The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Treat a Credit Score Like a Pet! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: May 26, 2020

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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. Thank you for joining us, America. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. My co-host today on The Dave Ramsey Show would be Ramsey personality, Anthony O'Neill, number one best-selling author of the book Debt-Free Degree,

talking to students all across America, talking to churches all across America, and now talking to america pretty regularly on the dave ramsey show so i heard you and uh you and deloney were on while i was out of town last week yes sir and uh and the show survived we missed you yeah i heard you guys were pretty good actually hey dave you know i heard nobody missed me is what i heard that's a lie if that was the case we wouldn't have a job sir so we miss you but it's just good sitting in your chair and just really talking to the people and helping them you know while you're out enjoying life you've been doing it for 25 years so every now and then

dave you deserve you know some time off to go out there and enjoy your life and your wife and we should be able to hold the chair down for a little bit you did you did a great job i heard yeah it's a little bit dangerous when you guys are a little too good when i'm not gone so it just makes me feel insecure i'm just saying because you know i'm kind of insecure that way no dave if you was you wouldn't let us be in the chair man don't listen to him america please don't do it scott's in california hey scott welcome to the dave ramsey show how can anthony i help oh man i had rice and beans for lunch the other day, Dave, and it was delicious. So thank you for the recipe idea.

I'm big on recipes. How can we help, sir? So, Anthony, my question is, if I've got 15% going into retirement and I have extra income, I'm just starting the 529 plan for my daughter, and then we're having a baby in the fall also. Should I be applying that extra income to kind of ramp up more so that 529, or should I be applying that extra income across four, five, and six simultaneously? That's a good question, Scott. And for America, those of you all who are asking, he's asking about baby step five. So for America, those of you all who are asking, he's asking about babysat five. So he's already maxed out his babysat for babysat five is to

invest into a 529 to go ahead and cover college, pay cash for college. Scott, let me ask you this question. What's your yearly income right now? Between my wife and I, about a hundred thousand. About a hundred thousand. Okay. And you have one child right now, you have one on the way. Yeah. And how much are you investing into the 529 right now? Uh, I, I'm just getting it started right now. Um, started with a smart investor pro, so that's why I didn't know what amount to do. Yeah. How much do you owe on your home?

About 300. Okay, cool. Well, you're doing really good, man. Congratulations. Yeah, we would always just say 15% of your income, as you know, going into retirement as Baby Step 4, do something to address college. Some people choose to, with new babies and so forth, to really lean in on the college right now and get a big head start on it and a little less extra on the mortgage. Some people tend to lean toward the mortgage depending on the situation. I want you to do something in baby step five, something into your 529. You got plenty of time, so you could choose to do less 529, more mortgage,

but it's not unusual for a mom of young kids to say, hey, we're going to kind of get this box checked. I'm going to load up on this 529 and put little to nothing towards the mortgage and baby step six until I get way ahead. Absolutely. Last question for you, Scott. How old are you? 32. Oh, yeah. So I agree with that. If you have plenty of time, young kids right now going ahead and just put a little bit in there and you choose either go heavy on a 529 and go to mortgage or go heavy on a mortgage and less on You have plenty of time, young kids right now, going ahead and just put a little bit in there, and you choose. Either go heavy on the 529 and go to mortgage, or go heavy on a mortgage and less on the 529.

Either way, you can't go wrong. Your 15% of your income, whatever your income is, 15% should be going into retirement. Four. Then five and six, you just blend back and forth depending on the life situation. That's why we don't have an exact formula. We just say five is college funding. Yes. That would be different for a 17-year-old than it would a 17-month-old. Right.

It's a different set of problems, a different set of opportunities. All right. Gage is with us. Gage is in Maine. Hey, Gage, how are you? Hey, Dave and Anthony. How are you guys doing? I'm doing great.

Cool. How can I help? So I'm a high school senior, and I'm actually going to graduate in June. And I was accepted into the University of Maine, as well as my top choices, GW and Rutgers, which are out of state. And just for some background, I've wanted to go out of state for basically as long as I can remember. But a few weeks ago, why? Um, I mean, you don't like Maine. I like it here, but like, I've just living away from your parents, man. Yeah, basically. Yeah. And yeah, you can answer the question. There you go. And so basically a few weeks ago, I made a really tough decision that I would attend UMaine, which would have me taking out zero loans. Okay. Instead of Rutgers or GW, which would have me taking out about $25,000 in loans per year.

You made the best decision you could have made at your age. I know. Very good. I was about to say, I've listened to you guys a lot, and I know you would say, Hey, listen, let me tell you this, Gage. When you're 39, the 39-year-old version of you is going to love the 19-year-old version of you. He's going to say, that dude was sharp for 19.

He made a really good decision. You're going to like, the older you you is gonna like the younger you a lot yeah what are you going to school for man um i'm going in undeclared but i have an interest in geosciences i'm looking into majoring in that but i just want to see if anything else may strike my fancy before i do that okay well i'm saying this right now use this first year figure it out your first year okay figure out what you want to do right now. Would you not taking out any student loans, going in undeclared your freshman year? That's fine. You'll not got your prereqs, but do not go into your sophomore year undeclared. I want you to figure that out now so that way you can go. You can really go for it and really be successful.

But again, I agree with Dave and I'm going to tell you this right now. You made the best decision to stay in state and to not borrow a dime your future is going to be brighter because of this one decision you made today i'm proud of you man yeah that's a hundred thousand dollar call you just made man yeah a hundred thousand dollar decision you just made touchdown baby whoa and now dave and here's the thing too it bothers me me. That's why I asked the question. Like you, you want to get away from your parents,

but you just said it. That's a hundred thousand dollar call. You just made a hundred grand. You can get way away. You can never see them for a decade. Yes. Four years later, you don't have to come back home.

You can go live your life because you made the best decision now. Oh's a good point yeah you graduate with a hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt guess where you are you coming back back to mom and dad that's what you're trying to get away from that's a good point come on man hello just a dog chasing his tail right there man it is very good and a lot of people ask me what's the secret sauce to not taking out student loans what this young kid just did his school school choice. College choice. Let me just tell you, he's just as employable at the University of Maine, 99% of the companies in America, as he is at the University of

freaking Rutgers. What, do they make boilers or what? Sorry, Rutgers. Just couldn't resist. $100,000. You gotta be kidding me. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Sorry, Rutgers. Just couldn't resist. $100,000. You've got to be kidding me. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. you know what disappoints and angers me to no end at a time when most people are pulling together to help one another identity thieves are using our heightened levels of fear

and anxiety to prey on us in some pretty scary ways. Scammers are setting up fake testing sites just to collect people's credit card and social security numbers. They're also sending out texts and emails posing as IRS agents claiming to need bank info so you can get your stimulus check, and the list goes on look identity thieves are smart and they have no shame which is why you must be prepared zander's id theft protection plan covers all types of identity theft uses monitoring and alerts to keep you informed and takes over the work if you become a victim they have stolen funds protection and your children are included for free on their family plan. Call 800-356-4282 or visit zander.com and be one step ahead of the bad guys. Ramsey Personality, Anthony O'Neill, my co-host on the Dave Ramsey Show today,

number one best-selling author of the book Debt-Free Degree. Thank you for joining us, America. Jeanette is with us. Jeanette is in, well, maybe not. What did I do wrong? Let's try. Jamie is in Florida. Hi, Jamie. How are you? Yes. Thank you, Dave. It's Jamie for sure. How are you doing, guys? Better than I deserve, man. How can we help? Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you, Dave, for taking my call. So I am 38 years old old and I've been married now going on seven years to the love of my life. And we have a one year old son, which I'm very grateful for. We are currently on baby step five ever since he was born, of course. And this is actually our second mortgage, our second home.

We already lived in our first home for the first five years, paid that off, and we used that to buy this one. So this is really our only debt. Our cars are paid for. We don't have any student loans or anything like that, so we're grateful for that. You recommend doing 25% of your income as your mortgage. We were pretty close to that, but recently our escrow skyrocketed, and also because of county taxes. So therefore, my mortgage, which was about, you know, $1,600, $1,700 or so, right now

it's about $2,300. Okay. And, well, that really kicked my tail during this time because, you know, I'm trying to be very faithful to the Financial Peace University guidelines and everything. But especially during these times of COVID, I guess I kind of figured, you know, this couldn't have come at a worse time. But what do you suggest? I also have some money in the bank. So maybe in like three, four or five months i can actually finish paying off the home if i need to but that would not that would leave me without any emergency fund

or anything like that so i'm wondering so how much do you owe on the home uh we owe about 199 so 200 how much do you have in the bank about 185 this moment. And what's your household income? Right now, it's about $75,000. Okay. Now, where did all this money come from? Right. From our first home after we sold it. Oh, you didn't put it down? No, no, no, not the whole thing. Not at first, because we were still transitioning when it happened. Transitioning what? So when we were still transitioning when it happened um and so that is what you know so when we were transitioning from our our first home yeah because we we used to live in alabama yeah and why didn't you put the money down because you made a move well i'm sorry just because you moved yeah yeah because i moved and to be quite honest with you at that time my wife

was pregnant so i didn't know i was i was little in fear, I'll be honest with you. Okay. All right. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Let's get a plan to pay off your house, and it solves all these problems. Yeah. So you need the other $20,000, right?

Yeah. And then you'll have enough for an emergency phone and pay off your house. And then it's just gone. Yeah. The 25% is a guideline that says if people because the stupid mortgage company will qualify you for twice that yeah yeah and the people go out and get house poor and try to over the period of a decade live with a mortgage that's 40 of their take-home pay and then scratch their head and wonder why when they get ready to buy a car they don't have any money or scratch their head and wonder

when their kid gets ready to go to college and don't have any money. The point of the 25% is not that 26% keeps you from being a millionaire and 25% doesn't. The point is don't be house poor. And you're not house poor. You can almost pay yours off. Right now. Right, right, right. Which is my goal for sure.

Yeah, like soon. Yeah. Yes, right, right. Which is my goal for sure. Yeah, like soon. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. This is what I'm going to recommend, Dave. It's like, hey, I will minus $25,000 to keep in your emergency fund and then go ahead and just drop that money in your house now. It's going to save you some interest. And then as you get the extra money, start putting that towards your mortgage because just don't let it sit there right now. Go ahead and pay it off. Within the next 90 to 120 days, you should be able to be debt-free

as far as your mortgage is paid off. Let's see. So you got $180,000. You said $187,000? $185,000. $185,000, okay. So that puts $160,000 towards your $199,000. That leaves $39,000, right? $39,000, okay, yeah. Okay, so how quick can you that puts $160,000 towards your $199,000. That leaves $39,000, right?

$39,000, okay, yeah. Okay, so how quick can you pay off $39,000? Probably, so right now I'm the only source of income because my wife is. Yeah, but I got to have you make $75,000. How quick can you pay off $39,000? So, yeah, I'm thinking probably by the end of the year. Probably not, but it might be the end of next year, but you're still going to be there quick. And you've got $25,000 in your emergency fund during that whole time.

And so what that means is that this is not – the fact that this house payment went up is not any deal because it's not a permanent thing. It's, you know, a temporary cause of a cash flow drain. But, yeah, I'm with Anthony. I think that's a good suggestion, Anthony. Go ahead and drop all but $25,000 on it today. That saves you all the interest. It's going to accelerate how fast you pay off the house

because more of your house payment then is going to principal. And go ahead and knock out that $39,000 then as fast as you can. If you can do it in one year making $75,000, dude, you're a champ. That's pretty strong. That's real strong. But a year to two years, I'm thinking, is is doable and that would be a great plan um and then then you got rid of the whole problem yeah and all it did was force you to address the fact that you stuck this money in the bank instead of on this mortgage in the first place but uh hey man good call you're making good

wise decisions you make your you're thinking through you're using the principles we teach thank you for that. Pretty, pretty stinking incredible. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your window blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with new promos all the time, you save even more. Use the promo code RAMSsey to get the best deal.

Today's question, Anthony. Yes, sir. It's hi, Dave. I will be a law student in fall of 2020 as a full time student. I was wondering whether you would recommend I take the debt finish in three years and focus on paying off the debt right away. Or if you would recommend I go to school part time and work full time to pay for certain expenses and housing and housing. Know that going to school part time will not allow the same networking opportunities such as internships and organizations. And today's question came from our scene in California. I'm not going to speak for dave i'm gonna speak for anthony and dave oh step up you know i'm serious i mean no we're not going to recommend you take on any debt for any reason at all i love the fact if you go into school and maybe delaying how long you're going to be in it you may be in it for four or five years because i do want you to work

and cash flow it throughout the uh throughout the Now, here's something that bothers me, Dave, is I always get this excuse. Well, if I do not go to this particular school, I'm going to miss out on network opportunities. Which is a load of horse manure. It is. It is. It bothers me so much. You're not going to school for opportunities. You're going to school for education. Now, will opportunities come from me? Will these networking opportunities come from it? Yes, but you're not going there just for that. You're going there to get the education so you can get your job.

But let me just be real with you. I mean, your networking opportunities will come from the people that you surround yourself by in the process. If all the money you make in your life is due to somebody you knew in a fraternity you're going to be starving and your kids are going to be skinny yes okay yes you're not making money based on that listen i know a ton of lawyers i got a lot of personal friends that are attorneys we certainly hire a bunch of them around here i don't know a single one says you know my successful law practice is based on who i went to law school with. What a bunch of crap. They just don't.

I mean, my successful medical practice is based on the fact that I went to such and such a school. Bull crap. That's absolute stupidity. But this is the line that people sell you on the famous schools or the idea that it's okay to go into debt because, you know, you're not going to get to be in a study group with George. Oh, well, George will just have to live through that because my butt's working, so I don't have debt. While George is going to be a first year out of school, maybe passes his bar, maybe doesn't. And then maybe has a job and maybe doesn't. Yeah.

And has all this debt hanging around his neck. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Folks, since you're spending more time at home these days, why not make the most of it? Now, I know not everyone has the means to do a full renovation, but thanks to our friends at Blinds.com, there are some small changes you can make to help improve your home. Blinds.com makes it incredibly simple to shop top-quality blinds, shades, and interior shutters from home with easy online ordering and free shipping right to your door. Listen, window treatments are a simple project that you can do that really benefits the look and feel of your home. And if you're nervous about doing it yourself, well, don't be.

Blinds.com has helped millions of homeowners through the process with free design help by phone or online. Plus, they guarantee the perfect fit for your windows. Go ahead and get started today. Go to blinds.com to take advantage of this week's special offer. Rules and restrictions apply. Anthony O'Neill, my co-host today on The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, who apparently knows nothing about college mascots. I knew it was coming out of my mouth that I was screwing that up. Rutgers is not the Boilermakers.

That would be Purdue. I'm sorry, Dave. Dwayne called me out on Twitter. You got me, Dwayne. I totally screwed it up. Thank God for Twitter when my brain doesn't work. Not really, but anyway. But thank God. Dwayne called me out on Twitter. You got me, Dwayne. I totally screwed it up. Thank God for Twitter when my brain doesn't work. Not really, but anyway. But thank God for Dwayne.

He corrected me. The Rutgers, it would be appropriate to say, you don't want to be a Boilermaker. Instead, you would say, I don't want you to be a Scarlet Knight. A Scarlet Knight. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Yes. According to Wikipedia. Now, I absolutely have no personal knowledge of

any of this apparently but um totally screwed this up sorry about that thanks for saving my bacon duane because i knew what was coming out of my mouth it was wrong i looked at anthony i said that is right and then he went yeah so you confirm my stupidity you're complicit in my stupidity anthony all right john's with us john hey john is John is in California. I see on my screen you're debt-free, sir. Way to go. I am very much so, almost debt-free. You're going to help me with the last bit. Oh, okay.

You scare me. My last house payment, I wanted you to press in person on April 22nd, but it was canceled. Alas, COVID denied your access to our building. I didn't, but COVID did. Yes, at least I wanted you to press it on the break because I realized you couldn't do it in person. All right. Anthony and I are going to just use our fingers,

and we're going to push submit at the same time. Have you already submitted it? No, I'm waiting for you. So how are we going to do it? I'm waiting for you to say tell me. Okay. Do it. All right. You ready to pay it? You ready to pay off your house? I'm ready. I'm waiting for you. So how are we going to do it? I'm waiting for you to say, tell me. Okay. Do it. All right.

You ready to pay it? You ready to pay off your house? I'm ready. I'm ready. Three, two, one. Do it. House. It is submitted.

We just did it. That was a virtual submit button. Yes. You saw the virtual submit button happen right here. First time that's ever happened in the history of technology. We just did it. It's a thing now. That's right.

It wasn't a thing before today, but it's a thing now. And all I can say is, in the words of that famous Marine from Mayberry, North Carolina, thank you, thank you, thank you. Way to go, Gomer Powell. I love it. It's fun. So how much debt have you paid off, John? It was this house, about $183,000.

Boom. You have a paid-for house in California. You are truly a weird dude. I love it. I am. So proud of you. How long did this adventure take you? About 10 years.

All right. And how much was your income during that time, John? My income went from about 90 to I have 117, and I was medically retired two years ago due to an injury, so I continued on the process. Wow. Well, congratulations, sir. How does it feel to not even have a house payment in California? It feels great. We're proud of you, man. Well, I've done this because of you. Well, I mean with you, because I listen pretty much every day for close to 20 years. Wow.

So what happened 10 years ago that put you on the journey? You said, okay, I'm doing this. I'm getting out of debt. Tell me what happened. Well, I was out of debt. I just bought the house. Oh, okay, I'm doing this, I'm getting out of debt. Tell me what happened. Well, I was out of debt. I just bought the house. Oh, okay. And for a good chunk of the time when I was paying for the house,

I wasn't necessarily going full force because of other life issues. But five years ago, I started putting twice and three times the payments towards the house. And that's where it's got me today. John, I have a question for you. It paid off early. For those younger couples or younger people listening, why was it so important for you? Why should they go after being 100% debt-free? Anthony, I appreciate the question. And it's because there is just so much peace of mind. When I was when I was medically retired from my job, well, I got hurt in December of 2017. What would have been a financial disaster was was merely a financial hiccup. Wow. And because, you know, I didn't have a lot of debt on everything I could,

uh, you know, I bought a, I bought a house and, uh, in guidelines with what David taught me, um, anyway. And so this is just, it is just amazing to think, Hey, you know what? I don't, I'm, I want to go climb out my window right now and go walk through the grass, uh, barefooted just to tell you guys how the grass feels different. Oh, wow. But it's too hot outside to do that right now. But, yeah, no, it's, this is the best way to go. You're going to pay the money one way or the other.

Yeah. Hey, live debt free. Yeah. Pay cash for everything. Live debt free. So how old are you? I am 55. And you have the rest of your life with no debt.

Wow. Pretty incredible, dude. You're going to be in such great shape. You already are. Absolutely amazing, the number of people. And right here in the middle of all this COVID mess, I mean, especially you guys are still locked down tight. Oh, yeah. And other people don't know about work.

They don't know about what's going to happen. And you're sitting there with a paid-for house. It's a completely different world. And what you're doing is you're controlling what you can control. You're controlling the controllables. So when the uncontrollables from outside come in, like a medical retirement from your job or like a COVID shutdown, those are things you can't control. They come in from the outside and attack.

The stuff you can control is we had an emergency phone. We're out of debt. Now I've paid off my house with a virtual submit button. First one in history to ever do that, by the way. You just broke a record. I wanted you to push the button in studio. I wanted to be that guy. But, you know, that's the way it goes.

Yeah, well, we'll see you as soon as COVID breaks and they let you out of California. We're open over here if you want to come over and visit. If I could, I would. And I want to say, I really appreciate all of your staff because I had an issue with someone that bought my mortgage and I refinanced through Churchill. And I called Churchill and I called your staff. And someone on your staff called me back saying, hey, well, what's the deal? It wasn't a problem with Churchill it was someone that they were using and the Churchill people called me back your staff called me back and wouldn't you know it the issue with with this other company that dealt with

Churchill was fixed right away Wow because because your company was responsive and because Churchill was responsive to making sure that they had satisfied customers. So if someone's wondering, should I use Churchill? You know, what's the difference? That's the difference. And the fact that your company cares enough about who you recommend and you want to make sure there aren't problems with that because it's you.

It's your name. And so I wanted to thank you for that. Well, thank you, John. I'm so proud of you, man. You did it. You did it. How's it feel? You're done.

I am so glad. I have some friends over right now, and it's so good. Congratulations. We're going to send you a copy of Chris Hogan's book, of course, The Everyday Millionaires. That is the next chapter in your story for sure. Paid for House in California. Hope you get a long way there, if not there already.

And I hope you continue to get better with your health issues. And, man, we're so, so proud of you. Very, very well done. Wait a minute. Let's see here. I'm losing it. I'm losing it. I'm losing it.

All right. All right. So, John, we need to have you. I already losing it. I'm losing it. I'm losing it. All right. All right. So, John, we need to have you. I already lost it. I'm messing up my technology over here. It's a bad day. I got Boilermakers in my room with me here. It's bad.

And Scarlet Nights and everything else is just bad. Okay. All right, dude. Here we go. John in California, $183,000 paid off in 10 years, making 90 to 117. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

I'm debt-free! That's how it's done right there, man. Wow. Dave, I'm looking forward to that day. I mean, 55 years old, no debt, no mortgage payment, no car notes, nothing but freedom and just moving forward and building wealth. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're not that far away. You got a little bit of a mortgage left.

Just a little bit. Just a little bit. But I'm like, that's going to be amazing. You're a long way from 55, but you're not that far away on the debt part little bit of a mortgage left. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. But I'm like, that's going to be amazing. You're a long way from 55, but you're not that far away on the debt part. No, sir. No, sir. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll be there very, very, very soon. But I'm just like, I can't wait. I can't imagine. Can you all imagine Anthony O'Neill's debt-free screen? Hey, my mortgage? I'm going to do it. There'll be some...

Oh, I'm coming. There'll be some stuff involved with that. Sure will. There'll be some celebration with that now. A whole different set of moves. Yes, sir. Hopefully my wife will be with me. I hope you get one of those before you get out of debt.

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Your questions at 888-825-5225. Jade is with us in South Carolina. Hi, Jade. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. How are y'all doing today? Great. How can we help? So I'm currently a college student. I'm 22 years old. I have about a year and a half left.

I don't have any expenses except for my son. He's one year old. And mostly for that is all of his care needs and then daycare. And I'm currently living with my mother. And what I'm kind of conflicted on right now is should I, my goal is to get my own space. So I don't know if I should go out and get an apartment and try and stay for a home at the same time or just stick it out until I graduate and then pursue a home then. Graduate college, Jade? Yes, sir. Yeah. I want you to stay home. Okay. I mean, I totally understand that you want the freedom, especially what you have in the sun, but there's in your situation, you have more benefits than just saving money. You also have your mom and your parents that are helping you out with your child. So don't be in a rush to get the freedom right now.

And then you walk into something you're not prepared for. But right now I want you to stay at home. What are you going to college for though? Let me ask you that question. Public health. Okay. Public health. How much longer do you have?

A year and a half. Yeah, yeah. I want you to stay at home. Yeah. Graduate and get a job making a whole lot more than you're making now. Yeah. And within just a couple of months, you'll be in a great position to rent your first place. Rent something for a little while.

Build up your down payment. Make sure your emergency funds in place and all your other debts are cleared before you're talking about buying. Buying a house is not an emergency you can get around to that in the next three four years you're fine uh but getting out of school without debt and moving into an apartment and having a good solid foundation is good and 18 months sounds like a long time unless there's some kind of abusive situation or something like that i'm with anthony i would sit tight yeah and just ride that 18 months it's just going to go by fast and you can do a lot of stuff for 18 months that you don't want to do and for it's a short short period of time alissa is with us in oklahoma hi alissa welcome to the dave ramsey show hi guys hey what's up um so? So this is my third time calling.

We're working the baby steps, and I always have a question. But we're on baby step two still, and we've paid like $19K since November when we first started. And my husband and I have a disagreement going on. He is concerned with our credit score going down. Don't yell at me. This is his question. He's concerned with his credit score going down because we're paying off everything, not using credit cards.

And so what actually his chaplain told him, he's in the Army, and he said that he suggests putting gas on the credit card every month just to pay it off right away. Yeah, because his chaplain's a multimillionaire. I do not agree, obviously. I'm like, what do I tell my husband? He's not super interested. Well, I don't ask my car mechanic for financial advice,

and I don't ask my financial advisor for spiritual advice. Totally. So I don't know where the chaplain came into play here. Maybe he's leading FPU classes, and I need to stop him from doing that. But other than that, this chaplain is completely irrelevant. Here's the thing. To ask your husband, okay, the only reason you need a credit score, there's only one reason, to go into debt.

Yes. So why do you need a credit score. There's only one reason. To go into debt. Yes. So why do you need a credit score? Because this debt thing's been so good to you? No. I'm not picking on you. You told me four times it wasn't you, it was him. I got it, okay? But I'm telling you, this is what I would say to him.

Why is it you need a credit score? Because you want to go back in debt? I thought we had an agreement on this. i thought we weren't going into debt again right all right i thought we were through with that if we want if we want to keep debt back there in the back you know keep debt like a you know the the the child we're ashamed of and we lock it in the back closet or something and only let it out on easter i mean, what is this? Is it a pet? At least is he concerned about the mortgage? No. So we're going to be, well, with the military, like I said, it's the only concern is to, now this is where I didn't know how to answer. I know with mortgages, you could do the manual

underwriting and there's that information. I was having a hard time finding the answer for renting because we will be moving in about a year and a half. so that's his concern is so how do we what do we do when it's time to rent again if we don't want you to go to anthony's youtube page and pull up the video of anthony calling apartment complex after apartment complex after apartment complex and what did you say anthony and what did they say and i was just being honest with them hey i don't have a credit score uh do you all allow would you allow me to rent and they said yes now they were some extra things that came with a day one of them said hey we will require an extra deposit and that's fine you know but most of them didn't even say that yeah most of them did you even get one that say they wouldn't rent to you no and i called 10 i called 10 okay yeah so you

just helpful yeah you now there will be some out there i'm not gonna mislead you there will be some that will probably say no but you didn't even find one though i didn't find one i wish you'd have found just one so you could have ragged on oh i so would have but but i mean just just do the research at least just just call around tell them what your situation tell them we don't have a credit score but be honest right now you're good you're in a good place oh by the way i work for an employer that really can't lay me off there you go you know i mean it's not like you're not gonna get your check you're in the military right yeah we're doing good we're still trucking along yeah so yeah pull it up on youtube anthony o'neill his youtube channel and it's a

great video it's only about five minutes long six minutes long and just and type in can i rent an apartment with no credit score and it'll bring it right up and it's it's really kind of humorous because all these people have said for years well you can't rent an apartment so here's the thing um you just have to decide what your provider is yes Yes. And I learned a long time ago, if I want to build wealth, my provider has to be God and my own abilities and my hustle and my grind. That's my provider. It's not a bank, and it's not the government. Said no one ever, I became wealthy because of the government.

Yeah. Said no one ever, I borrowed all I could borrow my whole life and ended up with anything except broke. That's it. I mean, it's just, it doesn't work. So you've just got to decide which game you're going to play. The game that works or the game that doesn't. You've been in this game for 25 years, Dave. I've got to ask you a question.

I see this Instagram post going on. I've got probably about 100 people who tabbed me on it. They said an 800 credit score is stronger than $100,000 cash. For what purpose? I don't know. It's just everyone's saying, yep, that's true. And I'm sitting there like, no, that's not true. Well, it would be true if you want to borrow money.

There you go. If you want to borrow $100,000 cash, you can do that instantly. You can pledge the $100,000 as collateral. And you might be able to borrow $100,000, not on a house. I'm just saying like a line of credit, just a personal line of credit for $100,000. I doubt you could do that with an 800 credit score if your household income was $50,000. Yep. So I don't think you could borrow $100,000.

Yeah. Unsecured, but you could. Well, it wouldn't be unsecured if you you could borrow $100,000. Yeah. Unsecured. But you could. Well, it wouldn't be unsecured if we pledged the $100,000. But, I mean, you couldn't do it on your signature, and you could. So it's not true. Actually, it's not. I can't. I mean, it's not true.

You got me thinking. I mean, if you think about it, just practically speaking, if you go to the bank and you make $50,000 a year, and you say, on my signature, my perfect credit score, I have no collateral to pledge whatsoever. I make $50,000. Will you loan me $100,000 a year, and you say, on my signature, my perfect credit score, I have no collateral to pledge whatsoever. I make $50,000. Will you loan me $100,000? Let me give you the answer.

No! Okay, that's what they're going to tell you, okay? That's exactly what they're going to tell you. Bank after bank after bank after bank. But if you walk into that same bank and say, I make $50,000, and I have $100,000 that I can put up as a CD as collateral to borrow $100,000, they go, I got zero risk here. This Bozo defaults.

I'm cashing in the CD and covering my loan. Every banker will make that loan with a zero credit score. So it's actually false. Thank you, Dave. Think about it. Y'all see that on Instagram later. Okay. Yeah, because I don't know how to put it there, but you will.

All right. Yeah. Insta not Dave. Okay. It, because I don't know how to put it there, but you will. All right. Yeah. Insta not Dave. Yeah. Okay. It just bothers me, Dave. You see stuff on Instagram. It's because my team is really good at it, and I'm not.

Well, Dave, you still have a million followers on Instagram, so you don't have to send more. Don't keep messing with my followers. Hey, man, listen. I know how many followers there are. I know how to do that. I'm coming for you, Dave. I'm coming for you. It's 2.2.

I lied. I exaggerated. It's 2.2. I lied. I exaggerated. It's just 2.2. I mean, think about it, though. See, that's another thing. That's like the chaplain giving financial advice. You get Instagram financial advice. That'd be a dumb idea.

You know what? I'm going to say that on Instagram, too. Who told me this? An Instagram influencer who makes their whole living influencing. Oh, my God. This is way too much fun. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs,

producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. You can now listen to the Dave Ramsey Show on Spotify, Pandora, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.