Dave Ramsey Says 'Boy Child Is Going To Have To Man Up' After Husband Goes To Buy A Cheaper Car And Comes Back $20K Underwater

dave ramsey (Credit: Image via Shutterstock)

Adrian Volenik

Sun, September 20, 2026 at 2:00 AM GMT+3 7 min read

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She thought she was making a straightforward financial move. Her troublesome car still had about $27,000 owed on it, so she sent her husband to trade it in for something cheaper that they could pay off. Instead, he came home with another vehicle that ultimately left them about $20,000 underwater.

Maria from New Orleans recently told "The Ramsey Show" that she had been working on bringing their finances in order since the beginning of the year. Because the original car was in her husband's name, she trusted him to handle the trade. The replacement made matters worse, including costing her about $90 a week in gas just to get to work and back.

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'I Didn't Know'

Maria eventually returned to the dealership herself, hoping to trade the vehicle for something more fuel-efficient or simply give it back. Her husband had come home with a roughly $50,000 vehicle, and she said the dealership told her they would take it back if she came up with $20,000.

Her husband's explanation didn't help.

"I didn't know," Maria recalled him saying about the total price of the vehicle. According to her, the dealership had simply told him what his monthly payment would be.

Co-host Rachel Cruze acknowledged that dealerships can focus heavily on monthly payments, making it easier for buyers to lose sight of the total cost. But she said that wasn't an excuse.

"Car dealers are notorious for figuring out that monthly payment and then they add on this and this and this and you really don't know," Cruze said. "But when he signed the papers, he should have seen and known and asked for it."

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Maria and her husband have been married for almost 20 years, and she said she typically handles their finances. She thought they had "grown" and "supposedly matured" enough for him to handle the transaction himself.

Personal finance personality Dave Ramsey, however, said the problem was bigger than one terrible car deal.

"Boy child is going to have to man up," he said, arguing that Maria also needed to stop treating their finances as something she manages while dragging her husband along.

"Until you team up, you're not going to win," he said.

Getting Out Of The Mess

Ramsey's proposed solution wasn't another quick trip to the same dealership. He told the couple to investigate numerous ways of getting rid of the vehicle, including checking what it could sell for privately and shopping it around to multiple dealers.

From there, his advice was characteristically aggressive: Sell the expensive car, get a roughly $2,000 "hooptie," take extra jobs and temporarily forget about restaurants and vacations.

"Scrape all this money in the middle of the table, clean out the nickels out of the corner of the couch, and get the mess cleaned up as a team," Ramsey said.

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He also suggested a new household rule. For purchases over $1,000, Maria and her husband should wait overnight, discuss the numbers together and make the decision jointly.

Cruze agreed that Maria had every reason to be angry, even saying, "I'd be pissed too." But she warned that resentment could become another problem if her husband doesn't start taking responsibility and participating in their finances.

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For Maria, fixing the car problem alone is probably not enough. Unless both spouses start making financial decisions together, another expensive mistake could wipe out their progress all over again.

Image: Shutterstock

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