Financial Guru Dave Ramsey Hit With $150M Lawsuit

Radio host Dave Ramsey is known to listeners nationwide as a source of biblically-based financial advice that he offers from his Tennessee headquarters. Now, Insider reports that the money guru has been hit with a $150 million class-action lawsuit from 17 listeners because Ramsey promoted Timeshare Exit Team, a service that promised to help customers get out of timeshare contracts. The plaintiffs say the service, run by Reed Hein & Associates out of Washington state, basically ghosted them after taking their money, sometimes telling them to conduct their own haggling. Ramsey allegedly earned $30 million from promoting Timeshare Exit Team, and the company earned $70 million from Ramsey listeners, according to the lawsuit first reported by Religion News Service.

Ramsey advertised Timeshare Exit Team for six years, per the suit. In his ads, the host made statements such as, "If you need out, Timeshare Exit Team is the team—the only team—that I trust to help you." But by 2021, Reed Hein had been fined millions by Washington state for "deceptive practices," per Insider. Once complaints began to mount, the plaintiffs' attorneys say Ramsey went so far as to record a video in which he "lashed out at anyone he felt to be responsible for Reed Hein's woes" but did not acknowledge any role in helping the company's fortunes. One couple tells USA Today they shelled out $40,000 to Time Share Exit thanks to Ramsey's endorsement but never got out of their contract. (More lawsuit stories.)