Change in Plans

Recently my servicing of my retirement plan was transferred. I called them today to double check on my planned loan. My old company was Fidelity and they had advised me that I would be eligible for a $31,000 loan. My new company advises that that is not correct, that I will only be eligible for $17,000 to $19,000 if my 401k doesn't lose any more money. Big difference to $31,000 and a major hole in my financial plan for settlement. So now I need to revamp.

I currently have secured a $23,000 family loan and approximately $18,000 from a 401k. I am expecting a $3,000 tax refund, $3,300 hardship withdrawal, $2,000 repayment from a loan I made to a family member, so right now I have $46,300. I wanted to have at least $60,000, so I'm about $13,700 short. I can probably save an additional $5,000 by June and I have a car I'd like to sell for $7,000. I'm not sure if the car will sell with the economy what it is, but I will keep my fingers crossed. This is getting very close and now the pressure just went up.

I received two calls this morning from Discover, I'm 8 days late on one account and only 1 day late on the second, I'm wondering if they are calling because I am late or if they are calling because I closed my accounts with them? I'm 24 days late on my Bank of America large account and 13 days late on my small credit card with them. Nothing else is late yet, although I made my payment with Chase a day late and they raised my rate to 29.99%, they are just so kind! I can't believe how they think raising rates, charging late fees and overlimit fees are going to encourage me to pay my account, don't they know how discouraging this can be because you can never get ahead and eventually you just stop paying and they lose. If credit card companies tried harder to work with customers, locked into a fixed rate and couldn't change it (like a mortgage payment or car loan), they wouldn't have as many defaults and losses. I really believe our government needs to get involved with stricter regulations on the credit card companies. My prediction is that the credit card crisis will supersede anything we have seen in the mortgage business.

So how will I sleep tonight and sleep for the next six months until this all comes to a head? I really don't know and I'm trying to just take a deep breath and one day at a time.