An interesting few days

After seeing our financial adviser, and then putting a deposit on my lovely new car, we thought it was a done deal. I was already only half filling my Camry, in anticipation of my new set of wheels.

Friday afternoon, a phone call from our adviser, had it all crashing down around our ears. For some inexplicable reason, our bank won't use my Family Assistance as any form of income. Laughably, they wouldn't even loan us what we currently owe, as Peter's income, (which is now quite a bit more than it was even five years ago) and having three children, makes us eligible, for what's basically a pittance.

To add insult to injury, our track record with our repayments, the fact we're ahead and have money in a redraw facility has all added up to naught!! In the last 12 years, in addition to our home loans, we've furnished three car loans, which have ALL been paid out well before the final date.

Banks use a Poverty marker to ascertain what it costs a family to live per month, and they use that in their calculations for loan serviceability. Sadly, for us, this increased from $2000 per month, to $2900 per month, the DAY BEFORE we saw our adviser. This is quite ridiculous as Peter doesn't even bring home that much per month!! Where do they get that figure from I wonder. So as we've always known we're not well off, this is beyond poor!!

We are dumbfounded why they won't use my assistance as income, a figure which has always been counted before, from our initial home loan, to our two other re financing situations.

My mind has been whirring and churning, and my heart has been filled with prayer this week. I've oscillated between praying for those suffering in Christchurch to being thankful for my life, to asking for guidance with this loan matter. While I'm at peace, with whichever way this transpires, I haven't given up hope as yet. We still have options and it's not over till the fat lady sings.

It had been such an exciting week, and then Friday afternoon, the wind had been taken from my sails.

I've spent the weekend, quietly, with lots of much needed sleep, and my waking moments, have been spent putting figures through loan calculators and tossing up our ideas.

My week has been so exciting, and I've not been sleeping well for ages.........that I'd hit a wall by Friday and again yesterday. It was the first Saturday yesterday, where I'd had nothing on, so the day was very leisurely. Billy-Joe had been ill on Friday, so he laid down with me yesterday, and we both snoozed together for a few hours.

I feel better for it today.

In between all the car stuff of last week, I finally had my specialist visit. I'm very grateful that, for the first time with all this pain, that someone is monitoring it and can see that I'm not doing well. I got my MRI result and it showed that I have bursitis in my shoulder and also that there is something torn. No wonder, it was almost two years of pain.

I've been 8 months now on my new medication, with little improvement. On Wednesday, I was given a new drug, which hopefully will help me. My inflammation markers are so high, that if this new medication doesn't help, I would qualify for another class of drugs. It would be in the form of an injection. So there are still options ahead, which gives me peace of mind. I am thankful for my specialist, and I no longer feel 'hypochondriac like'. This is all thanks to my physiotherapist, who saw that there was obviously something systemically wrong with me.

Wonder what next week brings!