thank you for joining us America Linda
is with us in Houston Texas welcome to
the Dave Ramsey show Linda okay this is
a know Paul and I apologized at them I
felt a little bit nervous
my question is okay you're going to
speak a little more directly into your
phone you're muffled okay I'm sorry
okay I served I got served some papers
I'm being sued by American Express and I
just wanted to know and I don't have the
money to pay them so I wanted to know
what my options are and can they garnish
my wages not in Texas okay Texas doesn't
do garnishment you can okay you should
verify that with an attorney I'm not one
okay good when I call the lawyers to try
to set up a payment plan he wanted to
know where I worked how much I made what
you know my expenses and tell him any of
that I hope no no I didn't actually get
hung up on it
good that's problem how much do you owe
American Express I'm 58 but well 58 what
58,000 I mean I'm sorry 5800 I feel
better now for a second I was about to
pass out okay and what do you guys my
are you married you know I'm a single
mother and what do you make a year 43000
43,000 okay and why have you gotten
behind with them and just and medical
reasons and I had medical issues and
after I had my child
meaning you weren't able to work yes I
wasn't have it to work and I was trying
to catch up pain on medical bills I got
you okay and so how much in medical
bills do you have today and none I've
actually completely done with that
phenomenal way to go how much other debt
do you have and I have 60,000 and
student loans and about 20 credit cards
okay and the other student loans on
hardship deferral I assume and I did and
but now I am just making a mental
minimum pic of how much and I it at
it's like 150 good pay a month okay
gotcha
all right and how many children do you
have honey I'm just one okay all right
and you do receive child support yes
okay and is that included in the 43,000
you gave me no sir
how much is your child call board a year
um i roughly get 300 a month okay so
about another three thousand four
thousand dollars a year okay yeah yeah
not getting rich on that all right
what is your car payment and I don't
have carpet good I was a test I want to
make sure your new car was a debt okay
good all right yeah I got rid of that
okay here's the thing you need to double
check with a lawyer like I told you if
you want to because I'm not a lawyer so
I don't give out legal advice but my
understanding is that Texas does not
allow garnishment of your wages and so
they're not going to scarf your wages
they're just going to take a judgment
lien against you which is not good but
it's better than you know a lot of
things that could happen in a lot of
places you could live so basically
you're gonna have a very large bad debt
laying there as you have discovered
American distress is a horrible company
to work with yes they have spoken to you
in ways you never thought a human was
going to speak to you haven't they yeah
they are unbelievable their collection
tactics are off the charts I will never
do business with American Express again
because of the way they treat people and
treated me when I was in your situation
many years ago so anyway um what are we
going to do well we got to get rid of
the 5800 but we don't have to panic
because they don't really have a lot of
power because they can't take anything
you got okay now but we do long-term
want to clean it up but there's
something about the way they've been
yelling at you along with you having
gone through medical along with the fact
you now have lawsuit papers and lawyers
in your life that scares the crud out of
you right okay yeah I thought so I
understand so the first thing we need to
understand is there's nothing to be
scared of because there's nothing they
can do if I'm right and
about whether they can garnish your
wages they can't in Texas then you got
nothing to fear there's nothing they'll
be able to do that we get a lawsuit
against you and they'll just have a
lawsuit laying there that some day
you're going to have to go clean up so
you're going to go clean it up you want
to pay it someday in some way right yeah
okay
so number one is nothing to worry about
you're going to be alright number two
I'm going to put you in our Financial
Peace University class learning how to
handle money because I think you've done
a pretty good job with a horrible
situation you're in actually I am just
enrolled in a class oh really
very cool good okay then I'm going to
add to that and hook you up with one of
our financial coaches as my gift so one
on one person can sit down with you and
they'll help you with the American
Express mess don't no cost to you okay
okay all right now here's what you're
going to end up doing when you work with
the coach so you'll know the $5,800 can
be settled once it's this delinquent and
it's very delinquent the $5,800 can be
settled for probably fifty cents or less
on the dollar so somewhere around 3,000
bucks will make this go away you don't
have three thousand bucks to offer them
today but you need to start saving
towards that with a detailed in-depth
budget and as soon as you can get around
three thousand dollars you call that
attorney firm and just say hey I'm
working with a financial coach and they
said to call you because you know I've
got a fifty eight hundred dollar
judgment they'll say oh no it's a
thousand now because it's got all these
attorneys fees added to it and you're
going to say I understand but I don't
have eight thousand I don't have fifty
eight hundred I do have three thousand
however and if you'd like to settle for
that we will give you the three thousand
dollars a settlement in full and you'll
be able to work this thing down in a
lump sum settlement that you get in
writing or you don't give them any money
okay
and you don't give them any personal
information on you at all because I
don't want them calling and hassling
your employer I don't want them calling
your neighbors I don't want them
bothering you anymore
okay and you'll be able to settle this
for pennies on the dollar of some kind
to 3,000 bucks somewhere in there I'd
start calling them when you had to and
if they don't take it just keep up in
the offer until you get to three and
somewhere in there they'll take the
offer okay but you just got to know
you're not dealing with good humans
right you're not going out you are not
who they said you are they are scum okay
you are not you're a single mom out
there fighting the bear with a switch
trying to raise two kids who had a
medical problem and couldn't work got
behind our bills
that's not scum that's good people who
had a tornado come through their life
that's all that is and you'll survive
you'll get up on the other side of this
and five years from now this will be a
story you're telling some other single
mom who's scared and you'll be up the
other side of this thing and have it
whipped not only this but the credit
cards and the student loans also it's
all going to be gone in five years all
of it and I'm going to show you how and
walk with you okay okay you're gonna
make it you hear me kill you hear me you
are all right you hold on I'm gonna have
Kelly pickup forget you hooked up with
one of our coaches and walk with you
through this thing you know why most
people don't win they don't bother you
have to bother it to be intentional
never again as American Express going to
call my house and ask my wife why she
would stay with a man that won't pay his
bills
you