Just went to go see a loan officer at my credit union, and as I was digging up paperwork so that I had all my financial info in place, I found an old prequalification notice for $560k. Single, living on a decent income, but still, 560k??! That’s oh, $3,600 per month. Extend the 30% of my income rule, and that means I’m making $144k per year after taxes! Wow, I can dream.
But then consider I left my job because I was really unhappy, and where would I be. I’d be sitting in the same position as a lot of people today. Sure that prequalification was really just to see what the maximum I could afford was…but wow! I’m glad I didn’t go crazy.
Anyway, about the free credit monitoring…if you’re interested, check out www.listclassaction.com. This was featured in Kiplinger’s, and is basically a settlement with Trans Union which can give you a minimum of 6 months of free credit monitoring. If you had a credit/loan account from Jan 1, 1987 – May 28, 2008, you’re eligible. This offer ends Sept 24, 2008.