5 Hot Takes From Rachel Cruze on Controversial Money Topics

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Money topics can be controversial. However, Rachel Cruze isn’t afraid to speak her mind. The Ramsey personality — and Dave Ramsey’s daughter — recently posted a video sharing her hot takes on several controversial money topics.

Keep reading to find out what she had to say on five highly-debated financial issues.

Using Credit Cards for Points

People commonly pay for purchases with credit cards to earn points. However, Cruze emphasized that paying with plastic often leads to overspending.

You might be paying your credit card off each month, but other people are not, she said.

“Some of these people are very much struggling, that then that’s how the perks get paid to get paid out to other people,” the Ramsey personality noted. “So, like the whole thing about it I don’t like.”

Backing up Cruze’s point, a recent West Virgina University study found that when people who carry a balance receive a credit limit increase, they tend to spend more.

Government Forgiving Student Loans

“My heart and my head say two different things,” Cruze said. “My head says, which is the truth, that you know you sign up for something, you owe it, like that’s what it is.”

She said it’s not fair that other people should have to pay for something you signed up for, but noted that many 18-year-olds who sign up for student loans don’t really know what they’re doing. While she hates that young people are often burdened by this enormous debt, she said it is what it is.

Currently, student loans may be at least partially forgiven if you’re a teacher, government employee, nonprofit employee, medical professional, disabled or are repaying your loans under an Income-Based Repayment Plan, according to the office of Federal Student Aid.

Paying for Kids’ College With Home Equity

If you’re thinking about using home equity to pay for your kids to go to college, Cruze strongly advised against it. Instead, she said you should explore other options, like having them go to school in state, community college, working or taking a gap year.

“There’s ways to do the college thing, but taking equity out of your home to do it, that’s a hard no,” she said.

In addition to possibly putting your home at risk if you default on payments, some other potential drawbacks include a mandatory variable interest rate, no tax deductions on available student loans — but possible available deductions on the home equity loan or line of credit — and potentially not being able to make early payments, according to Citizens Bank.

15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage

“We always recommend a 15-year, because part of getting out of debt quickly is putting systems in place that help you do that,” Cruze said.

Even with a 15-year mortgage, she’d still like you to pay it off early. If you can swing a 15-year mortgage, you’ll likely get a lower interest rate.

As of Sept. 18, 2025, the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.41%, compared with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 6.26%, according to Freddie Mac.

Charging Kids Rent

It’s not uncommon for parents to at least think about charging adult children rent, but Cruze isn’t fully onboard.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not like that biggest fan,” she said.

While she understands the motivation of wanting your kids to contribute, she doesn’t agree with charging them rent for a short-term period. However, she noted that she isn’t a fan of adult children living at home long-term.

As long as it’s a short-term arrangement, she doesn’t think charging kids rent is wrong, but also not completely necessary.

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