Any Charities That Can Help When Waiting On Gov Programs?

Oh Andee, I'm so sorry to hear of the troubles you are having. Your life has been turned upside down and I can see it has brought you a great deal of stress. I did some digging on AARP for you. I found some info that might help. AARP is for people ages 50 and above. I don't know if you are in that age category, if you are check out all the helpful info they on their website. I found this article on there. http://www.aarp.org/aarp-foundation/our-work/income/info-2012/public-benefits-guide-senior-assistance1.html

Thank you Darice I will check that out. Much appreciated! :)

Andee I am so sorry you are going through some hard times. I don't know if you are old enough or how much equity you have in your home but one of my senior neighbors just did a reverse mortgage. Now they pay her every month. I don't know which bank she used ...we are in NJ.

Thanks for the kind words Val. But I owe more than my home is worth. After the last big crash it drop a ton.

Andee, I am so sorry! Even though you said your house is small, can you make room for a roommate? I know it's not ideal, but maybe just until you get your disability.

Check out your local HUD office. They are non profit government funded. They won't pay your mortgage but they will be a liason between you and your bank and help you set up affordable payments. They helped me when I was in danger of losing my home.

Andee, if you take medications that hsve brcomr unaffordable, the website www.needymeds.org can help you get all or some of your meds for free. Thrre's an application to fill out and usually the meds are sent to your doctor's office where you can pick them up.

For pets you can check out www.freekibble.com

I believe the Salvation Army will pay your rent or mortgage for 1 month if you are in danger of losing your home (not sure about this as I've never used the service, but it can't hurt to call :)

Wishing you the best, Andee. I know what you're going through with the SSDI as I'm disabled. Hang in there and I'll remember you in my prayers.

Hugs,
Joy

Thanks Patricia. Only one bathroom and plumbing issues so taking in a border not able to do.

Thanks Mark. Will need ot look more into that one. So far Gov programs have been a bust for me.

Thank you Joy. I was proofing my type when you were posting. I will look into those and thanks for adding the pet one!

I believe they have free litter as well. I know you've got the kitties to feed as well as yourself!

I don't know how many months you are in arrears, but byou can stay in your home without paying the mortgage for a reasonable amount of time if you contact your mortgage company.
In the meantime, contact your Church and apply for food stamps so that the money you do have won't go to food bills.

Go back to the state. Tell them how you need medical assistance, how you need food, how you are going to lose your home, don't take no for an answer. Explain how you just need temporary help until you receive your ssi. Tell them you know there is "repay" assistance. (they will help you but when you get your ssi they have to be paid back first- out of your settlement).

Sorry you are going through this Andee, hope you have some relief soon.

The lien holder probably does not want your house back you are upside down in it. You can talk to them about payment reduction and maybe a plan where you only have to make interest only payments.

If you have other debts, you may be qualified to some sort of debt relief in the form of a bankruptcy filing where you are allowed to keep you house, your car and most of your personal assets assuming you are not setting a collection of Faberge Eggs or something like that. Talk to a bankruptcy attorney. I am not exactly sure how it is done, but you may be able to protect your home by filing a "Homestead" on it. Not exactly sure how it works and if it only works via a bankruptcy proceeding.

Most of the utilites have programs that give some sort of relief or assistance with utility bills.

Check local churches, The United Way, Seniors organizations that are specializing in protecting seniors.

I don't know how much you own but may be a local service club, Rotary, Kawians, Lions or Elks, Moose or one of the other fraternal organizations. Maybe some sort of fundraising can help pay done the loan to a more manageable level or to a level where you qualify for a reverse mortgage.

It would help if you knew someone in any of these organizations that could carry the ball for you on any request for aide.

We had a local family where two of their daughters were stricken with a rear disease and both had to have heart transplants that were not covered entirely by their insurance. The director of the local Chamber of commerce took it upon himself to rally the community to helps retrofit their house and save it from foreclosure. She also had a lot of people pushing here cause on the Internet primarily through Facebook. She received a lot of donations that way.

God bless you and I hope something good happens for you very soon.

Why nine months for a disability hearing? What sort of disability are you working towards? -- Social Security disability of SSI (Supplemental Security Income) disability?

SSI is an entitlement program for low-income, non-income people. You apply for it, and your state agency that deals specifically with this sort of program makes a determination of your eligibility. The agency is called "disability determination services" for your particular state. You have to have all your medical records examined, you might be required to schedule medical exams at the disability determination services' expense. You interview, and jump through lots of hoops, and you might get rejected the first time, redo and get approved. This might be what you are already doing, but that nine-month hearing thing makes me wonder whether you are doing regular Social Security disability, which is a slightly different animal.

Sadly, I must say that you will probably find no assistance for mortgage. The best you can hope for is that the extent of time it takes for a foreclosure procedure to actually get you kicked out will be shorter than the time it takes for your disability to finally go through, and then you can renegotiate payments on a payback plan with your mortgage company. As much as they might hate to do this, if they can see some hope of guaranteed future payments (as opposed to no payments at all on a dead house that THEY now have to resell), then they might bend a little and work out something with you.

Best wishes.

Thanks Marlene and Pamela and Floyd!

I have a disability attorney and no way to get SSD or SSI until the hearing. They told me that the number of Homeless in the state of MO where I live is so high the courts are backlogged and they might get a hearing sooner only if you are in foreclosure. I am not there yet.

Marlene someone else told me not the tell the mortgage company yet as they might want to foreclose sooner. Seems like whatever I end up choosing to do backfires.

Floyd I will re-read you list again. My head is swimming now checking links. Thanks again!

Thanks Robert. I think it is the state I live in that is causing more issues. Many get denied right off the bat. I hear...for what it is worth 95% get denied the first time around then all those have to get a lawyer and wait the year for a hearing. That is for Full Social Security disability. I thought that I could get Supplement the SSI now that I was low enough on money but the lawyer said they went in at the same time. Other have thought that should be separate but I guess not. Not here anyway.

"someone else told me not the tell the mortgage company yet as they might want to foreclose sooner."

I am not an attorney and I may be totally wrong. But I have worked with banks over the years and bought and sold a lot of distressed properties. Never have I heard a banker say they wanted to foreclose on a house.

I can not imagine a situation where sooner is not better then later. They can not accelerate a foreclosure and the probably for sure do not what to accelerate one where there is more owed then what it is worth. I would get a bankruptcy lawyers opinion on that.

The more you get behind, the worse it is no matter what. They will be looking for light at the end of tunnel. The sooner you sit down with them, the more light there will to be seen.

I asked them last summer how long it take for foreclosure at that time I was not sure if I would be working or not, the bank would not tell me anything just the run around. I tried to get them to lower my payment but they would not rework my loan to reduce it. So I am afraid of what will happen now.

I need to ask a lawyer about those things too. I have no money to pay one so they really do not want to call me back. Thank you Floyd.

Andee,

I'm very sorry that you are in this bind. Bottom line is that you need a lawyer. Contact your local Barr Association or Legal Aid Society and see if there are any lawyers that are available to do some pro bono work for you. You don't need anything very elaborate so it shouldn't be too hard to get one to help you out and be your advocate. You may also want to contact social services and see if they have a lawyer that will help.

Good luck

Thanks Gary!

I am so sorry to hear your plight, it just is not right to have to go through such strife. I totally can relate.
In August of 2013 my Husband quit working due to his RA...We applied for food stamps and SSI/SSDI at DSHS, We live in Washington State. Anyhow we got $197. a month plus our food stamps...We lived in a shared rental house. We ended up selling everything of value, except computers and Camera stuff, just to make rent and we had help from my son a couple of times, and my mother...Then in Dec. or January of 2014 we got our denial letter and reapplied with a Lawyer...Bad news....It would take a year and a half....In the mean time regarding his health, his doctor had been trying to get him to take Inbrel for his RA, he said no due to all the infections he had. The lawyer wanted him to take it, to show he was in compliance with the health system...A month later in February of 2014 his foot and ankle swelled really huge...He ended up in the VA Hospital with a major bacterial blood infection that had gone sepsis. He had two surgeries to clean and drain, and was on a pic line and a Hickman line for six weeks at home with antibiotics. When we reported the changes in his health and the sepsis, it was but a month later and we had an approval letter from SS Office on his Disability....Though it was only for three years and then a review. We still struggle. He recently had the last of his teeth pulled which was the vast source of infections. Now we need to come up with funds for dentures.

Getting out to take photos is a challenge, and there isn't any more hikes. So we get what we can...
I wish I knew how to direct you...I will keep you in our prayers.

Andee - most communities have food banks which can help avoid having to spend mortgage money on food. I worked at our local one for about a year. Each morning they pick up close dated food and otherwise superflous items from local grocery stores and take it to various shelters as well as the actual food bank. Each day there's LOTS of available food. In Idaho, people in need can just dial 211 for the closest food bank location. Not sure if that works in other states. Perhaps that might help you.

Thank you Terrie! So sorry about all you and your husband have gone through!

Greg thank you! Funny thing is the closest food bank is ran by gov rules and because I have no income I can not get food there any more. You have to have some income to get food there...is that silly or what? But I know there are others to go to that do not make you sign your life away. .

Andee - my community of less than 100,000 residents has multiple outlets where food is made available for needy individuals. If rules are silly at one of your locations, I'm sure there are more.

Perhaps you can call this Salvation Army location in KC and ask what might be close to you:

Salvation Army-KCK Emergency Assistance
Post Office Box 12280
Kansas City, KS 66112
Telephone number: 913-232-5460
A specialty is also on free Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for low income families. The non-profit also has a clothing closet as well as thrift store.

Thanks Greg I have a list of places I need to go find where they are. Some are by appointment and others by day of the month. I am not able to stand in a line for very long so I have to be careful what ones I can go to. There are two that you can stay in your car for but they are on the same day. But there are others. Thanks for the added info.

Food banks in my state are running bare, because there are so many people making demands on them. I would not be surprised if this were the case nationally.

I get the feeling from people I know that the more direct you can be in your contact with this sort of agency, the more likely you might get food. In other words, phone calls, emails, letters and any other indirect means will get little results. You have to walk up to the place in person, talk to a person live, wait probably for hours, keep making your presence known, until a real, live person deals with you. Otherwise, .... silence, no response, ... because the places are just so overwhelmed. People who make themselves physically available are likely the people who get anything. The irony is that when you are struggling, you are required to increase the struggle factor even more, in order to have any chance at getting help. Help seems to go to the absolutely worst cases, and if you are not one of these, then you have to wait until your situation gets this bad, before any help might come. It's social services triage.

It is unfortunate that a creative person has to divert creative energy towards survival like this.

Realize that there are people who do not even have the luxury of electricity, let alone a computer hookup run by electricity, to discuss all this openly. Those are the people first in line in the "triage".

This may seem a trivial suggestion, but you said " I am not able to stand in a line for very long so I have to be careful what ones I can go to."

My husband needs to sit down frequently and can neither stand nor walk for a long time. He has an inexpensive, three legged, fold-out canvas chair with a back that he carries around with him when he knows he's going to have to walk or sit and there won't be the opportunity to do so.

Nikolyn I use a walker with a seat if I do not have to go very far. I did not have it when I first started finding food banks.

Still hoping to find charities that will help with staying in my home but there may not be any that can help me under their guidelines.

As anyone in my place now or the past knows this is very hard. I understand there are many worse off than I am.


Thanks again for all helpful suggestions and kind compassionate thoughts.

Andee, best to my knowledge, a foreclosure is a foreclosure....it's a state law that certain amount of months need to go by.....