Dave Ramsey Caller Tells Him Following Advice To Pay Off House 'Didn't Work' Because Now She Has No Credit — But He Says That Was The Point

Ever give someone advice, and they circle back later to say it didn't work—only to realize they totally missed the point? That's basically what happened on "The Ramsey Show" last week. 

A caller phoned in to say she followed Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University to the letter: she paid off her house, cleared her debts, and ditched credit cards. But now? Her credit score is toast, and her bank says she can't get approved for a store card, let alone finance a used car.

Specifically, she explained that she and her husband wanted to buy a secondhand car but didn't want to drain their cash or retirement funds to do it. So, she figured she'd take out a small loan. That's when the banker hit her with a reality check—her credit score was "really, really low."

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Her conclusion? "It didn't work."

Dave's response? Oh, it worked perfectly.

Ramsey didn't hold back. "The goal was to get out of debt, not get back in," he reminded her. He challenged the logic of clawing out of the debt hole only to dive right back in just to appease a bank that—shocker—wants to profit off her borrowing again.

And he had a few choice words for that banker, too. He warned her to stay away from people whose job is to sell debt. "Don't go over there with the snake handlers and expect to get anything but bit by a snake," he said. "He's a freaking banker… His job is to get you into debt."

What really sent her into a tailspin? That mysteriously low credit score. Turns out, when you stop borrowing money and close all your accounts, your credit score eventually drops to zero. That's not a glitch—it's by design. Ramsey clarified that for your score to roll down to zero, every single account has to be closed and carry a zero balance. One lingering collection or open item from years ago, and your score might linger in the 500s instead of vanishing entirely.

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Ramsey's co-host, Jade Warshaw, chimed in with her own story. After she and her husband paid off their debt, she waited eagerly for her score to "roll to zero"—only to be misled by third-party credit sites that hadn't updated the data. Why? Because they make money convincing you to rebuild your score… usually by getting more debt.

Here's the deal: a credit score is a measure of how well you borrow money—not how well you manage it. If you never borrow, your score becomes irrelevant. Ramsey's point is simple: you don't need a credit score if you don't plan on borrowing.

But most people don't know what to do with that idea. The financial system treats a zero credit score like some kind of digital scarlet letter, but in Ramsey's world, it's a badge of honor.

So, no, the caller's plan didn't fail. It just didn't align with the bank's plan—to get her back on the debt treadmill. As Ramsey put it, if you broke free from a banker who's now urging you to get a secured card "just to build credit," maybe don't take advice from the guy who profits when you stay chained to payments.

Want a car? Pay cash. Can't afford one right now? Don't buy one. That's the Ramsey gospel, and for those following it faithfully, a zero credit score isn't a problem—it's a milestone.

If your goal was to escape the debt trap, don't panic when you realize you're not playing the credit score game anymore. That just means you won.

Not everyone sees credit as the enemy. Some financial experts argue that responsible credit card use can offer rewards, fraud protection, and convenience—especially when bills are paid in full each month. Plenty of people travel-hack their way to free flights and earn cashback on purchases they were going to make anyway.

Still, Ramsey's approach is zero-compromise. He even froze his kids' credit files when they were minors—just to make sure no one, not even future-them, could get lured into debt.

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