The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Buy More House Than You Can Afford (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

from the Ramsey Network. You're listening to the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create amazing relationships. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw. Your other host today is Ken Coleman. And we are in the house taking your calls. You can give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. Talk to us about your life and money. Talk to us about the business that you're trying to start. Talk to us about if you think the Mavs or the Celtics should win the NBA playoffs.

Please. I think that thing is done over. Put a fork in the Mavs. And I'm not happy about it. I'm not happy about it either. Me and my boys have been pulling for the Mavs. I know. Me too. It's not looking good. If you're out there and you want to be making more money so you can get through the baby steps faster,

I'd love to help out on that. If you're getting better, your paycheck is getting bigger. So we want to help you do that. I'd love to take some of those calls. We've got a lot of insurance calls. I could talk about how some people can make some more money. No more insurance. I don't know if my brain can handle another insurance question.

That's right. They are important, though. We got it. Okay, we've got a good one on the line here. We got Caleb in Boise, Idaho. Let's see what's going on, Caleb. Hey, James, Ken, how you doing? Doing good. How about you? Good. Okay. So the question that I have for you guys is, is it worth it to sell my recently paid off dream car? Oh, whoa. Okay. This is juicy. I got to lead off with some questions here. Tell us what the dream car is and what it's worth.

Okay. So it is a Ram 1500. It has a specialty package, a Rocky Ridge package. And I probably, I did pay more than I should have for it. What'd you pay? Ended up $88,000. Oh! Yeah.

What year is it? It's a 22. Did you pay cash for it or was it on payments? So I had a pretty good down payment of about $33,000. And then my wife and I made the last payment about a week or so ago. So we had it paid off in just under a year. All right. What is it worth?

So private sale, I could probably push to get about $50,000. So I'd be losing like $37,000. And I'm just curious, Caleb, how old are you? 32. Yeah. I got to tell you, I'm a little disappointed, Caleb. By the way, everybody's dream car is their own, but I was thinking this was going to be some classic, but I'm also a lot older than Caleb. So I'm sitting there going, oh, so my answer is immediately yes. Well, we don't know why.

Because he wants his payoff debt. Okay. I listened to the question. All right. Yeah. He said, should I sell this dream car to get ahead on the baby step? So what would it do? Give us, give us the- Is he on baby step two though is it baby step two caleb i'm on baby step three oh okay i missed that plot twisting okay so you're on baby step three how much do you need to get saved and how much do you have saved so we want save, we want the full six months, which would be about $35,000. We'd be able to save that up in about eight months. I'm changing my opinion. Okay. I wouldn't sell it now.

I'd keep it. You work really hard. It's a great truck. Okay. I know. I just, I just flipped. Yeah. You flip the scripts. You could keep going. Okay, I'm going to keep going. I've already made my decision. You're like Missy Elliott over here. You put the thing down, flipped it, and reversed it. Well, because he's out of debt. I thought this was paying off debt. It's a truck.

It's a Dodge truck to me. It's all, and again, it's my vote. But because he's trying to get the the uh emergency fund through this yeah and he can get there in eight months you need a car anyway there might be some emotional reasons as to why you called I've already I might be with you Ken I might be with you let me dig further Caleb okay so without the car sale it would take you eight months to save up 35k is that that what you're telling me? Yes. Okay. And then after that, I want to know about your home situation. Are you renting or do you already own a place? We own a home. Okay. I think that's a key component to this as well.

You already own a place. What's your income? I should ask that. Yeah. What's your income? It's about 151,000. Oh, yeah. 151. And then what's your wife's car? Like, what's your wife's car worth? What I'm trying to get at is I want to make sure you're not more than half of your income in vehicles. Yeah, so hers is about $23,000. Also paid off. Okay. Yeah. You said $23,000.

So you're right. You're right at it. Okay. There's not a wrong answer here the vehicle's paid off if you can cash flow the the savings in eight months i'm not mad at that you already have a home it's not gonna keep you from saving up a down payment it's not gonna prolong um a longer time period like a longer timeline if you will, what do you own your house? Uh, about 360, 360. How old you guys? 32. Yeah. Um, are you investing? Uh, no, you're not investing it. Cause you're, you know what? There's not a wrong answer. If you want to do this, you can. And if your wife agrees

and you both agree, you can, but no one here is going to say you need to do this. Were you leaning this way that you were thinking about selling it and you called us, or was your wife suggesting this and you were like, I mean, you called us for a second opinion. What was your opinion? Yeah. So honestly, it depends on the day. There are days where I absolutely love it. It makes me feel awesome. I love being able to do what I can in that truck. But then other days when we're thinking about our goals in the future, being able to cut eight months off is appealing to us. But then it always comes down to losing the $37,000 and what we could get for it now based on what we paid.

Yes, it was a dumb choice. We should have done it in another way. I just can't stomach the $37,000 and that's where I'm having the biggest issue with that. The $37,000 hit. The hit because the value is lost whether you sell it or not. Yeah, I'd get over that part. I'm with you. The question that I would be asking if I were you is what would I downsize into from a cost standpoint? So if I sell it for $50, I'm getting $50 back. So you got $50 to play with. What kind of truck are you going to buy? And then that's going to dictate or what car would you buy?

And that's going to dictate how much you have to put towards the emergency fund. He's got like $15 to spend if if he takes 35 of it and puts it. No, he's already paid this off. He just paid this car off. I'm talking about to go towards, because he's got to have 35 go towards the expenses, his savings. So then he only leaves himself. Well, I know, but I'm not saying he's doing it in one fell swoop.

He's got to buy a car. You can't do it on one car, correct? Correct. All right. So what are you thinking? You've thought through this. What would be your purchase price on the other car if you sold this truck? So if we did do it, whatever access we'd have after funding the emergency fund would go towards the car.

So that means if you're going to do it that way, then Jade's right. I don't think that's smart. You really want to buy a $15,000 car now? If the whole purpose is to do the emergency fund, then that's all he's got. Yeah, but I think you're overdoing it. I do too. I don't think you have to fund it all with the car. But if he's going to sell it, then he may as well do what he set out to do.

I would say that. I get it. I think you're going to regret driving a $15,000 car after working your butt off to pay off this dream truck. I'm just trying to keep it real. I do too. If you owed payments on this, it would be a totally different story, but you don't owe anybody anything. You paid it off. You're in baby step three. You have some savings. You just don't have all the savings you want. You're 32. You're not 56. I think I agree with Ken.

I would keep it unless it makes you sick. If it makes you sick to keep it, then get rid of it. But I think selling it and losing the $36,000 and feeling that makes you even sicker. Yeah, that's what I would do. You know, get with your wife and you guys decide. This is The Ramsey Show. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. All right, so I was born and raised in Texas,

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We just want to make sure that you understand what you need in order to have good financial footing and make the good choices and the right choices as it relates to managing all of your assets, managing your money. And one of the things that goes along with that is home ownership. It's a big hot ticket topic right now, Ken. We got interest rates going up. We got low supply on the market. It's tough out there. Where are you on this?

Let's just assume. Let me turn into CNN, CNBC, Fox Business, whatever host. And I go, Jade Warshaw, what do you tell people if they feel like they need to sit on the sidelines right now on buying or selling? What do you tell people if they feel like they need to sit on the sidelines right now on buying or selling? What do you say? What I would say is that right now, house prices are up 47% since 2020. 47%! It's a lot.

Thank you, Lord. Okay, that's a lot. And people are like, Jade, what's going on? Why is this happening? And of course, we know interest rates are higher. That's deterring a lot of buyers. And then you've got the supply. The supply is so

low ken and some of that is because you know some people might argue you know government is not offering enough incentive to build you know more more housing some people what i think is the biggest factor to low supply is right now 60 of home buyers have an interest rate lower than four percent yeah home sellers home sellers. So they don't, it's almost like they're golden handcuffed to a home that they don't necessarily want to keep, but they're like, am I really going to trade less than 4% for seven, you know, a little over 7% right now. And so that's, what's got supply low. And so if you are out there, you're thinking of selling, there's already a lot of uncertainty. The last thing you want is to not have a real estate agent you trust, you know,

not, you know, just feel like you're alone. And so for that reason, if you are selling a home, we want to make sure that you're doing it the right way. If you're buying a home, we want to make sure you're doing it the right way, the Ramsey way, so that it's a blessing and not a burden. And so the Ramsey Trusted Program is the only way to find an agent that you can trust really to keep you on track. There are people here that they value what we teach here at Ramsey, and they will get you the best offer on your house, and they will help you also find the right house for you. And so we set you up with top agents that are in your area. These are folks that we trust and you get to review their stats. You get to interview them and decide who it is that you

want to work with. But at the end of the day, Ramsey Trusted Agents, they've got years of experience, okay? And they're going to help you make wise decisions when it comes to pricing, marketing, and choosing the right offer. Because here's the thing, it's so desperate out there right now, Ken. And just to break away back to our CNN or Fox News segment here, here's the thing. Because it is so crazy out there, people are getting desperate. And you know what comes after desperate? Stupid, right? And so we're seeing right now, we're seeing an increase of really kind of like early, pre-2007, 2008 housing market crash.

We're seeing a lot of those things surface up again. We're seeing a resurgence of 40-year mortgages, Ken. Oh, no. We are seeing zero down. Arms as well, I'm guessing. Yes, adjustable rate mortgages, Ken, are up 15% just in the last three weeks. Yeah, that's where people get hurt. That's where they get hurt.

Because if you survey, if you go back and survey the folks, you know, back before 08, who took out arms, 70% of them say they wish they'd never done it. And the foreclosure rate on these things are so high, guys. So work with a Ramsey Trusted Pro, because if you even try to bring that mess in, they're going to go, don't do it. That's not smart for you. And you need someone who's going to hold you accountable. So these Ramsey trusted agents, like I said, they've got years of experience. And if you're looking for one, you can find one

at a Ramsey trusted agent for free, by the way, at ramseysolutions.com slash agent. That's what you're looking for. All right, Ken. Love it. Love it. Thanks for the media. Yeah, you're looking for. All right, Ken. Love it. Love it. Thanks for the media. Yeah, you know, sure. That's what we do. All right. We got Joseph in Charlotte, North Carolina.

What's going on, Joseph? How are y'all doing? Doing great. How are you? I'm doing all right. So me and my wife, we are kind of talking exactly about what I'm about to ask about. We are looking to buy a house. And like you said, the market is insane. And, you know, we've taken all are looking to buy a house and like you said, the market is insane and

we've taken all the steps to buy a house, but now that we're provided with the numbers and the pre-approval letter and all that, it's honestly disheartening because we don't know what to do. I'm 23 and my wife's 23. We have no debt. We've saved up some money planning for this but when you look at the monthly payment on a house that we would be looking for it's it's ridiculous yeah i mean it would be it would swallow us up and there's no way we could do it so my question is where what steps do we take do we wait do we rent i mean we kind of we live with her parents and we're trying we have a we have a two-year with her parents and we're trying, we have a, we have a two-year-old and so we're trying to get out and, you know, grow our own family,

but we don't know where to go or what to do. Can I ask a quick question really quick? I'm going to get out of the way because this is Jade's expertise, but I, but I am going to ask this question from a, from a provider standpoint and, and I've been where you are. Forget where you are right now. Let's just take a real number, okay? What is realistically, based on what we teach, what's the number that is a very smart and safe down payment and mortgage? Like, what's the price of a house that you can buy and it doesn't stretch you at all? What is that price point? As far as the down payment? No, I'm sorry. I kind of led you the wrong way. I don't care about down payment. She'll talk to

you about that. She's got the formula. I'm saying, what is the price point that is a reasonable purchase price for you with your income where you guys are in your life right now? What's that reasonable housing price? Honestly, it would probably be from $280,000 to $300,000. Okay. I'm going to get out of the way because Jade's great at this and coaching you, but I'm going to tell you what I think. If I were you, I'd be looking at places where I can get a house between 280 and 300.

This is really not a grand mystery. Now, you may not like that, and I get that, but that's where the renting question, she'll walk you through the rest of it, but I thought I'd jump on the front end of that because I feel like that needs to color the rest of the conversation and go, this is what your realistic situation is. So waiting versus renting versus maybe we can't live where I'd like to live right now. In other words, when Stacey and I started out, Jade, I could take you to the place in Franklin where never in a million years would I live there now. But we thought it was the greatest thing ever. Back in the day when we had no kids, it was our very first home.

And by the way, it was $198,000. And I thought that I had lost my mind. I mean, you're right, Ken. You can only afford what you can afford. And then there's certain parts of the country where it's like, what I can afford is just not out there. And so here's what I want to say. You guys are 23.

If you rent for five, six, seven years, it's not the end of the world until you can afford it. I don't think it's going to take you that long. The houses that you were looking at now that you got the pre-approval on, what was that price point? Real quick. $400,000. Okay. So you're looking $100,000 more than what you can afford. And then you have to ask yourself, okay, what does the down payment have to be for us to get in at the bottom of this thing? $400,000. What does my down payment have to be? And what do you have saved so far? So what do you have saved so far? And what do you need in order for this to balance out? And if you don't know the numbers, it's okay. You can go on ramseysolutions.com. We have a really great

mortgage calculator there. We'll put it in the liner notes and we'll make sure you get that information. But that's what you need to figure out. And if you can save up that down payment and in the meantime, if interest rates can go down, that'd be even more, you know, that help everybody out a little bit. But the key point is you're a smart, smart guy. You looked at this and said, there's no way in the world I'm going to get a mortgage that's 50 or 60% of my income. Right. And, and for that reason, you're on the right track. What we want to get you to is to where it's no more than 25% of your take home. Right. So where were you at when you were looking at these? So we, so we sat down and we,

we've been like Ben, Ben's watching our stuff. So we're trying to put all the numbers together, but we have like 36,000 saved. And I bring home about four to five grand a month based on overtime or not. Yeah, you guys got to keep crunching those numbers. Use that calculator because when you use that,

it's going to tell you exactly what you need to have saved. And then you guys can say, okay, what's the timeline in order to make that happen? Okay, so that's what you want to look saved. And then you guys can say, okay, what's the timeline in order to make that happen? Okay, so that's what you want to look for. No more than 25% of your take home on a 15-year fixed rate conventional mortgage. That's the homework. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. Thanks for being with us. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me is Ken Coleman. We're taking your calls. So if you want to talk with us, get your call in now, 888-825-5225. This is a live show where live callers come in. They get screened. They get put on the board. We pick up and instantly we are talking to someone live in real time.

So if anybody's ever wondered, that's what it is. If you didn't know, now you know. So we've got Ryan live on the phone lines from Washington, D.C. What's going on, Ryan? Hey, Jade. Hey, Ken. Thanks for taking my call today. You bet.

How can we help so i needed to get your uh your advice on what to do with um my wife's old 401k while we're still trying to tackle uh baby step two um we we started this about a year ago actually just yesterday was our was our year mark in baby step two uh we've paid off a little over 90 000 um and we have 30 000 left way to go my what it's it's it's been a lot so i'm real proud of us but so now um our income has changed drastically uh so my wife decided to stay home with our two boys, which I fully supported. She's working for her mom now as a 1099 with a travel agent company. I bring home anywhere around $3,500 to $4,500 per paycheck take home. How many paychecks too?

She went, I'm went biweekly. Okay. $4,500 per paycheck. Got it. Okay. Yes, ma'am. And she was making about $2,400 biweekly, and now she's down to $1,500 a month, which is fun. So about $10,500 between the two of you?

Yes, ma'am. That sounds about right. Okay. So I pick up overtime where I can. I take work trips. I've really been crushing it, you know, over this last year. And now that she's not working for that company, she's got, like I said, we have about $30,000 left before the mortgage. And her 401K is sitting at a little over $26,000.

And it's a traditional. So she doesn't contribute to it right now, just with her 1099 being lower. It's a newer company for her mom, so eventually that'll bump up and she'll contribute. So we're wondering whether to... It's with her old job, right? I'm sorry. It's with her old job right i'm sorry it's with her old job so we didn't know whether to knock out debt with that or roll it over into a roth yeah you need to do it wants to do and and i know what i want to do but you know what do y'all want to do y'all's opinion what

do you want to do she she wants to roll it into a roth just take the income tax hit because it wasn't a traditional or isn't a traditional. I'm on the fence because we're so close. No, do that. Your wife is right. Do a direct transfer rollover into the Roth IRA. That's what you want to do with this. The money was set aside for retirement. That's what it's for.

And if you take it, you're taking a hit on retirement funds. And so you would be hit with taxes and penalties because you're taking it before the time period of 59 and a half. So for that reason, and for, like I said, this money was earmarked for retirement. So much of money is about behavior, right? And so if we say this money is for this, that's what it's for. And we kind of learn how to discipline our behaviors in that way. So that's what I would do. And that's what you should,

truly that is what you should do in this situation. Way to go, you paid off $90,000. Yeah, it's amazing. That's really, really great. We're celebrating with you. Very good question. Yeah, Ken, never touch the retirement. I know it's tempting, but don't touch it.

Very good question. Good call. We got Robert who's in Cleveland, Ohio. What's going on, Robert? Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call today. Yeah, how was calling because I have been wrestling with my mother over the past three to four years on her finances. She's in her mid-70s, and the only income that she receives is Social Security and VA survivor benefits.

Her total income is exactly $2,352 a month. When I add up her monthly expenses, they come out to just a hair under $1,900. And what I did was, is to help her out, during Mother's Day weekend, I went ahead and paid off her first mortgage. Oh, wow. how much was that it wasn't the difference was about four thousand dollars okay it wasn't a lot but i figured if she if i paid off that for her then i would eliminate a couple hundred dollars a month yeah now she's just taxes and insurance. Right. Taxes and insurance. Now she's got a home equity line of credit. Okay. That's, uh, that's small. It's about 18 to $19,000. And the bank that she's working with has given her a fixed rate of two and a half percent on it. Okay. So, um, and her monthly, her monthly expense for that's about $200 a month.

Okay. So how can we help you today? I just need some advice because she's given me a lot of pushback on helping her out. Whenever I ask her, um, you know, I like to take control of your finances to where I see where her income comes in. And my wife and I would pay her bills for her because she has, she struggles paying her monthly bills. Yeah. She gets her mail and sticks it in the corner. Yeah, she needs your help. Yeah, she needs your help.

Uh-huh. Yeah. I've tried every avenue possible. And I've been working in finance for 31 years. And she's the toughest person out of my 31 years. Yeah. That she'll say, oh, none of your business. I don't want to tell you what's going on.

Yeah, she's embarrassed. She's embarrassed. And she's a strong personality. She's also right. Her finances aren't your business. Yeah. She's also right. Her finances aren't your business. Yeah. She's your mama. But she needs help.

I didn't say that. I'm just saying, I get it. Yeah. This is a boundary issue. I mean, he's a great son. I'm just saying, when she says it's none of your business, it's technically none of your business. I think you keep doing what you're doing. She's not going to sign over the keys to the kingdom to you, which is kind of what you want.

And that's okay. Just keep doing what you're doing. And when you see things that are like, ooh, that's a hot stove, like reach over and turn it off, reach over. I love what you did to help her out with that first mortgage. I think that was really kind of you and really generous of you.

And I think you keep doing the things that you've been doing, Robert, and the time will probably come where she realizes she doesn't have much of a choice, but I don't think that day is today. Yeah, we're coming to critical mass, I think, at some point because I just recently discovered that her auto insurance was about to be canceled for nonpayment. I stepped in, paid that. Her home insurance, it's not being canceled because her old escrow had paid for it. Yeah. But the problem I just recently discovered is property taxes are due in the middle of July in my county.

And it's about $3,000. Do you have access to her account at all? You know, great question. I set her up with bank accounts at a local bank here, and then she transferred that money to a different bank and didn't tell me about it, and I don't know the reason behind it. She doesn't want you involved. I know why. It's none of your business. Now, one thing I want to bring up, Robert, just a question. Yes. You know, not saving the money for property taxes, not being able to pay insurance. Is she capable of change to be able to deal with these things, yes or no? No. She's not capable, meaning she does not have enough money to be able to do these things? Well, she has the ability with the income, but it's a matter of her being financially...

Okay, that's different. So, Robert, the answer to my question, you gave me the wrong answer. The answer is she's capable, meaning that the income is there for her to be able to do it. Every time you step in and fix something, she's allowing you to do that. You just stepped in and paid her insurance. She ain't going to change as long as you're there to be the good son. That's the point I'm making. Ken, you're right.

I mean, she's 70. She's not 90. You know, my dad is 70. There's no way in the world he would let me step in and just be like, you know what, dad, let me handle it. He'd be like, you need to step on, get to step it. Like there was no way he would let me do it. And so unless you told me like she's, you know,

she's showing early signs of dementia or there's, if there's that, that's another case. But if you're just looking at her and going, yeah, I don't like the way you handle your money. You're not doing it right. You gotta, you gotta step off. This is the Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. Hey, thank you for being here with us. Our scripture unquoted the day, but you take courage. Don't let your hands be weak for your

work shall be rewarded. That's 2 Chronicles 15, 7. I love that. And then Steve Jobs said, The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle. I love that. I agree with that one. That's exactly it right there.

All right, guys. Thanks for listening. If you want to get your call in, the number is 888-825-5225. And we'll try to scoop you up right quick in the meantime we've got susan who's in spokane washington the city i was born what's going on susan did i make you laugh yeah i was born in spokane oh that's cool how can i help? So I went to college 2008, took a break, went back, graduated in 2015. And I did make the mistake of consolidating my student loans into a private bank.

Yay. But, yeah. And so I had been paying on those loans, um, you know, since then about 10 years. And last October I started getting emails from the federal government saying that I, you know, deferment's ending, you're going to have to be paying. And I was like, I don't have anything. I consolidated them all. And I went into it and there was like saying that there was like $20,000 of loans, um, from like some of them from 2008 that had like my name on them, my parents' names on them. Um, neither of us had any idea they existed. We had never paid on them

before. And I, you know, called the, the place, the company, and they're like, oh, that's because of the deferment. You know, there was no, you know, penalty. And I was like, well, no, I haven't paid ever. And this is almost 20 years, some of them. And, like, how is that possible? How did they exist with no hit to our credit, neither of us knowing? I mean, my parents have purchased have purchased like multiple properties and stuff are they on your credit if you check your credit score are they on there and what does it show as

the origination date um I guess I I my credits I haven't checked a credit score since I like bought a car um the origination the origination date on some of them is 2008. Some are like later, 2012 and such, but all of them before 2015. Yeah. Yeah. I would double check on your credit report and see if they're there and see how long they've been there and how long they've been reporting. And then, you know, you might just have to do some basic math and kind of go back and see, okay, how much did it cost me to go to school? What do I know that I paid out of my pocket? I think these are your loans. It's it's very possible that when you went to consolidate, maybe some of them were taken and some of them weren't and something was left out.

What is the what I'm curious of is what did the loan start at and what is it now? Like, has it been accruing interest? Cause I mean, there was only, I mean, the, the pause was only from 2020 to what was that 23 or whatever it was. So. Oh, sure. Did it accrue during those other years? Um, not that I could recognize.

No. Okay. Well, that's the, that's the upside of this whole thing. Um, the thing that makes me feel like it definitely is you as it was during the time that you went to school, it's got your name on it. It's got your parents' name on it. Sure. And you kind of said, yeah, I haven't really been checking my credit and student loans aren't going to necessarily keep you from buying a car. I mean, is it just me, Susan and Jadeade i'm jumping in here it feels like

you should be talking to somebody and maybe you have you just didn't tell us in this call but emails popping up and this is like i'd want to get on the phone with some people and i'd like to get to the bottom of this yeah i mean i did call the company because i guess the it all sprang up when i guess whoever these phones were originally with sold them to a new company. And, yeah, and so I did, I mean, I called multiple times and I was like, well, can I talk to your supervisor? Can I talk to that supervisor? Supervisor? You know, trying to go as high up as I can.

And they were all just like, oh. And actually at the end of, you know, as far up as they take me they just said we don't know we don't know what they probably got it sounds like they got sold off and they don't know who sold yeah yeah yeah well they don't they don't know like how these loans have existed with no penalties because my thought was like well maybe like these were ones that were consolidated but then you know there's some error or something and they're just popping up but is that the answer what i'm digging into is that the answer you're trying to get i don't you don't want to be digging into why they haven't been there's no

penalties right i'd slow your roll on that but do you question whether or not they're actually yours? I'm questioning whether or not, yeah, basically, whether they are ones that, hey, I've been paying on that were consolidated, that they were just like, I don't know. Well, I do know what you mean, but again, I'm playing dumb here because I'm probably dumb, all right? But if I'm sitting there with you at your house, I'm going, okay, do you have some paperwork on when the initial loans were taken out? I mean, this is not, you did take out loans. Yeah. Do you have the paperwork on them? Probably, my parents. Okay.

In their file. Okay. So now, okay. So actually, dumb guy finally figured something out. That's the problem. Go to your parents' house and get the paperwork. We've got to know what we're dealing with. It sounds like you don't even know. And if you're trying to dig into, are these actually my loans? I want to make sure that I'm not getting overcharged. By the way, all things that I would be digging into,

but I would be starting with the original paperwork and let's track this. That's tough, Ken, because I mean, do you think you have that original promissory note? That's a long, that's a long time ago. I mean, I have, I have no clue. You should. Somebody who took out a loan should have some records of what you took out. I know I did. Yeah, I mean, they probably do.

It's the loans that they were co-signed on because you know i mean they're the they still keep their checkbooks and here's the thing what are they are they parent plus loans i honestly you gotta dig into you gotta dig into she doesn't know enough to even make this phone call to us you gotta dig into this more because what could have i mean what what could have happened is you had a semester come came up if mom and dad are on the loan they could have been like well we don't know we'll just we'll sign for this loan like you you're telling me it's 15 years ago i mean i you don't know i don't have any yeah susan and i'm not being unkind i'm just telling you you can't even hold up under my basic questioning so you got some homework to do and i get why you called and I get that you're trying to make sure

you don't get overcharged, but my goodness, you don't know anything. Go find out what's going on with the original stuff and track it. Okay, all right, my loan was for X amount of dollars and it was with this company. And I didn't make any payments from X date to X date. And then I've tracked it

and I figured out that this company sold my loan to this company. This is not difficult stuff. You do not require an investigative degree to be able to figure this out. I want to figure it out. I do feel bad for her, though, because can you imagine? You're like, yes, I'm paying my debt off. And then this zombie debt from whenever pops up and you're like, couldn't I, could I get a phone call? Could I get an email?

Could I get a letter in the mail telling me about this? I agree on that. On that, Susan, I feel your pain and I hate this for you, but to Ken's point, become a detective and find out about this. We've paid so far and we just got to match it up.

Yeah. Cause I'm concerned about what they could do to her, come after her, you know, well, they are now. Well, I know. And so this becomes very stressful and I've take the stress they could do to her, come after her. Well, they are now. Well, I know. And so this becomes very stressful.

And I take the stress out of it by going, I now have a clearer picture of what I'm dealing with. What I think happened is whatever her loan servicer was probably prior to COVID was probably lackadaisical. They probably, for whatever reason, it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. And she didn't hear it. And Susan, I hope you're still listening. She may not have heard much about it, but then in 2020, after the pause and all of these loans got resold and they all resurfaced and went to different providers, maybe that specific loan went to a provider that is on top of their business and that is collecting and that does see her and i think that's what happened and now suddenly it's like oh yeah the new company is like we we bought this we're going

to collect on it there's no question about that and i think that she owes the money i think when she looks back on her credit report she's going to be it's been reporting yeah all this time since 2007 through 2015 i didn't hear about it no no it was just kind of cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. And I'm going to say she's lucky that she didn't get hit with any fees and late fees and crazy interest. Oh boy, oh boy. Count it all joy. Alright, folks.

This was The Ramsey Show. Thanks for hanging out with us. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip side. Thank you.