Debt Dumpers 2025

[barkley]

Karma's a beech!! It's crazy how people think they will get away this stuff. That must have been sooo satisfying for all who knew her. Do you know what she did after prison? I'll bet it's hard to have an employer trust you at all after that. I'm curious how you fix the mess you've made of your life after that.

it was a felony so not easy to hide (or get bonded) but she was saavy so I could see her playing up being reformed and learning from her bad decisions...then combo'ing that with the social services background and ending up in some kind of therapeutic career (or being a cult leader).

 

[barkley]

Lol I definitely don't always win. I just get ridiculously lucky on random occasions when I need it. There's many days where I go in with my freeplay and lose in 30 seconds. Thankfully the casino is 5 mins from my house and I get at least $30 in food vouchers and I bring dinner home with me so it's not a total loss. Lol

since you're a frequent flyer do you ever get given any casino swag? we had a family member who got it on a fairly regular basis and I don't know who manufacturs the travel cups they give out but DANG-we can put coffee into it, toss a couple of ice cubes in to get it cool enough to drink and that coffee will still be piping hot an hour later in the car

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My coworker's brother goes to Atlantic City a lot and gets free Royal Caribbean cruises a LOT. I have no idea how much he spends to get them. She and her husband cruised for free with him. They only paid for gratuities and their drink plan.
Around 2-3 years later he got another one, that time only 1 cabin. I'm guessing he spends a lot.

 

[Tygerlilly]

since you're a frequent flyer do you ever get given any casino swag? we had a family member who got it on a fairly regular basis and I don't know who manufacturs the travel cups they give out but DANG-we can put coffee into it, toss a couple of ice cubes in to get it cool enough to drink and that coffee will still be piping hot an hour later in the car

Oh yeah. I get a cruise offer every year. This one was on Virgin. I had a choice of 5 or 6 different itineraries and could choose any of the dates. I'd only have to pay the taxes and port fees and such. We were going to try and do a 4 night one for DH birthday in Feb and it would have been $384 total for the actual cruise.

I get random stuff from one casino every Sunday. The one I frequent more often I get more freeplay than "stuff" which I prefer, but I also get concert tickets for free from them and they do special events, like fireworks for 4th of July, dinners, hoodies or jackets, etc.

 

[huggybuff]

I'm curious how you fix the mess you've made of your life after that.

My uncle defrauded his employer in the late nineties up in Washington state. I’m not sure how much he stole, but it was enough that he got sent to federal prison down in Texas for a few years.

He never recovered emotionally after that. He tried bar ownership but that didn’t pan out. The worst part was that he never reconciled with his two sons. He just shut them out of his life completely, due to shame, embarrassment and who knows what other reasons. He ended up passing away from lung cancer a couple of years ago. He died miserable and alone.

Some people just don’t make it out to the other side.

 

[huggybuff]

On a happier note, I just closed the Credit One Bank account It took about 15 minutes on the phone to jump through all of the hoops to close it, but I did. First they left me on hold for five minutes and somehow it took three attempts to transfer me to the ‘specialist’ who would close the account, but I didn’t give up. Then I had to sit through the long scripted statement where the specialist told me she’d cancel the annual fee for a year and raise the credit limit by $200. Sigh. Not happening. Go away.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

On a happier note, I just closed the Credit One Bank account It took about 15 minutes on the phone to jump through all of the hoops to close it, but I did. First they left me on hold for five minutes and somehow it took three attempts to transfer me to the ‘specialist’ who would close the account, but I didn’t give up. Then I had to sit through the long scripted statement where the specialist told me she’d cancel the annual fee for a year and raise the credit limit by $200. Sigh. Not happening. Go away.

Congratulations!!!!!

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

On a happier note, I just closed the Credit One Bank account It took about 15 minutes on the phone to jump through all of the hoops to close it, but I did. First they left me on hold for five minutes and somehow it took three attempts to transfer me to the ‘specialist’ who would close the account, but I didn’t give up. Then I had to sit through the long scripted statement where the specialist told me she’d cancel the annual fee for a year and raise the credit limit by $200. Sigh. Not happening. Go away.

Sad we have to jump through hoops to cancel something, but you basically have to click one button to sign up. That should be against the law. I tried to cancel our Frontier cable a couple of weeks ago (the Friday before Thanksgiving). They said I'd be getting a refund of $30. I had to make like 4 calls just to get that to happen. I haven't gotten the money, and I just told DW it's not even worth the fight. So I've given up. They can keep my lowly $30. Sad that $30 doesn't matter to them, lol.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Karma's a beech!! It's crazy how people think they will get away this stuff. That must have been sooo satisfying for all who knew her. Do you know what she did after prison? I'll bet it's hard to have an employer trust you at all after that. I'm curious how you fix the mess you've made of your life after that.

it was a felony so not easy to hide (or get bonded) but she was saavy so I could see her playing up being reformed and learning from her bad decisions...then combo'ing that with the social services background and ending up in some kind of therapeutic career (or being a cult leader).

We have had similar situations in my area (I'm an attorney). Less with embezzling and more with... other unsavory acts. One was convicted of a felony, left town, changed her name, and is apparently now a tech salesman out west. Another didn't get convicted of anything, but was fired from her job for certain actions with a client. She continues to show her face around the courthouse, which is mind-boggling to me. I'd use the last of my money to buy a one way ticket to an island and live on the beach. You'd never see my face again if everyone knew about what I'd done like that.

But @barkley is right, sometimes people play these up as reformed and learning from their bad choices. They admitted a guy into my law school who made some EXTREMELY bad decisions but had "learned from it." Something tells me his victim probably hadn't moved on the way he did.

 

[barkley]

Sad we have to jump through hoops to cancel something, but you basically have to click one button to sign up. That should be against the law. I tried to cancel our Frontier cable a couple of weeks ago (the Friday before Thanksgiving). They said I'd be getting a refund of $30. I had to make like 4 calls just to get that to happen. I haven't gotten the money, and I just told DW it's not even worth the fight. So I've given up. They can keep my lowly $30. Sad that $30 doesn't matter to them, lol.

you always hear the horror stories of trying to cancel cable or satellite contracts. I found out when a family member passed that the quickest way to get it done (no call transfers, no trying to convince you to stay, no more mailers with offers) is to just say 'x died-we need to disconnect service'. if I need to change providers at some point i'm going to claim to be my own next of kin and report my own death.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

you always hear the horror stories of trying to cancel cable or satellite contracts. I found out when a family member passed that the quickest way to get it done (no call transfers, no trying to convince you to stay, no more mailers with offers) is to just say 'x died-we need to disconnect service'. if I need to change providers at some point i'm going to claim to be my own next of kin and report my own death.

This is so true. When my FIL passed away, I was paying bills on the house. My SIL had lived there for about a year after my FIL died and the other siblings started getting restless to sell. (One had 2 kids in college so I can't say I blame him.) My SIL was going through a rough time and was a bit dysfunctional so dh took this on, which meant me. He brought home 2 huge Hefty bags full of papers which I eventually had spread all over our DR table to start organizing. To save himself the headache of driving to the house everyday to pick up mail during rush hour traffic and adding 45 mins to his ride home, he had all the mail forwarded to our house. Big mistake. I had kept all the bills up to date and paid until the house sold and that was the final act of settling his estate. Much later we get a bill from Comcast who is trying to collect from US and even trying to wreck dh's credit. Suddenly he had a collections on his credit report. How on earth they can apply collections to someone who didn't even create the bill is beyond me. Dh was not even the executor. Dh's family did have an attorney handling things and maybe I should have asked him to handle it, but instead in frustration I just wrote deceased on the bill and sent it back and that was the end of it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

On a happier note, I just closed the Credit One Bank account It took about 15 minutes on the phone to jump through all of the hoops to close it, but I did. First they left me on hold for five minutes and somehow it took three attempts to transfer me to the ‘specialist’ who would close the account, but I didn’t give up. Then I had to sit through the long scripted statement where the specialist told me she’d cancel the annual fee for a year and raise the credit limit by $200. Sigh. Not happening. Go away.

Sometimes it's easier to just write an old-fashioned letter and snail mail it. Then your word is the final word and it's done. (Hopefully) It's not the fastest way but it is easiest.

That must have felt great to tell them you don't want them in your life anymore.

 

[barkley]

This is so true. When my FIL passed away, I was paying bills on the house. My SIL had lived there for about a year after my FIL died and the other siblings started getting restless to sell. (One had 2 kids in college so I can't say I blame him.) My SIL was going through a rough time and was a bit dysfunctional so dh took this on, which meant me. He brought home 2 huge Hefty bags full of papers which I eventually had spread all over our DR table to start organizing. To save himself the headache of driving to the house everyday to pick up mail during rush hour traffic and adding 45 mins to his ride home, he had all the mail forwarded to our house. Big mistake. I had kept all the bills up to date and paid until the house sold and that was the final act of settling his estate. Much later we get a bill from Comcast who is trying to collect from US and even trying to wreck dh's credit. Suddenly he had a collections on his credit report. How on earth they can apply collections to someone who didn't even create the bill is beyond me. Dh was not even the executor. Dh's family did have an attorney handling things and maybe I should have asked him to handle it, but instead in frustration I just wrote deceased on the bill and sent it back and that was the end of it.

our family member was 2 States away so all the paperwork came home in 2 large suitcases I found among their belongings. we did a forwarding order to a p.o. box but somehow stuff has still years later made it's way to our home address-and DECADES after the fact. mostly junk mail that I never look at and just toss but there was one advert that caught my attention b/c it was one of those personalized ones-'dear ________ (first name of the deceased)'. it went on to talk about some kind of active lifestyle retirement community that aged into assisted living and then skilled nursing care. it ended in very large font with the words:

'(name of the deceased) remember, it's NEVER too late to plan'


um, yeah it is-when you've been dead and in the ground for over 18 years it's hella too late to be planning for your 'active social lifestyle retirement' (and to the salesperson- you might want to rethink just how 'excited' to personally meet and have a 'sit down' with him you truly will be).

 

[firefly_ris]

Why worry about debt and finances? YOLO.

Here's why.... sad.

Know your numbers, and while yes we should live and enjoy life, don't fall into the trap that "retirement is so far away, why worry about it now" -- it's far away, until it's not. And you've lost all that magical compound interest opportunity. I feel bad for this lady but at the same time there is a willful ignorance (or just delusion) at play.

That said, hope everyone here keeps kicking butt through 2026.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Why worry about debt and finances? YOLO.

Here's why.... sad.

Know your numbers, and while yes we should live and enjoy life, don't fall into the trap that "retirement is so far away, why worry about it now" -- it's far away, until it's not. And you've lost all that magical compound interest opportunity. I feel bad for this lady but at the same time there is a willful ignorance (or just delusion) at play.

That said, hope everyone here keeps kicking butt through 2026.

I totally understand sharing this video but I disagree with the issue/message from your comments. This isn't about retirement savings or YOLO and whatever. I mean it is but not for that woman. A lot from listening to this is a personality and upbringing likely coming so much more into play.

A first time home owner at age 61, the lexus convertible, the comment about being so popular, etc is much more about what her personality is than being financially wise. The age and first time homebuyer combined with what she mentioned was her lifestyle makes me believe she had financial assistance throughout her life. She mentioned she was a truck driver which is no cushy job but the stressing on her end of what brand of car and her being popular makes a case for her not having to worry about finances the same as someone else who might have needed the trucking job in a different way. And she's well beyond the age to know about retirement savings which leads me to believe she had someone else (maybe her own parents) funding her life and not exposing her to the realities of her own financial life long term. A lot of people don't realize how not being taught any or very little level of financial literacy can do to someone.

I will say I do actually think she has a point about the car. The presenters fixate on the price of the car but that is not what you should fixate on. You need to find a reasonably priced but reliable car. I have owned my car now for a few weeks shy of 20 yrs, it is a 23 yr old car. I know more than anyone what those presenters are talking about BUT you can't go by price alone because you can and will be much more likely to get into a situation where the car needs repairs including very big ticket ones. IMO they should have told her to ditch the status viewpoint, ditch the wanting to be popular viewpoint and go for a car that is reliable enough, lower in cost and for her particular situation one that doesn't need to be driven hard since she is a truck driver who isn't home every day. Their point about why did you need a lexus convertible and a mini van if you weren't going to be home much is a good one but not about telling her to buy a cheap car for the sake of the price so she can put the money towards other debt.

The woman does know her numbers I'm sure but doesn't have much if any financial literacy to know what to do with them. Her fixation on outward appearance is more IMO at play here but I do like how they segwayed far away from the original question of homeownership because that frankly isn't likely to be possible for her for a long time and I wouldn't even say it should be a goal for her.

 

[firefly_ris]

I totally understand sharing this video but I disagree with the issue/message from your comments. This isn't about retirement savings or YOLO and whatever. I mean it is but not for that woman. A lot from listening to this is a personality and upbringing likely coming so much more into play.

A first time home owner at age 61, the lexus convertible, the comment about being so popular, etc is much more about what her personality is than being financially wise. The age and first time homebuyer combined with what she mentioned was her lifestyle makes me believe she had financial assistance throughout her life. She mentioned she was a truck driver which is no cushy job but the stressing on her end of what brand of car and her being popular makes a case for her not having to worry about finances the same as someone else who might have needed the trucking job in a different way. And she's well beyond the age to know about retirement savings which leads me to believe she had someone else (maybe her own parents) funding her life and not exposing her to the realities of her own financial life long term. A lot of people don't realize how not being taught any or very little level of financial literacy can do to someone.

I will say I do actually think she has a point about the car. The presenters fixate on the price of the car but that is not what you should fixate on. You need to find a reasonably priced but reliable car. I have owned my car now for a few weeks shy of 20 yrs, it is a 23 yr old car. I know more than anyone what those presenters are talking about BUT you can't go by price alone because you can and will be much more likely to get into a situation where the car needs repairs including very big ticket ones. IMO they should have told her to ditch the status viewpoint, ditch the wanting to be popular viewpoint and go for a car that is reliable enough, lower in cost and for her particular situation one that doesn't need to be driven hard since she is a truck driver who isn't home every day. Their point about why did you need a lexus convertible and a mini van if you weren't going to be home much is a good one but not about telling her to buy a cheap car for the sake of the price so she can put the money towards other debt.

The woman does know her numbers I'm sure but doesn't have much if any financial literacy to know what to do with them. Her fixation on outward appearance is more IMO at play here but I do like how they segwayed far away from the original question of homeownership because that frankly isn't likely to be possible for her for a long time and I wouldn't even say it should be a goal for her.

Her personality and not being financially wise are hand-in-hand here. She brings home 7500 a month with zero to show for it at age 61. The "status" thing is a root issue -- she would rather look rich than be rich (she is "popular" after all, and she "needs" a 2023 van to drive all her friends around, why, because she could not drive her friends around in a 2014 minivan?). This is how millions of Americans live their lives today. Then, they hit this lady's age and come to the realization that all those things that made them look rich are just depreciating assets which are now worthless. I guess she could live in the minivan.

She also does not know her numbers. She does not know how much the vehicle she has is worth, nor does she know the total original loan amount or how much she currently owes on it (which is totally outrageous to me). All she knows is she pays a $995 / month car payment, which includes negative equity from the previous vehicle -- which was a 2019 and could have simply had the broken convertible top repaired for less than rolling over into a 2023 minivan. She was very vague on all of her debt numbers. Sounds to me like she is just cruising along paying her monthly bills as they come in but no big picture. She couldn't fathom getting a beater to get by for a few years with? Even if you get something for 3 grand and have to put another 2 grand into it to get it reliable for 3 or 4 years, that still doesn't add up to a $30k or $40k minivan plus whatever negative equity from the convertible went on top of it. She talks about these lofty goals of home ownership or retirement but does nothing to get her there. This is not uncommon. Everyone is going to do all these great things "one day" but wake up one day and they are 61 and never did any of it because it all seemed so far away.

I posted it because people in this thread are putting in the work and realize it's not always going to be glamorous to get there, but it will be worth it. A lot of people don't want to change one solitary habit and think everything is just magically going to work out. Because of this lack of ability to see the big picture, she thinks she can become a homeowner at age 61 with nothing in retirement.

I agree there is a personality type and maybe not being taught this stuff, but by age 61? There are endless, endless resources out there for the most basic financial information at her fingertips.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Her personality and not being financially wise are hand-in-hand here. She brings home 7500 a month with zero to show for it at age 61. The "status" thing is a root issue -- she would rather look rich than be rich (she is "popular" after all, and she "needs" a 2023 van to drive all her friends around, why, because she could not drive her friends around in a 2014 minivan?). This is how millions of Americans live their lives today. Then, they hit this lady's age and come to the realization that all those things that made them look rich are just depreciating assets which are now worthless. I guess she could live in the minivan.

She also does not know her numbers. She does not know how much the vehicle she has is worth, nor does she know the total original loan amount or how much she currently owes on it (which is totally outrageous to me). All she knows is she pays a $995 / month car payment, which includes negative equity from the previous vehicle -- which was a 2019 and could have simply had the broken convertible top repaired for less than rolling over into a 2023 minivan. She was very vague on all of her debt numbers. Sounds to me like she is just cruising along paying her monthly bills as they come in but no big picture. She couldn't fathom getting a beater to get by for a few years with? Even if you get something for 3 grand and have to put another 2 grand into it to get it reliable for 3 or 4 years, that still doesn't add up to a $30k or $40k minivan plus whatever negative equity from the convertible went on top of it. She talks about these lofty goals of home ownership or retirement but does nothing to get her there. This is not uncommon. Everyone is going to do all these great things "one day" but wake up one day and they are 61 and never did any of it because it all seemed so far away.

I posted it because people in this thread are putting in the work and realize it's not always going to be glamorous to get there, but it will be worth it. A lot of people don't want to change one solitary habit and think everything is just magically going to work out. Because of this lack of ability to see the big picture, she thinks she can become a homeowner at age 61 with nothing in retirement.

I agree there is a personality type and maybe not being taught this stuff, but by age 61? There are endless, endless resources out there for the most basic financial information at her fingertips.

I think it comes down to perhaps knowing people to are financially illiterate through relatively no fault of their own. It just changes the direction of the conversation from shake my head type mentality of someone should know better to more of teaching and going down a different path. Part of the thing about resources is even knowing about them, having the support around you and your community. One of the biggest things will always be "you don't know what you don't know". I agree by age 61 what you should know is X but it's more nuanced there. The person didn't mention they had a lot of excess stuff so the living life/YOLO thing didn't translate to me.

Yes status is a big thing to her but knowing why someone got that way matters a lot in what advice you give them. I also didn't get the impression that looking rich was what she was necessarily going for. I mean yes she wants to be popular but driving a mini van isn't really about looking rich ("soccer moms" normally drive higher end SUVs these days). She's a truck driver which is not normally known for outward affluent behavior and assumedly her friends know what her occupation is. The lexus convertible was only relevant to me insomuch that outward appearance is what matters most to her. That doesn't mean presenting wealth, that means presenting an image of yourself. Her occupation is at very big odds to someone who is only trying to appear rich.

She checks stuff even several times a week like for her credit score which is far more than majority of people do even ones who know they are working on their financial health, she knows her numbers but places those out of her mind as soon as she looks them up. Chances are she knows how much her loan is but in the big picture of her financial world those numbers don't mean anything to her, she just pays what she is told to pay each month but not what the rolling the old loan and the new loan does for her long term. Someone in a dire financial situation is going to take those numbers differently and would have been able to speak candidly about it.

I know my sister-in-law can rent a place on her own, can buy a car on her own can roll an upside down loan of another car into a new car during a trade in (like the woman did in the video) but she really doesn't have a grasp of what money truly is. There has always been someone in the background (for my sister-in-law her parents) that carried the safety net so she didn't have to learn. She filed bankruptcy a few years ago due to all of this (primarily the rolling of the upside down car loan into the new loan). Not because she's in denial but because she wasn't given the tools (she was in her mid-20s then). With her 2nd husband I can see where they are going in a much better direction than when she was with her first husband. Even though her and her second husband still buy things only to get rid of them soon after (like kayaks, trading in a cheap boat for a slightly less cheap boat, etc) they are much better with things than she was. He's helped her understand more about adult life.

The focus on the price of the car is the wrong move IMO, used cars still have higher value than pre-pandemic levels anyhow (my husband got about twice the normal value of his car from the insurance company in 2023 and his was a 13 yr old car at that point), just Sunday spoke with my husband's coworkers who bought a used mini van for well more than it should be but they needed a different vehicle with their kids.

Seriously as someone who has a car that is very old and isn't worth much you need to focus on what the car is, it's mechanical needs are and will be more than staying at X price point because to get that low low cost they are quoting means you are more likely to have an older car with higher chance of things happening. Things like engines, transmissions are very costly things and some things aren't fixable especially with availability of parts most especially right now with tariffs and less availability of used cars out there to take parts from since people are retaining their cars longer. I absolutely don't disagree with getting rid of a higher price car, I disagree with them blanket telling her find a car that's $2K (or even yours $3/$4K). She doesn't need much if she's not driving much but she would be right back into a potential moneypit wasting money on a car that needs work either when she buys it or soon enough after if strictly only going by going for a car at a certain price point. And behaviorally she would be at risk of getting rid of the low cost car to bump herself back up to a higher price car just to ease that issue if a car she bought needed mechanical work, she already got rid of the convertible because of the mechanical issue with the top.

(ETA: the price of a new car right now is about $50K, it's outrageous and crazy but a 30-40K mini van is likely not a very nice version even from 2023)

I don't read her story as one of lack of motivation but lack of even knowing what she's supposed to know. I know they didn't have time to ask her many questions but I think it would have been really important to know what her living situation is like (because she isn't a homeowner we know that for sure) and if she has any assistance from other people. How did she get to her age but be in her situation.

This woman reads a lot more to me like someone who hasn't needed to learn financial literacy than someone who might be like some posters here who got in over their heads over the years, made a few poor decisions that had lasting ramifications where they are working themselves out of it. But I do get why you shared the story

 

[pblack]

Merry Christmas eve debt dumpers clan! If you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. If you don't celebrate, I still hope you have a wonderful time.

My DH and I have no plans for tonight since my family stopped getting together once my grandmother passed, so we'll have a nice dinner just the 2 of us. We'll see my DHs family tomorrow.