No, but it took some time to get here.

Financial difficulties are a fact of life. Job loss had always initiated the problems for me, as I was in a cycle of job elimination from corporations, simply due to downsizing every number of years. However, I turned this on it's head and started to learn the game to use it against them. Maybe there are some nuggets for you here.

First and foremost, your credit score is the number one tool you can use to leverage your situation. If it's good or stellar, you can do almost anything. It's not so much how much money you have, it's how good you are using your score to manipulate opportunity. Job loss, is another silver lining you can take advantage of.

For your situation, I would do everything I can to get that house refinanced. Find someone to make it happen. Ask your broker, you should be using a broker if you aren't, what do you have to do to pass underwriting? Make that happen, as it frees up monthly cash. I just refinanced prior to this election, and invited/interviewed about 50 brokers looking for what I wanted. When I found that broker, I told him we MUST close before the election, for obvious reasons we are experiencing today. I could see the disruption coming.

Appraisals: YOU help lead the appraiser to the valuation you seek. I presented no less than two dozens documents in mine, and it came back $4000 less than my recommendation. What did I do? Well, obviously talk about the improvements and my opinions. Offer online comp prices from the online appraisal sites. These sites aren't what you expect, but they are a visual piece of data for building up your case. Then offer six to twelve of your local "sold" comps, pictures and details. Present your case, and lead the appraiser into your line of thinking. I've done this successfully twice in the last five years with different appraisers, getting almost exactly what I want. They get the final say, but if you provide ZERO, they can pull any number they want. Help make their job a little easier. I use to work for an old engineer that told me IF you want something, present a detailed case. Most of the time, you may receive what you are looking for, or very close.

Next, debts...

Obviously get that home in order, but afterwards, or if you can't, then onto debt management. Know the difference between secured and unsecured debts. In the time of crisis, you can do things you normally couldn't do during the good times. Never let a good crisis go to waste. By this I mean your home and car is a secured asset. Don't pay and they take it away. Your credit card loans or other loans backed by nothing, you can default and settle for pennies on the dollar. Deficiency judgements may be issued on the debt, and your credit score WILL plummet, but in enough time, the debtors WILL settle for pennies on the dollar. The settled difference, will be added as yearly income, and you pay taxes on the amount. Now the benefit in this is that ONCE the debt is "Settled in Full", your credit score jumps back up to what it was prior, or higher, because you've offset the debt load. In seven years, these will fall off the report.

Having stellar credit and utilizing it is key. Utilizing strategic defaults when in crisis, can be a silver lining if the event calls for it. These corporations have no morality towards you, you are a dollar sign. They simply write off the debt as a bad business dealing. Sometimes, just sometimes you may have to use the LAWS that are on the book, and these pathways these corporations provide as options to you. Learn them, as they won't outright tell you about them.

So, how does one know about all this above? Well, in unfortunate times, we simply have to figure things out. I've done enough research to know that disruption was coming, and prepared to brace for this moment. From a 620 credit score, all the way to 800+ today. Refinancing and pulling cash out, while reducing monthly payments AND timeline to pay off the loan. They've essentially provided FREE money just by understanding, and playing the game legally. All while significantly living within the means.

CARES act from last year offered people the opportunity to withdraw from their 401k "additional tax" free, for those affected by Covid. Perhaps using this to offset some debt to free up cash, could have made sense for some people. While people may say NEVER dip into your 401k, I say that the greatest stock market crash is manifesting right in front of our eyes. 2001, 2008, 20XX. There are significant warnings in the stock market that it's coming. You can read it in the stock charts quite literally, if you can identify it and decipher it. It's currently a waiting game.

That's all I got for now. Good luck with your situation. Life is full of silver linings. Go find them for your situation.