The Ramsey Show - App - A Powerful Debt-Free Scream Story of Redemption (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

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broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Well, I have not caught as much crap from my closest friends and relatives in a long time. in a long time, and I have been made fun of by my closest friends and closest relatives to an unbelievable extent in the past 18 hours. I have gotten more snarky, smart-aleck emails from people that love me in the last 18 hours than at any 18-hour period in my life. Why? Because this nice young man at the Washington Times named Ethan Epstein ran an editorial suggesting that I should run for president against Donald Trump.

And people that know me best know how really funny that is and how really a bad idea that that is. I would never do that, never in a million years do that. Number one, I have a much better job than he does. I control all the variables in my life. The level of hate I get is one one jillionth of a percent of what someone gets in the White House. And everybody that I tell what to do around here does it. I run a benevolent dictatorship.

Why would I go up there and deal with those people? No, thank you. No, thank you. That's just funny. And it's a very, thank you, young man. That was a very nice compliment that you would think that I could add value to the nation. And I appreciate that. But God's call on me is very clear. And it is to sit on my butt right here on this microphone and help America actually help America, which, by the way, the president has hard time doing um because of the divisiveness and the hate the hate i have gotten hate on twitter and i didn't this wasn't me that said this it's like you gotta be kidding dave ramsay blah blah blah blah blah it's okay guys it's okay there's not a chance my cousin who's an editorial cartoonist, goes, oh, please, the cartoons would be awesome. But he's the only one encouraging.

So let me just help you guys. That was cute, and it was a kind compliment, and I appreciate that. But not a snowball's chance, darling. Not a chance. I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Think about all the people that miss out on their debt-free scrims. No, no, my life is good. And the last thing I'm going to, Papa Dave gets to see his grandbabies every day.

Why in the world would I want to mess that up and go up there so all you people, half the nation could hate me then. No, thank you. Life is too short. That's a crummy job. The pay's not that good, and the crap you put up with is endless. It's a horrible job. Who would want that job? Oh, you got to be weird to want it. I'm just saying. Some of my friends have wanted it and have really gone for it, and some of them are good men and good women, and I'm happy for them,

and that's the world that they're called into but man you'd have to i'd have to get a telegram from god ain't no chance all right but thank you uh ethan uh epstein thank you you're very very kind and very sweet of you but uh i even called mark cuban and suggested i run Mark, and Mark said it was a good idea. Mark, you're not thinking, man. You have a good life. Why would you want to screw up your life? Come on, buddy.

All right. All right. Let's move on to something that's real. All right. Jason is real. Jason's in California. Hi, Jason. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Thanks, Dave. You know, I'll tell you, a lot of us like you right where you are. Yeah, me too. I can promise you Sharon Ramsey likes me right where I am. What's up? Yeah, I kind of have a life and debt sort of question. I'm in baby step two right now. I'm 35 years old, and I find myself wanting to make a career transition into a new industry.

I know that in baby step two, I mean, you know, I should be working as much as possible and all that, but I'm really finding that I really need to put a lot of time toward kind of building a new skill set. And I was wondering if you can kind of speak toward that, what's the better use of time would be to either, you know, study up, build a new skill set, or to, you know, just put in another 40 hours worth of work trying to get a big step two or just try to do both at the same time? Well, it's a fair thing to say we're going to do both. It's just a matter of what order.

Are we going to do one before the other or are we going to do two at the same time and try to pull it off? So how much debt have you got? About $100,000, right at six figures. And what's your current income? I make about $56,000, right at six figures. And what's your current income? I make about $56,000 a year. Okay. So how long do you think that's going to take you?

About five years, if nothing changes. Hopefully something changes. So what is the career, and would that help this situation? Would you make more when you finished? Yeah, I would like to transition to computer programming and software development, and so I'm kind of doing some self-taught stuff right now where I'm learning languages and surrounding myself with people who are in the industry now and able to kind of get inside there.

But I would like to be able to do that as soon as possible. Yeah, because if you had a decent grasp of some basic programming skills, you probably are worth more than you're making now, agree? Absolutely. And so how quick can you get to that level if you don't take extra jobs? Well, if I'm not taking on extra jobs and like all the my extra time is going toward um you know serving in church and studying these languages i would like to be able to do it this year um to make that career transition yeah okay well and if you did that and you continued

to grow in the uh role and in the career i would think you'd make more as soon as you made your first change and continually get raises. Because, I mean, a high-end programmer like a Ruby Rails senior is a couple hundred grand a year. Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, there's not, it's a pretty rapid increase. As fast as you can learn and put tools in your belt, your income will go up. Sure. So, you know, I just wonder if you can't get it done sooner than a year if you can't make the jump. But, yeah, I would spend my spare time on that rather than an extra job if you can knock it out in a year or under to the point you can make the transition. And then the net result is you're going to get out of debt faster doing that than you are working a part-time job.

Absolutely. Because of the field you're going into and its upwards potential. But again, that's everything about you learning. The deal with tech is not the certification. The certification is a good thing, getting something like your Microsoft certs or whatever, depending on what area you're going into but the deal with tech is um the instant that you stop learning and growing is the instant you've become irrelevant because that world moves so fast and people who have not you know have not learned new programming skills in in the last uh a week and a half or two weeks are starting to lose their career.

So you constantly have to stay out on the bleeding edge of it to become relevant and to stay in a job. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders, right now you have the opportunity to take your business to the next level this new year. You can start by hiring the right people to help your business grow. At Ramsey Solutions, we post on LinkedIn Jobs because they are the best at matching the right person with the right job. LinkedIn Jobs screens candidates with the skills you're looking for so you can hire smart and fast. The thing I love about LinkedIn is they look beyond just the work skills

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Terms and conditions apply. Chad is with us in Oklahoma. Hi, Chad. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I have a car that's paid for.

I have a van that's paid for. They're only worth $1,500 for the van, maybe $1,500 for the car. I have a motorcycle that's paid for, maybe worth worth 8,000. I saved $3,500. Uh, so that's the good news. The bad news is I recently received a garnishment, uh, from my employer and he told me some bad news and I thought maybe maybe I damaged a car or something. But anyhow, I have $3,500 saved. I did what you said, you know, what you were telling everybody to do. If the debt collector calls or what have you, you need to see if they can settle. So I talked them down from $5,000 to $3,515.

However, I've been trying, I'm not happy with that because it took about four and a half months to save that $3,500. So back in 2015, this is when I had the credit card maxed out from, and then, of course, I had three others that I maxed out also in 2015. What would you do if you were in my shoes? So this is a $5,000 credit card debt. Yeah, it was originally, it was $2,000, but, of course, you know, you have fees and what have you. So I'm not mad. I'm just, you know, you have fees and what have you. So I'm not mad. I'm just, you know, I'm a little dismayed at the fact that you see your money just going.

And, of course, to tell you the truth, technically it wasn't really my money to begin with, you know, with this $3,500. But I was thinking just sell the motorcycle, go ahead and, you know, I don't know. Do I file bankruptcy? Or, I mean, is bankruptcy such a big deal? Because I was trying to buy a home. I've already been pre-approved for a home, and I figured maybe a $60,000 home would be suitable for me instead of paying rent. Yeah, you don't need to buy a home.

You have a bunch of bad debt outstanding. And if you got pre-approved, it was at a substandard interest rate. You need to go clean up your debts and build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. So buying a home is off the table right now. No, you're not bankrupt. You have the money to pay your bills. You just don't like it.

No, I don't like it at all. But they're your bills. You have the money to pay your bills. You just don't like it. No, I don't like it at all. But they're your bills. You ran the bills up. I did. Yeah, they're your bills. I mean, you took stuff out of a store and put it on that credit card. Yes, sir. Yeah, so pay the bill.

I mean, I'm sorry, but that's where you are, and you're settling a $5,000 debt for $3,500. That's 70 cents on the dollar. It's not great, but it's okay. And the bad news is they got you over a barrel because of this garnishment, and you need to get your wages back to get rid of the rest of this stuff. So, yeah, I'm getting this in writing from them. Do not give them electronic access to your checking account.

You send a wire or a certified check or something else to them uh in order to uh you know in order to settle this once you've gotten it in writing and yeah you do need to sell the motorcycle you don't need a toy in the garage worth more than your two cars combined while you're trying to get your finances straightened out so yeah i mean you can get another motorcycle later but um yeah i'm getting rid of that thing that'll put some of the cash back in the bank, and then let's go get those other debts that are outstanding and start cleaning them up one at a time, become debt-free, and then have an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses,

and then start saving a down payment for your house, and the house will be a blessing. But, you know, at some point in the last two to three years, you've been out of control several times. And you've got to get this thing where it's running down the middle of the road again, your life, that is. And you can feel the steadiness of that, and then you'll be ready to start talking about buying a house. Hey, man, thanks for the call.

All right, Sean's with us. Sean's in Oregon. Hey, Sean, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm doing call. All right, Sean's with us. Sean's in Oregon. Hey, Sean, how are you? Hey, Dave, I'm doing really well, thank you. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So my wife and I have been married five years. We have three kids with one on the way, and we had a problem where we were living like no one else before we really could afford to, and about six months ago, I ended up filing bankruptcy. And so since then, our bank has offered to restructure our mortgage, which is great. And we're now debt free aside from one small medical bill, which will be cleared up soon. But I'm trying to say, you know, real life,

can we afford the house we're in? It's, you know, what's supposed to our family home, or do we need to sell it and find something else? Yeah. So what is your take-home pay monthly in your household? Well, it's me, and it's $5,000. Okay. And how much is the house payment? $2,100. Okay. That's pretty high.

It's not the end of the world. We tell folks to be at about one-fourth of your take-home pay, which would be $1,250, and you're more like 40% of your take-home pay. And that's pretty high. You're going to struggle, especially with a lot of little babies to feed. So does the house have any equity in it? About $30,000 okay yeah I know it's a lot of problem to move but I you've been through a bankruptcy and if you're gonna go through a bankruptcy you might as well get clear and get clean and get down to solid ground to start rebuilding and this thing's tripping you up

because it's taking all of your take-home pay, your house poor. Yeah. The one light at the end of the tunnel is my income is going up about $15,000 in six months. So my wife and I sat down with your budgeting app, and we've been talking about this because we need to be in this together and try to say, you know, can we do right and begin to do right until then. Yeah.

If you're going to get enough to where your income starts being a smaller percentage or your payment starts being a smaller percentage of your income because your income is going up, then that does change the equation. You're right. So, yeah, you may want to stay if you love the house. Do you love the house? Yeah, it's great for our family. Okay.

All right. Yeah, but, you know, the point, if you're going to go through all the crap you've been through, make sure you get all the way to solid ground. And so let's say that your income doesn't go up in six months. Don't be sitting here kicking the can down the road and three years from now still be having this situation. Make sure that that's it. So I have a contractual thing with when I got my newer job that it will, but I also have some shares that I'm going to be getting in two years.

I'm wondering if I should sell and trade to mutual funds. So that's a secondary question. Absolutely. Yeah, I don't keep single stocks unless there's some kind of real reason to. But too much risk for me. And in your case, you need the liquidity. You need the money to do other stuff with. Get your emergency phone in place and let's get this house under control. Get everything moving in the right direction. So, hey, thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Blinds.com gives us our question

of the day. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Use the promo code RAMSEY when you go there, and you'll save money. All right, Justin's in Oklahoma. Dave, I owe about $190K on my home. I've got approximately $950 in my retirement accounts. Would you recommend pulling out of my retirement accounts or paying off my home?

I'm turning 59 1⁄2. Be able to do that and avoid penalties. Currently unemployed, looking for a job, so this would be a little bit of a burden release for my wife and me. What do you think? Yep, but I would get a job. I don't think you're done. But, yeah, if you can take $200,000 out of a million and pay off your home,

still leaves you $800,000, and that's approximately where you are, then, yeah, I'm going to do that. And if it was your last $200,000 and we're pulling it out, your only $200,000 and we're pulling it out, no, I wouldn't do that. But as you get above $59,500, I want to get that house paid off. So let's get it paid off. But then don't use that as an excuse to relax on the career. Keep your foot on the pedal.

Pedal to the metal, baby. Let's get the career going again. You've still got a lot of work you can do. A lot of good you can do for your family and for your family tree. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Let's talk about low interest rates, baby. I know right now that Churchill Mortgage can get qualified buyers into a 15-year conventional loan for well under 4% with no discount points or no hidden fees. Listen, if you're even thinking about buying a home or refinancing, do it right now. These rates are incredibly low. Here's what

I'd like you to do. Take 10 minutes and call Churchill Mortgage and see what you can qualify for. So even if you have to get creative and buy something further out of the city to get something you can afford, now's the time to make the move. That's why I'm sending you to Churchill Mortgage. I trust them to look out for you and your budget. Don't miss this opportunity. You can secure these low rates now for up to 90 days through Churchill Mortgage. Go to churchillmortgage.com or call 888-LOAN-200.

That's churchillmortgage.com. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 100. Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Jacob and Angel are with us. Hey, guys.

How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? Welcome. Where do you guys live? Just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Oh, fun. Welcome to Nashville.

And all the way over here to do a debt-free scream. Yes. Absolutely, yeah. How much have you paid off? Just under $165,000. Cool. How long did this take? Two years, 11 months, and eight days.

Okay. That works. We paid it off on our five-year wedding anniversary to the day. Perfect. And what was your range of income during that two years, 11 months, and eight days? I started at $70,000 and now just about $100,000. And that's the household income? That's just me.

Okay. What's your household income range? $200,000 now. Yep's the household income? That's just me. Okay. What's your household income range? $200,000 now. Yep. Okay. And it started at what? About $140,000. Okay.

Good. What do you guys do for a living? Angel says I'm an IT, but I actually work in a digital environment. Uh-huh. And I'm a nurse practitioner. Very cool. Good, good, good. Well, well done, you guys.

What kind of debt was the $165,000? Mostly my student loan whoa graduate school knock it out so you got your degree in what um my master's in science at duke university oh yeah ding ding yeah okay yeah that'd be a cheap one not okay good for you guys well done very well done how's it feel to be free it's amazing is the piece is is real it's we are can't believe it it's unbelievable yeah it's a long two years 11 months in a case it was yeah the kids are all shaking their head yeah it's really long we don't want to be able to eat again yeah so what started you on this journey two years and 11 months ago? Well, it goes way back before that.

My first wife, Katie, actually introduced me to the Dave Ramsey Show. She was a faithful listener, and tomorrow would have been her birthday, actually. So she and I were married a couple years and had merry weather, and then we found out she had cancer. We actually, she was pregnant with our little boy and died just a couple months after we found out about the baby. So I lost her and went years without having anybody. And then I found out about Angel. You want to tell him about it? Yeah.

I also had lost my husband. So our home was invaded in 2009. So I have three children. Our oldest isn't here right now, she's at at home she's 21 so our you know we went through just terrible trauma and loss sounds like and really know what it's like you you know you talk about bankruptcy but I feel like we were at the bottom without hope and the Lord really became our hope and And we got introduced through a mutual friend. Um, he was living in Atlanta and I was in Charlotte area. We started writing letters to each other

in the mail, telling our stories. Then we met and then like a month later we got married. Yeah. It was really fast. Um, we joined our family. We're the real Brady Bunch. Yeah. So we have a total of five kids. And so I think when we... And a grandbaby on the way. And a grandbaby on the way. They look old enough to be grandkids. But I think the journey has been one of the heart. And when we got married, you know, it was, we were in a mess. You know, we had a lot of debt and had both been living still like we had two incomes and, you know, and just were not prepared to be single parents and, you know, have to provide. So, um, we found out about a class, a financial peace class and started going to it about a year into our marriage. And I felt, I feel like it, it was a journey of the heart, you know, really healing,

you know, things that were inside of us and really getting to watch the Lord be our provider. And we've, we went through the class. What, how many times? We took it three times, table lead twice after the first class. And we just led our first ever class at our home church just finished up a couple of months ago. And we got to celebrate with our class and we paid off our last debt but it's it's been an amazing journey just so controlling money for you guys in both cases uh i'm just i can't even imagine what y'all been through but as best i can plug myself into it in 30 seconds here uh this is mind-blowing but i just to me it would feel like uh i would need to control the money piece to feel less vulnerable if i were where you've been through what y'all have been through both of you uh yeah that's what you mean by heart you know the sense

of uh exposed i can't be anymore i've had too much yes you know i can't i can't i can't have anything else so you guys were young widows and widowers. I was 31. And how old were you? I was 26. Wow. Yeah, so. Wow.

Amazing story. Wow. Yeah. So go ahead. We've just seen so much redemption. I mean, Angel mentioned our two oldest daughters are not here. And we've just seen that the Lord has done through this way beyond just finances. Oh, yeah.

It's really our family is just it's beautifully blended. And so much of it has been because this has brought us together. Wow. Real unity. Yeah. Honored to be part of an incredible story like this. Absolutely amazing. Well done.

Thank you. We drove. We're we've been that's how we pulling in. This was like Wally World when I was like, if it's closed, we're going to go in. We have been dreaming about this. At New Year's Eve last year, this was our dream to get to have this moment to say that this thing is behind us and we've overcome. We want people to really know that, that they can do it.

You just don't quit. What you've all been through, that's a big message for sure. Amazing. And the redemption part of the story is what's just beautiful. It really is. You're right. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? No matter how bad you're hurting, no matter what you've been through, what do you got to do?

For us, it was really being on the same page. I mean, obviously not everybody's married, but for us, it was really putting aside the past where we were going those separate lives and really just sitting down literally every week saying this is our plan. We're sticking to it. The whole Nehemiah, we're building something great and cannot come down. That was it for us. So it was not always saying no to things, but in the moment saying no to a lot of really amazing things

so that we could say yes to this bigger goal. And now we're planning for the future in a way that is just, it's really, again, you know, she's buying grandbaby stuff all the way over here. I love it. It's all those beautiful things. You should. That's great. But yeah, it's that unity.

It's really just, and it's me saying no to a lot of things I wanted her having to do that too and really being on the same page together. Very cool. Who are your biggest cheerleaders outside your family? Outside your immediate family. Definitely, I think like our church community. You know, I think we've got friends that are just, I mean, they're basically here with us, you know, rallying us and with us,

and they know what we've been doing. So, yeah, I think. And that was a big part for me too, Dave, is when I lost my wife, I didn't have that broader community like Angel did. And I've learned through being with her that we've got to do this together. You can't do it alone. And she really was carried in a lot of ways after she lost Matt.

Like I wasn't because she had a broader family. I had beautiful people on Katie's side in their family, but I didn't have the real community. And so I got absorbed into that when we got married. And it's just been, they're the sweetest people. We got to go through our class with several of our favorite friends recently. Yeah. And that was it.

It was just that community, that family. Very important. Yeah. Well done, you guys. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. What a great story and what great champions you guys are to fight and push and scratch and claw through and redeem something out of all the mess amazing very very well done and grandbabies i mean

if i don't know how great grandbabies are gonna be i'd have been nicer to their parents oh man this is great well way to go you guys way to go now what are these three's names and ages this is naomi josiah and meriwether and naomi's 14 josiah's 12 meriwether is 13 all right very cool yeah very cool so very neat well well done you guys very very well done good stuff all right jacob and angel naomi meriwether and josiah from Charlotte, North Carolina. $165,000 paid off in two years, 11 months, and eight days, making $140,000 to $200,000 household income. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

One, two, three. We're debt-free! Woo! Yeah! Yeah! Oh, you've got gotta love it. Oh, my goodness. The things folks go through.

It is amazing to me how tender and easily wounded the human spirit is on one hand and how resilient it is on the other. The things that you can go through and come out and the things that still leave a mark. Well done, you guys. A lot of redemption in that story. Pretty amazing. Very touching. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. We'll be right back. Lorena is with us in Texas.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Lorena. Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, so I've attended your Financial peace classes a while back. I've been working on baby step two and three. I'm kind of in a bind on what to do with my home. I live in a mobile home. The home is worth 35 to 40k at the most. I owe 72,000 on it. Good Lord. I know. I bought this home with my ex-husband um i was totally against it uh but you know you're married why'd you keep it in the divorce if you were

against it so unfortunately because um i didn't want to um We were going back and forth during mediation on who was going to keep it. But because it's in my parents' property, he didn't want to keep it. I was still living in it with my three kids. At that time, I was making $18,000 a year. Now, thank the Lord, I am a registered registered nurse now so i'm a little bit better in a position but the home is kind of falling apart i'm really kind of ready to get out of here and i'm still deciding whether i should file for how are you going to sell it if it's on your parents property so i can't i've done research because I've been living here for about four years.

I've done research on it. Nobody wants to refinance it. I try to do like a short sale. He was totally against it and very uncooperative with me. Yeah, but I mean, the land would have to go with it, wouldn't it? Yes. And unfortunately, at the time time they kind of screwed us uh at the time that we bought the home they didn't tell us that we weren't allowed to have two mortgages in one

property we found that i found that out now what i'm what i'm worried about you said you didn't want to get rid of it because it's on your parents land do you own the land or does your parents own it my parents still only they still make payments on the land your parents own the land or does your parents own it my parents still only they still make payments on the land your parents own the land under the mobile home yeah so there's two houses in the in the two acres and so it can't be it can't be split because of course they don't own it so and they don't want to keep it i don't want to keep it um it's falling apart anyways um and i would really like okay so wait a minute let me the the there is no land with the thirty five thousand dollar mortgage it's only on the mobile home or the seventy thousand dollar

mortgage on the thirty five thousand our mobile. There's no land included in that deal. No, no. The land that's under it is in your parents' name and they are paying payments with their regular house payment. They just let you sit it on their property. Yes, sir. Okay, good lord. What a mess. I know. Okay, here's what I would do. I would call the mortgage company on the mobile home and say, I'm not paying anymore, come get it. And what if I get, like, foreclosure? They're going to foreclose on you. That's a repossession.

So would it be better to be foreclosed on or file bankruptcy? Be foreclosed on. In terms into buying a home in the future? Essentially, I would like to buy a home for me and my three kids. That's going to be later. Right now, you owe $70,000

on something that you can't sell and it's not worth but $35,000 if you could sell it and you don't make enough to cover the difference. And so I would work with them on a short sale again, drag him back to the table, have the judge bring him back to the table with your lawyer if you have to.

But if they won't do a short sale and he won't do a short sale, tell them just stop making payments on it. Come get it. And just live there until they come get it. Eventually, it's a repossession. It's not a foreclosure because it's not actually a piece of real estate. It's more like a car that you sleep in. Oh, okay.

It's a UCC-1 in most states. So it won't affect me as much. No, it's going to affect you. It's going to affect you big time. No, it's going to mess up your credit big time. Can you see me afterwards if I let it go?

They may. And then you can settle on that and then you will be ready to buy a house. But I don't know how else you're getting out of it unless you just sit there and pay it off. You want to pay it off? that's that's another 14 years no no it's not it's only 35 000 what do you make um right on the home how much do you make oh um a month about 3500 okay no you owe 70 you. You don't owe $35. Yeah, you're not going to pay it off.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so here's your options, all right? You sit there and pay payments. That's option one. While it goes down in value and continues to fall apart. Option two is you file bankruptcy, in which case they will then repossess the property anyway, or repossess the mobile home anyway, and you will have a foreclosure and a bankruptcy, or a repossession and a bankruptcy, depending on how it's looked at in Texas.

Okay? And the only difference with the bankruptcy part is they won't be able to chase you for the difference. I would instead, I would just let them repo it and then negotiate the balance with them. The $35,000, let's say they take it for their repossession and they sell it for $20,000. That means you would owe them $50,000. You can probably settle that for $5,000 or $10,000 because they're not used to collecting deficits on mobile home repos.

People who have $50,000 laying around don't get repoed. So they're not expecting a reposition. Do you have a bunch of wealth or money you haven't told me about in this conversation? No, I don't. I've been trying to work on the credit cards that I got left on after the divorce. And then, of course, I put myself through school. Okay, so when you hang up, call them and tell them you're not paying any more payments. And I want to begin a negotiation on a short sale so you guys can come pick this thing up,

or a voluntary repossession, and I want to begin a negotiation on that. And if they say we don't do that, you say, well, you're getting ready to because I'm not paying any more payments, so you're going to have to come get it. And can they just give, what if one day I come home

and they take my whole house and all the stuff in it? Can they do that? what if one day I come home and they take my whole house and all the stuff in it? Can they do that? That could happen. It's not going to happen quickly. You're probably going to have a lot of belligerent conversations with them before that occurs. It won't be like the next day they show up with a big truck.

They don't do that. You're going to have a lot of conversations with them, but stay in touch with them. Don't ignore them, and that way they won't surprise you. And just let me know when you're coming because I want you to come get it. And then when they come get it. I want my stuff. I know.

I got that, but your stuff ain't worth anything. You just want a couple of your pictures out of there, but you don't have any stuff. You can throw some stuff in a parent's basement and go get you an apartment as soon as you find out when they're going to come get it. It'll take them six months to get around to it. And in the meantime, I can pay off my credit card debt. Because you're not paying any house payments. Okay.

Yeah, but you've already put them on notice. Now, understand, you still owe all the money even after they come get you. And understand, even though it's voluntary, this is still a repossession. And it's going to be three, four years after this, after you get all this settled and cleaned up, before you get to go buy a house. But I don't know how you're going to get out of this three or four years sooner than that. I think that's the soonest you're going to get out of this three or four years sooner than that i think this is soon as you're going to be clear well i mean i guess i have to do what i have to do this is not

what i want to live at and don't want to continue raising my kids here you know i want something i think well it doesn't put you it doesn't put you in a good place 20 years from today you know in years from today, you're still going to be in a dadgum mess if you don't take some action on this. And so hopefully you can create a short sale discussion with them and reopen that discussion with the ex. That's your best scenario. That's the least damage to your credit, but it's still very, very damaged. So we're not trying to save credit here.

We're trying to save Lorena. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.