Dave Ramsey Followers a Question......

I didn't get rid of the car payment, I just paid off the car really fast, but then we only had one vehicle and only owed $1500 at the time. And he must have changed the amount of money you are suppose to save, when I did the program a few years ago, we only had to save $500.

If you are going to sell it...look at the blue book value and try selling it yourself. I believe you will end up with more than taking it to a place to buy it...because they are looking to turn around a sell it themselves.

We didn't get rid of our cars when we did Dave, oh 10 years ago...we put the amount owed into our debt snowball and just went nuts on paying the amount off, faster than the actual payment plan. Just make sure they will not penalize you for paying off early. They kept calling us to see if there was a problem because we were making double and triple payments...and they don't like that because it is killing the money they are making in interest. (But we only had one car at the time...my husband and I carpooled...no kids yet).

My husband is still driving that car to this day...it is a 98...and it has been paid off forever...runs great, air conditioning works great...we did just replace the headliner a month ago.

I am not sure about paying of the medical loans first...are they your smallest or highest interest? I know Dave says pay smallest loans to largest despite interest so you can see the bills being paid off faster and snowballing quicker...but if they are not interest bearing loans...maybe your next smallest amount owed would work better.

Good job on following Dave R...he has saved us much grief over the years...we could probably use a refresher course...I will need to check his book out from the library and reread it.

Oh we paid off almost 20K in our first year on Dave...got rid of all credit card debt and have never carried a balance sense...what a wonderful feeling of freedom...good luck!!

Dave's suggestion is to sell the car and take out a small loan to cover the difference and put that in your debt snowball- so you would be paying off $3000 instead of $17000.
Congrats! and hang in there- sticking to a budget has been the toughest part for us! But we will be completely debt free(except the house) in Feb!!!!!
~C.
ps- check out his website- he has a lot of great advice there and his radio show in Dallas is on 570 from 1-4pm

You'll have to sell the car yourself vs selling it to a dealership to get anywhere close to what you should for it. But even then, if you're negative, you won't get what you need. So...my suggestion is to really research the value of the car, and then work your bottom off to pay down your loan to the proper amount. Then, when you sell it, you'll get enough to pay off the loan & get the title.

But...Dave says to get your $1,000 emergency savings BEFORE working towards paying off your debt. So for now, work to get the $1,000 and then work to pay down the car loan & sell it. After that, you'll be working towards saving for that next car (that you buy outright -- no loan) & other savings. It's so fun!!!

By the way, our church (in West Lafayette, IN) is offering Dave's class beginning in mid-January. If you are local, email me back so I can get you some information. Our leadership team just finished the study, and we made a $150,000 change in our debt vs savings as a whole -- in just 13 weeks. HOW AWESOME!!!! This stuff works!

Hi I did a similar financial study with Crown Ministries, and they are very similar. The Dave Ramsey course was given in the spring of last year at our church soon after the Crown Ministry course. The biggest lesson in the group is not to expect to handle your finances one way one day and a different way the next day. The Lord realizes it may take some time to get on the right track, he knows your thoughts and desires... so work toward the goal of having no car payments and once you are free of the car payment or other type debt then don't go back into that type debt. I was the same when I was hunger and felt convicted to tithe... I felt like I should be able to tithe a full 10% but finances just would not let me. So I worked at each time I got a raise I put at least 1/2 of the amount into my tithe and have been at 10% for now many years. As I said the Lord will bless your efforts, keep on keeping on... life will deal you obstacles to help you learn through these lessons (devil?) but holdfast and you will be blessed - I have been in many ways - and I'm still learning. By the way I still have car payment also, but my mindset has changed to gear toward one day driving a car that isn't tied to a loan. I was really close to my goal, but then we were offered a deal for a newer vehicle for my daughter to drive...but I didn't finance it as long and it wasn't a brand new vehicle it came from a freind who had it leased. A great deal - $3000 less than Retail. I felt it was still a blessing from God - payment - I refinanced my 2005 Highlander for 2 years where I had 9 months to pay on it and financed the 2007 Nissan for 4 years. The least amount of years I've ever financed a vehicle. The two payments combined were less than a $10 difference of what my original payment was on just the highlander I bought new in 2005. I just felt like it was meant for me to do this... even though I know from the lessons that it isn't what he desires for us in life.
So keep your thoughts in the direction of your goal and one day you will obtain the freedom that you desire as I also am determined.
Best Wishes on your journey to debt free living.

I have not done this before..........we went a different route. My sister however has and she got rid of 11,000 debt in 9 months. however I don't think it included paying off a car. I can't imagain life with out two cars in our family.......but surely you could find something cheaper. Unfort. the cost of a car will only get worse, so if you were to do it.........your saving more debt money now then later. Good luck.

I agree about getting your $1000 first and working on the debt.by selling vehicles yourself.

Financially is it better sell ;your husband's car? If so, maybe sell that one first and then work on the CRV.

Hi there. You have lots of great responses. My hubby bought a new car before we had kids, after i graduated and was working again. I was next to get a new car and then we had our first little one. Luckily he bought dave ramseys book and we both realized how stupid it would be to have over 1000 bucks a month going towards cars and ins. We were of course upside down on his new car and we sold it on craigslist and took the loss which we paid for with a new loan. We had a little money saved and bought a VERY used toyota camry on craigslist with cash. This move felt VERY weird to do. Sell our nice new safe car and still pay for some of it and buy a used possibly unsafe car??? But it has been a blessing! We have not had a car payment in soooooo long. My hubby started a new business and still has no income and i only work part time and we had a new little one come our way...no wiggle room for expenses! God has blessed us with great working used cars. I can't wait to have newer ones one day though! Good luck! it's not easy but well worth it!!

I love Dave Ramsey and totally believe in him. Save the emergency fund first for sure, then look at what you can find for a cheaper car. You both owe a lot on your cars now, especially yours, nothing you can do to change that. Do you need to have 2 vehicles? A car will never go up in value, so as time goes on, you will still be losing money, sell one now, whatever one you can get the better value on. Get a cheaper car and you will be saving money. Sell a vehicle, put money into savings, work on paying off what you owe right away and work on paying off other loans. If you follow his suggestions for saving money, paying off the loans becomes much easier. There are many places in our budget to save, you just have to follow them and apply it daily.

Ramsey Rocks! We dropped $90k in debt over 18 months using his plan.

The $1000 Emergency Fund helps break the debt cycle in that you no longer use your credit card as an emergency fund - so do that first.

Put both cars on the mkt and keep (for now) the one that does not sell. A small loan to cover the negative equity will disappear quickly with the debt snow ball. Become a one car family untill you can buy a beater for $2k. I know this would be a hassle, but.....

Debt free living is ABSOLUTELY worth the sacrifice! you can do it! Good luck.

Debt Free living is absolutely worth the sacrifice. Good luck!

Sell the car yourself. Then save and buy one outright. I'm in the processing of doing that. I got rid of my car, now I am saving to buy one and not have monthly payments.

Get the emergency fund finished.
Sell the car yourself. Think about it...why should YOU be paying payments on a car that is obviously not worth what you are paying on it? That's the bad idea of a new vehicle purchase.
Get a loan to pay the difference and add that bill to your debt snowball.
Personally, I think you need to get rid of both cars, pay them off, get a loan for the difference, pay that off and save for a cash car. If you absolutely NEED to buy two used cars with loans, make sure they are VERY cheap cars so you can pay them off FAST! Do them O. at a time.
I'm assuming your payment is even higher than your hubby's...think about having an extra $700-900 per month. That would really change your position wouldn't it? Good luck!