A recent caller to “The Ramsey Show” stunned the hosts when he revealed his wife had taken out nearly $300,000 in high-interest loans over the span of a decade, all without his knowledge.
“My wife over the last eight to 10 years has taken on a series of, I guess the term is predatory loans,” Jeff from Jacksonville, Florida, told hosts George Kamel and John Delony. “Now totaling right around $300,000. All without my knowledge, of course.”
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The debt came from lenders who mailed checks with fine print that essentially turned them into high-interest loans once cashed. Jeff said his wife filled out a few forms online, deposited the checks, and repeated the process with multiple companies.
When asked what she spent the money on and whether there was addiction involved, Jeff responded, “No, just blew it. Amazon. Who knows?”
What shocked the hosts most was that Jeff had no idea this was happening for nearly 10 years. He explained that the couple separated briefly in 2010, and even after reconciling, they never fully recombined their finances. “Everything was fine until she retired this past January,” he said.
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The couple’s current household income is around $125,000, including Jeff’s pay and his wife’s pension and Social Security. Their only other debt is their home mortgage, which costs them $2,700 a month. Their total take-home pay is roughly $4,500 monthly, leaving little room to make progress on the mountain of debt.
“Feels like a bad time to retire when you’re $300,000 in debt,” Kamel said.
Delony was even more direct: “This is a daily deception that happened over a decade. Blaming it… on the lenders is just a distraction from the problem that y’all two have together.”
Jeff emphasized he wasn’t planning to walk away. “No, I can’t. I would never leave her over something like that,” he said. He also added they’re now in the process of recombining finances and working together on a plan.
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He’s even contacted the lenders and tried negotiating settlements, possibly bringing the total owed down to $150,000 or $170,000, but only if he can pay in lump sums.
Kamel and Delony urged him not to tap into retirement funds or take a second mortgage. Instead, they recommended tightening their budget and having his wife return to work. “You’re going to have to work for the foreseeable future to clean this mess up,” Kamel said.
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