It was a total surprise when the Doctor told Mary and Jeff that they had twins. Sonograms were not much of an option in 1965. The proud parents decided to name the twin boys Mike and John respectively after their grandfathers. Mike and John were paternal twins and had markedly different persona and appearance. Mike was the more adventurous and John was the quite and the cautious one. Both were good at sports and excelled in school. Both went to college albeit at different schools and graduated in the middle of their class.
Mike majored in marketing with a minor in business. John chose to be an English teacher with a minor in American literature. Both prospered in their chosen fields.

Incredibly, Mike and John chose jobs in the same city as their birthplace and stayed close to their parents. Mike had interviewed with several out of town employers; however, one of the larger advertising agencies was located right in their hometown. One of the partners of the ad agency was familiar with Mike and had a son, whose name was Tom, who had played baseball with Mike in little league and later in high school on a winning baseball program. They had just been beat by a late inning rally of the ninth inning to lose the State Championship by a capital city based team. It was a heartbreaking experience, but the partner of the ad agency had a keen affection for Mike and considered him a gamer with high character traits. Mike had stayed in contact with the partners son Tom and in passing had mentioned upon graduating from college that he was setting up out of town interviews with companies in his chosen field. Tom in passing mentioned this to his father. Upon hearing that, asked Tom to pass along to Mike that they were taking on some new people with a new ad account and were looking for a junior account executive who could bring some juice to the targeted demographic, 18-26 year old bracket. Mike sold himself to the company and was offered the job. Mike took it; it was everything that he was looking for. A job with an opportunity to grow and prosper at an ad agency.

John wanted to stay in the same town. He was trying to get a job at the same high school that he had graduated. John was not able to do that. However, he was able to get a teaching job across town in one the more industrial areas. John loved his teaching job and took on some additional responsibilities as a counselor and later became the basketball coach of the junior varsity team. John was also very active in PTA and cultivated good relations with students and parents. He was thoughtful and careful with his job and his life.

Mike and John had dated and met their future wives in some unique ways. Mike rekindled a high school relationship at the five-year high school reunion. Sandy had been a cheerleader and ran the school paper. Sandy was attending law school and had extended her education and had chosen to sacrifice her social life for the benefit of finishing law school. However, when Mike and Sandy spent a few moments together at the reunion, sparks were flying. After an engagement Mike and Sandy were married. John met his future wife Patty at a church picnic where she had just moved into town and was the new organist. In addition, she taught in the music department at Mike and Johns original high school, which provided an immediate conversational topic. John and Patty were married a year after Mike and Sandy were married.

Years passed. Mike and Sandy had three children with two girls and a boy and were now were contemplating college. Since the kids ages were all pretty close this was going to be a huge financial strain. Mike and Sandy were somewhat oblivious to risk and had from time to time over extended financially. John and Patricia had two kids a boy and a girl. Over the years, they had chosen to live frugally and their kids chose to go to Junior College while both worked part time jobs while passing on student loans opportunities.
No scholarships were forthcoming.

John and Patricia, wanted to take advantage of a lower interest move on their mortgage, their only debt. John always the planner chose to go on www.AnnualCreditReport.com He found a past due hospital bill as part of the co-payment that had not been handled. It had been paid and John cleared it up right away. When application was made for their mortgage-John and Patricia got the best rate available. Mike and Sandy, needing immediate cash by refinancing to pay a load of installment debt just applied. Their score came back a lot lower than anticipated by 100 points. So much so, that the only loan they could get was a B/C subprime loan with payments $300 higher at the higher rate. They needed the money and went ahead. John and Patricia carefully planned and checked their credit. Mike and Sandy didnt. Mike or John-which are you? Mike and Sandy had planned on buying an income property and did so resulting in a $700/month net cash/mo.

Dale Rogers
www.brokencredit.com