Dave Says

By Dave Ramsey
Author, The Total Money Makeover

CBNMoney.com – Finanacial guru Dave Ramsey answers questions about wise financial decision-making.

Mechanic Calls Back for More Cash

Dear Dave,
My wife and I had our car worked on the other day, and brought it home with a receipt stamped “paid in full.” The next day, the mechanic who worked on the car called and said we owe an additional $50 for labor. We looked on the bill, and the cost of labor was included. We want to be fair, but we also don’t want to be taken. What do you suggest?
-- Paul

Dear Paul,
If the manager or mechanic doesn’t have sense enough to put all the charges on the bill before you pay, then this really isn’t your problem. They closed out the transaction as paid in full, so this is a closed deal. It takes a lot of gall for any business to call up a customer the next day saying “Oops, I need some more money.”

Morally, you don’t owe them anything else. But you need to call these people and get a straight answer about the charges. I wouldn’t get into a big, messy fight over $50, but I might walk away from a place and never do business there again.
-- Dave

Single Mom Needs Help With Estate Planning

Dear Dave,
I’m a single mom with a 13-year-old daughter. Recently, I visited a lawyer and drew up a will. He advised that I change the existing beneficiary of my life insurance policy from my daughter to my estate. What do you think? I was also wondering how taxes will affect this policy.
--Dawn

Dear Dawn,
If it were me, I’d set it up where the money goes into a trust for your daughter’s benefit.
A few years ago I set up a family trust. The beneficiary on my insurance policy is my wife, but if something should happen to both of us the money will go into the trust. From there, it’s the trustee’s job – according to the dictates of the trust – to manage the money for the benefit of our kids.

You probably won’t have any tax worries. There’s no income tax on life insurance beneficiary payments as long as the amount involved isn’t above the estate tax limit of $750,000.
-- Dave

Any Good Reasons to Keep a Credit Card?

Dear Dave,
I’m a youth minister in Texas, and often I’m out on the road with the kids going to and from events. I have one credit card with a zero balance and would love to destroy it, but started thinking maybe I should keep it for emergencies or car rentals. Is there any good reason to hold a credit card?
-- Chad

Dear Chad,
You can use them to scrape the frost off your windshield in winter …

No, there’s NEVER a good reason to hold a credit card! Get a debit card. You can use it for virtually anything a credit card will do like get a hotel room, buy stuff online or rent a car almost anywhere. A few rental car companies do have pretty silly requirements for debit card use or only accept them in certain parts of the country, but those guys are too expensive, anyway!

With a debit card, you’re using YOUR money instead of borrowing it from someone else. The borrower is ALWAYS slave to the lender, Chad.
-- Dave

Dave Ramsey is a nationally-syndicated radio talk show host and author of the New York Times bestselling books, Financial Peace Revisited and The Total Money Makeover. His life-changing advice in the area of personal finance helps people get out of debt, stay out of debt and build wealth that will last a lifetime and beyond.