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Petunia 100
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Archive for November, 2025Update: Mortgage Difficulties SolvedNovember 30th, 2025 at 07:40 pmMy mother is going to lend me 11k until next August. I will save as much as I can between now and then, then withdraw from my Roth to pay her. I'm not going to get a HELOC. Instead, I'm going to enjoy owning my home free and clear. 😀 If the mail cooperates, I will be paying off the mortgage note this week. More Mortgage DifficultiesNovember 28th, 2025 at 11:53 pmI hope that everyone who celebrated had a wonderful holiday with their friends and loved ones. I received a phone call on Wednesday afternoon that my lender will not be able to write me a new note at all. The issue has to do with the lender being a licensed mortgage broker in California, but not in Illinois. When my current note was written, the rules allowed one out-of-state note per year. Since then, the rules have changed. Now the lender would have to become licensed in Illinois in order to write the note. The lender is unwilling to do that. So here I am in the exact predicament I had hoped to avoid. My note was due in full today and I have NOTHING lined up. So, what to do? I hopped on to Reddit and searched through r/debt to see if there is a lender people are generally happy with. I saw some names I had already tried, but I also noticed one I had not tried before. I read several posts praising Upstart for their fast online process and reasonable fees. I went to their website and applied. Here are the details: They will lend me 26k (minimum they will do) on a HELOC for a 2.25% funding fee ($585) at 6.017%. No appraisal fee, no title fees. This is far better than any other lender was willing to do. Well, yes please. I hit a snag almost immediately. They want me to upload a document proving that the loan taken against my house in 2006 has been paid in full. Obviously I do not have any such document having bought the house in 2023. I called and eventually reached a live person, but they informed me there wasn't anyone available today who could help with that so I will need to call back on Monday. That made me nervous because I do not have time for snags. So I thought, if I drain my savings I just need another 11k. I should be able to quickly get a personal loan. I applied for one today online with Wells Fargo. The rate is 16.43% (ouch!) but there are no fees and no prepayment penalty. It would enable me to pay off the current note and it wouldn't stop me from taking out a better loan if I can get one. I should know in a day or two if I am approved. I have a bit of a grace period, but I want this done ASAP. Mortgage NoteNovember 11th, 2025 at 03:30 pmMy existing mortgage note is due 11/28/25. Hard to believe it has been 2 years already since I bought this little house, but it has. I spoke with the lender on the phone and I learned that they are unwilling to write a new 2 year note, but will do a new 1 year note. There will not be a third note of any length. They want the funds for another investment opportunity. I was afraid of something like this. This coming August, I will turn 59.5. I will pull the remaining mortgage balance from my small Roth IRA and just be done with it. Between now and then, I will continue to save as much as I can in order to minimize that Roth withdrawal. At that time, the mortgage balance will be 20k-ish. So it's not quite how I wanted this to go, but nonetheless it's how it's going.
2026 ACA PlansNovember 1st, 2025 at 08:46 pmLooks like if I keep my current silver ACA plan for 2026 my monthly premium will be $356, up from $110. Part of the increase is due to my expected income for 2026 rising to 50k. There were several gold plans available at a lower cost, which does not make sense to me. Has anyone experienced the same? I ended up choosing Blue Choice Preferred Gold PPO 204 at a cost of $5 per month. Yes, $5.
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A native Californian transplanted in southern Illinois.