A WOMAN has sought the help of financial experts after paying off a car for nearly a decade.
She still owes more than what the vehicle was originally worth thanks to thousands in fees.
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The Ohio resident, Bridget, explained that situation when calling into The Dave Ramsey Show in August.
“I am calling because I have an issue that’s been going on with my car situation, the vehicle I purchased, and it is still not cleared even after year number seven,” Bridget told co-hosts Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Delony.
She continued to note that her car loan was supposed to mature in the spring 2023, but she somehow still owes “more” in the summer of 2025.
Bridget also revealed that she had several late fees and extensions for payments on the loan account.
Ramsey quickly asked the woman if the loan was serviced through the car company, Ford, or a subprime credit lender.
Subprime providers specialize in loans for borrowers with lower credit ratings and feature sky high interest rates.
The car was also repossessed for 24 hours at one point, according to Bridget.
In total, she still owed $17,494.31 to the subprime lender after all the late fees, extensions, and repossession charges.
Bridget claimed that some of the itemized costs had to be missing from the printed reports she was provided and called the lender multiple times with no answers.
Ramsey explained that there were two immediate options for Bridget.
First, she could continue the “fight” she’s currently making with the lender for the accurate amount owed on the car and the correct itemized receipt of late fees and other incurred costs.
Or, she could hire a lawyer and take the subprime lender to court, suing them for the incident.
Ramsey advised that she take on trying to get the situation resolved for about one more month, but after that, the legal action was the best route.
The financial expert also told Bridget to inform the subprime lender that’s what she would be doing if the situation wasn’t fixed.
What’s a good credit score?
FICO, the most widely known credit scoring system, and its rival VantageScore both use a range of 300-850 points.
Below we list what’s considered a good and bad credit score, according to both systems.
FICO
- Poor: 300-579
- Fair: 580-669
- Good: 670-739
- Very good: 740-799
- Exceptional: 800 or above
VantageScore
- Very poor: 300-499
- Poor: 500-600
- Fair: 601-660
- Good: 661-780
- Excellent: 781-850
THIRD OPTION?
“If that doesn’t work, the third option, which is not a good option, is toss them the keys,” Ramsey noted.
“Tell them to come get it and sue me — good luck with that, because I’m going to countersue you.”
Still, Ramsey again emphasized that option was not ideal for two reasons — it would further destroy Bridget’s credit score, and she would “lose control of the amounts” and still have to pay on what would be allegedly the inaccurate numbers for a brief period.
Lastly, the financial expert advised Bridget to never put herself in the same position again, instead buying a car for cash outright if possible.
DEBT DISASTER
A single mother was also recently left with $50,000 in car loans but can’t even get a title for the vehicle she “paid off.”
She re-financed the car through a dealership and claimed that it failed to pay off her original loan as promised.
The dealership allegedly kept making monthly payments from the original loan instead of paying it off and letting the mom continue the re-financed payments on the new one.
While the dealership has since become the subject of police investigation, it’s not clear if its related to Noble’s situation.
Millions of Americans are also in a state of panic after “canceled” loans were left in limbo due to an August deadline.
At least five million Americans had to start repaying some loans starting in May of this year.
