Dave Ramsey, Bankruptcy Survivor!

Recently, Dave Ramsey reportedly devoted nearly his entire nightly talkshow to talking down bankruptcy.

Personally, I LIKE Dave’s general approach to credit and money management.   If you apply and do what he says, you’re way ahead of the average bear.  But, he’s just plain overboard in his anti-bankruptcy zeal.

You see, Dave Ramsey was the victim of a real estate crash many years ago, and found himself with assets worth about $1,000,000 and debts in excess of $4,000,000! I don’t know for sure why he delayed the inevitable bankruptcy filing for so long, but about two years later he did file, received the discharge of his debts, and was able to move on with his personal and business lives to be the success he is today. Could he have done this WITHOUT bankruptcy? Probably not.

This afternoon, looking for more detail about Dave’s bankruptcy filing, I ran into this poston the DebtFREE-Revolution blog:  dave-ramsey-a-hypocrite.  Since I can’t leave a comment there, I’ll do it here:

The mistake that Mr. Ramsey made was not filing his case sooner. He would have prevented the irrational (but clearly very real) anguish he and his wife suffered trying to fill a hole (massive debt) rather than getting on with the fresh start bankruptcy can provide. It wasn’t necessarily the bankruptcy that was so gut-wrenching, it was the (all too common) attempt to maintain his pre-failure self-concept, which, due to no real fault of his own, was incompatible with the results of nasty market forces beyond his control (gee, can someone say 2008-2009??). Dave Ramsey would not be the person he is or where he is today without the fresh start of bankruptcy.

New York consumer attorney Jay Fleischman adds his two cents here: why-dave-ramsey-hates-bankruptcy

In light of Jay’s mention that filing “bankruptcy is listed in the top five life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and loss of a loved one,” it’s clearly not to be misused.  However, dissuading someone who would benefit from bankruptcy, and whose situation can not be resolved without it, from filing and getting a fresh start in life, has far greater negative consequences than the occasional unnecessary filing.

Thanks for your time and interest!

Mark Emmett

Utah Bankruptcy Attorney, Member National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys