What do I do if my soldier has bought an expensive car?

2021-08-28T07:31:02-04:00

My soldier bought a $30k car before I was his NCO. He is struggling financially and is accumulating debt. He has been to finance but won’t stick to the budget. What can I do? It’s not in my power to make him sell the car.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 28 at 2021 8:27 AM

2021-08-28T08:27:52-04:00

Not sure if you're his TL or SL either way, I would Honestly let the PSG know. There's resources you just don't know or have at your level. The decision to purchase the car was his, and ultimately he's responsible but if he's having financial issues then the PSG may be able to find resources if not, refer the soldier to the commander. The reason I say PSG is because this affects his platoon. He'll work with the PL to try and help or fix the issue at their level.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 28 at 2021 8:37 AM

2021-08-28T08:37:34-04:00

Sometimes you just can't fix stupid and that ship will either have to float or sink on its own.

Failure to manage finances is grounds for separation, and also grounds for a bar to reenlistment. You can't force him to sell his car, even if it is the best idea, but your Commander can require him to stick to a budget or be separated. Talk to your Commander about a bar, sometimes it takes a Soldier seeing that the light at the end of the tunnel is really a train, to snap them back to reality

Response by SSG Brian G. made Aug 28 at 2021 9:14 AM

2021-08-28T09:14:22-04:00

You counsel him, quoting the regulations and what his failure to to manage his finances can mean to his career, his future. You cannot make him sell the car, but you can write up an action plan for him to follow to correct his finances. The easiest way to get him to stick to said budget is by allotments. Have him set them up so they come out automatically for long term things like his car note.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 28 at 2021 9:33 AM

2021-08-28T09:33:40-04:00

So I dealt with this before with a soldier and it sometimes can come down to how badly you wish to save the soldier and time you can dedicate. So firstly counsel the soldier on the purchase, conduct a separate counseling with a budget for the soldier that way every time the soldier veers from what he agreed you can counsel the soldier, keep an eye out for issues that this can bring into the workplace such as the soldier borrowing money for coworkers, using coworkers to avoid people looking for their money. Often NCOs wait until something big happens and want to chapter the soldier with no supporting documents so ensure you have the supporting documents. If you work a pretty standard schedule you could recommend the soldier pursue a second job or do Uber to bring in cash to fill in the gaps.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 28 at 2021 1:13 PM

2021-08-28T13:13:58-04:00

I've only one thing to add.

Don't make saving his time or career in the army your life goal. SFC Boyd said you can't fix stupid. Yes, try and prevent stupid things, but but at the end of the day PVT's that are fed/sheltered/clothed by the Army will still find a logic in their mind to use their entire remaining expendable pay check for a car payment.

Extend the hand of help, but don't ram it down his throat. Line up your ducks (by way of documenting through counseling statements and sending him to finance) to show you did right as a leader. Otherwise, you're never going to mentally survive as a SSG+ trying to "save" every idiot.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Aug 28 at 2021 3:07 PM

2021-08-28T15:07:23-04:00

Lots of good advice in this string. You'll need to formally counsel the Soldier with regard to his finances. If he doesn't want help, then you may have to let him sink. As others noted, he can be separated for financial irresponsibility. I would like to see the Soldier saved and allowed to put his financial house in order.

You could recommend Crown Financial Ministries to him (http://www.crown.org). If he won't listen to you or finance, maybe he'll pay attention to an external source of financial advice. They are non-profit and Bible-based. They won't take advantage of the Soldier. They will speak truth. Good tools available. Helped me.

www.crown.org).

Response by SFC Kelly Fuerhoff made Aug 29 at 2021 10:27 PM

2021-08-29T22:27:06-04:00

There's not a lot you can do. If he's already went to finance and they helped him draw up a budget - and he's not following it - then it's on him.

No you can't make him sell the car and you can't make him stop being stupid. You can counsel him about the negative consequences of him going into debt which can affect not only his time in the military but his future outside the military as well. Other than that - some people just don't learn until they dig a deep hole.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 29 at 2021 10:30 PM

2021-08-29T22:30:06-04:00

If one has to sell there us no better time. Heck he may get more for the car then he paid.

Response by SPC Cathy Goessman made Aug 29 at 2021 11:39 PM

2021-08-29T23:39:31-04:00

Is the budget realistic? Is he expected to never ever even spend a few bucks at the shopette? That seems to be the most common problem with budgets that I see. No wiggle room and an unrealistic expectation for people to immediately drop all their vices. Energy drinks for example can easily be $90+ a month if purchased at the shopette. It's much more likely to be able to get the soldier to agree to a $1 Rip-it a day from the dollar tree than for them to just quit that stuff cold turkey.

Ask him where he expects to be after ETS. Then add up how much an apartment, the vehicle(gas, insurance, maintenance, tires, etc included!), food, utilities, etc will cost per month in that area. Then divide it by a 40 hr work week and ask if he expects to make that much per hour.

Unfortunately I had to fall flat on my face several times before I got the "using credit to pay for credit does not work" message. I'm still working on debt that I acquired several years ago. With cash you only go broke once!

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Aug 30 at 2021 1:53 AM

2021-08-30T01:53:35-04:00

Sit down and do a financial worksheet with the Solider and outline income, expenses and etc.

Express to them the risk they run with this expensive vehicle and also the risks if they go into debt. They can lose their clearance, get their wages garnished and ultimately they could be chartered out of it becomes a huge issue. I had a Marine we had to remove his clearance because he owed so much money he was considered a security risk.

Response by SPC Cathy Goessman made Aug 30 at 2021 8:54 AM

2021-08-30T08:54:10-04:00

Dave Ramsey has a method for people underwater on the car that a soldier would probably be able to take advantage of.

He tells people to get a personal loan for the amount owed over what the car is actually worth so it can be sold. It won't eliminate the debt but it can take a very large chunk out of it and get them to a smaller payment per month. The soldier can then buy an older Civic or something for a few thousand if your post or position is one of those where you pretty much NEED a car. Lots of banks and credit unions will loan to a soldier even with less than stellar credit.

Response by SGM Steve Wettstein made Aug 30 at 2021 9:43 AM

2021-08-30T09:43:22-04:00

SPC Private RallyPoint Member All you can do is counsel and send the Soldier to a personal finance class. I've seen brand new to the unit, just out of AIT, Soldiers buy POS cars at 20% interest even after they were counseled, on paper, not to make any high dollar purchases before talking to TL, SL. Ultimately we can't stop them from wreaking their finances by doing this, it's NCOs taking care of their Soldiers by stopping them from doing it.

Response by SPC David S. made Aug 30 at 2021 9:55 AM

2021-08-30T09:55:07-04:00

Do you have access to a Stryker and does he have insurance?

Response by 1SG Bill Farmerie made Sep 1 at 2021 4:07 PM

2021-09-01T16:07:32-04:00

After we came back from Bosnia, we had many young soldiers buying cars they couldn't afford. They they would have expensive wheels and stereo systems installed afterward. Quite a few had the cars repossessed, which included the wheels and stereo systems. Sometimes they just need to learn

Response by CPT Larry Hudson made Sep 1 at 2021 4:41 PM

2021-09-01T16:41:49-04:00

Advise him to sale it

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 5 at 2021 5:05 PM

2021-09-05T17:05:51-04:00

If the Sioldier can't get out of the Car loan. Take him to the education center (finance is usually there) and make sure they make a budget plan so they are not 2$ short before payday.

Response by Capt Gilbert Nelson made Sep 1 at 2022 6:53 PM

2022-09-01T18:53:37-04:00

In 1980 I was working in the Separations section of Base Personnel. I was out processing a Security Police airman who was being administratively discharged. When I looked at the separation package I had a hard time keeping a straight face. It seems she went to a local car dealership and convinced the salesman that her father had sent her the money to purchase the car The salesman accepted a personal check as payment. The next day she wrote another personal check for license processing fees. As you can guess, both checks bounced. As others have said, you can’t fix stupid. In this case there was massive amounts of stupid on both sides of the transaction.