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06.30.23  Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks  /   Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

06.30.23 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

Released Friday, 30th June 2023
 1 person rated this episode
06.30.23  Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks  /   Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

06.30.23 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

06.30.23  Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks  /   Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

06.30.23 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Explainer: Zombie Mortgages

Friday, 30th June 2023
 1 person rated this episode
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

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0:05

It's

0:05

my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark

0:07

Howard Show, where our mission is to serve

0:09

you and empower you so you

0:12

make better financial decisions in

0:14

your life. In the

0:16

second half of this episode, I'm going

0:18

to talk about something that is really

0:21

scary, zombie

0:24

mortgages that could cost you your

0:26

home.

0:27

I'm going to tell you what's

0:29

going on. Before we get

0:31

to that, I get to

0:34

hear your Clark

0:36

Stinks and hear how I've really

0:39

stunk it up this week.

0:43

I should have never encouraged you to speak. You must

0:45

think I'm pretty stupid. You should

0:46

be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.

0:49

Maybe you're right, pal. All right, here we go. I

0:56

fully agree that everyone should have roadside

0:58

assistance. You get one free tow

1:01

every six months. They help with lockouts, et

1:03

cetera, but AAA is extremely expensive

1:05

and most insurance companies offer roadside

1:07

very cheap. I pay a few dollars extra

1:10

every six months with Progressive for roadside

1:12

assistance and would never take a policy without

1:14

it, Steve.

1:15

Steve, thank you. All right,

1:17

so this is the issue that's come up, Steve.

1:20

Some insurers, and I don't know if Progressive

1:22

does so,

1:23

they treat a tow as

1:26

a claim. It goes into the industry

1:29

database and is

1:31

a real problem for you

1:34

if that does happen, ever

1:36

shopping for auto insurance with another

1:39

insurer. A claim

1:42

is a serious thing in

1:44

the insurance industry for homeowners

1:47

and auto. That's

1:49

why I've encouraged people not

1:52

to include roadside assistance

1:55

on their auto insurance. I would check,

1:57

Steve, with Progressive and see

1:59

if ... if you use the towing

2:02

service of the roadside assistance, if

2:04

it does register on your record as

2:07

a claim,

2:08

and if it does, then it's

2:10

a better idea for you to do something

2:12

else. Now, on the issue of

2:15

paying for roadside assistance,

2:19

the way I look at it is that if

2:21

you think back and you haven't needed

2:24

roadside assistance in more

2:27

years than you could account, then

2:29

you're best off in the event you need roadside

2:31

assistance, just paying for it if

2:34

the need ever arises. If on the

2:36

other hand, it's been a common

2:38

occurrence in your life, you've needed roadside

2:41

assistance, then it makes sense

2:43

to pay for it. I just listened to your answer

2:46

about the gentleman saying that a traditional IRA

2:48

would be better than a Roth IRA due to having substantially

2:50

lower taxable income once retired. You

2:53

correctly pointed out that has not historically

2:56

proven to be true, but the piece I

2:58

think you forgot about is all the years of tax-free

3:00

growth on that money in the Roth. That

3:02

is the true carrot in the story, Linda.

3:05

Linda, thank you. So both

3:07

the Roth and the traditional grow

3:10

tax-free through the years, it's

3:12

what happens at the end of those years.

3:15

All the money in a traditional 401k or

3:19

a traditional IRA

3:22

are taxed at the highest

3:24

income tax rate known as ordinary

3:26

income tax. That's a

3:29

reason that you've got a tax

3:31

time bomb coming when

3:33

you have a lot of money in

3:35

a traditional IRA or

3:37

401k. And it's one

3:39

of the reasons I love the

3:42

Roth version of an IRA

3:44

or a 401k, because all

3:47

that growth you have all through the years, there

3:50

is no tax time bomb waiting at the

3:52

end. Clark does not stink. However, I believe

3:54

he missed a few details regarding telling parents

3:57

they did the right thing by advising their daughter

3:59

who's working a summer.

3:59

internship to stop contributing to the company's

4:02

401k even though she has a Roth IRA already

4:05

set up. Most companies I'm aware

4:07

of match the employee contributions and immediately

4:09

own the balance of the 401k. They're

4:12

missing out on free money, teaching their daughter

4:14

to immediately save a portion of her paycheck

4:17

and the time value of money having those

4:19

funds from age 19 to 59.5 or longer.

4:22

Jack. And yes,

4:24

if there is a match at

4:27

the summer job and

4:29

the match is fully

4:31

funded instantly that there's no suspense

4:35

on it, you have to be so many years or whatever

4:38

to get that match. Yes,

4:41

you're completely right. My

4:43

answer would lead to walking away from free money.

4:46

You smell worse than the Venetian Lagoon at low

4:48

tide on a hot summer day. Oh, and

4:51

it really does stink. Have you been

4:53

there to smell that stink? Yes, I have.

4:56

You recently stated that Walmart is the greatest

4:58

anti-poverty program in the history of the world.

5:01

First, hyperbole much? Go to

5:03

the socialist countries of Europe and try to find

5:05

poor people like you do in my hometown of Fresno

5:08

or the people in West Virginia and Kentucky. You

5:10

won't find it. But more importantly,

5:12

your idealization of companies like Walmart

5:14

and your beloved McDonald's belies the fact

5:16

that both companies employees have the

5:19

highest rates of people collecting government money

5:21

in the form of SNAP, food

5:22

stamps and welfare. So which

5:24

is it? Hardworking people shouldn't have to rely

5:26

on the government for supplemental income if

5:29

they're paid a fair wage. Ken.

5:31

Ken, thank you. That's

5:33

a very thoughtful post. Let

5:36

me see if I can respond to each thing

5:38

you said. It is true

5:40

that Europe has a much

5:43

lower incidence of poverty

5:46

than we have in the United States. The

5:49

dispersal of income in the United States,

5:52

the income inequality is much

5:54

larger here than it is

5:56

in Europe. That obviously

5:58

is a problem. There are specific

6:01

reasons why. One

6:03

of them is that we

6:06

had much less income inequality before

6:09

unions good or bad, but when

6:11

so much of the workforce was unionized in

6:13

the United States, and now almost no one is, we

6:16

didn't have the extreme income

6:18

inequality we have now. Then

6:21

on the other side, Europe

6:23

overall countries have a much

6:26

lower per capita income

6:28

than we have in the United States. Europe

6:31

is significantly falling behind,

6:34

I'm talking Europe as a collective here, falling

6:37

behind in overall national wealth

6:40

versus us. We have

6:43

issues clearly with

6:45

income inequality, with money flowing

6:47

overwhelmingly to executives

6:50

and to stockholders, to owners.

6:53

The labor shortages in the United

6:55

States give me hope that

6:57

we're going to see some shifting in

7:00

that. Walmart suffered

7:02

enormous reputational harm from

7:04

having so many of its employees receiving

7:07

food stamps. And Walmart

7:10

seems to have become a better

7:12

employer than they used to be. McDonald's,

7:15

I'm not knowledgeable about the

7:17

issues with their workers, and I think I

7:19

addressed most of those

7:22

items. Clark, you constantly

7:24

rave about the 5% cash reward using

7:26

the Sam's Club credit card for purchasing gas.

7:29

Perhaps you're having a senior moment or

7:31

maybe lightheaded from the smell of gasoline

7:34

because you neglect to mention that the 5% cash back, as

7:37

you describe it, is actually Sam's cash

7:39

and not a 5% decrease in the price

7:41

of fuel at the pump. It's time to tell the

7:44

whole story, so fill her up with the truth,

7:45

Stephen. Stephen, thank you. You

7:48

know, it's funny, I shop at Sam so

7:50

much that to me, you're

7:53

right, it is very different than how I

7:55

describe it, but for me, it's the same thing. Like

7:58

when I was in Sam's...

7:59

just yesterday and

8:02

I use the app and

8:04

it shows me when I go to check out that

8:07

I can use some amount of Sam's cash

8:10

for the purchase and so

8:12

to me it is like it's

8:15

real cashback but you're you

8:17

are correct that I am wrong

8:20

in explaining it that way. Dear Clark,

8:22

you don't stink as much as that moment when my

8:24

Apple watch screen smashed on the bathroom

8:26

floor. Is that when you realize

8:28

you should switch to Android? That was

8:30

bad. You talked about the only

8:33

options for old devices that you can't access

8:35

anymore. While likely only good for Apple

8:37

products, they will recycle your equipment

8:39

for free, including addressing any security

8:42

concerns and they link

8:44

to the policy. As I had

8:46

this for an Apple watch last year that was smashed

8:49

and it was the easiest process. While

8:51

there could still be a risk by the people

8:53

the Apple employees that handle it, you'll

8:55

get a record of the devices recycled and

8:57

that's from Deanna in Illinois.

8:59

Deanna, thank you and I was not

9:01

aware of Apple's recycling

9:03

program and

9:05

I'm really glad to know about it. The

9:08

thing I'll look at is is it

9:10

does Apple only process

9:13

Apple only products or did they take

9:15

in and recycle those from others

9:18

as well. Everyone knows you

9:20

don't stink but I wanted to respond to your recent

9:22

comments about potentially saving 25% at

9:24

warehouse clubs. We only have Costco

9:26

in our area and with five kids, we have

9:29

had a membership for many years. You

9:31

love Costco for the savings. I also love

9:33

savings but there are so many fantastic things

9:35

to buy and the temptation is so

9:37

great, especially near the bakery for me, that

9:40

I think most members cancel out any grocery

9:42

savings they might obtain with purchases

9:44

of other tempting items. I don't have any

9:46

hard data to back it up but in informal

9:48

conversations with countless friends and family

9:51

members, we all agree Costco is a dangerous

9:53

place for your wallet. I will however

9:55

continue to shop there as the bakery

9:57

makes the danger worthwhile for me. All the best.

9:59

So Jeremy, you

10:02

know, when I shop at Costco, I

10:05

never get a cart when I come

10:07

in the door. I walk through

10:09

those temptation areas first,

10:12

and I gather things in my arms, and I can

10:14

never buy more than

10:17

I can carry in my arms. So I put things

10:19

back to avoid the Costco

10:22

temptation, or what people

10:24

refer to as the Costco rule, you

10:26

can walk in to buy a $10 item,

10:30

and somehow you walk out with $200 in items. So

10:34

if I'm buying groceries that day when

10:36

I go in,

10:37

after I've gotten through

10:40

all the discretionary aisles through the

10:42

steel, I

10:43

then go back,

10:44

and you can always find carts people

10:46

have abandoned. I get a cart, put

10:49

in those discretionary items that I

10:51

could carry, and then I go

10:53

shop the food aisle. So that doesn't help

10:56

with the bakery, although

10:58

I never buy from Costco's

11:01

bakery, maybe I'm missing something. Clark

11:03

spoke about the internal conflict he feels between

11:05

his love of NFL football, which includes

11:08

paying for a premium NFL subscription service,

11:11

and the importance of frugality in his life. My

11:13

wife and I also believe in the importance of living below

11:15

our means, and like Clark, watching NFL

11:18

football is the one thing that I truly enjoy.

11:20

I encourage Clark to speak to his audience about

11:22

having a healthy relationship with money and

11:25

the idea that the frugal choices one makes

11:27

can give a person the ability to spend money

11:30

on the fine things that they love. My wife

11:32

is happy that we subscribed

11:33

to the NFL premium content that

11:35

Clark spoke about because she knows that

11:37

it brings me joy, and I suspect that Clark's

11:39

wife would feel the

11:40

same. Vaughn. Vaughn,

11:42

my wife actually feels differently. During

11:45

NFL season, she would like

11:47

to take a sledgehammer to every

11:49

TV in our house, and

11:52

he says that I get so

11:54

focused on the games that she could

11:56

walk through the room naked, and

11:58

I wouldn't even notice her. Hope

12:00

she doesn't get mad at me for saying that. But

12:03

it is reality that I just am hyper

12:05

focused. So yes, I did spend

12:08

the money, paid YouTube for

12:10

NFL Sunday ticket for this season.

12:12

And Vaughn, you stated so eloquently

12:16

that the reason you're so careful with your money

12:18

is when there's something you wanna splurge on

12:21

that you actually do. And

12:24

you create the freedom in your life to

12:26

make that possible. Along those lines,

12:29

Clark smells like a dictator, you know, like the

12:31

communist China he despises so much. On

12:33

the June 7th podcast, he went on a tirade

12:36

about finding out who was paying $8.99 a month or 108

12:40

per year for a streaming service. And assuming

12:42

it was from his wife who had watched a show

12:44

she loved, immediately after

12:46

that, he went on about how he couldn't live

12:48

without the NFL and just dropped $249 for the Sunday ticket.

12:52

I'm sure this isn't really the case, but it sure came

12:55

across like he was happy to pay for whatever

12:57

streaming service made

12:58

him happy, but not for anyone

13:00

else in his family, Andrew. Andrew,

13:02

thank you. I'm sorry if I sounded like,

13:07

I feel terrible if

13:09

I sounded like that about

13:11

my family. What was going on was

13:14

I was going through all the bills and

13:16

there were all these streaming services

13:19

and I didn't know who was watching

13:21

them. It wasn't about people being able to watch

13:24

them. It was like, are we paying for

13:26

things? Nobody actually is watching.

13:29

And- Because you thought it was a free trial that had been canceled

13:32

and then it was still charging you. It turned out

13:34

that it had, I signed into the

13:37

account, it had been canceled. So

13:39

then where was the bill coming from? Do you know

13:41

I still haven't been able to figure out where

13:44

that zombie bill is coming from, from

13:46

a service that we already canceled and

13:48

it shows we canceled it? Okay,

13:51

Clark, you certainly don't stink, but departed from your usual

13:53

behavior, which we've come to expect. When

13:56

helping the elderly lady at the New York ATM,

13:58

in my opinion, you missed out on doing a-

13:59

greater good since you already helped her

14:02

and probably had established a report with her. My expectations

14:04

are that you could have and should have asked

14:07

her about family and if any asked

14:09

her to call them. So you might explain her plate

14:11

to them. Your Clark stinking Howard

14:13

guy, they might know you you're famous

14:15

or is that infamous? It was one more

14:18

step that could have eased your mind as well

14:20

as mine. I pray she is not exploited.

14:22

Len. Len,

14:22

thank you. Thank you

14:25

for posting about this. You

14:27

know, as I said, when I told the story

14:29

about this nice woman, for

14:32

those of you who did not hear that podcast,

14:35

she was having trouble with basic

14:37

functioning. Couldn't get the door leading

14:40

into the ATM. This was in New York city

14:42

where all the doors to ATMs are locked

14:44

and you have to use your card to get in. And

14:46

then she couldn't get the ATM to work and she

14:48

turned to me and asked me to help.

14:50

Turned out she had more than a quarter million dollars

14:53

just in her checking account. And

14:55

she was definitely disoriented. I

14:58

said at that time when I told the story

15:00

that I'd love it if people gave suggestions

15:04

and I appreciate that suggestion. That is a

15:06

great idea that I could

15:08

have asked her if I could talk

15:10

to a family member who

15:13

she trusts. And that

15:15

was a missed opportunity. I

15:18

love your support to veterans, but you said something

15:20

recently that makes you smell like a dirty army

15:22

sock. That's been buried in a duffel bag for

15:24

months. I see this because you recently

15:27

put down young people because of their hesitation

15:29

to join the military. Then you went on

15:31

to say how you joined the military. The

15:33

thing is you waited until nine 11 to sign

15:35

up. Why did you wait so long? We've got

15:37

lots of great young men and women who have volunteered

15:40

to serve, even though nine 11 happened

15:42

before they were born. A big problem in the military

15:44

faces today is that there are lots of people

15:47

who want to serve, but for various

15:48

reasons cannot meet the medical standards,

15:51

whether that is physical or mental. We

15:53

as adults have to take some of the blame for that.

15:55

John.

15:55

John, thank you. I know

15:58

from talking to, uh, general

16:01

who is a base commander where

16:03

troops were trained that

16:05

what you said about the lack of physical

16:08

strength and fitness of

16:10

a lot of recruits is a

16:13

big problem for the military and in fact

16:15

basic training I don't know what they call basic

16:17

training now but what we used to call basic

16:20

training has had to be modified

16:22

to have a lot of physical fitness

16:26

as part of it prior to it's almost

16:28

like having a class 001 before 100

16:33

starts the actual traditional

16:36

basic training

16:37

to get people fit enough to

16:40

engage as soldiers and

16:42

I appreciate what you

16:44

said that I did

16:46

not serve prior I was 46 when

16:51

I volunteered and listen to my

16:53

state guard and yes

16:55

I have

16:56

in the way you put it I have no

16:59

excuse

17:00

for why I never served in

17:02

the military prior I

17:05

was a civilian employee of the Air Force

17:07

during the Vietnam War tailing the Vietnam War

17:10

but I could have put on the uniform and

17:12

I did not at that time and point

17:15

well taken coming

17:17

up ahead I want to talk about

17:20

unhappy blast of the past 15

17:24

years ago it's now appearing

17:26

in people's lives zombie

17:29

mortgages I want to tell you what they are

17:31

and what's happening and

17:34

the unpleasantness that's visiting

17:36

people in their lives

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18:36

Wow, sometimes the past reappears

18:40

and it's really an ugly,

18:43

ugly thing. I want to dial

18:45

back to what happened

18:48

starting in year 2001

18:51

going forward in the housing market

18:53

for six years. The

18:56

mortgage lenders, the banks,

18:59

were involved in a variety

19:01

of illegal practices and

19:04

were making loans just

19:07

to anybody who was breathing.

19:10

Anybody who had a pulse.

19:11

People were allowed, with no money

19:14

down, to buy perhaps

19:17

even ten houses that they never occupied.

19:20

At the same time, lenders

19:22

were making what were known as 125s.

19:26

So you took out a mortgage and

19:29

you owed on it, but you

19:31

wanted money. Banks

19:34

around the country and non-bank lenders, mortgage

19:37

companies, were making these

19:40

125s where if the value of your home

19:42

was, let's say, $100,000 and you'd already borrowed $100,000, they would still

19:44

lend you another $25,000 against

19:51

it.

19:51

So you were upside down on your home.

19:54

And the whole theory was home values

19:56

were going up so the lenders

19:58

wouldn't get hurt. because

20:01

even though they had uncovered equity,

20:03

negative equity,

20:05

that eventually it would be covered

20:07

and everything would be fine. Well,

20:09

it wasn't fine. Because then we hit 07 and

20:12

all the banking scandals came crashing

20:14

down, demolished the housing

20:17

market, led to the housing bust,

20:19

led to the great recession that

20:21

took years and years and

20:24

years for us to get over, basically eight

20:26

years. And now

20:30

the weirdest stuff is happening. A

20:33

lot of people who were in

20:35

those homes where they had a first mortgage,

20:37

then they had one of these scuzzy second

20:40

mortgages or home equity lines of credit,

20:44

reached accommodations with the lenders

20:46

and they came up with payment plans and

20:49

concession plans and all this. And

20:52

people who were upside

20:54

down their homes and had trouble paying did

20:57

not get foreclosed on. Plenty

20:59

of people got foreclosed on, but there were people

21:02

who worked things out with the first

21:04

mortgage lender.

21:05

Second mortgage lenders, a lot of them went out

21:07

of business, so those loans

21:09

went quiet. And people, all

21:12

these years later, 10, 15 years later, suddenly

21:16

out of the blue are

21:18

getting foreclosure notices.

21:21

Imagine that. So

21:24

who are they getting foreclosure notices from?

21:27

Wall Street is buying

21:29

up paper, buying up

21:32

these old dormant second

21:34

mortgages, buying

21:37

them up for half

21:39

a cent on the dollar, penny on the dollar,

21:41

two cents on the dollar, whatever, knowing

21:45

that they had a security

21:48

where they could go after the

21:50

person's home. And

21:53

there are law firms now that out

21:55

of the blue are going

21:57

after people

21:58

threatening to foreclose on. on them or foreclosing

22:01

on them

22:02

for those long ago home equity

22:05

lines or second mortgages. Now,

22:08

legally, they are owed. The

22:10

amounts owed on them may

22:13

or may not be close to accurate.

22:15

Because they bought line items, they bought

22:18

basic information on these loans. And

22:21

you've got to hire a lawyer

22:23

now to defend yourself to not lose

22:25

your home. Because the imputed

22:28

interest charges and late fees and all

22:30

that can be gigantic

22:33

on these old forgotten about home

22:36

equity lines of credit

22:37

or second mortgages. And

22:40

so it is past ugly.

22:43

And if you get some kind of

22:46

weird letter where

22:48

you've stayed in a home and now they're demanding

22:51

payment, or you're going to be foreclosed

22:54

on, you can't throw it away.

22:57

You can't ignore it. You

22:59

can't act like it's a mistake.

23:01

You've got to go hire a

23:03

real estate lawyer to defend

23:05

you in this. And you want one

23:08

who's got experience with this, because

23:10

the first thing will be prove

23:12

it, prove the amount you came

23:14

up with, prove all of that.

23:17

And if ultimately they're able to prove

23:20

it,

23:20

then believe it or not,

23:22

you will owe that money from

23:25

so long ago. This is not

23:27

a happy story. But you got to

23:30

know, that is the actual

23:33

thing that's happening. I'd seen

23:35

some things about it. And then I saw a long

23:37

form story in the Wall

23:39

Street Journal about people who've

23:41

been current with their mortgages. They've

23:44

been fine for years and years and

23:46

years. They've been paying on the

23:48

loans, they thought they were close to owning

23:50

their homes free and clear. And now

23:53

they may actually have their homes

23:55

taken from them

23:57

in these foreclosure actions.

24:00

that Wall Street

24:01

decided is the next place for

24:04

them to get rich. Okay,

24:06

we'll go to questions now. This one's from James in Ohio.

24:09

I will be retiring from the military next

24:12

year. Thank you for your service. I

24:14

currently have two credit cards with high annual

24:16

fees, the Amex Platinum and the Amex Hilton

24:18

Aspire. As an active duty member, I

24:21

have these fees waived under the Service Members

24:23

Civil Relief Act. I plan

24:25

to close these cards next year to avert getting

24:27

hit with the fees because I'll no longer

24:29

be active duty and won't have the SCRA

24:32

protections. How should I go about closing

24:34

these cards and applying for new ones while maintaining

24:36

my FICO score? I have two other

24:39

non-fee credit cards that I will be keeping.

24:41

Okay, so we're talking

24:43

about, first of all, the Platinum

24:46

is a $695 annual fee that

24:51

will suddenly hit you right in the face. And

24:54

American Express has an entire

24:57

array of non-fee credit

25:00

cards. When the time comes,

25:02

you call them, when it's time

25:04

for renewal,

25:06

and you say you're not gonna renew the card

25:08

you'd like to switch to and have done

25:10

your research on the American

25:13

Express website of Amex

25:15

cards that have no annual fee, and

25:18

you wanna get one of those, even

25:20

potentially, now I've got one of them.

25:22

Then go get another card

25:24

that's no annual fee. Your

25:26

military, hopefully you're a Navy

25:28

federal member, USAA

25:31

member, Pentagon credit

25:33

union, you can get pin fed, is

25:35

what they call themselves now. You can get cards

25:38

from these military-oriented credit

25:40

unions or USAA federal savings

25:43

bank, replace the available

25:45

credit with the really good

25:47

cards that are available

25:49

from these military-oriented organizations.

25:51

And you get this done

25:53

before you retire

25:55

from the military. As for

25:58

the American Express Hilton Card.

26:00

I'd say the same thing about the Marriott. The

26:02

hotel cards are junk. In

26:05

a situation like yours,

26:07

you're getting rid of it

26:08

because of having

26:11

to pay the annual fee moving forward.

26:13

But the hotel programs have so devalued

26:17

the points that it's

26:19

basically a joke. Krista,

26:22

I remember you have the Marriott and it's a cheap

26:24

buy chase. And you recently

26:26

were looking at a hotel, you were gonna use

26:28

the points. And I almost

26:31

had a stroke right on site

26:34

because the value you were getting was

26:37

so ridiculously poor on

26:39

using the Marriott Bonvoy points for

26:42

a hotel stay.

26:43

The hotel programs are

26:45

playing us for fools.

26:47

And you don't want to

26:49

have the tie-in with these cards. If you sign

26:52

up for one for a year to get the

26:54

big signup bonus and use

26:57

those points for hotel stays, the

26:59

math will work in your favor. But after that

27:01

first year, the math does

27:04

not work. Nathan

27:06

Tennessee says, I recently booked a summer trip with

27:08

my brother to Yosemite, but he had to

27:10

cancel last minute. I'd purchased two tickets

27:13

through an airline. So I figured I could just ask someone

27:15

else like my dad to join me on the trip instead.

27:18

But when I went online to transfer the ticket,

27:20

it simply was not possible. I messaged

27:22

them and called them. And the best they could do was give me

27:24

an e-credit worth the price of the ticket because

27:27

I purchased basic economy and not coach

27:29

or first class. I'm good now, but was very

27:31

frustrated. Why could I not simply

27:34

exchange the ticket to another person when

27:36

giving the airline 10 days notice? I

27:38

purchased the seat next to mine. I know it's

27:40

open. So why can't I simply change

27:42

the name?

27:44

To my knowledge, Southwest is the

27:46

only airline that permits a

27:49

name change of a ticket. I

27:51

didn't know they even did that. Yeah, they have,

27:53

they call it Gotta Get Away

27:55

Plus, I think. You pay

27:57

a slight additional amount.

29:54

place

30:00

to place. I've moved a car before with

30:02

one of the car haulers and I did it

30:05

through YouShip, the letter you

30:07

ship dot-com,

30:09

where you're able to see

30:11

reviews and it's a reverse auction.

30:13

You put up the car move you want to make

30:16

and companies bid

30:18

for your business and over the

30:20

time period that the auctions open

30:23

the prices go down

30:25

not up. So it's the opposite

30:28

of a normal bid. The

30:30

thing about it is the

30:32

cheapest price is not necessarily going to be

30:34

your best. Read the reviews,

30:36

read how reliable they were

30:39

on schedule, read how

30:42

if somebody had damaged their vehicle from

30:44

a car hauler,

30:45

how it was handled well or poorly,

30:48

but

30:49

I recommend that instead

30:51

of putting the miles on the odometer and

30:53

having an unknown

30:55

driving your vehicle across the

30:57

country. And the cost

31:00

will vary a lot. I have, if you want to know

31:03

more about YouShip, I have a review of

31:05

it on Clark dot com. And

31:09

that does it for us today. On Monday,

31:13

we are going to have a special episode

31:16

for you. You won't want

31:18

to miss your crazy

31:21

or best travel stories

31:24

as we're in the heart of the

31:26

travel season. Have an absolutely

31:28

great weekend.

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