The Ramsey Show - App - You Got Scammed! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 24, 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, my co-host today here on the air. Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author Chris Hogan is with us, the voice of the millionaire in America today. Open phones, 888-825-5225. You call in, we'll talk to you about your life and your money right in front of you.

The phone number, 888-825-5225. Starting this hour is Dallas, Texas. Valerie is with us. Hey, Valerie, how are you? Hi, I'm doing great, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. I'm so excited. Good to talk to you.

How can I help? I did your program and did your show. Having trouble understanding you. Can you speak directly into your phone, please? Yes. Thank you. Can you hear me better speak directly into your phone, please? Yes. Thank you. Can you hear me better now? A little bit, yes.

I did your program and did your show and your whole program about two years ago, and I am an everyday millionaire now. Good. And so, yes, and I had no debt, but I have now loosened my reins quite that it's okay because it's debt that's ultimately earning me money because it's debt on my rental properties. Because I own a lot of residential rental properties and now I've taken on debt off of those properties in the form of HELOCs to either improve the properties or I've bought another property using one of those HELOCs. Gotcha.

So since you're not using our system at all, why are you calling us? Well, because I was using your system and I want to use the system for my debt, but because it helped me before become an everyday millionaire. Well, what happened, Valerie? Why did you go backwards? What happened? Well, it's basically because I wanted to grow. I was trying to grow my business, my residential real estate business, and the only way that I could see to grow it was to take on some debt

and then use the rental income to pay off this debt. I got you. I understand. It's not going as fast. I understand. You went back to being normal, so I'm still back to my point. How can we help you today? Are you tired of being normal?

Or you want to go back again? Well, I am tired of carrying the debt. So sell the rental properties. I know I should sell the rental property, but I hate to sell a rental property. Valerie, we can't help you, darling. No. We can't help you. Yeah.

Wants to be out of debt, but doesn't want to sell the property. Listen, you've got to decide which. Are you a horse or are you a cow? You've got to decide. I like that. You can't be both. You can't. You can't be both.

There's no hows. And there is no inbred version of the two, okay? So just decide what you is or what you isn't, and then you decide what you want to do. I decided what I isn't. I had a never-again moment 30 years ago when I went bankrupt and lost everything, and I said, I'm not borrowing money anymore. I own a bunch of rental property, like a lot, with a capital L-O-T of rental property, but I bought it slowly and with cash. And you have to decide what your goals are.

And I determined deep in my soul that borrowing money was not the shortest path to the kind of wealth that I wanted to have which had peace, not stress, and anxiety attached to it. Valerie, you have not determined that, and I'm not going to argue with you. No, you can't. And here's the thing, Dave. I remember in grad school, they would teach us about leveraging, OPM, other people's money. All of these were fancy ways, Valerie, to teach you about debt. And what you've done is you've brought stress and strife into your life,

thinking you have a real estate portfolio. What you have is a debt portfolio. And so what I would do if I were you, when you get tired of losing sleep and get tired of being stressed out, you call in a real estate ELP, you get comps on those rental properties, and you put them on the market. And you pay off those HELOCs, and you get them out of your life until you save up some cash and you buy real estate with cash. That's the only way to do it. Or clear enough of them that you clear one or two.

Right. But let's get the debt gone, kiddo. And, you know, you can't call over here and say, Dave, we believe in everything you say to do, but I'm not doing any of it. It won't work. I was waiting on the conjunction, Dave. No, I've learned to. The but, the or, you know, all of it, it's coming, and it's that battle.

Right after the comma. It is. And it cancels everything before the comma. That's what you said. That's right. Yeah. Everything but. Valerie, get your life back, young lady.

Get it back. You've bought into this fictional late-night TV real estate program that's trying to make you rich quick, and what it's going to do is make you broke fast. Yeah. Yeah. You just got to decide. Yeah, you really do. And you know what we're're going to say you knew that when you called here and i'm not going to argue with you about is this an okay thing it's not an okay thing as far as we're concerned you knew that you knew that so you decide what you want to be kiddo

we're right you're wrong weston is here from houston Texas. Hi, Weston. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you and Chris doing today? Great. How can we help? Yes. So just a quick background. Me and my wife are both 26 and we're on baby steps four, five, and six.

We are expecting our first child in November. Congratulations. Well, thank you. We're really excited. And we're going through all the medical bills that, you know, that have to be paid once the baby gets here. And it looks like we're going to have to pay about 3000 out of pocket. I've got an HSA through my work. That's got about 1500 in it right now. So it can't cover it all. So we're just trying to figure out if we should use that HSA for medical or I've got more

than enough money to pay for it out of pocket. Should I just use out-of-pocket expenses? What's your household income? It's about $95,000 combined. Either one is fine. Obviously the HSA is tax-free money if used for an expense. I'll tell you what I have ended up doing, and you can consider that, which is what you're considering. I have ended up not using my HSA for medical. I just paid for my medical. Knock on wood, I've been fairly healthy. Our Ramseys have been fairly healthy. And so I just keep fully funding the thing every year, and there's like 300,000 bucks in the thing because I started doing it back when George W. put it in place the first time.

And so I have been using it as an additional investment account, and I've just paid whatever medical that came up out of my pocket as I've gone along. But either one is fine. It's certainly what it's designed for. Yes, sir, and that's why we kind of went back and forth since we did have the money out of pocket. But we also had the HSA. We were going back and forth whether to just let it grow and just pay it out of pocket. Yeah, the other thing I kind of thought was if I ever had like a huge medical event, I'd

rather have the HSA sitting there for that where I could cover something like this out of my pocket. Uh-huh. Yeah, I agree. The nickel-dime thing here, I mean, maybe it's not nickel-dime, but $3,000 out of $90 is nickel-dime. Pay it. Pay it. Let it grow. I'd probably leave it alone because you might need it for something big someday. And if you don't, it's a great investment program.

That's right. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas. Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback.

But thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually Thank you. nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. So we've taught Financial Peace University classes since 1994, and the vast majority of them, over 6 million people have gone through the classes, the vast majority of them over that period of time, in 50,000 churches with some 40,000 people, have been coordinators leading the class. And in the old days, the coordinator would operate the VCR, later the DVD, and put the chairs in a circle and talk to people and lead them. These days they're doing it virtually.

And these coordinators are heroes. They have had a front row seat to people changing their lives and have also been instrumental in people changing their lives. Because you can talk at somebody through the TV on a DVD like I do or you do, Chris, but it's a whole different thing when you look eyeball to eyeball, kneecap to kneecap with them and are involved in changing their lives. And so we're going to honor a couple of coordinators through this week just by talking with them and honor the position and just say thank you.

And the first one up on that subject is Heather Donovan from Jacksonville, Florida. Hey, Heather, how are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Chris. Hello. Hey, thanks for leading Financial Peace University classes. We appreciate it. Wow, it's really my honor. And thank you for all that you guys do in serving others to teach this wonderful course.

How long have you been an FPU coordinator? I have been a coordinator for about four years, but personally went through it about 14 years ago and had such a calling on my heart that I was like, I've got to serve in some way to teach this to others, and that's how I got started. Cool, cool. So, you know, you're probably like me if you've been doing it that long.

The stories of people's lives being touched are everywhere, aren't they? Everywhere, yes. It's truly amazing. Does one stick out to you over the years? Absolutely. I mean, honestly, the very first FPU class that I taught was a single mom and it literally started with one student and I was like you know what God I'm going to serve this person to the best of my ability and she's the person that needs to hear this today and so that's what

I did and literally she's a single mom, struggling to make ends meet, didn't have a great job. And I just walked through that season with her and just gave her the hope that she could find a better job that she could make more money. And she, I mean, just did amazing. She soaked it all in. She listened. She followed the plan. She submitted to the idea, you know, that what she was doing, you know, wasn't working. And within two years, I got a text that said, hey, guess what? I just bought a new home for me and my kids. Wow.

And I, you know, I've got a better job. And God opened up doors that I never saw possible. And I've just, I cling to that. I'm like, you know what? Thank you, God, you know, that I get to serve and show others how to do this because it's personally changed my entire life. I have such a passion. You can hear it in your voice. And isn't it amazing as you're doing it, you can literally see the light bulb go on and you can see people get hope in their eyes. And it's amazing to see. It really is. It is. And it is just been is just such an honor to walk through this with people. Well, I want to tell you something. I want to personally thank you. That single mom and I'm sure countless others were on the receiving end of you extending a hand.

And that's exactly what we have to do. We've got to extend a hand to reach back, reach forward, reach out to people and just connect them with that information. And you listening to that single mom and hearing her concerns, but at the same time pushing her. You were half cheerleader, half coach, weren't you? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's fun.

Have you led one of the new virtual classes yet? I sure have. I actually have been doing it for several years. So in my old life in IT, I was used to doing kind of the virtual meetings and everything. So it was just a natural progression for me. So, yep, I have an actual FPU virtual class that starts tonight, as a matter of fact. Oh, very cool. Good.

Yeah, that's fantastic. So, Heather, you've done this. I'm sure you now know how easy it is to do. What would you say to someone out there that's feeling the desire they want to help they know there are countless people out of work right now families are in crisis and they want to help tell them how easy it is to be a coordinator it is just as easy as reaching out to the Ramsey solutions and say I want to coordinate a FPU class

they make it super easy to sign up. Everything's online at your fingertips. It's easy to utilize the tools out there and social media to get people to sign up. It couldn't be easier, and it's just so fulfilling and so life-changing, not only for those people that you're helping, but also for yourself. Absolutely. Heather, thank you so much. Thank you for who you are and all the people, all the lives you've touched, and just putting yourself out there like that.

You know, that's a cool story that the first class had one person. Yep. And I've walked into rooms to speak, and there were supposed to be hundreds and there was four over the years i've had that happen and i just just lay it out there like i was doing it for hundreds circle up the chairs you never know that's it that's right yeah i actually didn't do the full speech you're right i would sit down and do the speech but do it in conversation that's right if there's just a handful of people i've've done that. I've been put in those situations over the years, and it never fails that someone of those couple or one person that's sitting there

needed that more than anything. That whole lady's life was changed because of Heather. I'm going to tell you, if you're at home right now and you're feeling that burden, you're feeling that push to do something, what can you do right now? In the face of all the things that are going on, I'm going to tell you right now, there is something you can do. You have an opportunity to plug in to become a coordinator. Dave, what do they got to do?

Well, it's a virtual class. All of them are virtual right now, or virtually all of them are virtual. Da-da-da. Did you hear that? I did that. But, yeah, most of them are virtual, and they're actually easier to do because you don't have to unlock the door. You don't have to set up chairs.

You don't have to try to make sure the front lobby has the lights on and all that kind of stuff. And when you're doing a physical location, there's always complications, but there can be technical complications with the virtuals, but they're just really easy to do. And we'll show you everything you need to do so you can lead with confidence. We've been doing this a long time, and we can show you exactly what you need to do so you can have the benefit, like Heather did, of helping people do this. People need hope right now.

There's 16 million people out of work, and a lot of them are ready to say never again. I'm never going to be here again, and they want to know the steps to take to never be there again. So if you want to join our growing community of coordinators, just text UNITY to 33789. The word is unity, one word, U-N-I-T-Y. Text that to 33789. And our guys will get right back with you and help you get going, help you get a class set up. And, of course, there's a lot of people joining Ramsey Plus,

and Financial Peace University is an element of Ramsey Plus and EveryDollar and the Baby Steps app and all that stuff, and they need someone to answer the FAqs the frequently asked questions they need someone to be in their corner and uh encourage them when they're sad and struggling and bust on them a little bit lovingly when they're prideful that's right and some of you know the answers to all the questions you've been listening to this show you're you play beat dave to the answer when you're riding along in your car and here's the deal though if you don't know the answers to the questions you don't have to remember the lessons are taught by dave r, though. If you don't know the answers to the questions, you don't have to. Remember, the lessons are taught by Dave, Rachel and myself. So you don't have to teach.

What you're doing is coordinating. You're facilitating and helping people to be encouraged, have the conversations, and you're going to be able to point them to the place to get the answers. Well, thanks again to people like Heather Donovan. There's some 25,000 of them over the years at any given moment, 10,000 or 12,000. And coordinators leading out there. We need a lot of help this fall. There's a lot of people joining Ramsey Plus right now. So text the word UNITY to 33-789. That's UNITY to 33-789. This is Unity 233 789.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention. That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much and the cheap knockoffs are ugly and really don't protect your eyes. Discovering Shady Rays is a game changer. With Shady Rays, you can count on premium sunglasses that protect your eyes and are affordable. They give people the best overall Thank you. Go to ShadyRays.com and use the code RAMSY for 50% off two or more pairs. That's ShadyRays.com, code RAMSY. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage,

joining my co-hosts Chris Hogan and I, today is Ronnie and Belinda from Greenville, South Carolina. Here to do a debt-free scream, baby! Welcome, guys. What's up? Not much. Glad to be here. Well, we're honored to have you. How much have you paid off? We paid off just about $210,000.

Whoa! How long did this take? About three years. Okay. And your range of income during that time? Started at about $125,000 and got up to about $175,000. Very good. What do you guys do for a living?

Physical therapist. Both of you? Both of us, yep. All right. You've got great practices. That's very well done. Yeah, thank you. Very well done.

What kind of stuff did you pay off? All student loans. Yeah, I was going to say about $500 in credit card debt and about $209,500 in student loans. Whoa. Okay. Whoa. Okay. Wow. So a couple of PTs had to get their diploma out of Hawk.

That's right. That's right. I love it. All right. So who decided to get serious first between the two of you? Well, I think probably me first just because we graduated from different classes. Okay. So when I first graduated, I moved in with my parents, and they kind of got me on the

envelope system. And then when Ronnie graduated, we both knew we wanted to get married. And we started doing the Dave Ramsey way before we got married. And then you can talk about your living situation. Yeah, basically the same thing. When I graduated the next year, I just kind of jumped right in on the same plan, which made it a little bit easier in some ways because we just stayed on the same budget, you know, like we were students and just kind of kept going until we got everything paid off. Okay, very cool. And Ronnie actually worked kind of a second job on the side when he started working where he got kind of this deal where he would work on the weekends and they would help pay for his

rent. So that helped him save a lot of money and okay let's get ahead very cool so Belinda your parents were uh financial peace parents they love you yes okay so you're a financial peace baby you married into the thing okay second gen here all right very cool you guys so you really never knew any big lifestyle that you had to cut down you just said we going to keep living like college students and clean this up. And about $70,000 a year goes away average over three years. That's right. That's right. That's rowdy.

Yes, it is. I mean, you're out there making serious money, and your contemporaries who came out of PT school are still sitting on the same amount of debt that they were three years ago. They paid off none of it. Right. And they were calling you crazy. Some of them probably were. Maybe not to our faces. I mean, it's just tough because, you know, like with physical therapy now,

with a lot of other medical field-type professions, you just go to school for longer and longer and longer, and there's that delayed gratification that when you get out of school, there's that impulse that, well, now it's time to take the next step. But if you have a lot of debt, you know, it's hard to justify, you know, that lifestyle. Yeah. Belinda, what was the biggest sacrifice for you? I think for me, just that delayed gratification of, you know, getting a house, you know, sooner than I had anticipated because we're still renting right now. And but we know that's coming soon. So I think that's the biggest challenge for me.

That is very good. Ronnie, what about you? Biggest sacrifice? Um, I would definitely say the house, um, for sure. Just because, you know, there's that peace of mind that comes with owning your own property. Um, but definitely renting is a little bit easier if you can know that you are tangibly working towards a goal, um, that you're getting to pretty fast. It's temporary. You can walk through anything as long as you're looking the other side of it. That's right.

You guys are young, too. How old are you? I am 31. 30. Okay. As of Friday, she's 30. Well, happy birthday. Thank you.

All right. Very good. So very cool. So what do you tell people when they say, oh, you did the impossible. You paid off $210,000 in three years. You're weird. You're impossible. That can't be done.

What do you tell them the secret to getting out of debt is? Because it's not really a secret. I would say for me, and then, you know, whatever you think, but I would say for me, you've got to number one, see success early. So, you know, you can't be frustrated that it's not all gone in one month because that's not going to be the case. You know, it took a lot longer than that to get into debt. So it's not going to go away that fast. And then also too, I would say you have got to be proactive about seeking out your own opportunities. You know, along the way, you can't just say, I'm going to wait for good opportunities to come my way. You have got to really be proactive about seeking those

opportunities out. Amen. Yeah. What about you, Belinda? I think just staying disciplined. And I think it was really good because we celebrated along the way. Like every time we would get $10,000 down, we would, you know, do something to celebrate. So it just made it go by a lot faster and just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. So other than your mom and dad with the envelope system, what connection did you all have with us? I've gotten a lot of your books as Christmas gifts. They're subtle. And we also got a, I mean, we were already kind of doing Dave Ramsey before we got married, but we did get Financial Peace University for our wedding as a gift as well.

You're becoming more and more popular in the physical therapy world. Yes, you are. As students come out, definitely. Wonderful. We're big fans of that world, so that's a fair trade. Very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. I know your mom and dad are very proud of you.

We're proud of you. Way to go, hero. You took control of your life. This is an amazing, you guys. I know your mom and dad are very proud of you. We're proud of you. Way to go, hero. You took control of your life. This is an amazing thing you did. And if you can do this, you'll be able to do anything financially. If you live like no one else, later you can live and give like no one else. That's right. So we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires,

because that's the next chapter in your story for sure. You're on your way to not only homeownership, but to being in an incredible, I mean, 10 years from now, you're going to be sitting in such an incredible place financially. Well, and one more thing I wanted to say kind of along those lines too is I think with student loans, especially in our generation, there's a lot of disappointment coming out because you feel like your big mistake that you made was you went to school, you know, you studied, you took the test and you come out and you have that debt. And people sometimes feel like their only avenue for getting out from it is these, you know,

work service forgiveness, you know, nonprofit, sign up 10 years of your life and hope that they cancel it out for you. And this way really is, just like you said, such a more reliable method of taking control of your own destiny, not waiting 10 years to see if, you know, someone's going to forgive you of loans. And it's just a much more freeing feeling, I feel like, than just waiting for the other option. I can tell you for sure that Ronnie and Belinda are much more reliable way of getting out of student loan debt than the government getting you out of your student loan debt. That's right. The government can't find its butt with both hands. I mean, you guys are incredible.

Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. Absolutely incredible. All right. Ronnie and Belinda, Greenville, South Carolina, $210,000 paid off in three years, making $125,000 to $175,000. Came out of school and just kept living like they were in school and did it, baby. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free. Yeah. Yeah. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Whoa. Well done, you guys.

I'm telling you. Oh, goodness gracious. Very well done. Man, that's incredible. That is exactly, exactly what you do. That's right. So anybody sitting out there with student loan debt, and if you've heard your crazy family or stupid friends tell you it's not possible.

Or stupid family or crazy friends tell you it's not possible. Or stupid family or crazy friends. Either one. But you just heard, you've got a 30-year-old, 31-year-old Ronnie and Belinda got rid of $209,500 worth by just buckling down and being intentional. And that's how you do it. You make a decision not just once but every day and stick to it i'm proud of them young people and you know what most things in life but almost all things in money hurt at the beginning if they're going to be the right decision very few things are easy at the beginning right so when someone says this is the easy way

you probably should run that's right because most things that cause people to build wealth are painful today to live out later one definition of maturity emotional maturity for sure is the ability to delay pleasure live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else the bible says no discipline seems pleasant at the time but it yields a harvest of righteousness way to go you guys wonderful job this is the dave ramsey show Thank you. Chris Hogan Ramsey Personality is my co-host today here on the air. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Uday is on the line in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Hi, Uday. How are you? Hey, how are you doing today?

Good. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, man. What's up? Yeah, so I put myself in a bad financial spot. I ended up going to a buy here, pay here place and buying a car on like August 3rd of this month. The agreement was to put down $1,000 and then the next time I get paid, put down another $500 and that would complete my down payment. Basically, I told the salesman I don't get paid until the end of the month, so I wouldn't have been able to make the payment until I get paid. Last week, they came and repoed the car.

Two weeks after you bought it? Yes, two weeks after I bought it. Did you give them the $1,000 up front? Yes, I gave them the $1,000 up front. Good Lord. Wow, that sounds super aggressive. Well, it is. It's a tote the note.

It's a scam lot. Hey, what was the interest rate on that loan? Do you remember? Yeah. 22%. Goodness gracious. This was never intended to be a blessing in your life. No.

Only theirs. Yeah, so I don't know what to do. They said I can pay the $500 plus $300 to get the vehicle back. Nope. They got all they're going to get out of you. Nope. Okay. You got out of a bear trap for $1,000.

Good luck. I mean, you got mostly one of your legs intact. Yeah. So you run with the other leg. Man, you get away. These people are – did you not figure out you got scammed? Yeah, I just needed another car to get back. Listen.

Answer my question. Did you not figure out you got scammed? 22 freaking percent, and you paid $1,500 down, or you would have, and that's all the stinking car was worth to start with, probably. Yeah. No, don't delay. Hey, no, listen. Did you hear?

22%. Let it go. It's frozen, baby. Let it go. Run. Okay. So you get paid 500 bucks, right? You got 500 bucks and 300 that you could see in your future that you were thinking about giving to these scam artists, right?

Yeah. Okay. So let's walk through what you do now instead of doing that. Because the first thing you have to do is realize you got screwed and you don't go back to a place where you got screwed, okay? Is that fair? Okay. Okay. Now, the second thing is, can you scrape together the $800 you were talking about giving to them a few minutes ago?

Yeah, I actually get paid this Friday. How much do you get paid on Friday? It should be $2,500. Good. And how are you getting back and forth to work right now? I actually have a truck, another vehicle that I use as a business truck slash work truck. But you're able to use it on a personal level? Yes.

It's currently mine, and I have a car note on that as well. And it needs repairs. So I was going to get another car just so I could put it in the shop for it to get repaired. What is the nature of the repairs it needs, hon? It needs about $2,000 worth of repairs. It's engine repairs. Okay. And how old are you?

I'm 27. And what do you think this truck is worth without repairing it? Probably about $4,000, and I'm upside down on my loan right now. How much do you owe on the loan? $8,400. Okay. You've been doing poorly with cars, haven't you? Yeah, he's got car items, Dave. Yeah.

Okay. So, and it needs $ thousand dollars in repairs and then it would be worth what six thousand or seven thousand yes okay still low in 8400 all right but it but it'll drive a little bit yes what are the nature of the repairs it needs um basically they said that i needed um the gasket fixed inside the engine and then um basically i needed new shocks and a couple other things and it came out to two thousand dollars gotcha okay well you've blown a head gasket you can go without shocks a really long time in a truck. Okay.

Doing a head job on it. What kind of truck is this, a brand? It's a GMT Sierra. Okay. Pickup truck. All right. Did the dealer give you this price? Who gave you the repair estimate? I went to three different places, and one was $1,800, another was $2,000, and another was $2,400.

Were they all dealers, or were any of these mechanics individual mechanics? These were individual mechanics. Okay, good. Good, yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to break out the shocks away from the head gasket, okay? The head gasket's probably the bulk of that, but they may be getting you for $500 or $600 on the shocks here.

I don't know. Mm-hmm. All right, and this truck's got some miles, doesn't it, like a couple hundred thousand? No, it actually only has $160,000 on it. $160,000, yeah, that's kind of like a couple hundred, okay. Yeah, I mean, it's got some wear and tear. All right, so let's think of a strategy that says five years from today, three years from today, two years from today, what are you in the best shape of with the vehicle? Is it buying a car on payments?

No, we just experienced that. We do need to get the truck repaired at some point um and yes we need to buy a car before we do that or have made other arrangements for um transportation during the time i would talk to one of the mechanics that's thinking of doing the repair and see if they have a car that they will rent you for the two weeks that your truck is down instead of buying a second car. Okay. Just get you some kind of a loaner off their back lot that's a hoopty. Even if you pay them a little bit for the loaner, that's better than buying a car right now.

You don't need to do that. And then let's get the truck repaired and let's sell it and get out of the debt. Now we have no debt and no car, but by then you could have put together, this is all going to take until Christmas, by then you could have put together a little bit of money and you pay cash for a $2,000 or $3,000 car. Let's get you out of the land of car payments completely, but this truck probably needs to be repaired to get the most value out of it. Okay, and I still have about three more years on my truck payment.

No, you don't, not if you sell it. Okay, I didn't know I could sell a vehicle without having the title. Yeah, you fix it and sell it, and you'll be probably $1,000 in the hole. You write a check for that $1,000. You're out of that completely. Save back $1,000, $1,500 and get you a little beater car for cash. And that's your first step away from this entire mess. It is not financing something at the totem out lot at 22% interest. You got screwed.

Yeah. You're out of the car loan business is what we've just laid out for you. Okay. You're not going to do that. But honestly, reach out to that mechanic. They've got a loaner car or something. You can pay a couple hundred dollars a week to be able to drive. Well, I'm telling them they've got to get the dadgum truck fixed. They can't let it sit around for two months. They can put the head gasket on it. It's a one-week job, max.

Okay. And then you can do the shocks later or not do them and sell the truck. 160,000-mile truck that drives like it's worn out is not a big problem when you're selling it. Blown head gasket is. Okay. And this car that you're going to save up and buy for cash, this is going to be a car you're going to have for a year or two because you're going to keep saving up to be able to upgrade. But no more financing.

Uday, raise your right hand and say, I promise to never borrow on a car again. I promise to never borrow on a car again. If you want to be wealthy, if you don't want to be financially stressed, you know how much stress you've had in the last 48 hours? A lot. Yeah. If you never want to be there again, never have a car payment again, keep that promise to yourself.

You don't have to keep it to me, but car payments will eat your butt alive, man, and they've definitely been eating your butt. Wow. Unbelievable. 22%. Well, the scam on those guys is they fully intended to take his $1,000 is what they did. They set him up. $1,000 down. They went and got the car before he got paid to pay the $500.

They knew what was happening. And it was probably a $1,500 car. A lot of times they sell the car for the value of the car is the down payment, and all the money they make at 22% is profit. And so that's a scam line. Listen, it says tote the note. That's for people who've lost their freaking minds. Run.

It's right. It's the payday lender of the car business. It really is. Sorry, O'Day, man. It's the payday lender of the car business. It really is. Sorry, O'Day, man. I'm sorry you lost your thousand bucks, but that's all you're going to lose

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