mortgage adjust & auto-payment rant

just got a note from my bank that my mortgage is adjusting DOWN. Yay. My payment is going down about $50/month.

thing is, this is wells fargo and the way they set up their automatic payments is they automatically take the minimum. they've been doing the same with a credit card balance of mine. with my mortgage and home equity loans and my credit cards, I ALWAYS pay more than the minimum. that's how my original mortgage is down to $55,000. for the credit card, i was happy it was getting paid on time, but after a year, it looks like I pretty much just paid interest for a year.

UGH! i know better than this, but i'm really not looking forward to the bank calls.

encouragement appreciated.

banks! i need a bailout

here's the thing, my last refinance was based on "no income" because i didn't have any steady income. why do banks think that every single person has a series of 9 to 5 jobs, especially when most people don't these days? so, to make themselves feel better about me having no income, they took into account all my retirement savings, which was about $250,000 at the time. of course, now it's more like $150,000 thanks to the stock market. all my debt, including mortgage, home eq & credit cards is just under $200,000 for an apt that was last appraised for $550,000.

On paper I should be in good shape, but i doubt that's what the banks will think. UGH! i want to combine everything and get a low interest rate, but i'm dreading the banks making me feel like a big, broke loooser.

i've been watching the media industry a bit and it's a mess. everyone's getting laid off and whoever is working is too freaked out to make a decision, so consultants are left waiting and waiting and then expected to perform miracles for nothing. it's very much like when i first moved to nyc in 1989.

right now, what i'm most worried about is worry. it's not helping, but at the same time, would i be insane if i didn't let this bother me?

health insurance round 2

i finally got my paperwork in for healthy ny. it's health insurance for individuals, sole proprietors (like me) and families under a certain income level. since i haven't been earning much and have the tax records to prove it, it was time to stop paying $650/mos for the privilege of paying for everything.

i met their fax deadline, so i should be covered june 1. yes, i am currently not covered. i just couldn't justify the premium this month. i wonder how many others have said that? and how many will have to.

i've chosen their plan without rx coverage because i called to check and they do not cover EVEN ONE of the medications i take regularly.

i'll be paying $270/mos. i found out i can buy prescriptions without any insurance for what i was paying iwth the evil ghi/medco. hopefully i won't be ranting about my new health plan soon. it's a blue cross hmo. fingers crossed. having this one thing done is a big weight off my mind.

next: credit cards and stupid broken headphones.