The Ramsey Show - App - Why You Should Never Directly Ask for a Raise (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 16, 2020

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Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your career, your money, your relationships. And I am so honored to be co-hosting this show together with Ken Coleman and myself, Anthony O'Neill. We are here to take your phone calls, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. And going out to Cincinnati, Ohio to kick off the show today is going to be Rick. Rick, good afternoon. How can Ken Coleman and I help?

Hey, guys. I have some old debt been charged off for a while, three credit cards and a car repossession. So the credit cards in total for the three equate to be about $1,800. And the repossession, which is charged off, like I said, it's about $1,800 and the repossession, uh, which is charged off, like I said, it's about $10,800. Now I have enough money in the account to pay off all of that, uh, through some savings. Um, so I don't really need anything as far as credit wise I know they get charged off in about seven years after

we stopped reporting or hurting my credit about seven years after they get charged off that's not the case always Rick I'll be honest with you man I paid off some credit cards that were in collections that was in charge of when I was young.

And these credit card companies are very, very interesting, bro. Like very, very interesting. And so here's the thing that I think a lot of people need to understand about that. And we'll answer your question. But I just want to make sure I educate you so you know. Yeah. Anytime that they just go in there and just put a date or anytime they touch that account and they update something on your credit report, that starts the seven years

totally over. I don't want you to think like, well, if I leave it alone today, it's been on there for two years. I got five more years. I'll be good in five years. No. In four years, they'll sell it to another collection agency. It starts the seven years totally all the way over. How

much do you have in your savings account right now, Rick? About $20,000. Okay. You got $20,000. What do you make a year? About $60,000. Okay. You make $60,000 a year.

You have $20,000 in your savings account. What's your question? Should you pay it off? I mean, or should you not? What's your question? Should you pay it off? I mean, or should you not? What's your question? Yeah, I mean, should I pay it off? I mean, it's a large chunk to take out of my account. Yeah.

I mean, I guess the debt's not going to go away, so I need to pay it off. Right. And what I would do is just, in this situation, because it is at a collection agency, you can have you can go two ways here. You choose how you pay it off. If you morally want to pay the full balance, then you pay the full balance. If you morally want to do it, if I was in your shoes, I'm calling them and I'm settling for whatever is the lowest price they'll be willing to settle for all right so for an example if you owe eighteen hundred dollars between three credit cards i'm gonna try and get it down to where i pay about a thousand dollars and push it out there with your

car repo they're probably not going to settle um as much because what the difference is is uh you probably turned the car in with for an example for fifteen thousand they sold it for forty two hundred you owe the remaining balance of 10 800 but in that situation i've seen some car repo companies collection agencies go down to where they'll settle on a dollar for like 5700 so i would just jump on the phone with these agencies and say hey what are you willing to settle this for out right now cash i will send you a certified money check uh or a money order a money order it's up to you what you want to do just no matter what

do not give them a check over the phone do not give them a debit card over the phone you need a letter in hand before you settle it so that way it is in writing and you send them a certified money order with a tracking number confirming that they have it

with a copy of the letter that they sent you to settle it out. But I agree you need to pay it off so that way this can be behind you. You can move forward. And then from there, you know how to follow the rest of the baby steps. All right. Ken, any thoughts? I appreciate it.

Yeah, you pay it off. You've got the money. Pay it off instantly. Yeah. I mean, this is, I know it's a lot of money, but it's also a lot of debt you wipe off with one fell swoop. Don't even think twice about it. I think your advice is great, but do it today. I wouldn't even go to sleep on it.

I'd do it today. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're going to have a conversation with Joel. Joel, good afternoon. How can Ken and I help? Yeah, so I'm single, 21, just started truck driving and had a little bit of vehicle problems earlier this year. And so kind of what I'm thinking right now is I'm debating between paying to get a new vehicle or what I'm doing right now, because I only have about three to four days home time a month so i'm kind of debating should i pay to get a new car or should i um

just keep doing what i'm doing is uh spending money on a rental car um just while i'm home and uh you know so i'm kind of debating between uh which which is better uh in the long run how much are you spending a month on rental cars? Right around probably $250, right around there. Okay, so about $250. So you're spending about $2,400, $2,500 a year on vehicles. Do you have any debt? The only debt I have is a vehicle that I gave back last year. It was kind of upside down in that whole situation, so got rid of that and paying that off.

So that's about $7,000. And earlier this year, I finished paying off all my credit cards. Good for you. So you got $7,000 on a car that's upside down, and this current car, it's undriveable. How much will it cost to get repaired? No, he turned it in. Oh, he turned it in. I'm sorry.

I missed that. Okay, he turned it in. It's not in. Okay. So how much are you making as a truck driver? Usually, it kind of depends on Lowe's, but right around $1,000 to $1,200 a week. Okay. And is that including overtime overtime or can you get overtime

uh i could get overtime yeah okay i i anthony i'd like to see him get some overtime he's young uh single and now's the time to get after it and i would go with overtime to the point where you can uh uh pay off that car um and i i don't even know if I'd rent a car. I might just Uber. I think you might be able to, depending on how much he uses that car. How much do you use that car when you're on your two or three days off?

Well, being in Missoula, in Montana, everything's pretty spread out. Oh, never mind. I got it. Forget the Uber suggestion. Definitely driving around. Yeah. So, Joel, I'm going to agree with Ken on this one.

I want you to go ahead and get some overtime in. And with your budget right now, you're pulling in about $45,000 to $5,000 a month regular. You don't have any expenses. So I would definitely go ahead and just pay off this $7,000 of the debt. Since it is a repo, you can honestly get them to talk this down a little bit more. Maybe pay it off for $5,000. And then after that, going ahead, yeah. Then going ahead and just stack up the money and just buy you a little cash car.

It's not going to be long. So I think I'm okay with the $200, $250 for the rental because he needs it right now. And it's only for three days. It makes no sense to go out there and buy a car and then put insurance on that car for it to sit for 90% of the money. I absolutely agree with you. So you'll be all right there, man. Just pay it off. Call them.

Get a settlement in full letter like I told you last caller. Then after that, stack up about $5,000 a month. Buy you a little beater because you're hardly home anyways. All right? This is The Dave Ramsey Show. with more frequency than you know i get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent you can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing. And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term

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slash uh agent agent I'm sorry about that uh going out to Boston we're going to have a conversation here with uh Kim. Kim good afternoon how can Ken and I help? Hi, Ken and Anthony. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's going on? Yeah, so I have a master's degree from overseas and me and my husband just moved here in the U.S. about more than a year ago. So I am now working in a corporate health care setting here in Boston. And my issue is that I feel like I'm a bit of underpaid considering my background and the role that I handle now. So just to give you like a background, I started with this role with absolutely zero prior relevant experience about nine months ago. And then I got promoted after six months into the role.

So I feel like my manager knows that I work so hard and that I exert a lot of effort and have contributed so much since day one. So my question is that how do I ask for a considerable raise given my situation? Yeah. Well, the first thing is, is that you started nine months ago and within three months you were promoted into your current position. So I'm assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, that you received some bump when you were promoted six months ago, or is that not the case? No, after six months into the job, I got promoted. Oh, okay. I got the months mixed up. But the point is, did you get a raise or not? I got, like, because I get paid hourly, so I got, like, a $2 raise.

So the answer is yes, you got a raise. Yes, yes. All right. And so now you want a considerable raise. What does that mean? If I gave it to you today and I just said, all right, your considerable raise is granted, how much more would you be asking for? So I've been looking at like the market, like average pay for like in the market with the role that I have. Good. It's a little, so mine is like three or four dollars lesser than,

per hour lesser than the average market rate. Okay, so it would be $4 more. Let's round up. That's what you want? Yes. You'd feel good about that? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. All right. So what's the health of the organization right now given COVID and the fact that you're in Boston, Massachusetts? Is everything rolling along great? Yes. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. We're so busy and, like, we're, you know, it's phenomenal.

Okay. Do you anticipate or are you, do you have your eye on another position or you just feel like, hey, I'm underpaid in this current position? Yeah, the thing is, it's because of this, like, dilemma that I have, I'm trying to, like, search for other jobs now that just because I feel like I'm a bit of underpaid and I feel like it's unfair that I have this role and, you know, I'm doing a lot of stuff, but then I'm appreciated by my managers, but managers but it's like it's different when it's you know financially no no i get that what i'm asking you is what's the ladder look like for

you because this is plays into the answer so do you if let's say we got you the four dollar raise today uh that would make you feel better emotionally but i still think and i could be wrong but i feel like your eyes are on something bigger, something higher up the ladder. Is that true or false? Yes. And considering that I have like a master's degree, so I'm, I would like to be able to like, at least, you know, work on something that will help me. Totally. I get it. So, all right. So my next question is, is that, does that position exist in your current company or is that somewhere else? You would look out for that. I think it does because now I'm

a supervisor in this department and I handle like four, six people. But my issue is just that I feel like I'm underpaid. No, no, I get it. I get it. All right. So here's the deal. You never directly ask for a raise. I think that when you do that, you go in, you say, you know what, I did my research in the marketplace, which I'm glad you did, because that's what you have to do. And my current income, my hourly rate is at the average. I'm not on the low end. I'm not on the high end. I'm at the average. And I feel like with my master's degree that I've previously gotten, plus the quick promotion you gave me, my work ethic, I think I deserve a $4 bump. If you go about it that way, and I know you didn't say it, but if we just say, you know what, I need a raise, I feel like I deserve a raise, it instantly puts the supervisor, your leader, in a defensive position, and that

never is good for you. And that's especially important because the reason I asked you all those questions is you've got your eye on a higher rung on the ladder that existed within your current organization. So you've got to handle this really, really well. So here's how you go about this. I want you to go in and say, hey, I've been here nine months. You guys gave me a promotion right away. That's really exciting because of my master's degree. You guys gave me a promotion right away. It's really exciting. Because of my master's degree,

I want to continue to add value here. I want to grow my responsibility. And as a result of growing my responsibility, grow my influence, and then grow my income, I would love to come up with a plan because I feel like I could do so much more for this organization. I know you all believe in me,

and I'm so grateful for that. Can we come up with a growth plan that is basically made up of things that I can go get more training on or some skill sets that I can learn on my own that make me more valuable, which allows you to give me more responsibility and thus the influence and the income will follow? And can we measure that? And can we come up with a plan for three months from now, six months, nine months, 12 months, to where I have an opportunity to increase influence, increase my responsibility, increase my income?

When you come at it that way, you didn't ask for a direct raise. You didn't throw a number at them. But you let them know you want to grow and you want to work with them and allow them to speak into how you can become more valuable. That shows some humility, Anthony, and that allows them to, again, speak into how you can become more valuable. That shows some humility, Anthony, and that allows them to, again, speak into a plan. Now, here's the deal, Kim. If they are a healthy leader and it's a good organization from a leadership standpoint, they're going to see that and they're going to go, I really appreciate the way she drew that up and laid it out for me. Yeah,

let's come together and come up with a growth plan that if we measure this result, this result, and this result, yes, we can talk about compensation. And I think that's going to give you a clear indication as to whether or not you stay at this organization. Does that make sense? Yeah. That's how you do that. Yeah, I can do that. But considering that I'm only nine months old in this company, do I do that anytime soon, or do I wait for me to... I'm glad you asked me that.

I thought you were saying, I want to do this now, so I was giving you that, but I'm actually glad you brought this up. I would wait until you've been there a year, because at Ramsey Solutions, we actually do an annual review. I don't know if your organization does that, but Ramsey Solutions, we do that. So the anniversary of when Anthony started, every year around that time, he'll have an annual review. And I have the same thing everybody does. And so I would wait until your first year in there, and I would work really hard over the next three months to deliver some great results and make sure that they're measured. And now you've got a really good case. So I've told you how to approach it. The when, I would do it every year.

I would ask for an annual review and just see what that looks like. Because that annual review should be a time where we look at the growth plan, we measure it, and then we set a new growth plan. Okay. That's very helpful. Yes, ma'am. Never ask for a raise. Always ask for a growth plan. I like that. I like that. Never ask for a raise. Ask for a growth plan.

Ken, can we talk about my growth plan? Well, we can. I don't get to decide what happens, but I can certainly help you do that. I need to grow. I need to sell more books. But you'll get that. I mean, you've helped so many young people and advised them. Here's what happens. When the leader feels like they've got an investment.

They've got somebody who's humble and hungry, and they get to speak into it. There's a less defensive posture, and I think that's why that's going to work much better. And I think, honestly, your gifts make room for you. And it's like if you work hard and if you're doing a job right, the right company will be like, yo, let's talk. What can we do to keep you happy and keep you here? So great advice, Ken. Love having you on the show.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 This is the Dave Randi Show with Kenny Coleman and Anthony O'Neill co-hosting today to answer your questions around money, career, space, relationships, your mindset. And so I'm excited to take your phone calls. Let's talk to Bill. Bill is on the line out of Cleveland, Ohio. Good afternoon, Bill. How can Ken and I help?

Hey, Kenny and Anthony. How are you guys? Doing well, man. How about yourself? I'm real good. I've got a question for you guys. So I am 33 years old. Okay. And I just joined my third company since college. I was at one for about 10 years and another one for about two years. And my question is, I've got a 401k at each company that I haven't touched. So should I leave them alone? Should I roll them to my current 401k or should I roll them to an IRA or something else?

Oh, no, man. I want you to roll that in, not just to an IRA, into a Roth IRA. So I would definitely reach out to those companies, get the information that you need from HR department, go ahead and start that process immediately. So that way you can really start getting that thing to continue growing and you can continue contributing to that Roth IRA. Do you have a Roth IRA right now already? I have an IRA. I don't believe it's a Roth I think they tried to do that maybe like a backdoor Roth IRA

just because of I think income limitations but I don't know I don't know if that still exists yeah so I would just reach out to one of our smart investor pros and just tell them

hey I have two 401ks from two different companies I really want to get these things transferred over. Do not let anyone, if any of our people tell you to roll this into your current 401k, hang up on them and then call me back here, Michelle, and tell me who they were. No, seriously, I want to know who they are, if they're one of our smart vets or pros, so we can get them fired.

But I want you to roll those over into a Roth IRA. And they may make some other suggestions as well that'll be good for retirement. There's a lot of options out there, but I think the best bet right there, Bill, is to roll it into a Roth IRA. How much is in those two? Well, between the two, how much do you have?

One of them is about $180,000 and the other one's about $40,000. Yeah, so you're saying about $220,000. Yes, sir. We hang up. I need you to call them right now. Call them. Go to DaveRamsey.com forward slash smart bester

and you'll get all the information there. Now when someone calls you, you're going to get about three or four of them and Ken recommends he does this often. He says, hey, you know what? Date all of them and ken recommends he uh does as often he says hey you know what date all of them you know figure out who's going to give you the right advice um have them take you out to eat have them take you to get some coffee ask them all the right questions do not answer the phone well answer the phone call but do not say yes to the very first

one see which one who you like because this is going to be a long-term relationship. All right? Perfect. Cool. Thank you, Bill. Yeah, thanks for the call. Yep, you got it. Going out to Dallas, we're going to have a conversation with Alex. Alex, good afternoon.

How can Ken and I help? Hello, guys. Thank you for taking my call. So I'm 24 years old, and I just bought a house last month, and I obviously want to make sure I put myself in the right financial situation. I take home about $4,500 after 15% of investing and living expenses. I'm left over with $2,000 a month. And I kind of just want to get your guys' guidance as to what to do on that $2,000, whether to expand the emergency fund, invest more, pay down the house quicker.

I have $2,000 extra a month and just want to figure out where to put those dollars. That makes you happy, doesn't it? Ken Coleman, we got a 24-year-old on here who's debt-free. Yep. How much do you have in your savings right now? About $12,000. $12,000 in his savings.

Okay. He makes $4,500 a month. How much is your mortgage payment? $1,175. He's smart. He is smart. He's way below his 25% of what we recommend, and he has his three months in the account.

So the extra $2,000, what should you be doing? Let me ask you this right now. Do you have currently a Roth IRA? Yes, I have. My work gives me a Roth 401K, which I match, and then I have myself a Roth IRA through okay through vanguard are you on a um eight are you on a high deductible um plan at your job right now high deductible um medical plan i'm currently on my parents plan still because i'm under the age of 26 yeah okay i'm saving in

there you go absolutely so here's one thing that you that you can do when you do get into insurance on your own. You can get an HSA, a high deductible plan that's also has an HSA attached to it, a health savings account. That is another great way to save for your medical and you can invest that. It's another great way you can start making some money to go towards your retirement. So write that down. So when you become 26 years old, get you a high deductible health plan like what I have. And then I also invest into the HSA, which is I can pay all my money for any medical bills, any kind of medicine, anything around health insurance. I can pay that tax free. And then also whatever I do not use, Alex, I can invest that for the future. So I would recommend that. But right now to two $2,000, you can up your savings.

But at the same time, man, what do you want? Do you have a car? I mean, what can you save for to treat yourself for the hard work you have accomplished as a young man at 24 years old? I mean, I drive a Toyota, and it works fine. It has 117,000 miles. It works like a charm. Yeah. So you don't need no car.

How much do you owe in your house? That's what I want to know. Yeah. How much do you owe in your house? So I put 20% down in the loan balance. I already paid three months of principal payment last month. So my loan balance is $175,000. Oh, yeah. A.O., I got to say, I think he needs to put some of the $2,000 towards that extra mortgage. I would knock that down. He's 24 years

of age. And you're such a goal guy. Have you called your mortgage company just to kind of get an amortization and kind of see what you've got left and how quickly you can pay that off? I'd get into that. That's one of those things that for a guy like you, being able to see how quickly you could pay that off, that could be a game changer for you. Yeah. What do you think the house is worth? It's about $228,000, so I got it a little bit under, which is a good thing. It's a great thing.

Yeah, I'm with AO on this, but I would put some towards paying that principal down faster because I think you could knock that out pretty quick. Yeah, absolutely, man. I would definitely do that. I would call, like what Ken said, call your mortgage company, tell them, hey, I'm planning on making an extra $1,000 a month payment. What can I do to – what would this take me to? Did you do a 15 or a 30-year loan?

30. Okay, all right. So I would definitely call them, and you can knock this out within actually about the next 11 to 12 years, maybe 11 to 15 to be a little bit more accurate. But I would definitely look into that, man. But Alex, man, I want to take my hats off to you, brother. A young man, 24 years old. I didn't ask him if he was single because

if he was single, boy, boy, boy, ladies looking here, the YouTube world be eating you alive right now. You know, one thing, one thing I would say to Alex, I think it's worth him talking to his current mortgage broker and also shopping around with the rates as low as they are for a 15-year mortgage. Because he can go up. He can't afford to go up a little bit. I think he can. I'd look at it. And if the increase in the payment still falls with under that $2,000, I'd really consider that.

Now we're talking some serious headway. So I would consider it. Consider it. Give Churchill Mortgage a call, Alex, if you're still listening to us uh give churchill mortgage a call tell them hey anthony and ken coleman from the dave randy show recommended me here um and i want to look into a 15-year fixed rate loan um and see exactly see if they can help you out with that all right so man i i just love that know, Kent, that's why I do what I do. I really enjoy hearing young people win. This is a 24-year-old. Yeah. No debt. Yeah. He's on his way. You know, homeowner. Yeah. It's great. $12,000, $15,000 in the savings, has a fully

invested 401k and a fully invested Roth IRA. He just kept answering yes to everything you asked. And I'm sitting there like, man, this is what I'm here for. Like, let's go. This is what a Friday looks like with a call like this. This is the best call all day. Best call all day.

There it is. Best call all day. I love young people. Ha! This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Scripture in quotes. scripture in quote comes from romans 12 verse 2 do not be confirmed confirmed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. A.C. Benson says very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene. I want to just read that first sentence again.

Romans 12 and 2. Do not be confirmed, conformed to this world. I love that scripture. Can't when I think about that, because oftentimes number one reason why a lot of people get into debt is because they conform. They fall into what is the norm, and they're not really being different. And so that scripture is amazing. I read that scripture actually often at least once or twice a week. Danny is in Denver,

Colorado. Good afternoon, Danny. How can Ken and I help? Hi guys. Thanks so much for taking my call. Let's see. So I am on baby step number two right now, working on my debt snowball. My oldest debt is also my largest debt, about four years old, a couple of past medical bills that have been combined for a total of $3,900. Well, on Tuesday, I received a court summons with a court date. I attempted to contact the collection agency today to negotiate prices. You know, after listening to Dave's recommendations, I was willing to offer them 25 cents on the dollar they were unwilling to accept it they were willing to give me 50 50 percent basically off so it would come out to about two thousand dollars after some added after some added fees that they tacked on

um I basically I offered them fifteen hundred500 that I would be able to pay. They said that they would have to send it off to the vice president of the collection agency company to have it approved. Long story short, 30 minute phone call later, they were be willing to accept my debit card over the phone and they would not be willing to send me the letter with the discounted price essentially. So I guess my question is, do I give it a couple weeks before the court date? Do I contact them here in a couple weeks and ask them to come down again on the price. They're taking you to court over $3,900? Yeah, for $3,900, exactly.

And they said if I wait on this and don't contact them back today, then they are going to tack on another $100 to $400 on top of it in order to pay the attorney fees and all of that if I don't come back today. So, Dani, is this a credit card? No, it's medical bills. Okay, it's medical bills. And how do you know you're going to court? They gave me a court date. I did get a court summons with a court date. That's November. It's November 17th. And did get a court summons with a court date that's november it's november 17th and you got a court summons from them a collection agency or from the court you're going to court for the collection agencies um paid a gentleman to show up at my house on

tuesday evening and um give me the piece of paper that has a court date on it. Yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. So here's the thing. If I was you, they offered you $2,000 on a $3,900 bill. What was their final – is that their final number? That is their final number, yes. They said if I don't pay that today, they will have to, like I said, send it off to the vice president of the collection company. They may be willing to come down more, but that's when added fees will be tacked on.

So here's the thing, Danny. Danny, don't worry about it. The $2,000 I like. Here's what I do not like, and here's what I think is fraudulent. They're not willing to put it in writing. Great. here's where i think is is it's fraudulent they're not willing to put it in writing okay because so what it sounds like what they're trying to do is get you for the two thousand still take you to court and get the other nineteen hundred dollars all right so if i was you i would call them back and say you know what hey i'll i'll pay you the two thousand dollars i just need a settlement in

full letter uh fax to me email to me mail to, however you want to do it. Cool. Number two, I will give you the money. I will overnight you a certified check today. I will give you the tracking number. I will even give you email you a copy of the picture of the check. But I'm sorry, I cannot and will

not give you my debit card over the phone. And I cannot and will not settle anything without something in writing and do you have yeah let me ask real quick Anthony Danny do you have emails from them or was this over the phone where they said they would not uh give you a written agreement on the settlement of 2000 that was um that was over the phone today yes that was over the phone okay uh yeah I'd call them back. First of all, the fact that they're threatening you with talking to the vice president, it's like, ooh, whatever you do, don't tell the vice president.

What's going to happen if the vice president finds out? Here's the deal. Call up and go, look, I got two grand right now. Right. Talk to the supervisor. Whoever the clown is that you've been talking to, they report to somebody. Get the supervisor of the clown on the phone and tell the supervisor, hey, I'm ready to go. Send me this email, however you want to word it. Give me your email address. I'll email you.

Send me the agreement. That's all I need. We don't need a court date. I'll pay you the two grand. They don't want to go to court. That's all a big giant threat in the first place. That's all a big, that's all a big thing designed to intimidate you. And so that's just all a bunch of junk. It's not worth the paper they printed. So, uh, so you're ready to go. You got the two grand and you're ready to go. Yeah. I'll make it work. Um, I can take control. I can do the, I can do the count. I can2,000. That's totally fine. Like I said, the fact that she wasn't willing to accept my, you know, she wanted to get a debit card over the phone. No. Just say, hey, listen, here's the deal.

I'm going to take the $2,000, and so I need you to send me that, and I'll send the check. Let me know where to send the check to. And if she can't help you, say, let me, I'll hold. Put me on the line with your supervisor. They record all that stuff. And so you just, you just, you become their nightmare. You turn into what they are and then you drive them bananas until they go, yep, here it is. And you do exactly what Anthony said, but you've got to take control of this deal. Right. So what's worst case scenario? What if they say, no, we can't accept that because I tried a couple of times. I offered to send her the check today if they were willing to accept the $1,500 and she said, no, my supervisor won't accept under $2,000. So what if she says no? What's next? Do I wait a couple of weeks before the court date and contact them again and try it again? Or do I go to court if that's the worst case scenario? Do you think they would actually do that?

I just don't think you need to. I don't, I don't, well, I, I just, I don't think that that's going to happen. If, if she's telling you the truth, then let's find out if the supervisor agrees. Say she, this lady told me you write everything down. You got got to take copious notes. And they record this stuff. And if they're recording it, I want you to tell them you're recording it as well. Yeah, tell them you want to record it. But here's the deal. If the supervisor said they won't take less than $2,000, then get the supervisor on the phone and verify it. Say, I'll give you $1,500 to settle.

No more games with whoever this person is. Right. And so let's get somebody that's up the ladder a little higher who will then send you an email or type a letter up and email that to you, scan it and send it to you. And we go, okay, we agree to settle this debt. Once a certified check is received, blah, blah, blah, blah at this address. And that's how adults do things. And then that's what you do. Now you've got the agreement, which will hold up and you send the certified check and there's no court date, but I would just,

I wouldn't take no for an answer. And then if they just are absolutely idiots about it, then, then yeah, show up at court with your certified check, ready to go. Absolutely. And then show up at court with a certified check for $2,000 plus a copy of the,

not a copy, but also the voice memo of you and them having a conversation that they will, they will settle for $2,000. They don't want to go to court, Danny. Exactly. And I'm just surprised, Danny, that they even sent someone to your house over 3,900 bucks because to go to court is going to cost them more than $400.

It's going to cost them more than that. Yeah. That's just part of the, That's just part of the tactic. It's a bunch of... I get frustrated with it. I would not trip over that, Danny. Honestly, I would just get on the phone with the supervisor, go on ahead,

and get them to give you that information in writing. But do not do nothing until you have something in writing. Yo, Ken Coleman, it's been fun, man. Very fun. Always good to hang. Very fun. I want to thank our producer, James Chow, and our associate producer and phone screener, Kelly Daniel.

You guys, don't forget that the caliber of your financial future will be determined by the financial decisions you made today. And you made one of the best financial decisions by listening to Ken Coleman and myself right here on The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. You can listen to Dave, Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, or the rest of the Ramsey Network anywhere with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. Catch all of our full shows, browse by topic, or send clips to your friends. Head to the App Store and download the Ramsey Network app today.