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Jay, a 27-year-old from Oklahoma City, called The Ramsey Show carrying $35,000 to $45,000 in debt while attending school, working two jobs, and quietly making the monthly note on his disabled father’s truck. Dave Ramsey did not soften the diagnosis: “You are way too broke to be supporting other people. That’s why you’re stuck.”
The stakes here are not abstract. Jay co-signed his family’s stability onto a balance sheet that cannot carry it. The car in question is a 2018 GMC Denali with $21,000 still owed and a $508 monthly payment. Jay earns $3,200 to $3,500 a month. One vehicle he does not drive is eating roughly a sixth of his gross income.