You Are the Problem AND the Solution (Hour 3)

**Kristina Ellis** (0:29)
Hi, from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Kristina Ellis here today, joined by my co-host, George Kamel. Y'all, this is my first time in the driver's seat, so here we go. We're taking your calls today, 888-825-5225.
First up, we have Tyler calling from Tampa. Hey, Tyler, welcome to the show.

**Tyler** (0:56)
Hey, how's it going?

**Kristina Ellis** (0:58)
Hey, it's going great. How can we help?

**Tyler** (1:01)
So my question is, I just graduated from high school. I got my diploma and all that, and I plan on going to school for like the next year and a half to do airplane mechanics.
And I was wondering, because I keep getting two different answers. Should I build credit or should I not build credit to go and purchase a house?

**George Kamel** (1:21)
Okay, and who are those two answers from?

**Tyler** (1:25)
Well, my grandparents are, there's grandparents who say get credit and grandparents who say don't get credit.

**George Kamel** (1:30)
Oh, which ones do you like more?

**Tyler** (1:33)
That's a good question.

**George Kamel** (1:34)
I won't make you answer that. I'm sure you love them both dearly. Well, you called into this show. I assume you've listened before.

**Tyler** (1:42)
Yeah, I remember going home from kindergarten. My parents listened to the show.

**George Kamel** (1:45)
Kindergarten? I feel like I'm 90 years old now. That's impressive. So what do you think my answer is going to be?

**Tyler** (1:53)
No credit.

**George Kamel** (1:54)
Why do you think that is?

**Tyler** (1:56)
Because credit means I love debt.

**George Kamel** (2:00)
You should be hosting the show today. You're doing great so far.

**Tyler** (2:03)
I did take Ramsey's classroom in high school until I got expelled and asked not to come back.

**George Kamel** (2:10)
Oh my goodness. It wasn't because of the personal finance class though, was it? Oh, no, no, no, no.

**Kristina Ellis** (2:15)
Hey, but you're calling the show today. That shows you're still a great student.

**George Kamel** (2:19)
So, Tyler, when it comes to credit, you're focused on, hey, I need this to get a house. Is that right?

**Tyler** (2:24)
Yeah, because what they're saying is a mortgage company will, oh, you don't have credit. You don't have a buying history. But I got lucky enough to, or unlucky. I got a settlement because I got hit by a car.

**George Kamel** (2:37)
Oh my goodness.

**Tyler** (2:37)
And I have a quite a bit of money for...

**George Kamel** (2:41)
Are you okay? Are you physically well?

**Tyler** (2:43)
Yeah, I just broke my arm. Honestly, after PT, I got more movement in that arm than the other one.

**George Kamel** (2:48)
Oh, good. Okay, so how much money do you have currently?

**Tyler** (2:52)
I currently have $60,000.

**George Kamel** (2:55)
And you have no debt?

**Tyler** (2:56)
No debt at all.

**George Kamel** (2:57)
Do you have an emergency fund?

**Tyler** (3:00)
Yes, I do.

**George Kamel** (3:00)
Outside of the 60?

**Tyler** (3:02)
Yep.

**George Kamel** (3:03)
You're amazing. How old are you?

**Tyler** (3:05)
I'm only 18

**George Kamel** (3:06)
Oh, my goodness. You're doing great, man.

**Kristina Ellis** (3:08)
And is that how you plan on paying for your education?

**Tyler** (3:12)
Yeah, with the 60 Some of the 60

**George Kamel** (3:14)
Okay. Well, I would focus on that now. We don't need to worry about getting a house yet. I want you to get through college completely debt-free. And when the time comes, when you are ready to buy a house, which by the way, if you graduate college debt-free, you'll get there a whole lot faster.
So here's why I can say this with confidence, that you don't need a credit score to buy a house. It's because I did it, and I'm not special.
I just followed a process called manual underwriting. You'll see it listed as a no-score loan, and there's lots of companies that do it. The one that we recommend, that we've been recommending for decades is called Churchill Mortgage. They're a national company, and they'll walk you through it. And what it looks like is they look at your real financial picture. Hey, do you have 12 months of rental history? Check. Do you have a tax return to show us, to prove that you made money? Great. Do you have utility bills that you've been paying, like your cell phone and internet? Great. We will give you this mortgage.

**Tyler** (4:07)
All right. Yeah, that sounds great.

**George Kamel** (4:09)
It's that simple. And a lot of people overcomplicate it, Kristina, they say, well, George, you're not telling them how long, it's so complicated and so difficult. It really wasn't. There was just a few more documents to hand over. It took a little bit more time. It didn't delay us getting into our house. And it set us up for success because we weren't busy playing the credit score game.