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I had an ex-boyfriend years, about five, six years ago, and we got motorcycles.
I sold mine, but we co-signed for each other.
And that's true love.
Yeah, right.
Um, but anyway, uh, he hasn't made a payment.
I don't care about my credit, but they keep calling and they're
like, it's a binding contract.
So my question is, what do I do?
I haven't seen the bike in over four or five years.
I don't know if he's alive or dead.
And they came to my house and checked, you know, it ain't there.
They went to come repo it and it wasn't there.
Yeah.
Okay.
Here's, here's the bad news, Annie.
It doesn't matter where that motorcycle is.
And it doesn't matter if he's dead, dead or alive.
You owe that debt.
That's that is exactly what co-signing is.
It's you taking on that debt because they don't trust him to pay.
And I think they were wise.
How much is it?
It's like about $10,000 Yikes.
And what about your bike?
Have you since paid yours off?
Or what happened?
The one that, that, that you guys co-signed together that you, that you drove.
Oh, I've sold mine.
So yours has been gone.
Where are you at financially?
Do you have any other debts?
Do you have money in savings?
No, I don't have any money in savings.
Uh, I've been retired for a year and I'm trying to go back to work right now.
So I'm barely making my bills and I can't afford to make that.
Where's your income coming from?
Uh, retirement.
Like a 401k social security.
No, I work, I work for a TDC.
So you have like a pension?
Uh, yes, sir.
Evidently.
Yes.
Okay.
It's a, yeah.
So what is your monthly income as it stands without you going to work?
Uh, like 1600.
And what are your monthly bills add up to?
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More than 1600.
Yes.
Okay.
So are you floating the gap with credit cards?
No, actually I'm married.
So, uh, yeah, I got married.
So that's how we do it together.
Okay.
What's he make every single month?
Uh, probably about, let's see, nine, 18, about 3000.
Okay.
And I don't know, I'm guessing based on the way you're talking, but are you guys
combined money or are you separate?
Uh, I take care of the bills and he just puts money in my account.
So I take care of all the bills and then he takes care of like his truck and stuff.
So you're, you're separate for all intents and purposes.
It doesn't sound like.
Does he have savings?
No.
Okay.
Well, the best way to do this would be combining your money together to go,
okay, how are we going to make a plan to pay this old debt off now?
I don't know if he's willing to do that.
And it sounds like he doesn't have the ability cause he's broke too.
And he's got a truck payment of his own.
No, his truck is paid off, but, uh, we're trying to, uh, get him another truck.
So I'm trying to go back to work cause his truck is actually broke down
and we're trying to fix it.
So trying to pay for the repair or are you about to go buy a
brand new truck with payments?
Uh, you don't have any money.
Right.
Well, that's why I need to go to work.
And so that way we'll have more money on top of that, but his truck is old
and he's, well, he's trying to fix it.
So now that's what our goal is to fix.
Well, I think work is a great place to go right now to make more money
to get us out of all of this.
And the motorcycle, this old motorcycle debt, that's just part of the, the
bigger picture that we need to clean up.
What other debts do you have?
Um, I have a couple of credit cards.
Um, my debt's probably about 10,000.
Well, you got 10,000 just on the motorcycle.
No, no.
Yeah.
But I'm talking about, uh, yes, I guess you got 20,000, I guess 20, about 20,000.
So here's what I hear.
Um, and here's a couple of, I just want to bullet point this so that you
have clear, uh, homework for tonight.
First things first is tonight.
It's Friday, it's Friday night here.
I know some of you might not listen to this till Monday, but I want you to go
out either on a date or tell your, tell your husband tonight is date night at the
house.
And over dinner, I want you to say, I've really been thinking and I don't feel
peace about our finances.
I feel stressed.
I feel like we're disconnected and I would really love for us to get aligned
financially.
I would love to be in a situation where what's yours is mine is in mine is yours
and that we really are a unit on this.
And I want you to open up the lines of communication on that.
Tonight's not the night to, to create a plan, uh, to pay off debt.
Tonight is not the night to say it's time to sell a vehicle.
Tonight is just the night to say, here's, here's what I'm afraid of.
Here's what I've been feeling.
And here's, I would just like to have this intimacy with you where we're one on one
with our, with our money, right?
For you and your own time until the next meeting that you're going to have with
your husband, I want you to start writing down debt.
Here's all the debt, here's all my money.
And then the next meeting with him, I want you to go with him and say, I
started writing things down.
Here's what I started writing down, slide it over there and say, is there
anything you want to add to this list?
Cause I'm just trying to get my head around this.
Right.
And, and keep that conversation going.
That's thing one and thing two.
And then you guys can start to get your head around this.
Uh, we're going to give you every dollar before you get off the phone, because
the truth is George and I can only talk to you for so long and you're going to
need something and someone to walk with you.
And every dollar is going to do that.
It'll be like you have George in your pocket.
And so that's the key to this.
Every dollar is going to ask questions about you.
You're going to answer it.
And then it's going to tell you the next right step.
Uh, and in this case, George was right.
Money coming in.
So income coming in, you getting another job, that's going to be so key.
But then after you've done the budget, you're going to realize, are there
some things that we can cut out?
Uh, what percentage of our take-home pay is, is our, our rent or our mortgage, right?
You're going to see things that might need to shift and all that needs to
be done together with your spouse.
And I personally call us back, like call us back and tell us how it goes
because there's several steps to this.
I would never want you to think it was a light switch that was supposed to
happen in one conversation or in one phone call, uh, to our show.
So keep walking down the road.
Don't get discouraged.
There's going to be several steps to this, but just take the next right step.
So, so what's the answer?
Even though I don't know where the bike is, haven't seen it in five years, you
got to stack up the money that you have to, at this point, assume it as your debt.
Forget he ever even existed because your name is on it.
And legally that's all they see.
If they can't find him, your name is on it and you will feel it.
It will, if it doesn't get paid, your credit is going to get destroyed.
It's going to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
So add it to the list of debts.
The best thing that you can do in this situation mentally and emotionally
is say, you know what?
This is a mistake I made.
This was the part I played.
Forget all about him.
Cause he's somewhere eating a sandwich.
He is not thinking about you and he clearly doesn't care about, you know,
clearly doesn't care about his finances.
So you pay it.
Don't spend another ounce of energy thinking about him because it's just
wasted mental calories and emotional calories.
And because the debt is, you know, six years old, they might be willing to
settle.
If you can scratch up $3,000 and call them, say, Hey, listen, I don't know
where this guy is.
I don't know where the bike is.
He's an ex.
I'll give you three grand.
If you can call this debt paid in full and clear from your credit and move on
with your life emotionally and financially.
We're rooting for you, Annie.
Hang on the line.
We're going to get you hooked up with every dollar.
Create your free, every dollar budget today.
The simplest way to budget for your life.