The Ramsey Show - App - THIS Is the Real Reason To Get Out of Debt… (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss:   EveryDollar, budget for the life you want today for free: Click Here Update on a call from last week, "Should we sell our house to get out of debt?" "How can I find extra money to pay off debt?" "Should I put down more than 20% on my home build?" "Should I save for a house at 69 years old?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Enter The Ramsey Cash Giveaway for a chance to win $3,000! https://bit.ly/TRSCashGiveaway Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: Click Here Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: Click Here Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? Click Here Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods moving in storage studios, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Walsh, all Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225 as we talk about your life and your money. Before we go to the phones, a couple of updates right quickly um irony of ironies uh zoom has announced that their employees must come back to work in the building if that doesn't strike you as funny i don't know what does okay

i'm just saying and of course i've caught so much hell because i have said ramsey we work from work at ramsey that's where we work from we don't Ramsey, we work from work at Ramsey. That's where we work from. We don't work from home. We work from work. And, well, you're not flexible. No, I understand that humans need to be around humans and that productivity and creativity and vision go up when humans are in direct contact with other humans. It's a basic tenet of humanity, a human being, not just a human doing.

And so we work from work at Ramsey. All of us are in this building together, and that's why we get so stinking much work done, and why we're so smart and pretty and all the things that we are. So there you go. So you're telling me the Zoom employees don't Zoom in to their... Yeah, they Zoom out. Now they got to Zoom out to work. Yeah, Zoomed out. Now they're going to Zoom into the office. That's right yeah i just think it's i think it's funny i'm sorry yeah it's just because i think probably because i caught so much hell about it yeah and so you know but the other thing on a more serious note uh john deloney and i took a call from a young uh widow last week in her 30s her husband had died in a construction accident and she was her home

was in foreclosure and she was in tears through the whole call and it has tugged at the heartstrings of everyone who's listened to that call john and me included and um uh i had if you have heard that or are yet to hear it but you'll hear that i explained to her she's not going to lose the house and that we're going to get uh lisa our senior uh financial counselor that works with crisis stuff on on the job here and furnish it to her take care of her because as uh people of the christian faith we're instructed by our book to take care of widows and orphans and so we do that's simple and so we took care of her uh lisa's met with her she's got all kinds of you know the chaos that was all over her life is starting to come into order the house will of course not be foreclosed on she had a sixty

thousand dollar mortgage on three hundred seventy five thousand dollar house we're not losing that house boys and girls okay so uh not happening so anyway we didn't lose the house everything's gonna be fine there's a lot of details to be buttoned up, but just an update that she's fine. She's fine. And literally thousands of you have reached out to us to offer assistance to her financial and so forth on the different social media platforms. Thank you for that. Number one, we have no way of organizing all of that stuff. We don't run a telethon, and so there's no possible logistical way we could. Number two, she doesn't need it. She's under control. We got her. You know, a couple people

stepped up in the community. The church, you know, we're hooking her up with a church that's going to help her. We've got Lisa, who's got superpowers when it comes to negotiating with foreclosures and dealing with mortgage companies companies and she has all of the regulatory knowledge that strikes fear into the heart of collectors and so all of that so we got we got it we got it she's in good shape thank you guys but let me just tell you the thing i wanted to bring up was thank you a for all of you that reached out and those of you that even thought gosh i wish i could help her yeah you know here's what we've always done in 30 years of doing this show because sometimes one of these things elicits this kind of a response from our wonderful audience because we got great people

in our absolutely is hey what that means is god is telling you to help not her but somebody else there's plenty of folk right there within reach of you, whoever you are, that need help. There's plenty of folk that $2,000 will change their life. A $1,000 car for a single mom in that situation will change their life. And $10,000 will do it for 10 of them. So this is why you get out of debt. This is why you live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. So what I'm asking you to do in this particular case is take the unction,

take the spiritual direction you feel inside of you to help and go help. You're not going to help this particular lady, but there's one just like her down the block, I promise you. They're all over the world. And so help. That's what it's for. Because here's the thing. If we the people take care of we the people, we can make the government as irrelevant as it actually is.

You can put them out of business. I know that. Drop that salary. Put them out of the helping people business. That would alleviate a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, a lot of taxes. It would alleviate a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, a lot of taxes. It would alleviate a lot of stupidity and it would take the power from politicians to buy your vote. That's a good word. So we the people taking care of we the people is how it's supposed to be done. It's called community. It's called connection and it's called generosity. It's a good muscle for everyone to flex ever so often

and inviting you guys to do just that. And again, thank you for your response to that lady. That was a heart wrenching call and situation. It really was. And hopefully for the listeners, it shows, you know, we talk all the time, Dave, this is a community. We're not just people telling you get out of debt. There are Facebook communities. There are people doing this with you and they truly care about your journey. They're right there with you. they truly care about your journey they're right there with you and if that doesn't show it i don't know what does 500 000 people on the baby steps facebook page yeah i mean the baby six facebook community yeah you want to get some

advice they will tear you up in there they will tear you up but they don't think i'm tough you think i'm tough jump your butt in that community yeah but i mean yeah there's that you're right there's a lot of interaction going on amongst uh you guys our tribe us uh this is not simply us barking at you on one end of a microphone and you on the speaker end on the other side there's a lot going on here and this kind of a thing illustrates that it does it does there's there's people out there rooting for you they've been there they know how it feels and the chance that they get to jump in and help, they're going to take that chance. Well, that's how you ended up, you know, you and Sam ended up becoming Financial Peace University Coordinators. Heck yeah. You don't go through this and not want to help somebody on the other

side of it because it changes your lens. Now, when you walk out, you notice the person behind you in the checkout. You know what I'm saying? You notice, you start to notice things that you've never noticed before and you know you see that person taking out their phone and checking their account before they pay you see that stuff now and so yeah you got to go back and help pay it forward once you're aware you can't be unaware that's right you know it's it does open up your eyes and get things moving so guys jump in and do that just find somebody to be a blessing to uh the odd thing is that it'll bless you. The odd thing is that generosity actually does as much or more for the giver than it does the receiver. And it seems like Jesus talked about that, so there you go.

The giver is more blessed, you know, is what it amounts to. And so it's good. It's a good exercise. It's a good reminder for all of us that this is where help amounts to. And so it's good. It's a good exercise. It's a good reminder for all of us that this is where help comes from. God does not use governments. God uses people to help people. It's his preferred tool.

So keep that in mind next time someone wants to announce a new program. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី jade washaw ramsey personality is my co-host today last week we put dr john deloney's new book on pre-sale it comes out october the third building a non-anxious life the six daily choices that you can make to eliminate the things that cause anxiety anxiety is a symptom not a problem according to dr john he's exactly right so uh yeah if you want to not have the fire alarm go off uh don't take the batteries out put out the fire that's the idea and so let's do a little preventive stuff here building a non-anxious life does that sound good have a little more peace in your life yeah dr john can show you

really how to do it and uh this book is on pre-order it's 20 and we're going to throw in 75 worth of free bonus items including the e-book the audio book and one of john's talks uh all of that uh for one price because if you pre-buy it it helps us with the marketing and a bunch of you had thousands and thousands of you purchased it in the last five days thank you thank you thank you for that we appreciate the response it's been explosive and um so building a Non-Anxious Life by Dr. John Deloney. Sounds good. It is good.

Let's all try that together. I love the book. It's absolutely incredible. All right, let's do this. Krista is with us in Little Rock. Hi, Krista. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hello.

Thank you for having me. My pleasure. How can we help? My husband and I want to build a house. We are currently, we have three kids. We're in about 1,000 square feet, one tiny little bathroom, and our oldest is a girl, and she's about to be 12. That sounds joyful.

It's fabulous. It's the joy of my life. They can't stand it any more than we can anymore suddenly last year it felt extremely small um i guess because all my kids are growing up um so we want to build my aunt is a realtor and so we got um a market value on our house and we could probably pay off the debt pay off the mortgage and walk away with like 40 cash. The problem is we're both self-employed, which is recent. I was a homemaker before and worked kind of sporadically and then now it's becoming a more of a full-time position, but he quit his job in October and is doing construction work independently now.

Our income is going way up, but it's both self-employment. Yeah, you're going to have to have two years of tax returns. That's right. Right. And our income was like $65,000 last year with all of our side hustles and everything. I think that was like adjusted growth. How old are your kids? You told me the oldest one's 12.

What are the other two? 12. Her little brother, 9 and 4. Okay. That's how old our kids were when we sold our house. Okay. And paid off the IRS. It was the last remaining debt from our bankruptcy

because the IRS is not bankruptable. If you didn't hear, they're forever. Right. And so I got rid of the last debt and moved to a different school system was our motivation. Our motivation wasn't to build, but we cleared up everything and had a little bit of money, like you're talking about 30 or 40 grand or something. It wasn't enough to get a house. And we rented for two years.

We considered that. Right now our mortgage is only $455,000 a month. That's with the escrow and everything. It's up to you. Where do you want to live? You can't build. I was going to say, you don't really have much of a choice. You want to live in a little house or you want to live in a rental house?

Yeah, rent would be double or triple that. You can't build. You don't have two years of tax returns. Like with enough income? Well, you know, if you can do it on the income that you're showing, you have two full years of tax returns already? I thought you kept telling me how recent the self-employment is. Yeah, the self-employment is recent, yes.

It was October for him. You have to have two years of tax returns. They're not going to count his income. Okay, self-employment, okay. Of self-employed tax returns. Because you quit your job and you open a business, the mortgage company doesn't think you can pay it unless you've done it for two years. That's true.

I mean, I've been right where you you're at krista you know sam and i we had our own business and you have to be able to show the stability of that especially you know just starting out like you guys just starting these businesses and even for your own self i would think that i would want to know okay we do we're doing this thing it's stable so even i would want the peace of mind of having those two years um for myself not just for the documentation purposes we did not move we move kids exactly the same age as yours but we are a little bit younger than yours a little bit um but um but we did not move because of house size we moved because of school district and because we could clear the debt in the one fell swoop and so again and then

we rented for two years so we could save up and buy a house of course in our case we did it with cash but the um that that would be what i would do and the reason i know that's what i did so uh if you don't then you're staying in that house for two years which i think they should anyway because for the money krista i mean you guys still have some money to save up for a down payment, and you're going to do that a lot faster with the mortgage payment you have as opposed to an inflated rent payment. I'm stressed already with three kids and one bathroom, but I get it. I mean, I hear you.

So either one's fine with me. You're all's choice. But the third choice is to get some kind of rip off subprime mortgage and get yourself screwed over don't do that that's not it that's desperation and you're not desperate you're just motivated and and what i'm trying to say is i think your need is a reasonable need i don't think you're being a drama queen okay good but but i'm also telling you you've got these boundaries that aren't going to these guardrails that aren't going to let you get off the interstate where you want right well i just

didn't want to get laughed out of the bank like if i go up there and say i have this offer for land and i have now you're going to you know they're not going to give you the loan okay you're not going to get a construction loan and you're not because you're not going to get a construction loan and you're not because you're not going to get a permanent takeout the permanent takeout is the approval for the mortgage the permanent mortgage that takes out the construction loan and you can't get approval for that without two years of tax returns of self-employed income right okay and can i ask a secondary question um i have an offer from my employer's client. It's rolling over to employer.

He's currently building a pretty massive river resort in our area. That's why my employment has gone way up from just a couple hundred dollars a month to $3,000 or $4,000 a month. And he has offered as a help appearance to the bank to roll me over onto partial salary plus commission-free trannel, is that an offer that I should take, or what should I consider when thinking of taking that as an option? Okay, you don't need to do it to get the house because your husband's income just started in October. So we've got a two-year burn from there. By then, your commission will also be stabilized, and you'll have two years of tax returns.

So you're not the problem on getting approval. Both of you are the problem, okay? So moving to this doesn't solve the problem short-term for getting the house. So the only reason you'd move to it is if it's a better deal financially. Which way you make the problem okay so moving to this doesn't solve the problem short term for getting the house so the only reason you'd move to it is if it's a better deal financially which way you make the most money well it's hard to know because it's a vacation rental so we don't know how busy we would be so i don't want to look back and say oh i i ripped him off because i got way more salary than i should have and i don't want to look back and say wow I could have made so much more employers don't get ripped off long term they fire you right if the comp plan doesn't work we change the comp plan or we let you go so he's not going to get ripped off long term he might get ripped

off for one year but after that he's going to go oh Krista we're going to fix this yeah yeah so that's what we would do too I mean it's it's reasonable. So, uh, you know, I, I think the trick is just what, which way do you make the most money? Cause the only stability is in the actual income. It is not in the structure. Okay. The money is what gives you stability, not the method that the money comes to you. So this idea, I have a steady job, is laughable. That's true. You know, because there's nothing steady but your ability to go kill something and drag it home. No, that's right.

Come on, Dave. I mean, that you. Yeah, you go make it happen. You're the secret sauce. So I would just sit down and whatever combination. It sounds like the guy's really flexible and a good employer. And he's got a rock star in you, so he wants to motivate you. So figure out the way that helps him the most and helps you the most.

And I think you'll have a win-win. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Jade Walsh, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Lane is next in Louisiana. Hi, Lane. How joining us, America. We're glad you're here. Lane is next in Louisiana. Hi, Lane. How can we help? Hey, how are y'all? Better than we deserve, sir. How can we help? Man, my situation I don't think is near as bad as a lot of the ones that you guys come across. I'm willing to start investing in real estate, but the problem that I'm having right now is

having the extra money that I can set to the side in order to start investing in real estate, right? And I just want some ideas on how I can start, you know, tackling the debt that I have to be able to free up some of my income in order to start investing it. Yeah. I think that you have the right idea knowing that you got to get out of debt first before you would even think about buying real estate. And it sounds like this is for wealth building purposes beyond just being a personal residence, right? Yes. Okay. Do you live in a house now that you purchased? Yes, I do. Okay.

All right. Can you start breaking down this debt that you have that's in the way of all this? Yeah. So total debt is about $160,000. $120,000 of that is my house. I've got about $3,700 on a credit card and $18,000 in personal loans, two personal loans. 18,000 in two personal loans. How much are they a piece? One of them is about 10,000. The other one's about eight. Cool. Well, I don't know how long you've been listening to us, but we do teach to get out of debt before you would do anything close to what you're talking about doing. So I kind of just want to break that down with you piece by piece and then, you know, take take it or leave it, I would say.

OK, the good thing about it is you've got thirty seven thousand dollars worth of debt, 120 of it. It's your house. So what we say is pay off everything but the house for now. So what's your income looking like? So let's see if we can find this margin. Before taxes this year. So I'm an hourly based employee, but we do work a lot of overtime, but so our, our income, it does vary. But as of right now, it's looking like I'll make somewhere between 120 and 130 this year. Okay. And is that just you or do you have a spouse? No, that's just me. That's just you. just you or do you have a spouse no that's just me that's just you are you do you have spouse no okay so 120 man can you live anything in savings

i'm sorry what do you have anything in savings or non-retirement investing um no no nothing besides a 401k um i do have around a hundred thousand in a 401k right now. Um, and then as far as savings, uh, probably about five, 6,000, five, 6,000. Okay. Well, what we would say, we walk through a series of baby steps. Okay. Are you familiar with any of those or will this be your first time hearing it? This would be my first time here. And I'm, I'm, I'm actually just now hearing about dave ramsey i heard about you guys maybe a month ago great well i'm happy to explain this to you because welcome to the party we're so excited i'm lane i got extra excited right now because i love

the baby steps they work and so i love telling people about it okay baby step one is you need to get or keep aside $1,000 saved. That's your starter emergency fund. That's just is not forever. It's just temporary. Good thing is you've got $5,000 saved. We keep $1,000 of that aside. Then you can take the $4,000, put it towards this debt, knock that down to $33,000, right?

Right. And then baby step two is paying off your debt like i said before except your house so that's we're knocking out the rest of that 34 000 33 000 and with your income you could do that so super fast it's just you right yeah all you got to do is control trips to the bar yeah that's it well uh well luckily i'm not i'm not a big fan of the bar good well let me keep we're making so much progress so fast here it's unbelievable i know let's temporarily stop your 401k temporarily let's get some scissors out and place them across those credit cards and have a plastic surgery party okay okay we're done with those we're gonna get a debit card we're not spending any money we don't have anymore it hadn't turned into a blessing for you and okay we're done with those we're gonna get a debit card we're not spending any money we

don't have anymore it hadn't turned into a blessing for you and then we're going to go scorched earth where you have no life your whole right be your whole reason for existence is to pay off debt as fast as possible as if your hair were on fire the faster and the deeper you sacrifice the higher the probability that you actually get out of debt, number one. But number two, obviously, the faster you get to this goal that you called about, which is going to reach over later and pay off the house with a little less intensity. And then we're going to be in a position to save for, you know, save up and pay cash for

real estate. Yeah. And by the way, I wrote my numbers down. I wrote that you had $37,000 in credit card debt. It's $3,700. Yes. So you're working through this a lot quicker than what I was saying. Credit card's gone.

Yeah. Credit card's done immediately. Pay it off today. And then you've just got that $18,000 in loans to work through. You're going to do smallest to largest. That's how we pay off our debts. You're going to do the $8,000 one first. And then you're going to move to the $10,000 one. And dude, quote me now, by the end of the year, all your debt's

going to be gone. And then you're going to save up three to six months of savings. And you're just going to walk this thing through. You'll be able to restart your retirement and baby step four back to 15%. And you're just going to walk this thing through. And before you know it, you're going to be set up in a position to where you could save up to buy real estate and cash. Lane, it's exactly what I did. And the book we wrote about it is called The Total Money Makeover. And I own a whole bunch of real estate now, all paid for, never took out a mortgage for any of it. And when there's problems, well, cash flow isn't one of them. So that's a different situation. So hang on.

We're going to send you a copy of that book, The Total Money Makeover. It's going to give you the baby steps on steroids. It shows you every little nuance, every little detail, because I can tell you're a guy that figures things out. And we're going to show you. You read this thing, you're going to be on fire. You're going to plow. If you do what we teach you to do you're gonna be in such good shape in

such a short period of time the good news is you don't have to talk any spouse into this the bad news is there's nobody nagging on you to make you do it except me so i'll be here to nag you that's my job and if and if i don't work i'll send jade after that i don't know which one is worse i don't know which one's more frightening. Hang on, Lane. We'll take care of you, my friend. Welcome to the party. All right.

You got to love it. John's in Ocala, Florida. Hey, John, what's up? How you doing, Dave? Thank you for taking my call. New kind of new listener to the series here. I've been kind of binge-watching your episodes there on YouTube for the last couple of days here. I figured I'd call in. I've been pretty frugal most of my life. I don't have any debt. Me and my fiancee both don't have any debt. I purchased property pre-COVID and in the intention of building and then COVID kind of happened and we put things on hold, which

looking back on interest rates now, I kind of wish I wouldn't have. Um, but we've been with my parents for a few years now and have this property and we need to build and, uh, and get out. So, uh, planning on building shortly. Um, but I have a decent down payment. Um, well, I've actually got more than the 20% on what I'm assuming we're going to need to have. And that was going to be my question as far as should I put more into my down payment to knock down the loan as far as possible because of the higher interest rate or put down my 20% and then over time just kind of pay on almost double payments every other month or something like that. John, I'd love to answer your question in just a second.

Let me ask you something. Okay, go ahead. Do you realize that when you started telling me about building that you sighed? Yeah, I know. That's only because from the beginning I've been through all my life. I've never had any kind of debt. And pre-COVID we were planning on building. So it's not dreading the

actual building project no no no it's dreading i'm going to be in debt and i want this out okay did you now let me let's go back to your question then if you don't want to be in debt why would you borrow on your house to invest so i don't have a house i know and you called me and said i don't want to put as much down because i think it might be smart to put it in the stock market. That's just like borrowing on your house to put it in the stock market. That's right. Follow me?

Yes, sir. Put as much down as you possibly can. By the way, all the studies of millionaires that we've done indicate that's the right move. It's what they do. They don't screw around with debt. They get out of it as fast as they can, almost universally. Very few actual millionaires. I'm not talking about idiots on TikTok. I'm

talking about actual millionaires. Very few actual millionaires love debt. Very few of them. This is The Ramsey Show. jade washall ramsey personality is my co-host sherry is next in salem oregon hi sherry welcome to the ramsey show thank you for taking my call sure how can i help well i guess the question is i'm having trouble hearing you honey Can you speak directly into your phone? Okay. That's okay. Can you hear me now? Barely.

It's kind of muffled, but let's give it a shot. What you got? Okay. I'm almost 69 years old, and I just finished Baby step one. Um, I got my, my emergency fund and I'm starting on baby step two. However, I know that because I've been listening to your program for a while, I know that you encourage people to, um, by real estate, by property, a house and I have no siblings. I mean I have siblings but I have no, no children, uh, no husband and I live in a travel trailer that I rent property. Um, is it really worth it for me to at 69 years old to buy a house after i get my baby steps done it's not worth it to stress about it um but the um what are you living on what's your income

um i get uh approximately 1600 a month um 950 of that or 995 of that is social security and then the rest of it is a um a civil service survivor's annuity from my husband when he passed away. Okay. And that's your entire income? That's my entire income. How's your health? Not real good. Okay.

What are you struggling with? As far as health? Yes, ma'am. Well, I'm pre-diabetic, but I have myalgia. I've got asthma. I've got a whole list of things. I've got a whole list. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Well, more than anything, I want you to be out of debt and have a big pile of cash for an emergency. Mm-hmm. I'm a lot more concerned about that with you i would spend 99 of my effort if i were you on that if something changes in your world and some extra money shows up and you want to think about a house you could do that but there's not a house in the numbers you just told me

i didn't think so and um and and i also didn't hear, I think you're pretty content housing-wise, aren't you? Actually, I like living in a little travel trailer. I thought you kind of liked that place and everything. The only downside of that as a long play is 10 years from now, that lot price is going to be a lot more. It's going to increase more than your Social Security and civil service is going to increase probably oh not probably a hundred percent chance of that the government does not that when they inflation adjust it's not the same as the uh trailer park uh lot guy inflation adjusting he's going to adjust more

so if you you know if you may if you may get to 79 it's going to be more of a pinch than you have now but you won't have any debt and you'll have a pile of money because we're going to build up in a big emergency fund so i'm okay if that's your play the big reason we want people to buy a house is just stability and renting goes up rent goes up and it destabilizes. It takes their stability away. You hear what I'm saying? Yes. I do. I would do the same thing. I heard what Dave heard in your voice, which is you're content with what you have.

It doesn't sound like you're in a condition to just go out and make a bunch more money here anytime soon. So for you, the thing to focus on is getting out of this you know keeping what you have building up a big savings how much debt do you have i have about 15 000 on what most of that is um medical bills okay all right and how old are those medical bills? Some of them are over range, anywhere from about 10 years to now. Okay. Anything over one year, they will take 20 cents on the dollar for if you negotiate with them. Mm-hmm.

Oh, okay. The only thing is you need to have the cash ready to go yeah if you got a little pile build up a little pile of cash and then call that thousand dollar bill and tell them i don't have a thousand i got 200 if you'll take it right now and you got a four-year-old medical bill they're gonna be just happy to hear from you yeah when you know you need to do that on a day when you're feeling kind of uh kind of sassy feisty day and feisty you don't need to do that on a day when you're feeling down okay okay that makes sense that makes sense so let's so bottom line is i think you get out of debt for say four or five grand six grand in this situation maybe so you're going to work your way through

this with some negotiating power and some other things um and you know when you pile up a big old pile of cash if you decide you want to move that trailer onto a little piece of land and you buy the land well that wouldn't be a bad move yeah but but that's something we don't have to fret about and it's not like you're a bad person if you don't do that i'm just trying to get your life stable and anytime i can get rent out of your life as a long-term play yeah it stabilizes your life that's what i want to do there yeah all she's got to do is you know stack up five every time she gets five hundred dollars stack it up call them make a deal keep it in writing forever stack up, call them, make a deal. Keep it in writing forever.

Stack up another $5, call, make another deal until she's out of this debt. Good clarification point. In writing. If they don't give it, if a collector doesn't give you a deal in writing, it didn't happen. That's right. Because you can tell they're lying if their mouth is moving. And so you've got to get it in writing and no electronic access to your checking account. Your social security check will hit and they'll clean you out.

Yeah. So do not allow them access to your account under any circumstances and under no circumstances do you give them money on a verbal promise on the phone. Well, Harold told me, well, Harold doesn't work here anymore. This is what you'll hear. Okay. And Harold wouldn't have done something like that anyway. You're lying, lady.

You still owe the whole bill. Well, I've already paid like that anyway you're lying lady you still owe the whole bill well i've already paid 200 that's what no you owe the whole bill you're gonna it's what you're gonna hear if you don't get it in writing and uh not like i haven't done this 10 000 times okay so you just need to be a little sassy with them and make sure you get it in writing and no electronic access to your checking account try to settle it for 20 cents on the dollar. I'll bet you can settle most of them for that. Go ahead and explain to them, by the way, you're a widow that lives on Social Security in a travel trailer. It's not exactly like you're prime picking for collections.

So you're what we call judgment proof because you can't garnish Social Security or civil service. So they can't take your income. The only thing they can do is clean your account out if they go into your account. Don't give them that information. Don't give them account information ever. And they don't want a travel trailer, so they're not going to bother you.

But they're going to talk big, and that's why you need to have your swag on, your sassy on. Yeah, turn your swag on. And that's your good day, that's that's the plan a little a little swagger when you walk in the room let them feel it that's how it goes because it's what it takes absolutely you got to bust through it because these poor people sitting in cubicles making phone calls people not paying bills all day long yeah not easy to get along with well sometimes you have to bug them as much as they bugged you you know that's a dadgum Well, sometimes you have to bug them as much as they bugged you. You know, that's a dadgum truth. You know?

You have to drive them crazy. They call you every day. You call them every day. Leave a message. Mike, did you hear it? Could I have your personal home number so I can call you on Sunday night? Mike, did you make the deal yet? I'm waiting for the paperwork.

Call them at dinnertime. I love it. Could I find out where you live so I can call your next-door neighbor? Yeah, let's do that one. That's one they do that's illegal as crap. Oh, gosh. But the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you folks all kinds of protection when you are being harassed by a collector. Learn it.

It's good information. It is good information. I didn't know that back in the day. No. And, you know, the fun ones are they change their names. I had one lady call me, and she met these made-up pseudonyms. Her name was Mrs. Baskerville. Nuh-uh.

The Hounds of Baskerville. Another one was Mrs. Savage. Wow. Okay. And I started laughing. I said, you're no more savage than anything. And she goes, that ain't funny. It's my real name.

I said, no, it's not your name. You completely made that crap up. That's when you name i said no it's not your name you completely made that crap up that's when you make your name up i'm like this is not dave this is mrs savage this is mr cyclops i mean come on right here one eye in the center of my head oh brother these people some people's kids this is The Ramsey Show.