America's Money: Debt crush

Store manager, 36, Charlotte, N.C.

My wife and I moved from Raleigh to Charlotte, N.C., in April of 2006 for a job opportunity. We had never purchased a home before and finally decided to build our first home.

We had revolving debt that was manageable and we qualified for a mortgage on a fixed rate. Our credit scores were okay, but they were not good enough to qualify for an adjustable-rate mortgage.

Then we bought another car and had some more revolving debt added. We also had some repayments to make to the IRS for back taxes I owed.

Fast forward to now. I am in a 95% commission sales position at a local mattress store. Sales have literally been cut in half the last four months and my wife was laid off twice in 2007 -- the second time was for four months. I have calculated that we are running a deficit of $600 a month.

We got behind on our mortgage payments and now are on a reduced payment until they can renegotiate our loan. We have had to stop paying our credit cards to just cover our car payments and living expenses.

We cannot sell our house because of the market. We cannot sell our cars because we are upside down in our loans. We need help!!!

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