"My Debt Is Crazy!"

[music] brought to you by the Every Dollar app. Start budgeting for free today. >> I'm a single father and I went through a major family crisis 3 years ago. Um the type of family crisis that is, you know, life or death. As a result, to to to co to deal with the expenses of that, I went into $140,000 of credit card debt. Um and and I have no regrets. I would do that again every day. >> Okay. >> Um because at the end of the day, the crisis was resolved. Um and that money was well spent. However, >> the credit card debt is crazy. I mean, some cards are $22,000, others are $32,000. Um and the interest on that ranges between 25% to about 32%. So, >> it's killing me, obviously. Um, I'm treading water, no disposable income, no backup money whatsoever. If I had another crisis, the the type of real crisis, I would drown because there, >> um, you know, just enough to do just every bare minimum for the cards um, and just enough to put gas in the car and just enough for decent meals, but nothing crazy, no vacations, etc. >> What do you make? What do you make every month? Um, I make a a decent income. Um, I'm in California, so you know, it may seem like a lot here, but it's not when you have a mortgage and all of the things. And luckily, >> hit me with the number. >> Oh. Um, I I'll give you a yearly because Oh. Oh, no. Give me [laughter] >> monthly. It's about um 4,200. No, sorry. That's per paycheck. So, >> okay. 84. >> We're looking at 80 84. Okay. >> Math was never my strength. >> That's all right. We're we're walking with you. So, you've got the 8,400 and like you said, you are in California, so I got to assume that your real estate is higher. You you own a house. >> I do, and I fortunately have a 30-year fixed rate with a really good um uh interest, like really good or got that before the pandemic. >> What do you pay every month for that mortgage? to >> up like okay so one paycheck goes to the mortgage that's one of the paychecks and the other paycheck goes for the bills >> so half of your mortgage is 50% of the problem is 50% of your take-home pay is that what you're saying >> yes okay yes >> so yeah your house is not a blessing brother you got to change your mindset on it's not it's killing you >> the mortgage is a bigger problem than the credit card debt almost >> it's killing you I hate to tell you that we're telling you that we love you dude but A little there's a little twist. >> Listen, your personal data is hanging around the internet like that group text that just won't die. And cleaning up your digital footprint is a part-time job just submitting these opt- out requests. And that's why I use Delete Me. And if you don't want your data out on the clearance rack of the internet, you should be using it, too. Take back your privacy today with Delete Me. Right now, you can get 20% off at joindeleteme.com/ramsey and use code Ramsey at checkout. That's joined me.com/ramsey. code Ramsay at checkout. >> There's a little twist. The mortgage normally won't be that high coming in March. When I went through the crisis, I couldn't pay my property taxes and I couldn't pay my um I couldn't pay my property taxes. >> So, you're doubling up right now. Is that what's happening? >> Yeah, my mortgage company basically did an escrow and um and to pay for the back taxes. >> Um my mortgage went up, but it's going to come down about $1,500. um in March. So, I'll have a little breathing uh I'll have, you know, $1,500 of breathing space, >> okay? >> Which will put in some of those credit cards, but you know, not as much as I need because some of the interest is obviously going to gobble up. >> Here's the thing. Here's what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to either, and this is me just being a direct because I care about you, okay? Either >> Okay, >> man, you are a smart guy. you make a good salary and your your heart is bigger than the moon, dude. You're an amazing guy and you're going to have to figure this out. or if you if you get with this crazy crew over here in Nashville, Tennessee, and we've got millions of people who've gone through this and it's worked, you're going to have to say, "I'm going to surrender all of the old ideas I had about things like a good mortgage rate is always a blessing or the interest rate here and that, but we have a process and I promise you it will work if you'll follow it. But you got to go all in, okay? And no other no other little influencery person can get away with what we say, which is it works 100% of the time if you'll run the plan. >> Okay, Jade's going to walk you through it. But you you just got to be all in. >> How old your kid? >> I um by the way, I I have two things that were offered to me, which is the purpose of my call. So, I just want to make sure we get to those. But my child is 5 years old. >> Five. Okay, good to know. >> Okay. Um, so I was just trying to attack the first question that you had, which was seemed seemed like the credit card debt was an issue. I wanted to know what your time was like and what your ability is to earn more money. Knowing the age of your kid helps with that. You know, if you have a toddler at home, it's a lot different than if you have a 14-year-old at home. Um, but get your what were the other two parts of your question that you had? So, the reason for my call is because I got two offers to deal with this and u not knowing what you've said previously on this topic. I am because I'm really tempted to go with either of these two. >> Okay. >> Um because I don't have any more income because I'm spending as a single dad the the every minute of my life with my baby. I mean, she's the world and and I'm all alone. >> But get into your question because we don't want to hit the clock on your >> question. Got it. Okay. One agency hit me up and said, "Look, we will help you. We will negotiate all." >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's total scam. Total scam. Promise. >> Okay. It's not that consol consolidation, but they said they would, you know, if I go, you know, don't pay them for 60 days. >> That all that's going to do here, ask yourself two questions. If if you don't pay them, what's going to happen? Your credit's going to be destroyed. And during that time, all they're doing is setting you up for negotiations. If you really wanted to go that route, couldn't you do that yourself? If you wanted to say, you know what, I'm just not going to pay them. I'm going to default everything and then I'm going to settle everything. Couldn't you do that yourself if you wanted to? Yeah, sure. You don't need anybody to do that for you. >> Okay. Okay, good. But don't do that. >> You don't have to do that. You don't have to do that. I was trying to set you up for a world where you can say, "Okay, right now I'm making minimums. There's not much breathing room. what can I do to get more money in the door? And that would be my biggest question is what can I do to get more money in the door? You're right. It's going to be very tight for you um until March or April. And there's part of you that if you want to, you know, take that horse to the Oldtown Road, that's fine cuz once you do, you're going to be well within not well within, but you're going to be way closer to being able to keep this house about 600 bucks off. I I don't think I'm going to make you sell the house over that just yet. But in the meantime, you've got to be doing everything under the sun to get money. We can't just do nothing for the next 4 months. You've really got to make sure that you are exhausting every single effort to get more money in. And what I would do if I were in your shoes is I'd say, "Okay, what do I need? What what would make me feel like I'm making a dent in this? Is it $2,000 a month to put at the smallest credit card? Is it at $1,500 a month?" And I would work backwards from there. Can you take your kid with you to do some Door Dash and to do some Uber Eats? I think you can. I've seen it. And to to to do some grocery runs for folks, that's what you've got to do because >> that's the only way you're paying this off. And I can tell you right now, there's not going to be anything comfortable about it. There's not going to be anything easy about it. There's not going to be anything about this that makes you look forward to it except knowing that at one point you're finally going to pay it off and it's going to be behind you for good. That's it. >> Create your free every dollar budget today.