Jeremy sent a message to Warren Buffett – Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. – Email Address that said:
Dear Mr. Buffet,
Hi, my name is Jeremy . I am not a person who follows or cares much about celebrities and famous people. That said, I admire you for not being greedy and speaking out publicly regarding tax policy and economic issues.
I know you are a busy man and I assume you get many requests for help. I am contacting you not looking for a handout, but just a loan at a decent interest rate. My partner, Alicia, and I have lived together since 2002. We have endured substantial financial hardships beginning in 2007 when I lost my ability to work due to severe back problems. We have no savings and very little invested in retirement accounts.
I worked in construction management until multiple degenerative disc conditions in my back destroyed my ability to do most things. Alicia has a degree in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. She worked for non -profits in the Bay Area such as the Institute for Scientific Analysis and Disability Rights Advocates for the first 11 years of her career after graduating. Now she works for the Alameda County Library System as their information specialist.
In 2013, Alicia, who earns about 68% of the money in our household, lost her job due to office politics. A new office manager convinced the directors of the non-profit she worked for that she could get Alicia's job accomplished for cheaper than they paid Alicia. It took her 10 months to find work. In 2015 she switched jobs and had a month long gap in her income.
To fill the gap I had to rely on payday loans, which are incredibly expensive. I had no choice, we had no one who could lend us the money when we needed it. Not borrowing the money would have meant losing our home.
We both have poor credit and are trying to get back on track. The problem is that I have not been able to eliminate the payday loans from our budget. At one point we had 9 taken out, over a year we have reduced it to 7. The end result is that we are wasting over 300.00 per month on interest because we can't find a decent loan.
What we need is to borrow $1700.00 which we could afford to repay at a pace of 200.00 per month. Would you be willing to lend us money at a decent interest rate? That would enable us to completely be rid of these payday loans and pay back the debt in 9-10 months. Otherwise I imagine it could take us over a year and cost us 2-3,000 in interest.
Thank you for your time.
Jeremy
