I was disappointed in the program. They spent too much time on how people are using the internet to beg and show casing the porno guy. They could have explained better to people steps to take to get themselves out of debt. I listen to Dave Ramsey on XM and though the guy is a bit kooky, he has some good ideas. 20/20 didn’t give him but a couple minutes, yet they spent a lot more time on the frugal family. The first couple they show cased in money trouble, $60K in credit card debt, $100K time share, car loans, $4K a month house payment. Ouch. I taped the show and paused it on the parts where the money counselor had his charts up. He had outlined that they needed to sell their house, their rental, get a refund for some realistate course the wife was taking ($21K), fund $25K to an emergency fund. Anyway, from the profits from the home sale and the course refund they would pay off the $60K credit cards, cars, mortgages, fund the emergency fund, rent a home (not buy) and when all was said and done they would have $3k left over. But at least they would have $25K emergency fund when it was done. Their counselor said they were about five months from bankruptcy. But it all hinged on them selling their California home, in todays market. Quick shots of the home showed broken windows, worn out furniture and torn window screens. The couple didn’t appear to me that they knew what kind of trouble they were really in. The wife was looking like she wasn’t on board with the drastic changes they were being told to make. I’d like to know what they ended up doing. The show was interesting, but could have been much more informative.
