Anonymous wrote:I’m going through a layoff and we have no savings (medical bills for a sick child, plus unexpected home repairs).

I expect to be working by the new year at the absolute latest, but in the meantime we are going to need $20-30k to get us through the next few months.

We have about $700k of home equity-would that be the most logical solution? My mortgage company is Wells Fargo and they don’t do home equity loans, would I go to another bank?

We have excellent credit. DH is still working but not making enough to cover all our expenses. At this point, we won’t have enough to make our November 1 mortgage payment

Get a personal loan from your bank or your credit card.

Don't sell the house and don't waste your time selling stuff online.
Restaurants are hiring on the spot and you have your paycheck next week. Open a credit card with zero % and put as many living expenses there as possible.
I'm very surprise that you cannot borrow $20k from your credit cards between the two of you.
I have never made over $40k and I can borrow way over that amount for a year, then rinse and repeat. Discover card is very generous and awesome company. Citi is pushing theirs now that they can see I went with Discover once again.

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Anonymous wrote:You have a million dollar house and no savings? Start driving uber.

Op here. $1.5 million, but yeah. We had savings but it’s been wiped out in the last few months.

So, you live in a $1.5 million dollar house and living pay check to pay check. Good luck with that. Sell the house and move into something 1/2 that. You are living over your means if one emergency wiped you out.

Op here. I mean, yeah we are house poor. But we bought our house in April 2020, got a screaming deal on it, and it was a fixer upper/foreclosure. Our interest rate is 2.25%. We poured our sweat equity and our hearts into it, our area absolutely exploded (even more than other places-like not even just our city but our specific neighborhood went completely bananas the last 3.5 years). We paid $800k, it’s worth $1.5 mil now.

We want to do whatever we can to hold onto the house because of the interest rate.

Nope. You need to sell your home and rent a way less expensive place.

No, selling a home with 2.5% interest rate is stupid.

I'm sorry you were laid off. I personally would try to get a job ASAP - not waiting for the perfect job. Just do whatever you can right now to earn money and be interviewing on the side, I think. Not waiting until January for the perfect job. I also don't think you should expect to keep up your same standard of living during the layoff period. I would bare bones it as much as possible. You're not buying clothes or any non-essentials. Try to get that 20-30K down. Good luck. Also - this is totally random but I hear self storage is popular. You could possible rent out storage space in your house - I hear that's a thing in the gig economy. I'm not sure what else you could do to monetize what you already have.

Anonymous wrote:I’d be knocking on target or Walmarts door so fast if I were in this situation and figuring out the loan at the wee hours of the morning. Ain’t no way!

Right! Most people would.

I’d be knocking on target or Walmarts door so fast if I were in this situation and figuring out the loan at the wee hours of the morning. Ain’t no way!

I think you need to cut childcare. Your mortgage costs don’t seem high. I think childcare is what’s killing you. Who’s to say you’ll have a job in January?!

Why not get a job now. Lots of retail want people in November and December

Call your mortgage company and request a forbearance for 3 months. You will have to figure out how to pay it back when the forbearance is over but if you are employed then you can likely get them to agree at that time to divide it. Over 10-20 payments.

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Anonymous wrote:No expenses you can cut? Family to borrow from?

It sounds like you are going to have to see if you can get a loan from your bank or credit union, HELOC, or rack up some credit card debt.

Op here. We already cut way back, sold a car, etc. No family to borrow from.

My question is the best way to cover these costs, a personal loan? HELOC? Credit card debt is an option (can get a 0% card), but we can’t pay our mortgage or childcare with a credit card.

why do you need childcare if you do not work?

OP is probably working now, can’t answer your follow up questions.

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Anonymous wrote:Can you or DH take a 401k loan or IRA distribution?

DH will get a pension so we can’t borrow against that

My 401k doesn’t allow loans

We don’t have IRAs I don’t think.

For the PP who said they hadn't seen this.

That's a shame.

What about substitute teaching, OP? It has some flexibility and would bring in money.

OP, why are you so certain you will have a job by January? What if you don't?

Anonymous wrote:Why has this thread already gone on four pages? OP is basically asking the following: “Is it OK to dip in to my $700K pile of cash to cover a $20K emergency?” The correct answer is, “No shit, Sherlock.”

OP may not qualify based on debt to income ratio, since only one of them is working. OP had mentioned she can’t pay childcare with a credit card, but I don’t think that’s actually true. While not preferred by schools etc, paying by credit card is usually an option if OP pays the transaction fees. Especially if OP thinks this will be a short layoff, I’d use credit cards over heloc. In a few years when interest rates improve, I’d consider a cash out refi as well, and use that money for more liquid non-retirement investments. A lot of people make the mistake, in my opinion, of overindexing on age-restricted retirement investments and primary home real estate “investments”, neither of which are liquid. It’s really a shame that it’s so hard to get access to your own money, but that’s why it’s important to invest outside of these two vehicles. It’s a common middle class trap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you or DH take a 401k loan or IRA distribution?

DH will get a pension so we can’t borrow against that

My 401k doesn’t allow loans

We don’t have IRAs I don’t think.

For the PP who said they hadn't seen this.