This 23-Year-Old's Car Payment Is A Third Of Her Income, And It's Ruining Her Life

Image: Toyota

Your twenties are the perfect time to screw up and try to get your shit figured out. Sometimes it takes getting to the rock bottom before you can dig yourself out of it. For the sake of everyone involved here, I hope this young woman on Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit show has reached her bottom and will find a way to get her life turned around. Right now, it seems like the best first step would be to sell her car and find her way into something less expensive. At 23-years-old, there’s no reason to owe $31,000 on a Toyota Camry. Especially when you can’t afford it.

Dumbest Car Debt I’ve Ever Seen | Financial Audit

This young woman’s financial situation is a real mess, and she’s going through some rough stuff with a pending divorce from an abusive military man. Her short-lived marriage stuck her living with her parents, driving a car she can’t afford, and working part time. Unfortunately, this downward spiral came with a bunch of self-destructive coping mechanisms, including hundreds of dollars of in-app purchases, lots of fast food, vaping, and over-drafting her bank account.

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It seems like she’ll be headed back to college, so she will definitely need some good solid reliable wheels. Living in Texas means public transit isn’t really an option, but spending 30 percent of your income on a car payment isn’t really an option either. This 2021 Camry came with a 72-month note at nearly 12 percent interest.

At the end of the day (er, month?) the payment runs her $646.33, despite only working 33 hours a week at $15 an hour. She has to work more than 43 hours at her retail job just to afford the car payment. No wonder she’s drawing too much on her accounts and racking up credit card debt!

To make matters worse, it doesn’t seem like she and her former paramour spent much money on the car’s down payment, as she still owes $30,656 (the equivalent of 2,044 hours at her current job) on the note.

Saving up for a couple of months, or borrowing from her parents, and buying a cheap-but-reliable beater would give her a lot of opportunities that this Camry just isn’t delivering. I hope she gets it turned around. This was a rough one to watch.