, usually costs a few thousand dollars because of the costs of the lawyer. Look around for a lawyer that does payments, there are quite a few, since they understand that the biggest reason for filing bankruptcy is because you dont have money to pay the debt in the first place. I would seriously consider asking friends and family for help, I know it may seem hard, or you feel like you have tapped them out already. But when hard times come, you have to try, if you dont then whatever happens is your own fault.

On the note of public assistance, well if you make too much to get foodstamps or welfare, you could always goto a local foodbank. They dont check how much money you make or anything like that, and depending on the area and the foodbank you can get quite a bit of food. They usually give you a week or more worth of food for however many people you are claiming. I had to do that for some time, I know its not glamorous or good for the ego, but having something to eat is very important for survival. Ive gone weeks without food, not eating for days scraping by. Then I sucked it up and went to the foodbank and got food. Im not ashamed.

I wish you the best of luck, this shit sucks and I hope you get your car back and its drivable. Another option is to sell/pawn anything valuable as well. Remember that youre a few steps away from the streets, extreme measures are needed. Keep smiling even when things are down, you can only go up from here if you try.

[Juballharshaw]

If you make too much to qualify for food stamps and aren't making ends meet, you're living beyond your means. How much are you taking in and how much is going to debt payment. (Also, what kind of debt?)

[MaesterB]

Oh dude....that's terrible.

I wish I could tell you what to do but...I've never really been there before.

Maybe quit your faberge egg habit??

[Chainblade]

i've already been postponing payments for basically everything for 3 months. the only bills that I am paying are bills that HAVE to come out (they are in debt management program). Trust me, I'm not paying anymore than I have to.

I've already asked friends and family to help and nobody will so that's not an option.

food bank isn't a bad idea. i'll look into that.

i already looked into bankruptcy. they said i would have to do chapter 13 which is basically just a debt management program. so there is no point in paying a few thousand dollars to put me in the same debt management program that i'm already in...

it's only extremely tight right now because my g/f got fired from her job for a stupid reason 7 weeks ago. she got a new job yesterday! However, with one car in between us, one of us can't go to work. If we are both working, then we can meet our bills again no problem. The problem lies is that we need a 2nd vehicle by this Monday or I can't go to work. Which means, I'll get fired. Then we're back in the same situation but worse 'cause she'll be making less than what I do.

[Bear]

You just gotta hustle. People walk, take the bus and keep walking to get to work sometimes. It sucks and it's extremely inconvenient, but it has to be done. They just wake their ass up early.

If there's a will, there's a way. Best of luck.

[tweakmonkey]

There are no co-workers that can give you a ride? What about the guys you were carpooling with before?

Your situation sounds very rough and it sucks that anyone would be in that. Keep us posted and try as best as you can to keep your hopes up. You're only defeated once you've admit defeat. Humans are very resilient and you've definitely got a good head on your shoulders - I think you can figure this out.

[Chainblade]

well i think i'll be able to get to work. my car pool will probably just come pick me up at my house. That'll work until the end of the month, then I have a different schedule. Hopefully they'll be someone else I can carpool with or something.

I'm going to double check the buses but I'm going from small kent to small kirkland. buses are fairly scarce. Plus I work 12-9. I might be able to get to work at noon but 9:00 is late and I'm pretty sure there is no bus that will be around.

[Justin3]

This may sound a bit scary but I would ask your boss for help, if your a decent worker to the company and your needed, your boss just may be willing to buy you a $500 car just to get you from home to work. Im just hoping you don't have a jerk for a boss.

[Chainblade]

eh my work doesn't do that type of thing. It's a call center...that should be enough said to know how they are lol...

[Torx]

damn man, i hate to hear this kind of shit happening to ya..

do you have any valuables you can let go for sale?
okay, so you can get your buddy carpool guys to help you until the end of the month.. craigslist, newspaper(youd be surprised alot of people still dont have the internet), and yes there ARE alot of places that accept bad credit no money down.. i know plenty of little crappy car lots here that do that... as long as you pay your monthly bill..

dude, i think you have better options than you think..
im sure we here can come up with some more ideas...

but you dont have any freinds at work??
how much are taxis?

[hans5849]

You know that SOAD song BYOB, people in your situation are why.

[nidex]

I've been in that situation before, I found other ways to get help though even though they might not have been 100% legit. Your car will probably turn up soon if you called it in as stolen, hopefully it won't be stripped though.

[sims]

if you have one car between you and you're GF, couldn't she drop you off at work or vise versa?