The Ramsey Show - App - Deal With the Emergency That's in Front of You (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 17, 2020

Debt, Home Buying, Savings Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. We're here to help you with your life and your money. We are located right in the center of calm central. We're calm. Breathe. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. You're going to make it. It's going to be okay. It may be ugly, but it's going to be okay. You're going to be it. It's going to be okay. It may be ugly, but it's going to be okay.

You're going to be all right. Breathe. Is it too soon or can we do coronavirus jokes? Oh, God, there's so many good ones. I'm getting some really good ones. You know, the rednecks that I know still think it comes from the beer or maybe the lime in the beer. But poor Corona, their sales are off 30%. How dumb are people?

Really, their Corona beer sales are off 30% because people think that's where you get the virus. And toilet paper sales go completely through the roof, and the virus doesn't even cause dysentery. So I don't understand. There's nothing logical about fear, is there? It's just nothing logical about anger either. it's just it's just it's nothing logical about anger either and so um you know that's real my best one i got today and this one yeah some of you don't have a sense of humor because you're too freaked out and you probably ought to go listen to something else because i'm not freaked out and then you're gonna be mad at

me because i'm not freaked out like you're freaked out and you know just go there's a there's i'm sure there's a talk radio show that's freaked out. I'm sure you can find one. So you probably ought to go over there because we're just not going to be freaked out. We understand that there's a problem, and we understand some of you are facing some real things, and we're here to help you. I've been through some real stuff, and I'm old. I've survived a bunch of diseases and a bunch of economic downturns and stock market crashes that didn't last.

And I've survived a lot of my own stupidity. Oh, my God. I'm more a victim of my own stupidity than I am stuff like this, though. So some of you are, too. So you ought to be freaked out about that more than you are this stuff. Best one of the day, though,

was I've washed my hands so much that I found the test answers from 1978. Not bad. That's not bad. I graduated the test answers from 1978. Not bad. That's not bad. I graduated from high school in 1978. That's perfect. You know, my calculus answers are right there. I finally got my calculus answers back.

I've been washing my hands so much. Not bad. Ba-bum-tsh, right? Oh, well. Yeah, we'll bring you a cheesy corona joke every so often. You lighten up. I know it's serious, you could still you know sometimes in the middle of the most gross things the only thing you can do is giggle a little bit so

just calm your butt down dominic is with us in florida to start this hour off hey dominic how are you i'm great i'm great how are you d Better than I deserve. What's up? All right, sir. So I have been, I'm a veteran. I just got out of the military in 2018, and I filed my VA benefits. So now that I'm getting an additional income, it's roughly around $1,800 extra a month. You know, that's something new that, you know, not everybody can, you know, get each month.

Amen. Yeah, and I was just curious that, you know, not as new to me, I was curious on what should I do because my only debt that I have is my car, which is $6,800, and that's the only thing I have that's going to improve my credit. And I plan on buying a house next month. I mean, next year, I'm sorry. And I also, as well, I have about $25,000 in savings. Wow, way to go.

Way to go. You should write a check today and pay off your car. We do not get into debt nor stay in debt in order to build our credit. Really dumb idea. That's going into debt so they have the opportunity to go into debt or staying in debt so they have the opportunity to go into debt. No, no, no, no, no. If your credit score disappears and it will not be in the middle, it will be right where it is, or when all the accounts that you own are completely closed and there's zero activity on any account, and if you have a credit card still open, it's still open.

I'm talking about everything's closed and zero activity. Your credit score will go to zero. And then you buy a home on manual underwriting through Churchill Mortgage. And that's how you do it. But, yeah, you write a check. You get $25,000 twenty five thousand dollars you have six thousand our car debt you pay it off today also as well i in my situation as well i have like a ten thousand dollars cd my mom saved for me when i was younger growing up and uh that's just really sitting there i'm not even going to touch it now we can call that your emergency fund and then they call the other thing your house fund.

Okay, and then what about, like, investing-wise? Like, do I have anything I should do? I would just, are you going to buy a house in a year? I would just, what I would do is make sure your emergency fund is three to six months of expenses. You're debt-free, and if I were you for one year at your age, I would just pile everything I could in that, that would be a $19,000 account,

because we just spent six of it paying off the car. And I want to build that up as big as I can build it so the biggest possible down payment when you get ready to buy. And then start your retirement. Then start your retirement then after you buy. You're going to buy next year. How old are you? I am 23.

You're okay. You're going to get there. You've got all kinds of time. And believe me, if you are actually asking this question at 23, that puts you in the genius column. You're going to be fine. Most people are still just trying to figure out if the virus came from the beer or not at 23. So, I mean, seriously, you're way ahead of the game, baby.

Way ahead. Well done. Man, golly. He, baby. Way ahead. Well done. Man, golly. He's got it stacked up. Well done. Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. Kathy is in Illinois. Hi, Kathy.

How are you? Hi. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I love hearing that. Thanks for being our voice of reason right now in these uncertain times. Thank you.

Well, I wanted to call and ask you, my daughter has about $350 in savings bonds that are not maturing. And I'm wondering if it's now's a good time to open up an ESA or 529. But the thing is, my husband and I are not able to contribute because we're in emergency mode. My husband was in the ICU a couple weeks ago. He's doing better, but I've got that hospital bill coming. And my daughter will be needing scoliosis fusion surgery probably within the next 6 to 12 months from now. Well, moving the $350 now or moving it later is not going to be a dealmaker or breaker. So just let it sit right now. You can move it to an ESA later when you can add to it.

You're probably going to get $1,000 to get it into an ESA, to get it in a mutual fund. So $350 is hard to open one with. But, yes, at the point that you're able to and especially when you get to baby step five definitely cash out the savings bonds and definitely put them in mutual funds for her college in a in an esa or a 529 but there's no rush i mean you would get a better buy today because the stock market's on sale but i mean whoopty doopty it's 350 bucks you're difference you're going to make on it is $35 or $70. So who gives a rip? It's not going to make her get to go to college because you did it now

or did it in August after the market's back up, right? So I wouldn't worry about it. You need to tend to scoliosis and ICU bills and those kinds of things. Those are like real deals right there. What you would make on $350, that's not a real deal right now. So you can get to that when you get to Baby Step 5. Right now, you're square in the middle of an emergency. Pay attention to that.

Do that. All that kind of stuff. You're good. You're good. Deal with the emergency that's in front of you. That's a good rule of thumb, by the way. Thanks for calling in. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. In today's world, technology and innovation are crucial for any company's success.

But the primary focus should always be on you and meeting your needs. That's why you get the best of both with Zander Insurance and their term life plans. Zander uses time-saving technology like over-the-phone applications, voice or electronic signature, text message updates, electronic policy delivery, and even plans with no medical exams to speed up the process of getting you the protection your family needs. One of the reasons I've endorsed Zander for 20 years is they never skimp on service. They are committed to serving you, whether you want to do business online or need that personal touch. You pick your path. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander will guide you through the whole thing, keep it simple, and find you the best rates. That's zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thank you for being with us, America. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. You jump in.

We'll talk about your life and your money. Commercial break. I went out and met some folks. I met two young ladies just graduated from college debt free are your kids ready for an acceptance letter are they about to get the letter in the mail that says they're going to college that can be kind of exciting or scary or whatever what if they're accepted to a college you can't afford? Well, my first question is, why did they apply there? I mean, why would you go test drive a Bentley if you don't have any money?

Why would you apply to a college you can't afford? See, it is possible to go to college without going into debt. And this is the perfect time right now to start preparing yourself and your high schoolers to go to college debt-free, even younger to go to college debt-free. And we've got a book on it called The Debt-Free Degree. It's a number one bestseller by Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill. We have The Graduate Survival Guide done by Anthony and Rachel Cruz, or the College 101 bundle. Now, these books will teach your kids and you how to pay for college without debt and how to make smart decisions, and you don't let them start their lives in debt.

You can show your children how not to be a part of the student loan crisis. Get a copy of Debt-Free Degree, the Graduate Survival Guide, or the whole College 101 bundle at DaveRamsey.com, or call the Ramsey concierge team right now at 888-22-PIECE. You could make it a family project if you're all locked down because of the coronavirus. You could get the book, go through the book together, and start laying out your strategy as to how Junior's actually going to go to college.

You might have some time on your hands to work through this right now. Matter of fact, that's true of Financial Peace University. That's true of the Total Money Makeover. It's true of a lot of things right now. So I have not been in a position yet with this that I have to be quarantined, but if I do, I know what I will do. I will binge read. I read like a maniac already, and I will just enjoy myself

rolling around in piles of books. Oh, that would be so fun. I'm not really, like, trying to get quarantined or something, but if I do, I know exactly what I'm going to do, right? That's the thing. I mean, what could you – that's just nobody to bother me. It would be – oh, my gosh. It would be awesome.

Awesomeness. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for bothering us. Thanks for being with us. We're here to take care of you, to guide you, to give you hope, to tell you you're going to make it. You're going to make it, by the way. If nobody told you that this week, you're going to be okay.

Amy's with us. Amy's in Tennessee. Hi, Amy. How are you? I'm well. Very excited to talk to you. You too. What's up? How are you? I'm well. Very excited to talk to you. You too. What's up? How are you?

Absolutely. I have a question. My husband and I have been listening to you since 1997, and we have a mortgage. We have about two years left on it about twenty thousand dollars left and we have about forty three thousand left or i'm sorry forty three thousand in the bank um should we go ahead and just pay it off or should we just keep paying on it we pay about uh we uh pay a hundred dollars extra i mean you have forty three thousand dollars the bank, and you have no debts except your $20,000 mortgage.

Yes. I will pay it off today. Okay. Why would you wait? I don't know. I guess because there's $43,000 in the bank. I guess just that security. Well, there'll be $23,000 in the bank.

That's okay. Okay. Okay. What's your household income? Both of us, it's about $140,000 a year. Okay. So if you kept the mortgage, how much would you pay on it a month to go ahead and knock it out early um well we right now it's about we paid about 880 dollars a month on the mortgage is that the regular payment or you're paying extra

that's extra okay all right so if you didn't have the mortgage like because you won't have by the time you get off the phone you could put a thousand dollars a month back into this account right yes yes and in 20 months you'll be right back where you are okay yeah yeah so yeah definitely definitely definitely i'm debt free today yes i love it pete is in georgia hi pete welcome to the dave ramsey show hey pete How's it going? Good. How can I help? Hey, Dave. So my wife and I put down an offer on the house about two weeks ago right before all this craziness happened. And we're supposed to close April 10th. And we both work for the airlines.

So, yeah. But it wouldn't wipe us out we saved up about 300 grand to put down on the house but it would definitely put us down to three to six months and nothing more and the emergency fund what do you do with the airlines I'm a pilot she's a flies senate who you work for delta okay oh yeah duh at georgia okay atlanta um and we've got you furloughed yet no and they're not even talking about doing that yet really um yeah they've they've said that's the last ditch effort they're going to try to get. I know, but the planes are empty. Right. Well, they're cutting.

Cutting number of flights now. Yeah, yeah. And I'm on a small plane, so I'm hoping that that, you know, kind of gets down to us last because the international side is not anything what I'm doing right now. No, that's true. That's even worse. It depends on how quick we get through this and it bounces back,

which nobody knows. I don't either. I'm always a glass-half-full guy, so I'm thinking it's going to happen faster than it probably will, and other people think it never will come back, and, of course, that's stupid too. So you're scheduled to close and put $300,000 down, and that will still leave you how much in the bank?

Well, we're only going to put about $250,000 down, and then that leaves us with $50,000. Okay, that's your $50,000. Cash. And then your household income today is what? Around $150,000 take-home. And your payment on the house will be how much when you close? About $3,000 a month.

On a 15-year fixed? Well, we are looking at a 30-year just because of this exact scenario. Yeah, I would do a 15 or I would not close. Okay. Because if you can't survive this scenario, then you just shouldn't close. It's that simple. You can't half-butt say I'm going to not survive the scenario. So if you can't walk through this, then you shouldn't close. Yeah, and that's where we're kind of prepared to walk away the day before closing.

So what does your wife want to do? What do you want to do? She's on the fence. She's kind of, it depends on the day, and I'm kind of the same way. Okay. So you're both back and forth. Yeah. And I think, I mean, we kind of talked about just waiting the next two weeks

and kind of seeing how things play out. Well, certainly that would be wise. I mean, and the other thing I could do is I would, is it a brand new house? No. Okay. All right. You can wait two weeks obviously uh i'm sure you had a financial contingency but you've met that contingency because you've been approved for the loan um there's a moral obligation because you promise you people you're going to buy your house

what i might do is offer them okay okay, I'd wait two weeks, number one. Number two, if you're still scared or it's getting scarier, I would offer them $5,000 to delay it a month in cash. Just say, we still want to close, but we're freaking out. You guys walk with us here. We'll hold on to it. We'll close in one month and try that. See if that'll work. If that doesn't work, I'm probably just going to close. I think you're okay. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right.

You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. I'm talking weightless. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own a number of these belts, and they're so comfortable, you forget you're wearing it. Plus, these guys have a great story. B.J. Minson started Grip6 on Kickstarter from his garage in 2014, and now sells hundreds of thousands of these american-made belts to customers all over

the world as a mechanical engineer and a minimalist bj took his dislike for heavy bulky leather belts that never fit right and created the perfect belt a high quality minimalist belt that gives the strength and support of a belt without even knowing you're wearing one i'm really proud of these guys check out this month's special offers for my listeners at grip6.com in the lobby of ramsey solutions jess Jessica is joining us from South Carolina live with a question. Hi, Jessica. How are you? I'm good. How are you? It's good to be here. Good to have you. How can I help?

So my sister and I are graduating college soon. I'll be done in May and she'll finish in December. And we currently have no credit and everyone continues to tell us that we're not living in the real world. You know, we need credit to buy a house or to rent an apartment so what would be your advice to tell them because it kind of makes us angry we know it can be done we don't need credit um or what is your advice as far as building credit goes yeah good question well um one of the things i've discovered is is that um as we've talked to all these millionaires in the millionaire research that we did, was one of the correlating statistical facts or character qualities about millionaires is

they really don't listen to broke people about money. And so that's one thing you could just say is go, well, you know you don't have any money why would I take your financial advice right um and you can be nice about it but you can be tacky if you want to it's kind of fun um but um you know so in your mind you kind of need to get that and just go that's like I would not go into a personal trainer and they're 500 pounds I would go I don't think I'm in the right place you know I don't want to talk to broke people about money and so you just kind of think this through and one of the things that happened to me

when I went broke emotionally and spiritually was I lost all of my need to impress people and to do what they said and I heard and we used to call it barber chair advice. And, you know, you go in the barber shop and they've got advice on everything. It seems like barbers, they know everything. They know more than anybody else. And so you can get advice there, you know, bartender advice, same thing, right?

And my sister and I, so we both paid cash for our cars before we went to college, and we both got full tuition scholarships. They're incredible. So when we graduate, we don't owe a dime and just want to step out into the world. You're so far ahead of everybody else. We're excited. And these people that are criticizing you. Wait a minute.

You're part of the student loan epic debacle and you don't think I'm smart? Sorry. It does get frustrating. It's kind of ridiculous. So, yeah, but I mean, here's the truth. You know, people still say it to me. Me. You know, people still say it to me. Me.

I mean, if they say it to me, you know they're going to say it to you. Absolutely. You know, so, but the actual technical answer, but you're not going to convince stupid people, okay? But the technical answer is, I won't argue with stupid people, but the answer is, yes, you can get an apartment. As a matter of fact, you know, Anthony O'Neill talks about this with the youth all the time, and it comes up with high school students and college students, which he speaks to almost every week. So much so, and I think he posted it on YouTube. I used it the other day in a shoot.

I don't know if we posted it yet or not, but it was absolutely incredible. He sat down, camera in front of him, and started dialing apartment complexes in our area, and in a fluent area and in a middle-class area and in a middle class area and a lower class area right and he just kept dialing them and dialing them and dialing them hey i'm moving to nashville uh i got no credit score but i got no debt can't will you work with me can you help me get in the apartment did you know every one of them said they would work with him? Huh. Now, he didn't say, I have a bad credit score. He said, I have no credit score, like you. Yes, sir. Right?

And, you know, some of them said you have to put a bigger deposit down, which, by the way, when you leave, you get the deposit back if you don't tear up the apartment, right? So that's not lost money. It's lost cash right then, but it's not lost money. So it's not like it costs you more, ultimately. And some of them said, yeah, we'll figure it out. I mean, just come on in and we'll look at it,

but we just want to make sure you can pay the bill. That's all they're worried about. I was under the impression a whole bunch of them would turn you down, just period, on credit score. Right, and I guess that's what the rest of the world makes it sound like. They believe it. And, of course, on a house, you can do with Churchill Mortgage or other good mortgage

companies, a thing called manual underwriting. Now, what manual underwriting is, non-manual underwriting is the mortgage company looks at one number, FICO score, and they go, big enough or not big enough? Done. Okay? If you don't have that, they got to actually look at the human being. Right. And say, do you have a job?

Do you have a down payment do you have um walking around since you know i mean they actually have that's not one of them but you know they actually have to do real like when i got in the real estate business in 1978 a thousand years ago that's how mortgages were made there was no fico score yes banks actually looked to see at if the people had a job, if they had a down payment, if they were steady on their job. And they did pull their credit report back then to see if they paid their bills. But that's all they did back then. That was regular underwriting for a mortgage. They didn't just look at one number, which a monkey can do that. Oh, number big enough. Oh, number not big enough. You know, I mean, it's like stupid, the dumbing down the

mortgage business. But anyway, you can find mortgage companies that will actually say, okay, you paid your apartment rent earlier on time. You're putting a good down payment down. You have this job and you're steady on this job for six months. We can verify all of those things. And when we verify all of those things, it's called manually underwriting the loan. And voila, you got your house.

Yes, sir. For years, my mom has listened to you and has encouraged us to follow and do the same and so as i'm going out into the world that's my plan to follow your ways to stay out of debt so you're doing great you're rock stars both of you thank you we appreciate sharp sharp young ladies honored to talk to you thank you for coming by thank you open phones at 888-825-5225 james if we haven't posted that, ask Anthony if we can post it, if we're not using it for something else. Because that was a very interesting thing to just sit there and watch him dial

place after place after place after place. And they went, yeah, we'll work with you. Yeah, sure, we can figure it out. Yeah, just come on down. We'll talk about it. They need to rent some apartments is part of what it is, right? Zach said it's on his YouTube channel right now. It's already on Anthony O'Neill's YouTube channel.

Perfect. Thanks, Zach. Cool. So you guys can watch that. If somebody says, oh, you can't get an apartment without a FICO score, watch Anthony's YouTube channel. Ta-da. There we go. I love it.

I love it. I love it. It is so cool to see these financial peace babies coming. Moms and dads who talked their kids into going debt-free to college and helped them do it and talked them into having no debt and talked them into moving forward and talked them into, oh gosh, they're so smart. These young ladies are super cool. Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. Marty is with us in New York. Hey, Marty, how are you? Good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So I'm saving for a house. Would you invest into mutual funds to save for the house or would you just stack your cash and and go from there five years or more i would probably use an index fund uh five years or less i wouldn't um an index fund is would be better than mutual funds an index fund is a mutual fund it's a it no-load S&P 500 fund. It's going to follow the market exactly, and it's going to grow without you paying any taxes on the growth until you pull it out. And if it's been in there longer than one year,

you will only pay capital gains rate on the growth of 15% rather than 40% or 30% or whatever your income tax rate is. So it's a great way to grow money. I park money in index funds for short-term use, like a five-year, a two-year, a three-year goal. I can afford for it to turn down like the market is right now and not worry about it. I'll just hold my breath and wait till it comes back up before I buy something with that money. But since it's your big deal, it's your house fund, I don't want to put it at risk. And the market goes up and the market goes down.

It is at risk, but I don't want to put it. I know the statistics on over 90% of the funds make money. Over 90% of the five-year periods in the stock market's history have made money. So over 90% of the time in history, if you had put it in and left it alone five years or more, you would have made money. But only 67% of the time you would make money if you left it in only three years. So you start – the shorter the term, the bigger chance you are of losing money, and I don't want you to do that. And would you not put any away for retirement at the same time, like just keep on going for that goal of getting a house, or would you put some to retirement at the same time, but just keep on going for that goal of getting a house,

or would you put some to retirement at the same time? I would put some towards retirement if you're going to save for over three years. If you can do your down payment in three years or less, which would put you back into CDs, not in our money markets, not in mutual funds. But I don't want to do zero retirement for more than three years. If you're going to save super long like that, then there we go. Hey, thanks for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. We're so glad you're with us. Have I said in this segment that you're going to be okay? You're going to make it? I said it earlier. Probably can't say that enough. Because nobody's saying it. It's also true, by the way.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Kishla is with us in Florida. Hi, Kishla. How are you? Hi there, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I asked that because my daughter loves listening to you say that.

I wanted her to hear you say that. But my question is, I have three paid settlements sitting on my credit report right now. I was scammed back in 2018 by our debt consolidation program here in Florida. And I am currently unemployed, having a hard time finding work because of my credit history. I'm not passing credit checks. And I'm wanting to... What field are you in? Bank yeah okay yeah yeah yeah it's it's really tough what do you do what do you do in the banking world personal banker okay good good okay

so what was the the story was you got scammed you got into a debt consolidation and they got you to settle stuff so you have three settled on your account. Is there any other bad credit on your account other than three settled? No. Okay. Well, there are two types of banks, big ones that suck and little ones that don't. Well, I got big ones that suck. Yeah, you're not going to get a job with a big Wells Fargo,

but you don't want one anyway there, or Bank of America. You sure don't want one there because they are not allowed to think there. They've given up their right to think. That's required to work there. You have to just follow policies, and so you're not going to get hired there. But could you get hired at a community bank where they're allowed to think? Yes, because you would have the opportunity to say, now I want to sit down and interview with you.

And in the interview, the very first interview I do, I'm not going to first thing out of my mouth, but while we're talking before I leave and say, now when you get ready to pull my credit, I want to tell you ahead of time that you're going to find these three negative things. And here's what happened. They're all related to each other.

They're all the same thing. I got scammed on this one thing. It doesn't mean I'm a doofus. It means I made one bad decision, and it has three bad accounts as a result. I'm perfectly competent to handle a banking job. That is not an indicator of that but i did want you to know you're going to find that ahead of time and if you make your decisions 100 based on not the interview not the character of the person not their talents only on their credit report then

really i don't want to work here anyway correct just tell them that i agree tell them that. I agree. Tell them that. I agree. And what that does is it shocks their system. So when they pull the credit report, somebody actually told them the truth. They don't discover it. You'll get the job. Okay, I'm going to try that. Now, I am trying to get them off of my credit report on my own since i don't have the the means to pay a credit

repair agency you don't want a credit repair agency credit repair agencies are all scammed you you can do it the only thing you can have removed from your credit report is something that is reported inaccurately okay the federal fair debt collection practices act and the federal fair credit reporting act are very clear on what can be removed from a credit bureau report, and it's only items that are inaccurate. Now, these events actually occurred, but are they reported inaccurately? More than likely, yes, and that's what I've been reading online. There's a lot of conflicting information.

So all you do is this. Let me tell you how to clean it. It's not that hard. Okay. You write a certified letter to the credit bureau and do not give a bunch of details. Keep it vague. I am according to the, this is what the letter says, according to the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, I am challenging the accuracy of this item. Do a separate letter for each item. Okay.

According to the federal law, you have, since I am a consumer, you have 30 days to prove the accuracy of this item or remove it. You will notice that this letter was delivered to you certified mail so I know when the 30 days started okay or it was delivered to you ups or fedex with a tracking number so i know when the 30 days started and then you will check it 29 days later and see if it's still on there it likely will still be on there because they are inefficient they will not have time to have checked it and if they do not check it or they do not prove it, they have to remove the entire item,

not just correct whatever you think is wrong with it. Do not get into a discussion of what is wrong with it. Just challenge the accuracy of it. The chances of them being able to get an answer back from that company that you settled with proving the accuracy of it in 30 days is zero okay so it'll get taken off now i will promise you this though they will re-report it and it will come back in two years okay you you'll see it again it's not gone forever but you can get it off and if you got all three of them off of there, you've solved your problem. Right. Temporarily. Right. Yeah.

Again. Okay. All the downloads to the credit bureaus are done quarterly, and they're computer downloads. And so everything that's in this stupid company that you settled with files downloads fresh once a quarter. So you'll get it wiped off because they didn't prove the inaccuracy but then a few quarters later like a year or two from now they'll do one of those stupid downloads and it'll pop back on there okay and you'll have to do it again the only way to keep it from popping back on there is go to the original company that you settled with and get them to remove it from

their files so that it's not downloaded to the bureau ever again and the likelihood of that's zero you're not going to get that done okay good to know now if i write this letter certified mail like you're um suggesting and they for some reason or another write back to me and say well we need the specific of what is inaccurate and i'm just trying to keep it vague you know what just say just say the law says you have to prove its accuracy. Okay. I mean, I'd go back. I would mess with them a little bit.

If you want to go back and go, you know, the whole thing of this, you can write them an 18-page explanation if you want to. The thing is, I don't think you'll hear from them. As a matter of fact, I don't think they'll take it off like they're supposed to take it off and you're going to have to bug them and go hey it's been 30 days you have to take this off by federal law okay okay the federal fair credit reporting act it is federal law and you are standing on that as a consumer very important for you to push on them because here's the thing. Good question, by the way. 32% of Americans, that's one-third, have errors on your credit bureau report that will cause you to keep from getting credit.

That's reported wrong, and it's so wrong that it will keep you from getting credit. And 50, I think the last number I i saw was 57 have errors of some kind but it could be as much as they've got the wrong street number on your house or something and that won't keep you from getting credit but they're just the people doing the data entry are the bottom of the barrel and the credit reporting is so torn up and inaccurate it It's such a disaster. Yet another reason that it's laughable that mortgage companies and other people count exclusively on FICO scores, which are created by all this inaccurate information. It's absolutely asinine, but it's the system that we're working in right now, and it's really toxic. It's really a toxic system. But there are a few jobs that will

literally not hire you because of credit. Banking is one of them. And for sure, she's got a real thing there, especially with a big bureaucratic bank like a Wells Fargo, a Fifth Third. God, why would you want to work there? Or a Bank of America. God, why would you want to work there? But these are people that are going to not even, they're going to just use the credit bureau thing, the negative credit score or the negative reporting to cull and push away the resumes.

And so it's just that whole thing. But, yeah, you've got to look at this stuff. And, by the way, that whole system I just used there, if you've got something that is inaccurate for any reason, that's how you can challenge it. It may not come back, but my experience is it usually does come back because it's still in the original company's database, and so it will still download in those quarterly downloads.

It may be a year or two later before it pops back. But the first time it ever popped back on something like that, I got so mad. I was like, that thing was gone. It's back. It's like, oh, that's how this works. Okay, I've got to keep scrubbing it until it doesn't grow back. That's back it's like oh that's how this works okay i just gotta keep i gotta keep scrubbing it until it doesn't grow back that's what it amounts to and that's what you'll have to do is a bunch of times hitting it so good question good question thank you for joining us

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.