07.24.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / AI Shopping Bots

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast

Episode: 07.24.26 — Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / AI Shopping Bots

Date: July 24, 2026
Host: Clark Howard

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clark Howard dives into listener feedback in the “Clark Stinks” segment, where he faces his critics and addresses criticisms of his financial advice. He tackles debates about credit cards, housing markets, subscription tracking, 529 plans, tech device preferences, and more. Later in the episode, Clark explores the pitfalls of AI shopping bots, raising concerns about their motivations and warning listeners about the hidden agendas behind many AI-powered shopping recommendations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Clark Stinks: Responding to Listener Critiques

(Segment begins 01:05)

Major Topics:

• Apartment Market "Overbuilt" Debate (02:08)

  • Listener Eric argues that calling the apartment market “overbuilt” mischaracterizes a needed market correction benefiting renters.
  • Clark's Response: He clarifies he was speaking from the investor/business side but agrees the net effect is a win for renters as rental prices soften due to increased inventory, even if those new builds are mostly luxury units.

    “If you’re looking at it from the tenant perspective, I was explaining it from the business side. The net effect is the same. In either case, rents are softening and dropping in a number of markets because of the new inventory.” (03:36)

• Obsession with Credit Scores and Debt-Free Living (05:14)

  • Listener John criticizes Clark’s continual advice to keep credit cards for the sake of FICO scores, arguing that debt-free living is better.
  • Clark's Response: Acknowledges John’s discipline, but stresses that credit scores are practical necessities for insurance, loans, and sometimes employment. Suggests keeping credit open when possible but not at the expense of self-control or well-being.

    “Credit scores are practical and necessary for certain things… if you keep those credit cards and use them just tactically… fine. But if you will get into a habit of getting into debt again, then you close the accounts.” (07:08)

  • Krista adds that many employers now pull credit reports during hiring. (09:16)

• Managing Subscriptions More Effectively (09:24)

  • Listener Diana suggests using calendar reminders for subscription promotions instead of Clark’s seasonal review method, leveraging timed promos and multi-user households.
  • Clark: Emphasizes that any system that works to keep subscription creep in check is worthwhile.

    “Your suggestion, if you're good with a calendar, using that, it's great too. And I welcome other suggestions how to deal with the endless subscription monster…” (10:17)

• Costco Credit Card Interest Rate Increase (11:20)

  • Russ points out that if you don’t carry a balance, rising interest rates don’t matter. Clark admits he doesn’t know his card’s interest rates because he pays in full and reiterates the point.

• Rental Application Fees (12:20)

  • Kurt calls Clark out for not opposing landlord application fees, seeing them as shifting business costs onto consumers.
  • Clark: Defends these as “hard costs” necessary to prevent frivolous applications, especially burdensome for small landlords.

• 529 Plan Age-Based Investment Critique (13:43)

  • Jeff had substantial losses in a 529 plan during 2022’s down year and wishes Clark recommended shifting to 100% short-term reserves closer to withdrawal.
  • Clark: Notes 2022 was a rare year when stocks and bonds both fell; age-based portfolios vary by state, and you can migrate to short-term reserves closer to college if desired.

    “Normally the age-based portfolio for a student who is enrolled in school will be conservative enough. But there are states… that are basically overwhelmingly short-term reserves…” (14:33)

• Gift Card Balance Tip (16:08)

  • Robert reminds Clark of a listener tip: using Amazon to liquidate low balances on Visa/Mastercard gift cards by buying Amazon credit. Clark praises this as a great way to avoid losing small “breakage” amounts.

    “This is a way for you to make sure you don’t have any breakage in your life and the money you have ends up working for you instead of going poof.” (16:47)

• Clark’s Android Preference vs. Apple (17:39)

  • David jokingly criticizes Clark’s loyalty to Android over iPhone.
  • Clark: Explains he loves Android for hardware choice, but acknowledges Apple’s strengths in integration and security, while noting most listeners use iPhone.

    “I just love with the phone having the versatility of being able to buy any kind of hardware from any manufacturer instead of being a prisoner to what Apple decides I can have as a phone.” (18:01) “Yeah, I’d like better security, but I love my Android.” (18:01)

2. AI Shopping Bots: Hidden Agendas and Buyer Beware

(Segment begins 24:27)

• Clark warns that most AI shopping tools are motivated by referral income, meaning recommendations can be biased.
• AI shopping bots may prioritize vendors that pay referral fees, rather than delivering the real lowest price.
• He calls special attention to credit card companies now offering AI shopping tools as a way to drive purchases for preferred vendors and boost transaction fees.

  “Be very aware and wary that there is a lot of hidden agenda stuff going on. And you think that AI has found you the lowest price on blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? Many times it's not close to the lowest price. It's the lowest price on who's paying them to do the search.” (25:51)

• Clark encourages use of his team’s Clark Deals site, which is curated by real people, not bots incentivized by referral payments. (27:51)

3. Rapid-Fire Listener Q&A

• Should I Consolidate Investment Accounts at One Firm? (28:54)

  • Listener with over $2 million wonders if she should move assets from Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab to just one.
  • Clark: It’s fine to consolidate for simplicity, but warns about possible tax consequences if assets aren’t all in retirement accounts.

• Small Business Lending Tricks and Pitfalls (31:36)

  • Crystal encountered surprise lease-back terms on a small business loan.
  • Clark: Warns the business lending space lacks consumer protections, is rife with exploitative terms, and recommends dealing with one’s own business bank or using lines of credit with close scrutiny.

    “Business lending is a swamp. The disclosures that are required in consumer lending do not exist in business lending. And a lot of the players in business lending are really sleazeballs.” (32:29)

• Sneaky Rental Car Toll Fees (34:31)

  • Matt notes hefty convenience fees charged by car rental companies for using toll roads.
  • Clark: Shares a personal story of an unexpected $25 fee, suggests getting your own transponder, and notes some airports now distribute toll readers to protect tourists.

    “This thing, Matt, is such a rental car rip off… the Orlando airport got into a war with the car rental companies doing this to people…” (36:49)

• Amusement Park Admission Strategies (38:14)

  • Clark mentions that dynamic pricing can save you money if you go during off-peak times, and jokes about the soaring expense of theme park trips.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Maybe you’re right, pal.” – Clark, engaging humorously with critical listeners (02:02)
• “Debt is debt. Surely you realize that being in constant debt, which is what happens with the vast majority of credit card users, is a plague on the consumer.” – Listener John in South Dakota (05:14)
• “It’s a distinction with a difference that you just made.” – Clark, on the impact of credit card interest rates for those who pay in full (11:50)
• “We have real people doing it.” – Listener, defending the Clark Deals team against AI bots (27:51)
• “Business lending is a swamp. The disclosures that are required in consumer lending do not exist in business lending.” – Clark (32:29)
• “Sometimes even Clark Howard is a victim of consumer ripoffs.” – Co-host, after toll fee story (36:47)
• “Go enjoy your day, your weekend… empowerment for you never sleeps.” – Clark, closing encouragement (39:10)

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Segment Timestamps

• 01:05 — Clark Stinks: Listener critiques and responses
• 02:08 — Housing market overbuilt debate
• 05:14 — Credit scores vs. debt-free living
• 09:24 — Subscription management tips
• 11:20 — Costco credit card interest rates
• 12:20 — Rental application fees
• 13:43 — 529 plan investment strategy
• 16:08 — Visa/Mastercard gift card trick
• 17:39 — Android vs. iPhone debate
• 24:27 — AI shopping bots: dangers and agendas
• 28:54 — Consolidating investment accounts
• 31:36 — Small business loan pitfalls
• 34:31 — Rental car toll charge ripoffs
• 38:14 — Amusement park pricing & advice

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Tone and Language

Clark maintains his signature tone throughout: empathetic, practical, folksy, laced with gentle self-deprecation and humor. He’s eager to learn from listeners, models humility, and always aims to empower consumers, even while admitting sometimes he’s just as human (and mistake-prone) as his audience.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Don’t blindly accept AI shopping recommendations; always double-check for bias.
• Cut subscription bills with whatever tracking or reminder system works for you.
• Maintaining credit card accounts is a practical necessity for many, but living debt-free is admirable if you can swing it.
• Expect nasty fees from car rental companies, especially around tolls—come prepared.
• Consolidating accounts can simplify your life, but watch out for taxes.
• Always read the fine print on business loans—some are designed to trick you.
• Clark’s show thrives on listener interaction; if you disagree or have a better way, let him know via “Clark Stinks.”

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Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And it's that time again. Clark Stinks. I'll hear your beefs with my advice. What if somebody's a vegetarian?

[Caller/Listener]

Well, then they have another reason to write a Clark Stinks.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, man. Coming straight ahead. And later. AI tools are supposedly all the rage to save you money when shopping. Oh boy. What's behind the curtain you have to be aware of before you use them? But now it's time for Clark Stinks. I should have never encouraged you to speak.

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You must think I'm pretty stupid.

[Caller/Listener]

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

[Clark Howard]

Maybe you're right, pal.

[Caller/Listener]

Okay, Eric in North Carolina says something is rotten, but it's not in Denmark. It's your studio. I just listened to your episode talking about leasing apartments and how the balance of power shifted toward renters. But. But I just about became unglued when you characterized the apartment marketplace as overbuilt. No, this is actually the market, right? Sizing itself to handle the demand and counter the elevated housing costs everyone's been experiencing over the past decade. Housing advocates have been begging for this situation to occur in order to bring housing costs more in line with people's monthly incomes. Calling the market overbuilt suggests a problem, and that's not okay for people struggling to make ends meet as especially when housing costs have risen so much over the last 50 years compared to increases in people's salaries. If this is a problem, then this is a very, very good problem for a lot of people.

[Clark Howard]

Eric, thank you very much for that. Okay. So always think about these things from a business economic standpoint. And in a lot of markets in the south, the southwest, and parts of the west, apartments have been, from the standpoint of investors have been overbuilt. And that's why there have been mergers of apartment management companies. Those mergers are out of weakness, not strength. So it's to the good for tenants and markets where rents have gone up and up and up and up that it attracted a lot of money from people who built apartments built with pro forma's business plans that anticipated they would be receiving the kind of rents that landlords were able to push onto tenants in recent years. And too many people made that decision in a lot of markets at the same time, which created an overhang of supply of new apartments in a lot of metro areas. So if you're looking at it from the tenant perspective, I was explaining it from the business side, the net effect is the same. In either case, rents are softening and dropping in a number of markets because of the new inventory. And here's the thing. Those apartments being built are all at the high end. Nobody's waking up in the morning and saying, you know, I want to build affordable apartments. Nobody's funding those. They're all funding apartments at the high end. But the ultimate effect of that is it creates additional inventory, which is exactly what we need in the new home market. And that pushes down rents throughout the pricing levels.

[Caller/Listener]

John in South Dakota says you stink worse than cousin Eddie when he was dumping his RV sewage down the street drain in the Christmas Vacation movie.

[Clark Howard]

I don't know that scene.

[Accenture/Spotify Sponsor]

You've.

[Caller/Listener]

You've seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Oh, my gosh, it's the best. Okay, recently a caller said nothing about

[Clark Howard]

popular culture you've watched.

[Caller/Listener]

Okay, recently a caller said he had paid up all his credit cards. He asked if he should close the accounts to keep from going into debt. Again, you told him to keep the accounts open and to also use the cards occasionally to keep his credit score up. Zeesh, what is up with you and credit scores? Not everyone needs to make bow down at the altar of the almighty FICO score. Why in the world would you suggest and keep suggesting that everyone own multiple credit cards and continue to use them just to keep a high credit score you hate paying for, yet continue to tell callers to use credit cards just to increase their scores? It's the Same thing. Debt is debt. Surely you realize that being in constant debt, which is what happens with the vast majority of credit card users, is a plague on the consumer. I've never heard of a self made millionaire or multimillionaire saying they got wealthy with their credit card airline miles. Contrary to popular beliefs, a person can buy a house or rent an apartment without a credit score. You have to use a lender or broker that does not does manual underwriting and has a clue other than looking at a credit score. My wife and I have a virtually zero score. We have no debt since 2011 when we paid off our 20 year mortgage in nine and a half years.

[Clark Howard]

Congratulations.

[Caller/Listener]

We don't own any credit cards and haven't since 2009. We don't finance anything. We use debit cards that are linked to our checking accounts or pay cash for all purchases, even large ones. If we can't pay for it with a debit card or cash in full, we don't buy it. We sleep very well at night knowing we owe no one. We never have arguments over money and it is great to be debt free. Why don't you suggest to more people to get out of debt and stop worrying about and worshiping a credit score?

[Clark Howard]

All right, I thank you first of all, John, I thank you for your passion. Second, you set such a great example, living a completely debt free life. Third, credit scores are practical and necessary for certain things. You didn't mention you had any trouble getting auto or homeowner's insurance. In many states, your credit score, what's on your credit report is the number one determining factor. What you're approved for for auto or homeowners insurance and what premiums you pay. And if somebody wants to buy a home, you talked about using a lender or a broker that uses alternative methods to generate a loan. Those loans tend to carry meaningfully higher interest rates than one based on a credit score. I'm talking about manipulating fico, essentially that somebody who was in debt successfully pays off debt. And what I have also said is that if you keep those credit cards and use them just tactically so that you keep your credit score solid and you will get into a habit of getting into debt again. Then you close the accounts. But if you think you can control how you use them, it is a, in my mind for most people a necessary procedure so that you maintain an active credit score and a good one for the various ways that the insurance industry and the financial industry use them to evaluate you. You know, people don't know their customer anymore. And a FICO score has become a substitute for In a marketplace where people don't know their customer, you have been able to make it work living a completely debt free existence. I am a debt free person but I use credit as a payment system that I pay in full each month. We're both at the same end result. I just think for most people having an active credit history and profile is really valuable.

[Caller/Listener]

I also want to just point out a lot of employers now almost all I know pull credit reports when they're hiring.

[Clark Howard]

That is true.

[Caller/Listener]

Diana, Massachusetts says Clark's advice to check seasonally for subscriptions to cancel isn't really odiferous, but there's here's a different suggestion on how to manage them. Since limited time promo offers are usually the best way to snag a deal on a streaming service, just keep track of expiration dates with a calendar. The minute I sign up for a promo offer, I record the sign up info and set a reminder reminder on the calendar several weeks before the expiration date to reevaluate for short time promos with a particular service. I'll give a heads up to my TV watching spouse that he may want to focus on shows from that service until the offer ends. Then we cancel, focus on other services or deals and wait for another promo offer. If it's a serious one, we consider using again. Also, don't forget that a two or more person household offers additional chances to take advantage of offers. Love the show and hope that Clark had a very happy birthday last month.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you very much. It was a great birthday and I love all the suggestions we're getting about methods that people use to deal with subscription creep and bills. You're like, where'd that come from? I don't watch that service or whatever it is. So I had suggested doing it every time we change seasons just because it's an easy thing to remember and you'll be able to capture an expense at least once every 90 days. You'll be able to dump out of things. But your suggestion if you use a if you're good with a calendar using that, it's great too. And I welcome other suggestions how to deal with the endless subscription monster that you always need a baseball bat to beat down. Because it always seems when you have a family it always seems to come back to life.

[Caller/Listener]

And we had the suggestion last week to put all of them on one credit card that you don't use much.

[Clark Howard]

So it's fun too.

[Caller/Listener]

Russ in Connecticut says there was a recent question where Sherry was disgusted by the recent increase on the Costco City Visa card. Clark provided a clear explanation why the interest rate may have changed and that Citibank was responsible for the interest rates, not Costco. However, I think think Howard missed an important point. Sherry indicated she pays her card twice a month and does not carry a balance. So while she may be disgusted, the impact on her because she carries no balance is zero.

[Clark Howard]

All right, I have a confession to make. Do you know, I don't know what the interest rate is on any credit card I have because I never run a balance. And I always say, you know, you need to know the interest rate on your cards, and that's 100%. The fact if you run balances and most people run balances are just as in the dark about their interest rates as I am. But it's a distinction with a difference that you just made.

[Caller/Listener]

Curtain Arizona says Clark. Clark, Clark, you talked about charging rental applicants fees for conducting a background check. You say you hate fees, and then you seem to have no issue passing this cost, the cost of your business along to the consumer. You are the one requiring the check. You pay it.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, so Kurt, it's not a junk fee. It's an actual hard cost that a prospective tenant faces that a landlord has as a cost. For someone who may just be thinking, well, maybe I want to go to that apartment and they're putting an application. It requires that a tenant be more serious, a wood prospective tenant be more serious about it being a place they might want to live. Think about what it would be like, particularly for a small landlord, if people kept inquiring about it and wanting to put in an application. The landlord has hard costs with that, and then that person actually doesn't buy, doesn't sign a lease. They've got that cost and no benefit at all. So I hear you and I'm this happened more than once this week that I've been talking about. Something from the perspective of business and also from consumer.

[Caller/Listener]

Jeff in Colorado says Clark, you don't stink, but your guidance on 529 plans is dangerous. You usually recommend investing in the age based portfolios. These become more conservative the closer you get to college enrollment. Many of the age based portfolios have 40 to 60% or their investments in stock and bond funds. I think what they mean is they have a 4060 split of investments in stock and bond funds even up to and including the year they expect to use the funds in years like 2022. This results in large declining account balances. We lost over $6,000 in 22 when we started withdrawing from the account because both bonds and stocks were sharply down. Please suggest investing in 100% short term reserves once the student approaches the age of needing the fund. Avoid an unusual decline in both stock and bond markets.

[Clark Howard]

Jeff, thank you. And you're going back to 22, which was a bizarre year. And it was a year there was total correlation in stocks and bonds. They both fell at the same time. This is an unusual and rare occurrence and brutalized your 529 account in a normal year. And you look back, you can back test this over the years since 529s came along and look in the years since the unfortunate losses you suffered. And normally the age based portfolio for a student who is enrolled in school will be conservative enough. But there are also states that in their age based portfolios once you are enrolled do become much more as you suggested, that are basically overwhelmingly short term reserves. I've seen that with my middle child. My daughter's 529 plan did that where once she was enrolled in school it became essentially a short term reserve plan. So the, the age based portfolios do vary from administrator to administrator and state to state. And I'm really sorry you suffered that unfortunate loss right at that time in history when they didn't zig and zag. They both zagged at the same time.

[Caller/Listener]

Robert, North Carolina says Clark, you don't stink. But you left an easy tip out of your story in the newsletter about using reward gift cards that act like credit cards. And this was a tip I learned from listening to your show. Some online merchants, notably Amazon, will let you load and reload a gift card in a custom amount. For example, if you have $5.83 left on a Visa gift card, you can load it into your Amazon wallet payment methods then reload your Amazon gift card balance with the remaining balance from the card. We've done this dozens of times with various Visa and MasterCard gift cards since learning about it from one of the listeners on your show. Clearly he did not leave a lasting memory for you. Thanks for all you do.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you. And okay, so this is another area where people have been so helpful to us with the reward cards that have money that starts accruing fees. And we're not talking about reward credit cards. We're talking about kind of like rebate cards, gift cards, and being able to empty that money out of them. Particularly what is known in the industry as breakage where companies benefit from small amounts that people leave cumulatively over all. The many people have cards they kind of forget about the cards when the balance is below like 10 bucks. And this is a way for you to make sure you don't have any breakage in your life and the money you have ends up working for you instead of going poof.

[Caller/Listener]

David Nevada says you stink for being so kind, friendly and funny while making being cheap look so good. I love it when Lane comes on the air to tell you how it is and congrats on your son being a pilot, but I just can't forgive the fact that you and Krista are die hard Android users. I know Android is open source, but some of us prefer iPhones. Security switch to Apple.

[Clark Howard]

Well, you know the thing for me with Android is that Apple decides like a dictator what phones you can have, what shape they're going to be, size, how good the screen is going to be, how good the camera is going to be, and you can only buy what Apple says you can have and use the Apple operating system. What I love about Android is I can have, you know, a screen like this. For those of you watch the YouTube show that gives me the ability to have what Apple is going to have next year and when they present it's going to be nothing like this has ever existed before for Apple customers. So yeah, is the walled garden that Apple offers more secure? No doubt. Does Apple do a phenomenal job at allowing content to move across all your devices from your iPad to your phone to your computer? I mean it's incredible to your watch all the things that are so beautifully integrated. Every member of my family is with you and explains that to me. So I just love with the phone having the versatility of being able to buy any kind of hardware from any manufacturer instead of being a prisoner to what Apple decides I can have as a phone. So that's really what it's about now. Market share speaks in the United States, a majority of phones being purchased are iPhones and of our listeners and viewers it's overwhelmingly iPhone. So the market is doing your work for you. People are gravitating to what works for them. I just happen to be in that group of people, the minority of people in the United States who really love my Android phone and that's why I use it. So yeah, I'd like better security, but I love my Android. Thank you all for all your posts on Clark Stinks today. Every week, if you listen regularly to Clark Stinks, you can hear how different one thing after another after another is and how much you have to teach me, how much I have to learn how much. I have to, even though I had an opinion that maybe was fact and right at one time that I need to change as the circumstances change, as technology changes, as life changes. And you help me do that. So please, if there's something you've heard me say, watch me talk about and you're like Clark, come on, don't just say it to yourself. Go to clark.com clarkstings and post it. Coming up ahead, I want to talk to you about where AI is definitely not your friend.

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[Clark Howard]

are getting really comfortable at incorporating AI into our daily lives. I use routinely two of them. I use Gemini, but my favorite is Claude. Other people use Chat, GPT, others use Grok, you name it. And these things can be useful tools in our lives. Don't take what you get as a response because the way they respond is like this is fact, fact, fact. And I've been testing these with questions that are, that are things that I know the answer to. And there are times that Gemini and Claude are just, they're just plain wrong. But they make it sound like 100% this is it. Then there are times I've used them and they've been a fantastic aide or assistant. So it is a mixed bag. But I want to tell you, everybody in the business in that industry is trying to generate revenue, obviously from the enormous cost of improving these tools for the companies that own them and trying to get market share one from another and boost the value of the enterprises. So the shortcut that is like the thing of the moment is using them to shop. And let me tell you where this is a problem. You gotta look to see what the hidden agenda is. And many times with the AI shopping tools, the real agenda is to generate referral income from partners who have captured essentially the AI tool for their purposes. So you think you're doing an actual real AI search of shopping for something. I don't care what it is. Consumer goods, travel, whatever it is you're trying to make a purchase decision on. Be very aware and wary that there is a lot of hidden agenda stuff going on. And you think that AI has found you the lowest price on blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? Many times it's not close to the lowest price. It's the lowest price on who's paying them to do the search. It's not a legit lowest price. The latest in this game is credit card companies that are offering you AI tools. And the idea is it's expedited shopping, that there's a couple of hidden agendas here going on at the same time. One is to generate fee income for the credit card processing network that is promoting the AI shopping tool. The other is pushing you towards buying stuff from certain preferred vendors. So again, ease of use that is really easy to harm your wallet. Be aware and be very wary using AI shopping bots that say, trust us, we're your friend.

[Caller/Listener]

You know who is your friend? The Clark Deals team. We have real people doing it.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. I mean, it's funny. This is going to sound self serving, but it's actually a fact. When we set up Clark Deals almost 11 years ago now, it was because of a real frustration that we had as a team that a lot of the bargain sites out there were actually just advertorial sites and they were not actually telling you, hey, there's this hot deal and whatever they were promoting, whatever they were getting paid to promote. And we wanted to set up a deal site that was clean. You know that the people on the deals team, they know their only mission is to not waste your time and give you real deals. And so all that we're talking about here with the AI is a new level of sophistication at making you think that you've actually found the real deal when you might not have found a real deal.

[Caller/Listener]

All right, Deborah in Missouri wrote in and says, she says, clark, we currently have $960,000 in Vanguard, 480k in Fidelity and 700k in Schwab. I manage the accounts and would like to make my life easier by transferring everything to Fidelity. My husband, who thinks I did quick

[Clark Howard]

math, that means he got over 2 million bucks in the three of them. That's pretty great. Wow.

[Caller/Listener]

My husband, who thinks I do a good job with our accounts, thinks I would be, quote, putting all our eggs in one basket by doing that. Do you Think merging our accounts into one institution is a good idea. And if you do, can you help me convince my husband it's a good idea?

[Clark Howard]

So you ask me, do I want you to have my three favorite children or do I want you to pick one over the other two? I mean, I have three kids in my life. I'm not going to name a favorite child. They're all three my favorite children and they're all different. So now in the real world, not my own family. So I think it's fine to consolidate your assets with one of the three. The simplicity of it. I'm with all three and it's a lot of work. And plus I have accounts other places. It's a lot to deal with. And I think about the proliferation of people having 401ks from older employers that are at who knows how many different places and how likely they are to lose track of those. And the advantage of consolidating. Here's the problem. In your case, you don't say in this over $2 million. And again, congratulations, Deborah. How much of it is in investment accounts instead of retirement accounts? If it's in investment accounts, depending on the holdings in them, some of them may be house account kind of items that you will trigger capital gains tax consolidating because you might have to sell certain things to close out an account with one of these three companies and migrate the money and buy again. And then you're harvesting tax bills. You wouldn't have to otherwise. If it's all in retirement shelters that you generate, no tax. Moving the money consolidating sounds great. You know, with all three, Vanguard's obviously the lowest cost of any of the three overall. But the cost differences between the three are really relatively small enough versus the overall investment environment that if you want to do it minus the tax hit you could have, I think you could go for it.

[Caller/Listener]

Crystal in Florida says, I've owned a small business for approximately eight years. I've cash flowed everything. I decided to look for a business loan to start building business credit so I can acquire a vehicle for the business and purchase a couple pieces of medical equipment. The process took over four weeks. I was only wanting to borrow $20,000. I had to get all of these invoices together for what I wanted to purchase. Once they finally approved all the invoice, I was carefully reading over the contract. The company would lease me the equipment and at the end of the terms of the loan, I would be obligated to return the equipment. I was kind of blown away. Why in the world would I want to pay for this equipment only to give it to the lender after I worked hard to pay it off? Is this common? I didn't take the loan and decided to open a card and take a couple of lines of credit out with a couple of medical supply companies. This blew me away.

[Clark Howard]

So, Crystal, you discovered something that most of us have learned who've been small business owners over the years. Business lending is a swamp. The disclosures that are required in consumer lending do not exist in business lending. And a lot of the players in business lending are really sleazeballs. So you have to be very, very careful with business lending. So let me give you an example. You wanted to have credit for the business and you wanted to acquire a vehicle. You've been in business nearly a decade. So whatever bank you use for your business checking would love to lend you money for that vehicle purchase. And what they do require, even though you've been in the business eight years, they may require a personal guarantee. They may not, depending on having been your bank for that period of time. And they will probably lend you money at a very favorable rate. You'll own it, you'll be establishing. It'll be additional. If they do require a cosign, it'll be additional credit in your individual record, but it will also establish credit for you as a business. I mean, that's the easiest way to do it. Although you did other things that work as well. Industry trade lines that you did in your industry is a good way to establish. Be very careful though, what the interest rates are on the lines of credit you were able to take out and business card industry card you were able to take out. The interest levels do not have to have full disclosure for these business loans. You want to make sure you're not paying crazy amounts. Like it's not at all unusual for small business lending for people who are low credit risk being conned into 50 to 60% interest rates on business loans. Wow.

[Caller/Listener]

Okay. Matt Nevada says. I'm sure you have mentioned this before, but I just wanted to give your listeners a warning about a sneaky rental car charge. While visiting the Panhandle of Florida, I had no idea that a major rental car company would charge a $9.99 convenience fee for using a $2 toll road. If I knew that, I would have taken the route back to pensacola that was 23 minutes longer.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, Matt, I can top it. I can top it. I was in Tidewater, Virginia. I had put on my Google Maps avoid tolls and it's taking me on a route. And all of a sudden I end up on the freeway. And I notice as I'm driving past the exit, it says last exit before toll, front row. So I get this toll and the car rental company charged me the toll. Plus what was their convenience fee? $25.

[Caller/Listener]

Were you screaming as you went through the toll?

[Clark Howard]

Were you very high pitched?

[Caller/Listener]

Were you alone in the car?

[Clark Howard]

I was alone. Oh, boy. There was nothing I could do. There was no place I could even make an illegal U turn.

[Caller/Listener]

You were sweating.

[Clark Howard]

So I sent the bill to Alphabet, the parent company of Google. No, I mean, man, they stuck me big time. So I call up the car rental company. They said, yeah, it's in your contract said $25 fee. Yeah, well, look at all the work we have to do. Yeah, it's like. So that's when I bought your transponder. Yeah. So I have a multi state toll reader that suction cups to the windshield that when I get in a rental car, I register it to that plate or tag. When I get out of the rental car, I remove it from that tag. And you know, I learned that because I forgot to remove it one time and I started getting toll bills for somebody that vehicle to my. Yeah, I took the transponder out, but I forgot to remove that plate.

[Caller/Listener]

Even Clark Howard has consumer issues sometimes.

[Clark Howard]

Of course I do. But this thing, Matt, is such a rental car rip off so much. So do you know the Orlando airport got into a war with the car rental companies doing this to people that they have a big display where you can get one of the temporary toll readers so the car rental companies can't rip you off at that airport because the airport authority kept having people scream at them about getting ripped off on these phony toll charges. And they were like, yeah, this is ridiculous. And they did something about it that I thought was really nice.

[Caller/Listener]

They got to protect the tourists from that are going to the happiest place in the world, right?

[Clark Howard]

That's right. Costco. So how many times in your life have you been to Walt Disney World or Disneyland?

[Caller/Listener]

I've been there. I think it's three times now.

[Clark Howard]

Well, I've been three also. Two at Disney World and one at Disneyland.

[Caller/Listener]

Oh, actually I did go to Disneyland one time with a friend, so four.

[Clark Howard]

So you're one ahead of me.

[Caller/Listener]

Yep. Three at Disney World.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. You know, it's tough for me to go to amusement park because I'm linophobic.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, well, I mean, the costs. I wouldn't go again. I'm not going again. My kids are grown, I'm out. Maybe when I have grandkids, if I have them. But I mean by then it's going to be like you're going to have to mortgage your home to go.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, I think you already have to mortgage your home to go to an amusement park.

[Caller/Listener]

It's wild.

[Clark Howard]

It is crazy, crazy expensive. Hey, by the way, since we're talking about Orlando, we talked about amusement parks. We talked about the toll. Readers know that the admission costs are variable at the parks and you can generally look at a calendar for any of the major amusement parks and you can see when the prices drop because it's dynamic demand pricing now. So there are times that you can go that it's not going to be as crowded maybe and you get the lower price and then others where it's going to be packed to the gills. You pay the big money or you pay much bigger money to go into like an executive line with the they

[Caller/Listener]

called fast passes or something that sounds right.

[Clark Howard]

Whatever they're called, executive, executive, Disney visitor. All that is way outside of anything that I would do. Not happening. Not going to spend that money. Just a fact. This is also a fact. It's time for the weekend and your job is to go out and have a great time this weekend. Do something for yourself. Go out for a walk, enjoy the summer weather, depending on how hot it is where you are, maybe that walks early in the day or just before sunset. But go enjoy your day, your weekend and we're with you all weekend [e-mail] and clarkeals.com empowerment for you never sleeps. Know we're all about your empowerment for these purposes. So you will learn ways to save money more, spend less and never, never, not ever get ripped off. See you Monday.

[Ryan Reynolds/Mint Mobile Sponsor]

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[Clark Howard]

6 months or $180 for 12 month

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