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Benjamin Brink/The OregonianJanuary: Kosel's net worth -- wrapped up almost exclusively in retirement and mutual fund accounts -- plummeted about 40 percent late last year. His wife got laid off from her transportation job. Only having retired in 2007, Kosel went back to work driving a bus for a rural school district in Marion County. But he hoped to pick up more hours.   "I'm not going to live as I'd hoped to," he said at the time.   Now: Kosel got his five additional hours to make his bus route 25 hours a week. His wife, Martha, completed her certified nursing assistant training and now works for a hospice care provider, often traveling around the county.   Things have settled so much that Kosel plans to cut back his hours again to volunteer as a certified long-term care ombudsman, helping address concerns of residents in care facilities   "I don't think things are quite as rosy as some people portray it to be," Kosel says of the economy. "But I'm not in a position where we're scrambling. I haven't experienced what a lot of people have experienced."   June: Despite great credit and a seven-figure retirement nest egg, Wells Fargo turned the Stanbros down for a $10,000 line of credit. They also couldn't refinance a $300,000 mortgage on a Yamhill County home worth more than twice that amount, even with Mike bringing in more than $100,000 a year from a consulting gig.   Changing from a salaried employee to a contract worker "has caused a major obstacle for the underwriter," a mortgage lender told them. "Although you have been an engineer for 30 years, have substantial income and savings," the lender added, underwriters wanted a two-year history of contract income.   Now: Robin Helt, a mortgage production manager at First Tech Credit Union, contacted the couple after learning of their story and refinanced their mortgage. Their interest rate: 4.5 percent. Barbara says they are making extra payments of $5,000 a month to pay off their loan more quickly.   First Tech "still holds the mortgage, as far as I can tell," she says. And we've been really happy with them. They're really responsive."   The Stanbros, meanwhile, closed all accounts and severed ties with Wells Fargo. "That was easier than we thought it would be after 30 years," Barbara Stanbro says.   Barry Boltz and his dauther Desiree celebrate her degree from Oregon State University in 2008 that was financed by a low-interest-rate Chase credit card. July: Boltz was one of an estimated 1 million Chase customers notified that their minimum monthly payment on their low-interest credit cards would jump from 2 percent of their outstanding balance to 5 percent. Boltz, who used the card to pay for his daughter's college, faced a payment jump from $388 a month to $955 a month. He called and haggled with Chase's customer rep. He discovered the word "hardship" got him to a different department, the "proactive solutions" unit. There, Chase put him on a five-year repayment program at 2 percent interest and a fixed monthly payment of $337.   Now: Boltz signed his new account agreement and has been making his monthly payment with no problem.   "They stuck by their word," he says, though he adds he's "still a little disappointed in what they did."   That's why Boltz joined a lawsuit against Chase in California seeking class-action status. He shared the recording he made of his phone calls to Chase.   He feels lucky. He's kept his job in a departm