Dave Ramsey Believes In The Honor System: Do You Have The Integrity?

As I was surfing the world of PF blogs today, I came accross a post made by MoneyDummy. In which she discusses her use of a credit card on Dave Ramsey's website despite Dave well known desdaine for those cards. She claims she didn't know, yet she admits in her subsequent comments, that the only 2 payment methods offered in the drop down menu were "debit card" and "bank draft."

Yes. At the checkout window, he only has debit card options. Theres a hyperlink to a note which says that he prefers not to accept credit cards. I dont know whether its a CYA move or not. *Grin*

The other option that he DOES offer is a bank-draft: as in, the customer gives Lampo his or her bank account number so that they can draw money directly from it. While my impulse in response to that idea is *snort/choke/laugh*, I will try to be more respectful and simply state mildly that I personally am not comfortable with that form of purchasing.

However, I am getting ahead of myself. I haven't even told you what she intially said. In her intial comments, she had this to say,

I just heard Dave Ramsey discussing the fact that his website doesnt take credit cards. I wonder if he really believes this, or if its like those doors that say, Emergency exit. Alarm will sound, when in fact you can slip silently through that door without causing anyone to blink.

Point is, I didnt notice that the check-out cart said debit cards only, so I generated a Citi virtual account number, popped that sucker in, and checked out without a hitch. Two weeks later the books showed up at my door, the charge showed up in Quicken, I paid it off, and it was a done deal.

hmm, she was ordering from Dave Ramsey's website, and was not aware that Dave preached against the use of credit? Then, when she didn't see credit, offered as an option for payment, he had purpously check it out and see if she could use a credit card any way.
When I pointed out that Dave Ramsey says plainly on his website that he does not take cedit cards, why and even gave her the url:

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/debit_card_policy_32.htmlc

We understand what is running through your mind right now.

I cant believe Dave Ramsey is accepting credit cards! This cant be true! Hes sold out on his principles! But before you shave your head and run outside on your front lawn screaming, The world is coming to an end, save yourself! let’s clear up a few things:

Number 1 - We are NOT accepting credit cards! Never have and never will. I mean, come on, do you listen to the radio show at all? Have you ever heard of a plasectomy? Please understand that accepting credit cards is something that will NEVER happen as long as Dave is still alive (and even forever after that!)

Number 2 - We are accepting DEBIT cards. We know that some people will go nuts when they hear that, but one factor is being overlooked. Debit cards do not work unless there is CASH available.

Number 3 - It was time for us to align our company policy with the advice we give our listeners. Dave recommends the use of debit cards for several items such as, car rentals, hotel reservations, and internet purchases. Dave personally carries and uses debit cards for online and phone transactions. One day we realized, Hey, we are telling people that its okay to use debit cards for purchases, but were not allowing people to do that with us.

So dont worry! The Titanic is not rising, the sky is not falling and Ed McMahon is still not coming to your front door. We understand that some people will get upset over this decision. We also understand that some people will say we are selling out. However, all we are doing is simply aligning ourselves with the advice we give America.

DEBIT means CASH. CREDIT means CREDIT - and honey, we dont do that around here!

The Lampo Group, Inc. and Dave Ramsey recognize that the Visa and MasterCard virtual monopoly on the debit card industries prohibits merchants from only taking debit cards. As such, it is impossible for us to ensure that every order has complied with our debit card policy. We trust that all of our customers hold EXCEEDINGLY high levels of INTEGRITY and maintain EXTRAORDINARILY high standards of TRUTH and HONESTY. Basically, anyone ordering from us who does not follow this policy is a shady and dishonest character. Dont put yourself in this group. Youre better than that. Stick to our policy, NO CREDIT CARDS, and make us all happy.

she had this to say in reply,

Prince:

Thank you for bringing my attention to Ramseys vehement statement on using credit cards on his website. Ive never seen it before. Ive never bumped into it before. Never, in all the time Ive spent on DR s website have I seen this hyperlinked anywhere. I have to admit that I wonder why he doesnt make it more prominent. Instead, he hyperlinks to a much more mild statement which says that they PREFER that their customers not use credit cards.

I find this hard to believe, because I seen it the first time I was ever on the website, and then had to go hunt it up when this discussion came up. The link is on the front page, under the heading "Policies & Info" with the link title of "Debit Card policy." On the page(s) for the online store, the same link title is located under thge heading "StoreFAQ".

Anyone that listens to Dave Ramsey for 5 minutes (or reads about him), knows that he does not do credit cards. While, I wonder where Ramsey gets the idea that there is no way possible to insure 100% compliance to the debit card only policy (Aldi takes debit and refuses to accept credit), it should have been clear to MoneyDummy, that credit cards were not accepted even though it is just the honor system.