Ramsey Solutions pays off $10M in debt for 8,000 people to ‘show the love of Christ’
As this year has been tough financially for many Americans due to the closure of businesses in response to COVID-19, Christian financial expert Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions, paid off the debt of 8,000 people, worth $10 million, “to show the love of Jesus” this Christmas season.
“This year has been one of the hardest years for some of you. People have struggled financially in ways they never had before,” Ramsey says in a video message. “And that’s why we wanted to take this opportunity to show the love of Jesus, by taking on the debt of 8,000 people across the country.”
He adds, “A total of $10 million of debt. And we are completely forgiving it. We bought it, and it’s forgiven. That’s right — we bought some of your medical or your car debt from a debt collection agency, and it’s paid off. … You may be thinking, ‘Is this a scam?’ Nope, it’s not a scam. We’ve just been where you are. We know how it feels.”
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The bestselling author has shared many times how his life was changed when a Christian businessman pointed him to Jesus after he lost everything he owned due to poor money management.
“I met Jesus on the way up,” Ramsey, author of Financial Peace University, told Baptist Press in 2018. “I got to know Him on the way down. With a brand-new baby and a toddler and a marriage hanging on by a thread, we finally hit bottom at 28 years old. We were bankrupt. I remember standing in the shower with it so hot I could barely stand it, and I would stand there and cry because I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared I couldn’t breathe.”
After embracing Christianity, Ramsey said he decided to handle his finances differently, contending that, “When the Word of God intersects your life, it changes the trajectory of your life permanently.”
In his video message about taking on and forgiving debts of individuals, Ramsey says his company hopes that its gesture will be “a jump-start on your journey toward financial peace so that one day, you can live and give like no one else.”
“We know what it feels like to live paycheck to paycheck and wonder how we’re going to keep the lights on,” he adds. “We truly were borrowers that were slaves to the lenders. But we said never again to living in debt. We dug ourselves out.”
Ramsey Solutions bought the debt from two private debt collection companies, the company’s website says.
Founded in 1992, Ramsey’s company has developed “Seven Baby Steps” to help people get out of debt, build wealth and give. “By living out the principles they teach, the company is now able to give generously, even in times of economic uncertainty,” it says.
