12 hair-raising money tales

I throw all receipts and correspondence for the year in a plastic grocery bag. At the end of year, I date the bag and hold it for two years. My husband hated saving those pieces of paper and sometimes threw them out.

My car insurance company paid damages for my new car three months after it was totaled. I didn't make payments for those three months even when the finance company called because my insurance company told me not to.

Two years later, we were unable to get a mortgage. In those days, your credit score was top secret and banks did not explain why you were turned down. After I cried in despair, one banker (in a whisper) told me I had been rejected because I never made three months of payments on my car loan and it was then written off as a loss!

I told my husband if he threw out the papers for that car he was dead or newly single. I found the papers and proved the date of the accident, produced the letter saying "don't make any more payments" and showed it was paid in full. We got a house.
-- Dee