Tough Economic Times

[vermontmike]

Hi. I am a Volunteer Firefighter(5yrs) in a small town in Vermont. My family and I have hit a rough patch, namely, my wife lost her job of 10 yrs. As we try to get through this, I was wondering if there are services available to Firefighters, First Responders, EMT's, etc. to assist in these types of situations. I am sure we are not the only ones suffering. I don't want to lose our home and I am working myself as much as possible to make up for the loss of income. I can only keep up this pace for so long; and my wife is actively persuing job leads. If anyone has been through this, is going through this and knows of any services available, helpful tips, pitfalls to avoid, they would be most welcome. Thank you in advance, keep the faith

[ChiefKN]

No, there is nothing that I'm aware of.

Locally, my FD is part of a "benefit association" that can provide help to our guys. We do fundraising and have the Township contribute. It's mostly about death benefits, etc. However, we have provided money for guys who have run into financial troubles. But it wouldn't be enough to keep you from losing a house....

[hwoods]

I'm sorry to hear of your situation, and I'd help if I could, but we're all having a bad day right now. You asked about Pitfalls to avoid, and here's something from this area. There is a lot of Fraud right now in the area of "saving your Home" and/or "protecting your investment" etc....... Someone comes along and offers you a re-structured mortgage where you will pay less each month, and it looks good. Problems start after a few months when the Interest rate suddenly skyrockets way beyond what you were paying under the old agreement. You end up losing your home anyway, and you get less out of the end deal because you contributed less equity in the new plan........

Just one example, there's a lot of stuff like that out there......