In Desperate Need of Help with Rent.

Do you belong to a church?
Catholic Charities?

Have you contacted your welfare office to see if you can get temporary aid? (TANF):
Department of Public Assistance -- Community Services
1400 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
###-###-####
Determines and sets policy for the state of Pennsylvania. Callers will be referred to local offices in their counties.

You can also look into a low interest loan from the Federal Govt as an alternative to high interest Payday loans:
http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/low_income_no_cre...

Check out this website:
http://www.needhelppayingbills.co
/html/pennsylvania_assistance_progra.html

I know the church that I belong to helps people out with their monthly bills, but they have to go in and ask. You also need a copy of the bill and they pay the bill directly instead of giving the person the money.

A.-

You might try to contact your landlord...they may be able to extend some time...or allow you to make partial payment til you have begun your new job...with this economy, I am sure it happens a lot.

I assume you have tried social services and local churches? And family and friends?

Beyond that...not sure what to suggest.

Best Luck!
Michele/cat

First off take a deep breath.

Then contact the landlord and let them know your situation! I say it soo often i'm surprised people don't get it - COMMUNICATION IS KEY!!!!

Then go through your house and sell items you don't need...have a yard sale or a garage sale. you never know what something might fetch...if you have a car that you don't owe money on and can use public transportation for your new job - sell it. Where we live - there is an abundance of GREAT and reliable public transportation - that's why i say this.

Since you are not gainfully employed yet - put a note on your local grocery store that you will clean houses, do errands etc. for a set fee. You might be surprised too at the feedback you get.

I hate to recommend this, if you have credit cards, take out a cash advance (I truly hate to recommend this but when one is desperate....)

list your collectibles on ebay or craigslist.

Go to your county welfare office and see what they say..

If you need to take out a loan, don't go to a check-n-loan kind of place. Lots of banks and credit unions will loan small amounts of money at lower interest rates than the check-n-loans.

A quick way to make money is to go thru the house and sell some things. If you can downsize some large pieces of furniture, depending on what and how much you have, you may be able to make enough to help. You can have a yard sale or try Craigslist. I'm sorry you are going thru this, its a hard time for a lot of peope. Good luck.

talk to your land lord! Let them know that you are about ready to start your job and see if you can make payments to your back rent and get caught up slowly

1. Public aid. Make some calls.
2. Contact your landlord. Get a letter first from your new job stating your salary and start date.
3. Do you belong to a church? They might give you something. You can hand it right over to the landlord.
4. I hate to even suggest - but do you have any jewelry you can sell. Gold is at such a premium. I know losing your stuff is horrible - but it's just stuff. You need to keep your apt.
5. Are you paying over 2k a month in rent? Might be time to look for a cheaper place.

There are places that give you loans using your vehicle for collateral.
You can also go to the bank that financed your vehicle and get a second loan on it IF you KNOW you will be ok in 2 months and can pay it back.

Call the county. Block grants are given and distributed on a county level. Call the Catholic Family Services, any church organization you can think of. Look on your city and county websites for rental assisstance. Type rental assisstance and your zip code in the google search bar. Call you landlord and explain the situation. Maybe they can work with you.

I know the laws in PA are very different than most other states with that in mind I would speak directly to my landlord and not hide. Are you certain you have the job or are you navigating the job hunt process? Are you collecting unemployment? Do you qualify for public assistance in the meantime and between time. They too are slow to pay out but at least you would be able to prove you are in the process.

Here in Jersey we have many Emergency service agencies. Try reaching out to your local Salvation Army or Good Will. They may have grant money for you to help you while you are in a bind.

Is there anyone you can help at this time? Could you possibly baby sit kids or braid hair or clean houses or something like that to generate income? Do you cook well? Do you like to bake and are exceptional at it? Perhaps you could put your talents to work for your cause. My grandmother would sell some of the vegetables she grew or sell fish dinners. Her cakes were famous and people would pay top dollar for her pies. Long story short we all have things we can and should do to bring in extra income. What can you do that others will pay for and how will you access those people? Craig's list is a wonderful resource but use wisdom too.

First, pray - ask God to show you what to do. He does care about the details of your life. Next, take a deep breath - always remember to breathe -sounds funny but we get in to a panic and stop regular breathing.

Now - information is power - so gather the information you need. It takes MONTHS to be evicted. There's no way your landlord can throw you out if you're behind only on this month's rent. In NY it's 3 months of *no* payment before they can even begin the process - and it's the 6 month point before an eviction notice is made - at the earliest. but if you can show you're making a good faith effort to pay the rent and can show partial payments they won't even begin the proceedings. Call your town or county office and find out what the eviction process is where you live. Having that information will get you out of your anxiety pit.

IMPORTANT - as a few other posts suggested - talk to your landlord. We used to have an apartment in the upstairs of our house and when our tenant was between jobs or when his car broke down he was late or paid what he could and eventually caught up. He always called us before, or the day the rent was due. Your landlord wants the rent - of course - but he or she would also rather have the apartment filled, knowing that some portion of the rent is coming in and that it will get caught up. The other option for them is that the apartment stays vacant until he can get someone moved in. He's not getting any rent during that time - that's not what they want.

Ask to make a payment plan with your landlord tell him how much you'll be able to repay with each paycheck after you get yoru first paycheck. Open, honest discussion is always the thing to do. Tell him you are determined to catch up and make him whole, that you love your apartment, etc. The more he feels you're committed to doing the right thing the more willing he'll be to do the right thing for you.