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“Now,” Rose continued, “missing a couple of payments isn’t going to be a problem.”
If that wasn’t the problem, then what was?
“I’ve been going over your financial status.”
The lump in Sterling’s throat grew ten times larger.
“With the economic downturn, banks have really tightened their criteria for approving mortgages. Only a couple of months ago, your situation would have been approved, but today…” Rose lowered her eyes to the desk. “There’s just no way you’re going to be approved to refinance this house.”
“What? How is that possible?” She had impeccable credit. She never once missed a payment on anything, even a magazine subscription. And even though she’d had to tighten the purse strings over the last five years in regard to her own personal spending, she never had more than five hundred dollars on her credit card at one time.
“I’ve been going over the numbers. Your debt percentage is just too high. If you had someone else in your household working, a husband for example, there would be no problem. I’m going to have to go to bat for you as it is, and…” She tapped her pen on her desktop. “I’m going to do everything I can, pull all of the strings I’ve got, but I’m not confident.”
“So you’re telling me that being five hundred dollars in debt is quashing my chance at renewing this mortgage?”
Rose gave her a curious look. “Five hundred? Sterling, the situation is much more involved.” She reached for a yellow folder on the edge of her desk. “Between the mortgage itself, your car loan, and all of your credit cards, your—”
“Credit cards? I have the credit card for my business, but I only have one personal credit card and the limit is one thousand dollars.”
Rose opened the file. “You have a MasterCard and two Visas totaling almost fifteen thousand dollars.”
The lump gave way to the bile that rose from her stomach. “Fifteen thousand dollars?” She slumped back, her shoulders dropping to accommodate the heavy load that had just dropped on her. “But I only have one credit card.”
Rose removed some papers and slid them toward her. “Here’s your Visa for nine hundred.” Her finger pointed to the correct figure. It was on the high side after her parents had charged some things for her sisters. “And here is a MasterCard for six thousand, and—”
“But I only have one credit card,” she repeated. She wavered in her chair, her vision blurred, as dizziness took over her body.
Fifteen thousand dollars. There were only two people who would spend that amount of money in such a short period of time…and on Sterling’s dime.
“I’m sorry, Sterling. It’s right here in black and white.” Rose pointed to the paper again. “The MasterCard was activated six months ago, on the same day as a second Visa in your name.”
When she had spoken to the bank on the phone about the irregular activity, they had only mentioned her original credit card. But she now realized she had more than one.
The room spun in too many directions. She’d been screwed again. Just after she’d finished paying off her parents’ debt not even a year ago. And she was here to pay off another one of their mistakes. But this time, they’d gone too far.
“If you didn’t sign up for them, should I be investigating?”
Sterling pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to stop the pounding in her head. “No, no investigation will be necessary.” She gripped the arms of the chair tighter, trying to stop from imagining it was her father’s neck between her fingers. “I’m sure the figures are right.”
“Sterling…we’ve been doing business for quite some time now. I can tell when something isn’t right.”
“Everything’s fine, Rose.” It wasn’t. Everything was so far from fine Sterling didn’t even know how or when things would return to normal.
“Sterling, please. If you didn’t sign up for these cards I’m obligated to investigate.”
It took everything she had to hold back the tears. All her life she’d wished for a normal life, with normal parents who worked and went grocery shopping. Not some washed-up hippies who’d never learned to grow up.
“The cards are mine. I just forgot.” Although anger seethed under the surface, at the end of the day, they were still her parents and bringing legal action against them wasn’t the best thing for her sisters. She’d call the companies and cancel the cards, change the billing address, and implement some kind of password protection.
“If I can pay off the debt, will I still lose the house?”
Even with Jack’s triple-her-fee check coming her way, she’d be short. But she’d do whatever she had to do.
“No, but it would make the process less contentious.”
“And if I can’t pay it off?” Sterling stared into Rose’s sympathetic eyes.
“Then I’m afraid if I can’t get approval for your mortgage, our business will be concluded.”
