Debt Is 'The Most Aggressively Marketed Product' In History, Says Dave Ramsey, After He Was Offered Klarna Payments For A T-Shirt
Financial expert Dave Ramsey responded to a listener’s question on an episode of “The Ramsey Show” about how someone could end up with 35 credit cards. His answer was straightforward: banks don’t care if you can afford it. They care if they can profit off of you.
Credit Cards Are Marketed Harder Than Anything Else
“That’s sweet that you’d think common sense would enter into this transaction,” Ramsey said to the listener named Cory. He explained that banks and credit card companies hand out credit not because people are financially sound, but because debt is extremely profitable.
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“We now, at this moment in 2024 in America, live in the most marketed-to, sold-to culture in the history of the world,” Ramsey said. “And among the most marketed-to group of people in the history of the human race, the most aggressively marketed product is debt.”
“There are loans for everything,” he said about the constant push to finance even the smallest purchases. “I was trying to buy a T-shirt, for God’s sakes, and they offered me payments on it with Klarna,” Ramsey said. “It’s a T-shirt! Why would you? Three easy payments of $1.26. I mean, come on.”
Ramsey warned listeners not to assume getting approved for credit means anything good. “Please God, don’t think you’re special if somebody gave you a credit card,” Ramsey said. He said they used to collect bizarre credit card stories, and among them was one in which even a dead pet had been approved–a person received a card for his deceased poodle, Fruu. Another card was sent to “Buck Naked,” a name someone made up as a joke.
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Co-host Rachel Cruze added that Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) together hold 80% of the market and testified in front of Congress last year. Their refusal to lower swipe fees for small businesses showed, in her view, how little concern they have for the average American. “It makes you sick, it makes you realize; literally off the backs of Americans, this is what they’re making,” she said.
“They’re here to make money off of you, and they know how to do it,” she added. “Like, that’s their job.”
The hosts concluded by reminding listeners that getting a new credit card doesn’t make you successful or financially savvy. Ramsey summed it up like this: “If you’re issued a new credit card, you’re no better than Fruu Fruu or Buck.”
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