06.02.25 Clark’s Auto Loan Directive / Skimmer Scam Prevention

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: Clark’s Auto Loan Directive / Skimmer Scam Prevention
Host: Clark Howard
Release Date: June 2, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode

In this engaging episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard delves into two pressing financial concerns: the alarming trend of extended auto loans and the increasing sophistication of skimmer scams. Throughout the episode, Clark provides actionable advice, answers listener questions, and shares insights to help consumers make informed financial decisions.

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Clark's Take on Extended Auto Loans

Timestamp: [00:57]

Clark opens the discussion by addressing a concerning trend in vehicle financing. Referencing a report from Edmunds, he reveals that "one in five vehicle loans being taken out are seven-year loans" ([00:57]). He emphasizes the financial pitfalls of such long-term loans, highlighting that borrowers often end up "always owing more by many, many, many thousands of dollars than what the vehicle is worth."

Clark criticizes the auto industry's response to rising vehicle costs, advocating for more affordable vehicle options. He praises initiatives like Jeff Bezos's Slate project and Ford's Maverick pickup truck, both aiming to offer reliable new vehicles under $20,000. "There's a hunger in the marketplace for more affordable vehicles," he asserts, urging consumers to either keep their current vehicles or opt for cheaper alternatives to avoid financial strain.

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Listener Questions and Advice

1. Transferring Gift Card Balance

   • Caller: Nancy from Alabama
   • Timestamp: [06:12]

   Nancy shares her positive experience with converting a Verizon gift card balance into cash, attributing her success to listening to Clark's advice. She states, "I love that I've never seen this with any other gift card." Clark responds by expressing his disdain for refund cards due to the concept of "breakage", where unused funds go unclaimed. He acknowledges innovative methods, like transferring balances to pay utility bills or converting them to Amazon gift cards, enhancing their usability ([07:07]).

2. Jewelry as an Investment

   • Caller: Anonymous
   • Timestamp: [07:37]

   An anonymous listener discusses the appreciation of his wife's jewelry, noting a 386% increase in appraised value over eight years. He inquires about jewelry as a viable investment. Clark advises caution, explaining that while jewelry can appreciate in value, the buy-sell spread is typically unfavorable for consumers, making it a less reliable investment compared to other assets. He recommends insuring jewelry for replacement rather than viewing it as a financial investment ([09:10]).

3. Selling a Term Life Insurance Policy

   • Caller: Cindy from Georgia
   • Timestamp: [10:04]

   Cindy seeks advice on selling her $1.2 million term life insurance policy, which is set to expire in three years after her business loan was paid off. Clark clarifies that selling policies is generally feasible for permanent life insurance, not term policies like Cindy's. He suggests either continuing the policy until expiration or exploring options to convert it if available, emphasizing that selling a term policy isn't typically practical ([10:22]).

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Skimmer Scam Prevention

Timestamp: [15:01]

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the rising threat of skimmer scams. Clark explains that criminals attach skimming devices to card readers, such as those at gas pumps, to capture card information and PINs. He warns that debit cards are particularly vulnerable, as compromised information can lead directly to unauthorized access to one's checking account.

Key preventative measures discussed include:

• Using Credit Cards Over Debit Cards: Clark advises, "Unless your finances only permit you to use a debit card, do not use a debit card," due to the limited protections compared to credit cards.
• Ensuring Cards Have Chips: He emphasizes the importance of chip-enabled cards, stating, "If your debit card provider will not provide you a card with a chip in it, they don't care about you at all." Using chip-and-PIN transactions greatly reduces the risk of skimming.
• Avoiding Pay-at-the-Pump: Clark recommends entering gas at the counter to minimize the risk of using a tampered device.

Nancy adds to the discussion by highlighting the dangers of QR code scams in parking payments, where fraudulent codes redirect payments to criminals instead of legitimate services. She suggests verifying the parking app through official channels rather than solely relying on scanned codes ([19:44]).

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Additional Listener Questions

1. Renting a Car vs. Taking a Ferry to Nova Scotia

   • Caller: Susan from Maine
   • Timestamp: [20:27]

   Susan contemplates whether to rent a car in the U.S. or Canada when taking a ferry to Nova Scotia, which costs $400 for a round trip with her vehicle. Clark advises using services like Costco Travel to compare rental costs and suggests that renting in Canada is likely more economical. He recommends calculating all associated costs, such as potential parking fees at the ferry terminal, to make an informed decision ([20:38]).

2. Annual Travel Insurance Policies

   • Caller: Dennis from Florida
   • Timestamp: [22:00]

   Dennis asks about the benefits and drawbacks of annual travel insurance policies versus per-trip policies. Clark points listeners to an article on Clark.com that delves deeper into the topic. He notes that while annual policies can save money for frequent travelers, the claims process can be more complex. Clark emphasizes the importance of understanding what each policy covers and aligning it with one's specific travel needs ([22:22]).

3. Airline Fare Sales Across Different Classes

   • Caller: James from Georgia
   • Timestamp: [23:27]

   James inquires whether airline sales discounts apply uniformly across all service classes or if they're restricted to economy classes. Clark explains that discount patterns vary by airline and route. For international flights, especially to regions like Europe, sales often span all classes, including business. However, for domestic flights, discounts are typically focused on economy, with premium classes seeing fewer deals. He highlights a trend where business class fares to Europe are dropping significantly, making them more accessible due to decreased business travel demand ([23:50]).

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Conclusion

In wrapping up the episode, Clark reiterates the importance of being vigilant against financial pitfalls, whether it's avoiding exorbitant auto loans or protecting oneself from sophisticated scams. He underscores his mission to empower listeners with knowledge to "save more and spend less and always avoid getting ripped off." The episode serves as a comprehensive guide for listeners to navigate complex financial decisions and safeguard their personal finances effectively.

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Notable Quotes

• Clark Howard: "If you can't afford the payment on a 4-2 month auto loan, you can't afford that vehicle, period. Cold fact." ([00:57])
• Nancy: "I love that I've never seen this with any other gift card." ([06:12])
• Clark Howard: "Unless your finances only permit you to use a debit card, do not use a debit card because you don't have the protections with it that you have with a credit card." ([15:01])
• Clark Howard: "There's a hunger in the marketplace for more affordable vehicles." ([02:30])
• Clark Howard: "Don't be taken this summer by [the skimmer scam]." ([20:27])

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This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting Clark Howard's insights and the valuable advice provided to listeners on managing auto loans and protecting against financial scams.

Transcript

[Don McDonald]

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[Tom]

[e-mail] this message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Forget your wallet? It's all good because with Apple Pay you can pay with a simple tap of your iPhone. The wallet you never forget at millions of places worldwide including websites, apps, apps and anywhere you see the contactless symbol. Security is built in with face ID so you don't have to worry about your cards getting lost or stolen. And the best part, you still earn the card rewards points and cash back you love. So say goodbye to the bifold, add your card to Apple Wallet and start paying the Apple way. Terms apply.

[Clark Howard]

It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show. You know our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. It is my favorite month of the year. It's June. Why? Because we get the most daylight in the northern hemisphere in June of any month all year. And do I love that at the same time I'm a little down because it's something I read from Edmonds. I'm going to share with you about what people are doing with vehicle loans they're taking out. That's driving me crazy. I got to watch my blood pressure talking about this. Speaking of cars, road trip. It's summer, right? Well, I know officially it's not summer till around my birthday but there's a scam that has increased in sophistication. You need to know about when you're on the road and I'm going to tell you how to protect yourself. But right now, listen to this, listen to this, listen to this. Edmonds reported that so far this year in data they have access to which covers the first quarter of the year, one in five vehicle loans being taken out are seven year loans. Seven year loans. That means if you buy a new to you used vehicle or a new vehicle you're still going to be paying for it in 2032. 2032. This is such a a horrific thing. You are upside down big time. Year after year after year on your loan, taking out a seven year loan. There are people taking out longer ones, eight year loans. But let's just stick to this. One in five people taking out seven year loans. You're letting them con you as a payment Buyer. So what do you think you can afford per month? That's what they say. You know what happens with those seven year loans. You're paying so much more interest on that loan over the life of it and always owing more by many, many, many thousands of dollars than what the vehicle is worth. This is a rotten, terrible thing. Now part of it is because the cost of vehicles ran away from people's ability to afford them. No doubt, no doubt that's true. But this is not the solution. The solution is going to sound trite. The solution is either you keep driving what you got, that's not really trite. This is what's trite. Or you buy a cheaper vehicle. Jeff Bezos, sailing around on the world's biggest yacht, brainstormed a new vehicle from his auto company he's starting called Slate. You probably heard all the publicity about this last month starting at 20 grand. 20 grand. That's been a long time since it's been a conversation. A vehicle that costs 20 grand or less for a new vehicle. When you consider the average used vehicles being sold for more than that. In Europe there's a company called Dacha, I think is how you say it, Dacia, that sells new vehicles that people have really loved. Some European countries. Dacha model is now the number one selling vehicle in the country. Why? Because it sells for about US$12,000 new. There's a hunger in the marketplace for more affordable vehicles. Who's going to do it? Who's going to make it happen? Ford did a great thing with the Maverick pickup truck, selling the average Maverick for less than half. With the average new pickup truck, driver pays for a pickup truck starting below 30 grand. There is a sweet spot in the market to be served in the 20s. And so, Jeff Bezos, I hope you can make this work. And I hope when your yacht pulls into ports that you drive around in your Slate auto. But good for you thinking about it. And remember my rule on auto loans. If you can't afford the payment on a 42 month auto loan, you can't afford that vehicle, period. Cold fact. True.

[Nancy]

Mic drop. You can't though because you wear your mic.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah.

[Nancy]

On your head.

[Clark Howard]

I've never understood mic drop anyway.

[Nancy]

I just drop it and walk away.

[Clark Howard]

I don't understand.

[Nancy]

All right, let's go to.

[Clark Howard]

That's real life. I don't understand anything about real life.

[Nancy]

The listener, the mic. Nancy in Alabama, you are up with your question. Nancy says, I wanted to let you know about an interesting option I experienced regarding a Reef fund gift card. I Received from Verizon. I received the gift card after transferring my father in law's phone to my family plan. I think it was for $165. I listened to your show. That's a lot every day. So I dug in and read the entire letter that came with the card and the back of the gift card. For the fine print in the letter, there was an option to transfer the entire gift card balance with no fee into my checking account. I love that I've never seen this with any other gift card. I immediately followed the instructions to transfer the balance of the card. The credit was processed for the full amount in 48 hours. Please remind your listeners to read the letter that comes with the gift card from a merchant to see if this type of transaction is available. Otherwise I would be stuck with a gift card that would be more than likely have a balance I would never be able to completely use.

[Clark Howard]

I hate these refund cards because they're, they're counting on what's known as breakage, which is that you leave some or all of the money forgotten about unused. Any method you can come up with, like we had somebody's suggestion recently to use it to pay a utility bill and get the money off Amazon gift cards the card right away.

[Nancy]

You're an Amazon user. What about people say that they can buy Amazon gift cards with the card amount.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, okay.

[Nancy]

If you use it. All right. This is from Anonymous. Hi Clark. Starting with my first well paying job in 2016, I began buying my wife one nice piece of jewelry a year from our local jewelry store or from reputable stores such as Tiffany's, Saks, Neiman's. I also purchased from warehouse stores such as Costco and Sam's, which can have some very nice jewelry.

[Clark Howard]

I mean, this is really funny for me because I start tightening up thinking about Sachs, Neiman's and Tiffany's.

[Nancy]

But now you're relaxed.

[Clark Howard]

Now I'm watching the warehouse club buying at the warehouse clubs.

[Nancy]

Yep, I always purchase precious or semi precious stones set in gold or sterling silver. And I never spent more than $1,000 a year. Imagine my surprise when I went to purchase a pair of pearl and diamond earrings for my wife for Christmas in 2024 and the price had jumped up by 33% from the tag. Fortunately, the store sold the earrings to me for the prices marked. Without the 33% increase, I decided to get my wife's jewelry appraised for insurance purposes. To my shock, my wife's jewelry, particularly the precious or semi precious stones set in gold, had drastically increased in value. In fact, my wife's jewelry appraised for 386% more than I had paid out of pocket. I understand that resale value can only be 33% of appraised value and occasionally more than 100%. But even given that number, her jewelry would have still increased in value over 100% in eight years. What are your thoughts on jewelry as an investment? Not particularly liquid, but perhaps not a bad purchase for long term.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, I appreciate this post. Anonymous. This is so interesting. So you answered the question by your statement that actually your your guess that jewelry is worth for you as an owner selling it into the market about a third of its retail value. That's a little more generous than I usually hear. That's why jewelry is not normally an investment. Insuring it for replacement cost is very smart. If a piece gets lost or stolen, it's great you've done that. But I would not look at jewelry as an investment because it's different than other things of value that the buy sell spread is so huge for for a consumer trying to sell something off.

[Nancy]

This one's from Cindy in Georgia. I have a $1.2 million term life insurance policy that expires in about three years. It was necessary for a business loan, but that loan has now been paid off. I certainly don't need that much life insurance and heard that you can sell your policy. I would love to get any tips if this is in fact true.

[Clark Howard]

So Cindy, the policies you can sell are what are known as permanent life insurance policies that don't have a sunset on them like yours does in three years. Generally if you were to sell into the secondary market, this is gruesome to say, but you would have had to have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Thank goodness that's not the case. And this is just key person life insurance that's going to sunset. So you could stop paying the premiums if there's no need for the money, but because it may be a level term policy that even as you age the premiums don't go up, it's worth it for your survivors just to keep the policy in place for three more years potentially. But otherwise, if you just want to wash your hands of it, just don't renew it would be a fine thing to do. Or you may have a privilege to convert it for premiums already paid into some value of coverage. Depends on the contract of the policy. Coming up ahead, we got to talk about when you're out on the road paying for things this summer got to know the criminals are very active right now and becoming steadily more sophisticated.

[Don McDonald]

Did you know the term financial advisor is utterly meaningless? Anyone can pretend to be one, including commission, stockbrokers and insurance agents. Are you aware that even professionals trying to beat the market by picking stocks or timing have been shown on average to return less over time than index funds? Are you looking for a podcast that will give you sane, simple, consumer centric advice about managing your Money? I'm Don McDonald and my co host Tom and I invite you to listen to Talking Real Money on this and every podcast service. We promise to tell you the hard truths about money and investing because the truth will set you free to build a better future. We advocate for investors, not the financial industry. Plus we think you'll be entertained in the process. Make Talking Real Money your source of fiscal truth when you're finished with this podcast, just search for Talking Real Money. You have almost nothing to lose and a secure financial future to possibly gain. Visit talkingrealmoney.com or search for Talking Real Money.

[Sally French]

Today's episode is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from NerdWallet. You know that feeling when you're trying to book a trip? Too many choices, too much fine print and and no real way to know if you're actually getting the best deal. Smart Travel helps you skip that stress and book with confidence. On Smart Travel, Nernwald's travel journalists break down the financial side of travel with research backed insights. They compare perks, costs and trade offs to help you travel and spend smarter. The Nerds cover topics like which airport lounge memberships are worth it and which ones just give you stale crackers and a crowded power outlet. Curious to know which airline fees are actually avoidable and which ones aren't? Turn to the Nerds. They even talk about how to maximize your hotel points for real savings, not just free bottled water and when trip insurance is worth it. So if you're trying to figure out whether that fancy travel credit card justifies the annual fee or if it's just a really expensive way to flex at the airport, give the nerds a listen before you book. Learn how to get the most out of your travel dollars. Follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app and stay tuned at the end of the episode to hear the Smart Travel trailer.

[Don McDonald]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Somewhere in the world, an Apple Card user is getting 3% daily cash back on the purchase of an iPhone 16 at Apple. That's not all. They also earn 2% back on the new shoes they bought using Apple Pay. Visit Apple Co cardcalculator and see how much daily cash back you can earn. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and.

[Tom]

[e-mail] this message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Forget your wallet? It's all good because with Apple Pay you can pay with a simple tap of your iPhone, the wallet you never forget at millions of places worldwide, including websites, apps and anywhere you see the contactless symbol. Security is built in with face ID so you don't have to worry about your cards getting lost or stolen. And the best part? You still earn the card rewards points and cash back you love. So say goodbye to the bifold, add your card to Apple Wallet and start paying the Apple way terms apply.

[Clark Howard]

An ugly crime that goes back at least 15 years has now become more sophisticated because it's getting harder to steal people's money this way. It's scam, scams or skimmer scams or skimmers, whatever law enforcement calls them. Here's what it is. A criminal goes to a place, could be pay at the pump, at a gas station or wherever they get access to, and they put a skimmer on the debit and credit card reader. The skimmer works off of reading the old magnetic stripe or strip, whichever you call it on the back of a card. It's able to read it. And if it's a debit card, they tend to have a device that captures you punching in your four digit code, your pen. So they both capture the information from the strip on the back of the card and they capture your code and then they're off to the races. And the real danger here is with debit cards because debit cards attack your checking account and there you are off on a wonderful vacation and you go to pay for something your cards declined. And why is it decline? Because without you realizing you use pay at the pump on one that had a skimmer on it or anywhere you use the card that had a skimmer, your checking account wiped out and your vacation, unless you got other ways to pay for things, is ruined. So my safest rule is unless your finances only permit you to use a debit card, do not use a debit card because you don't have the protections with it that you have with a credit card. That's number one. Number two, if you need to use a debit card, contact your financial institution. Make sure your debit card has a chip in it. A chip in it and you pay by chip, not by swipe. The chip protects you from the skimmers, nobody's cracked that one yet. But if it's just the stripe on the back, you're asking for trouble. If your debit card provider will not provide you a card with a chip in it, they don't care about you at all. They are harming you, putting you in harm's way. You want that chip because that's a way you protect yourself. If you are going to a gas station and you're using a debit card and all you got is the card with the strip on it, you go inside and you pay for your gas. You do not do pay at the pump because the criminals have gotten so sophisticated, you can't tell. The. They put a skimmer there.

[Nancy]

You can't tell even if you pull on it. You can't.

[Clark Howard]

You know, that's what the old law enforcement thing is. But they've gotten so good at it, so good at being bad.

[Nancy]

The QR code thing, too, is brutal.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. You want to talk about QR codes of parking?

[Nancy]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. If you're in an urban area or you're at a beach or whatever, and they've got a barcode you're supposed to scan to pay for your parking, all over America, criminals are duplicating stickers, putting them on the signage. And then when you scan that with your phone, the barcode it takes you to is not for the people you're supposed to pay for parking. It's for the crooks. Just know that you're best off. Well, I don't like to pay for parking, but if you're at one of those places, go up to the sign. Feel. If there's an add a sticker on there. If it's the original printed metal sign, you're okay.

[Nancy]

I mean, it's normally for an app, like, it's taking you. It's supposed to take you to an app. So I look for the name of the parking. Like there's, you know, there's several that are various chains around the country of these parking lots. And so I'll look for the app in the App Store rather than scanning the QR code. You can do it that way, too.

[Clark Howard]

But with municipal parking, many times you're going straight from that to a payment to a payment platform.

[Nancy]

There should be a website shown on there, too, though, because people have trouble with. I mean, I don't know. I just never.

[Clark Howard]

This. This whole thing with the QR codes being bogus. It's amazing how something so good in terms of simplifying things for people ended up to being a direct gateway to criminals. All right, So I don't want to make you paranoid in life. I want to make you careful. And again, the skimmer scam has been around for like 15 years. Don't be taken this summer by it. And that debit card, really think about it before you use it.

[Nancy]

All right, let's go to questions. Susan in Maine says, I want to take the ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine to Nova Scotia. It will cost $400 round trip to transport my car. Should I rent a car?

[Clark Howard]

How fun that'll be though, to go on that ferry.

[Nancy]

Should I rent a car in the US or rent a car in Canada and save money so I can tell.

[Clark Howard]

You when you're going in summer. The rental cars can be very expensive in Nova Scotia, but it will likely be cheaper. The only way you know for sure get on. I hope you're a Costco member. Go to Costco Travel, use their rental car thing because their rental cars are cheaper than most anybody else's. See what the cost of a rental car is in Maine or if you're going to get in Boston or whatever and then compare it versus renting in Nova Scotia. Odds are it'll be cheaper to rent the car in Canada and avoid the $400 round trip of the ferry transport. You'll have some costs potentially for parking in Bar harbor at the ferry. Don't know if you have to pay for parking there, so that'll defray some of the will reduce some of the savings you'd have. But it should be cheaper in Canada. And what a wonderful trip you get to take. Both my brothers went on a golfing trip to Nova Scotia years ago and they still talk about how fun it was going there to play golf.

[Nancy]

That's awesome. All right. Dennis in Florida wants to know about travel insurance annual policies. He says that one of the big providers offers annual policies and they seem like a good idea for folks who travel four times or more per year. Any advice, Clark? And also, just so you know, there was a Clark stinks from someone who has one of these who said you stink because you never talk about them. But I'm not going to read it because of this question.

[Clark Howard]

We also have an [e-mail] on what are the goods and bads and what you need to know when you go shop for an annual travel insurance policy. And yes, if you travel frequently through a year, you will save money with an annual travel policy. If you do have a claim, though, you'll find that it's no friendlier process Even though you save money on the policy, buying an annual versus buying a per trip policy, the the insurers make the claim process generally pretty complicated and difficult. One other thing about the annual policies, got to really think through what you're insuring. Are you insuring illness or what is it you hope to insure? Are you looking for matter of fact, the policies that are available annually cover all different kinds of circumstances. You have to figure out what dentists are the most important elements you want to ensure.

[Nancy]

All right. And this came in from James in Georgia. My question concerns when an airline has a sale, does the airline generally discount all classes of service except for first class like economy, main cabin comfort, etc. Or is it only economy class that goes on sale? And if all classes go on sale, is it consistently the same percent off for all the classes?

[Clark Howard]

What a wonderful question, James.

[Nancy]

Former travel agent Clark Howard yes, yes.

[Clark Howard]

So the discounting is not consistent. Some of the airlines to the South Pacific to, you know, to Australia, New Zealand, some of the airlines to Europe, when they have an airfare sale, it's across all classes of the aircraft. But for flights within the United States and flights elsewhere in the world, usually the sales are very heavily class focused. So they will be economy, basic economy sales. Much more rarely will the sale include the front of the plane or the mid thing premium economy. So usually the airline's most price sensitive customers are the customers in coach. That's where most of the seats are. That's where most of the action is. And that's why the sale activity is also there because that's where price sensitive travelers are. But this year we will see a bunch of front of the plane sale fares on routes that are very heavily geared towards business travelers because business travel has cut back with concerns about the economy and airlines are going to be more aggressive with front of the plane sale fares. And in the summer, especially front of the plane sales from the US To Europe, I'm already seeing quite a few with the business class fares dropping is not going to sound like a deal. But the business class fares dropping into the 2000 to 3000, you know, two to three in the 2000s round trip, where a business traveler round trip business class fare to Europe is most commonly over $10,000. So the sales in summer are usually better in business class because there's not as much business travel, but the plane's already there. And this year, because of the slowing economic activity, there's even a bigger emphasis on airlines offering sales in the front of the plane, back of the plane Fares for Europe in coach have not been great for June and for July, but there have been a lot of very, very good ones for August, and we'll see how that pattern plays over the next several weeks. I want to thank you so much for joining us on today's show, and I hope that something today will help you in your life, will benefit you in some way. You'll say, oh, I didn't know that, so that you pick up what I hope, which is new pieces of knowledge that give you more power. That's what we're about, so that you learn ways to save more and spend less and always avoid getting ripped off. Have a great rest of your day.

[Megan Coyle]

Today's episode is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from Nerd Wallet. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. We're travel writers at Nerd Wallet and we love helping you make your travel budget work smarter. Because who doesn't love more trips for less money? People who hate fun, Megan, that's who. But that's definitely not you person who is listening to this right now. On Smart Travel, we don't just hand out travel advice. We break it down. Like, should you get that fancy airline credit card with the huge sign up bonus? But or is that just a shiny trap leading you to financial ruin? We have the answers. The answer is it depends. By the way, that's why we do the research for you. We crunch the numbers, dissect the fine print and make sense of loyalty programs so you don't accidentally spend all your hard earned points on a sad airport hotel booked amidst a canceled flight. Each week we tackle real travel questions like is travel insurance worth it? How do you spot a good flight deal before it's gone? And and can you actually use those random miles your aunt gave you for Christmas? Also, I want that aunt. Look, we don't just sit here and talk about travel. We live it. I once turned a canceled flight into a free trip to Denver. $200 in United vouchers and $45 in Starbucks gift cards. And you are so patient. Through it all, we've got practical tips, expert interviews, and plenty of hot takes. I call them hot takeoffs. To help you travel smarter, not harder. So whether you're planning your next getaway or just love staying ahead of the travel game, follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app. Your passport will thank you and so will your wallet.