I'm broke. :( (repost from work forum)

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(I am reposting this from the work forum, since nobody read it. )

I live on SSI. I tried working but had constant meltdowns from stress (I was a teacher's aide in a high school, since my mom worked in the school district's HR dept). I tried starting up a website but ran out of money. I declared bankruptcy but didn't wipe out all my debts. My mom took out a $20k loan for my business and I still have to pay that, plus I still have a student loan debt from the private school I trained as a computer technician at. Mom's loan is around $12k now, and my student loan is around $5300. I tried working as a computer technician, only to find that there are too many people doing it in my area and very little demand for it. So I'm at the end of my rope. I have no car, since I had to sell it when the cost of repairs grew too great. Debt service takes up half of my SSI check. I sit at home, lie in bed, and feel sorry for myself. Day after day after day. I'm going crazy. Any ideas? I live in Sacramento, CA, the second toughest job market in the nation. I can't move, I live with my parents. I can't afford rent. What should I do?
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I should mention that since I posted that, I decided to save up enough money for a cheap car, so for the next few months I'll be putting aside the maximum I can, and hopefully by the end of summer I'll have a car. Once I have a car I'll try and start up as a computer technician yet again.

Having a plan helps so good on you for having a plan. I hope things get better for you and go as well as planned if not better.

Please see my post here that teaching profession might be the best one for aspie in general.

Okay, I'll try to put a quote from the IRS Taxpayer Advocate about social security being in a privileged position that it can't have (some) debt taken from it (she's arguing that earned income credit should be in a similar privileged position).

Now, this might be a general thing, and a settlement in a particular bankruptcy case backed up by the authority of a particular judge may be a specific thing that trumps this. I personally believe bankruptcy should give a person a fresh start, but I don't make the rules. As I understand it, student loans are also kind of in a privileged position, even if the school wasn't that great or charged too much.

PDF file
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2007_obj ... _final.pdf
June 30, 2006, page 11 (bottom paragraph)

“ . . . It is also interesting to note that federal law prohibits banks from exercising their right to offset Social Security benefits for the recipients’ defaulted loans to that bank. It would make sense to protect EITC funds in a similar manner. . . ”


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In fairness, this is one type of debt, and maybe in the absence of a decision in a court case.

I worked for H&R Block for three seasons and another tax place for one season. One season I was appreciated as a person whose clients had fewer complaints and as an advocate for the underdog. Another year I was fired for calling clients proactively and decently informing them that their loan had not been approved. I did this instead of waiting for the customer to storm the store after getting the run around from the "help number." Of course, another excuse was used to fire me. (The most common complaint is that the customer does not get the loan when he or she has a perfectly good tax return. The most damaging situation is that the clients entire tax refund is confiscated by HSBC bank, which H&R Block uses, for purposes of debt including third-party debt collection, and this happens to about 1 out of every 100 clients.)

I think an employee absolutely has to inform clients. And this is one reason I actually felt pretty good working there, that I did a better job than average job. Sometimes significantlyt better, but even my B game was pretty good. Yes, I am proud of the job I did. Now, you don't get the bonus, hardly any chance a first year person will, regardless of what they say. The district manager didn't know taxes, and was at times a tyrant. It was kind of the wild west.

All that, I'm proud that I did an okay job. And I'm proud I survived the wild west. And it was kind of aspie friendly, in that there was a season, I could work hard and do a good job, and then I had plenty of time to process it.
This is a longer post about Block: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt147123.html

My bankruptcy wiped out my debts. Two problems:

1) Student loans in the USA can not be wiped out by bankruptcy. This means that even if you're bankrupt, you still have to pay your student loans.

2) the $20k loan was in my MOTHER'S NAME. She took it out in her name. So, technically the bankruptcy wiped out my obligation to her, it did NOT wipe out HER obligation to the bank. Yes, this was very stupid. She shouldn't have taken out that loan, because she CAN'T PAY IT. So I have to.

So, I have to pay my student loan payment ($70 a month) AND I have to pay this other loan ($300 a month). I get $927 a month. Student loans in the USA are guaranteed by the federal govt, which means you are FORCED to pay it. The school quality has no bearing on the loans issued. Many dodgy schools sign up kids for loans, then fail to educate them. I got lucky-this school was pretty good, and did a pretty good job of educating. But I couldn't find a job. No matter, I still had to pay the loan. I took out credit cards to start a website, then when they got full my mom took out a loan to pay them. She says now that she should have just paid for the bankruptcy, which is what she did anyway. I have nothing garnished from my SSI, I voluntarily pay these loans. I have to, because student loans have to be paid, and that other loan still has to be paid.