07.11.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / For Job Seekers

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast Summary

Title: Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / For Job Seekers
Host: Clark Howard
Release Date: July 11, 2025

In this engaging episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, Clark delves into criticisms from his listeners, addressing various consumer concerns and financial advice while also providing insights into the current job market for recent graduates. The episode showcases Clark's commitment to transparency and his mission to empower listeners with practical financial knowledge.

1. Introduction and "Clark Stinks" Concept

Clark Howard opens the episode by reflecting on the origins of his "Clark Stinks" segment—a platform where listeners can voice criticisms and challenge his advice. He emphasizes the value of constructive feedback in enhancing the quality of his show.

"I should have never encouraged you to speak. You almost think I'm pretty stupid." — Clark Howard [00:39]

2. Addressing Listener Criticisms

Clark engages with several listener feedback points, each highlighting different aspects of consumer finance and personal experiences.

a. Cell Phone Carrier Inquiries by Companies

Listener Bill from West Virginia questions why some companies request your cell carrier information. Clark acknowledges the explanation provided by Bill about cost-saving measures through email-to-text notifications.

"Clark seems to be confused about why some companies ask for your cell phone carrier." — Bill [02:17]

b. ETFs vs. Mutual Funds

Listener Craig presents a technical analysis of Vanguard's ETF and mutual fund offerings, highlighting tax implications and expense ratios. Clark agrees with Craig's points and elaborates on the benefits of ETFs, while also discussing Wellington's managed funds.

"ETFs are growing so quickly... because ETFs do have potentially lower costs." — Clark Howard [04:45]

c. Privatization of Air Traffic Control

Listener John from Virginia critiques Clark's comparison of Air Canada's privatized air traffic control to the U.S. system, emphasizing the complexities and safety concerns. Clark responds by advocating for modernization and private nonprofit management to enhance efficiency and safety.

"Government, even when people mean well, the bureaucracy kind of grinds progress down to a snail's pace." — Clark Howard [07:40]

d. Auto Insurance for High Net Worth Individuals

Listener Karen seeks clarification on what constitutes a "rich people's insurer." Clark explains that specialized insurers like Chub and Pure cater to individuals with high assets, addressing the unique liability risks they pose.

"There are companies that specialize in serving people that have greater assets." — Clark Howard [09:20]

e. Spray Foam Insulation Concerns

Listener Alex raises issues about spray foam insulation, especially in retrofitting existing homes. Clark acknowledges the potential problems and advises against using spray foam in remodels unless installed by knowledgeable professionals.

"I should never refer again to spray foam as a solution for a retrofit in an existing house structure." — Clark Howard [12:15]

Listener Kirby from Austin, Texas adds that increased energy rates post-spray foam installation are due to external factors like the Texas freeze, but also shares personal grievances about window replacement advice.

"Your advice not to replace the home windows with the glass panes coming apart was terrible." — Kirby [13:41]

f. Credit Card Security - Chip vs. Tap to Pay

Listener Joni criticizes Clark's advice on using chip cards, pointing out vulnerabilities like shimming. Clark responds by prioritizing "Tap to Pay" as the most secure method, while still acknowledging the benefits of chip cards over swiping.

"Tap to Pay is the most secure way for you to pay." — Clark Howard [16:33]

3. Navigating the Current Job Market for Recent Graduates

Clark transitions to discussing the job market's state for recent graduates, comparing it to past economic downturns. He provides reassurance that while the market isn't as robust as in the previous few years, it's still favorable compared to scenarios like the Great Recession.

Key Points:

• Unemployment Rate: At 4.x%, it's relatively low, offering job seekers opportunities despite fewer openings than recent years.
• Trade Opportunities: For those without advanced degrees, Clark encourages exploring skilled trades such as aircraft mechanics, plumbing, and electrical work, which are in high demand.
• Experience Matters: Emphasizing the importance of gaining work experience during education, Clark highlights institutions like Northeastern University that integrate real-world experience into their curricula.

"If you're just starting to invest, I see no reason to invest in a mutual fund. And an ETF almost always has the advantage of lower expense ratios, no minimum investments, trading flexibility and favorable tax implications." — Clark Howard [23:00]

4. Listener Questions and Clark's Insights

Clark addresses specific listener inquiries, providing tailored advice on financial tools and fraud prevention.

a. Monarch Money Security

Listener Kim from Arkansas inquires about the security implications of Monarch Money's new feature to sync Amazon purchases. Clark advises verifying that Monarch uses secure methods that do not store sensitive login credentials.

"As long as they don't [store your password], it's great that they track them." — Clark Howard [26:11]

b. Empower Retirement Plan Security

Listener Sean from Connecticut asks about the security of linking multiple financial accounts to Empower. Clark underscores the importance of using modern, secure systems that avoid storing usernames and passwords, while also cautioning about potential higher expenses associated with Empower plans.

"As long as they use a modern system... you're absolutely fine." — Clark Howard [27:35]

c. Credit Card Fraud Cases

Listener Massimo from New Jersey shares experiences of significant unauthorized charges shortly after losing credit cards. Clark explains the responsibilities of credit card companies in fraud cases and highlights the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of fraud detection systems.

"They take responsibility. The merchant does not lose the money." — Clark Howard [29:15]

5. Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

Clark wraps up the episode by thanking listeners for their feedback and emphasizing the importance of ongoing dialogue through the "Clark Stinks" segment. He hints at future discussions, including celebrating Bastille Day with financial cautionary advice.

"Thank you to everybody else who took the time to post a Clark Stings because we're all in this together. We all learn from each other." — Clark Howard [32:29]

Key Takeaways

• Embrace Feedback: Constructive criticism is vital for continuous improvement.
• Financial Tools: Ensure the security of financial management tools and understand their cost implications.
• Job Market Strategy: Skilled trades offer promising opportunities amidst a competitive job landscape.
• Fraud Prevention: Utilize secure payment methods like "Tap to Pay" and stay vigilant against unauthorized transactions.

This episode underscores Clark Howard's dedication to addressing listener concerns comprehensively, providing actionable advice, and fostering a community of informed consumers.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It'S my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I hope you enjoy our podcast. If you do share this episode with a friend, or if you watch our YouTube show, why don't you let a friend know about it? Now, this one may or may not be the one you specifically share with a friend because we're starting out with something. I remember years ago, many decades ago, when we started Clark Stanks, we got an impassioned plea from a marketing person to not do this. Why would you market yourself as being dumb? Actually, it's smart as could be because I'm just a guy. There are things I'm going to be good about, not good about whatever. And we get in our channels, we get in our habits. I love how Clark stinks, makes me think and I learn from them. So that's what we're starting with. And you know something else? That is a little bit of a rough ride. What this year's graduates of high school or technical school or college are experiencing at this moment in the job market. We're going to talk about that. But now it's time to talk about me messing up. I should have never encouraged you to speak. You almost think I'm pretty stupid.

[Listener]

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Clark Howard]

Well, maybe I'm wrong.

[Listener]

Maybe.

[Clark Howard]

Maybe you're right, pal.

[Listener]

Nothing stinky to report, but Clark seems to be confused about why some companies ask for your cell phone carrier. The answer is cost savings. A company can send notifications from an email server that appear as a text on a phone. As a software developer for 20 plus years, I've implemented such notifications. Since costs for sending texts are greater than sending emails, companies often try to send such messages via email to save money. The problem is that the format is the number, the at symbol, and a different email domain for each carrier. Here is a link to explain where to send the email for Clark's beloved Google Fi. My church also uses a system to notify parents of sick kids that will send emails which are received as text messages by the parents during a church service. Then the parents know to come check on their kids quickly. Bill, the EA software developer from West.

[Clark Howard]

Virginia well Bill, thank you because I have never known this is a perfect example of why we do Clark stinks because I've always wondered out loud why is it when I'm giving my phone number some companies ask for who my cell carrier is and this is perfect. Thank you.

[Listener]

I don't want to relate anything that Clark could possibly stink. He can't possibly know every detail I On financing, taxes or travel, Clark is flippantly referring that Vanguard has an ETF for everything and an investor can just decide what is right for them, either a mutual fund or an ETF. According to Vanguard's website, they currently have 267 mutual funds and 93 ETFs. The problem is that an investor cannot switch from owning a mutual fund to an ETF in many scenarios without incurring a large tax obligation. If an investor had invested in Vanguard mutual funds that were actively managed prior to the evolution of ETFs and even today there are no ETF equivalents, these funds would be some of Vanguard's most popular actively managed Wellington, Wellesley and Prime Cap series. The fund name does not have to contain Wellington, Wellesley or Prime. For example vdigx Vanguard Dividend Growth is advised by Wellington Management with no equivalent etf. There are currently several Vanguard index funds that can be converted tax free to ETFs. If you're just starting to invest, I see no reason to invest in a mutual fund. And an ETF almost always has the advantage of lower expense ratios, no minimum investments, trading flexibility and favorable tax implications.

[Clark Howard]

Craig Craig, thank you very much. And that was fairly technical for a lot of people listening or watching, but everything you said is correct. The reason ETFs are growing so quickly exchange traded funds versus their cousin or sibling index mutual funds index funds is that ETFs do have potentially lower costs. They're much more flexible. They are a better vehicle and that's why Vanguard and everyone else is growing so quickly in the exchange traded fund area. Now you bring up Wellington. Wellington is something that, except for people that are very involved in investing, won't be familiar with. It is a very, very well run and research organization that does an unusual thing. It provides what are known as actively managed mutual funds that have professional management but at the same time have very, very low costs, relatively speaking, for a managed fund. I don't use managed funds, I use ETFs and I use index funds. But there are people who really like the philosophies of a lot of Wellington funds. And you're right, there's no equivalent tax free where you can do an exchange. There's no ETF for a lot of them yet and we'll see how that changes over time.

[Listener]

Mr. Howard, I'm holding my nose right now due to the rotten egg stench coming from a recent podcast. There will always be pros and cons to privatizing air traffic control. You mentioned that Air Canada has successfully rolled out privatization of air traffic control and they're one of the busiest airspaces in the world.

[Clark Howard]

Not Air Canada Canada the country. Canada Nav Canada is the name of the organization.

[Listener]

In 2024, Air Canada recorded 444,000 operations. This is equivalent to nine days of Air traffic in the United States. In a Fox Business article, NTSB Vice Chair Bruce Landsberg is quoted as saying, experience has shown that that privatizing ATC systems like those in Canada, the UK and elsewhere are troubled by concerns over safety, traffic delays, technical issues, financial instability and shortages of air traffic controllers. Comparing a private system like Air Canada to the U.S. you keep saying Air Canada. That's what, that's what they wrote, is equivalent to comparing to a Medicare Advantage plan with a Roth 401K. The MAPD sounds great in the brochure, but when you have to use it, it's not anything like the brochure said. Our system is so complex, integrated with national security and a driving force of this country's GDP that I think you completely missed the mark on this. The question isn't how we privatize the air traffic system, it should be how we modernize it. Automation, safety tools and autonomous flights for aircraft above 10,000ft would be a place to focus our energy for this conversation.

[Clark Howard]

John, John, thank you very much. You pointed out the very last thing you said what the problem has been with air traffic control being a governmental task. The equipment that the controllers have in the towers, the technology is so obsolete because it is so difficult through the government procurement process to keep technology modern and up to date. If you have a private non profit corporation running air traffic control, you will have modern equipment available. The most up to date stuff for the individuals who were doing an incredible job right now under ridiculously difficult circumstances working in the air traffic control centers and the towers. And understand this John. I start everything from a bias. And we all have our biases. We all have our blinders. For me, I'm always like, well, my perspective is, can we do this better in private hands than doing it in government? I'm not hostile to government. I just believe that government, even when people mean well, the bureaucracy kind of grinds progress down to a snail's pace. And that's why purpose built functions done in the private nonprofit sector, I believe can be more efficient, more cost efficient, and actually improve the safety margin by having modern equipment in there. That's just where my head's at.

[Listener]

As a mom of two teenage drivers with a household total of four cars to insure and a policy renewal coming up soon, I was excited to listen to your podcast about the best auto insurance. I understand the main point was that some of the best service insurers might be companies most of us have never heard of. But during the segment you mentioned at least two companies as being rich people insurers. What does that even mean? Do you need a certain level of assets to qualify for coverage? Are the rates so high that only wealthy people can afford them? Please keep in mind that your listeners span the entire financial spectrum. We're all looking for ways to save money, regardless of our income level. Thanks for everything you do, Karen.

[Clark Howard]

Karen, thank you. Okay, so what is a rich people's insurer? All right, so there are people who because of their level of wealth, tend to be too hot to handle for a lot of traditional insurers for auto and homeowners. And so there are companies that specialize in serving people that have greater assets that other insurers are worried are a lawsuit magnet. And so the the largest of these is a company called Chub, and the other is a smaller one called Pure. There used to be a third, but they're out of the market now because they couldn't calculate risk well for wealthier people. And there may be other smaller ones that do what I would call a form of specialty insurance for the thin sliver of Americans who have a great deal of wealth and create real liability risk for the insurers not only for themselves is a wealthy person is insured, but also for their insurer architect.

[Listener]

Here I wanted to write in about the recent Clark Stinks on spray foam insulation. In the architectural industry, spray foam is very polarizing on banks not issuing mortgages to homes with spray foam. That has been true. That has been true in the uk, not in the US Getting spray foam installed in an existing house can be problematic based on how the building envelope was originally designed and the climate of the area. Spray foam can create a water vapor barrier inside a wall or attic that was originally designed for airflow through to allow drying. This can cause water condensation to build up and cause the wood structure to rot. Another problem with spray foam is that because the material is mixed on site, there is a higher risk that the proportions will be incorrect and insulation will not function properly. Both of these reasons are why having an installer who is very experienced and well educated on building science is imperative. Too many people are installing this without understanding what they're doing. The final issue with spray foam is if utilities, electrical, plumbing, etc. Are in the area where the spray foam is being installed, any modification will be much more expensive. Spray foam can be a great material in new construction when the building envelope is thoughtfully designed, but I'm always hesitant to recommend it in a remodel situation.

[Clark Howard]

Alex Alex, thank you. And you know, after this came up before in Clark Stinks, I did what I promised. I did a lot of reading on it and there are potential problems in a retrofit of an existing home, just as you referred to here, Alex, and as others did in the Clark Stinks post. And so much of it is in the area you referred to, Alex and others did as well. People who are doing installation of spray foam who don't really know what they're doing. How would you and I as a consumer know how to pick a firm that actually really knows what it's doing with the spray foam insulation? And so based on what I have heard in our Clark Stinks, based on the reading I've done following up on what you've just said, Alex, flippantly, I should never refer again to spray foam as a solution for a retrofit in an existing house structure. And I appreciate so much all the passion on this topic from so many posts that Alex and others represent. Small sample of the number of people who took time to write in on the issue of spray foam insulation.

[Listener]

And Kirby in Austin, Texas also wanted to say the last Clark Stinks poster about the rates going up after installing spray foam that it's because of the big freeze in Texas, the electric rates have increased to make the grid more reliable and Kirby says his cost per kilowatt hour is almost doubled. Okay, you stink like leaving the windows open when the garbage truck comes by. Speaking of windows, your advice not to replace the home windows with the glass panes coming apart was terrible. You only talked about return on investment of the expense on the sale of a house. You should have mentioned the loss that will be deducted from the sale price by buyers wanting concessions for bad windows. This was my experience buying a beautiful custom made house from 1978, but it had wood framed single glazed windows with the sashes warped shut and panes falling out. They leaked air like a sieve and were unsafe to get out of the house. In a fire, you'd have to break the windows out to escape.

[Clark Howard]

Wow.

[Listener]

We demanded concessions from the seller and negotiated $20,000 off the price, which was only half of what it cost us to replace them with custom made double glazed Marvin windows. But it had to be done. So I disagree with your comment that a buyer wouldn't notice the condition of windows and take it into account in the offer price. The owner may now get 100% of the expense back, but it doesn't make financial sense for them to live with defective windows, pay more in energy cost, and lose money in a sale because of it. Jeffrey.

[Clark Howard]

Jeffrey, thank you very much. So I answered that question originally strictly from a cost perspective. And as you shared, you ended up having to spend twice what the seller concession was. If you're in a house a long time, your windows have basically fallen apart. That is a repair you would do in your home like any other. What I'm referring to most often with the questions I get about windows is that if you're taking a window that still works, still they're working fine, and you replace it with a new window for whatever reason, supposedly much more energy efficient, whatever, you will never make back the cost of what those windows cost you to put in in energy savings. Yes, your energy bills may be lower, but you won't make up that cost.

[Listener]

You must not have done your homework because you missed the mark on skimmers. You focused on telling us to use a card with a chip. Don't you know that even a card with a chip that is inserted instead of swiped can still be compromised? It is called shimming. Instead, you should have focused on telling everyone to use Tap to pay whenever they can. Shame on you, Clark. That's strong. This isn't the first time I've heard you say something that was completely off base. But it's the first time I had the courage to write and tell you, don't worry, I will still listen to your program. Chances are I will catch you messing up again. Joanie.

[Clark Howard]

Jody, thank you. Okay, so everything's a hierarchy. And Tap to Pay is the most secure way for you to pay. Now with your iPhone or Android or using Tap to pay with a card. Anything else has more security risk because when you're doing Tap to Pay, it is generating a unique code that even if a criminal intercepts it, they have no useful information. A chip is still more secure than a swipe because I can get a third grader to develop a skimmer that will steal the information from the magnetic strip on the back of a cart. It is a more sophisticated crime and not as frequent for people to be able to steal the information from a chip encoded card. But the most important thing I think you and I, Joni, would agree on is there are times that I am completely off base. And that is exactly why we do Clark Stings to get me to clarify something I said in a bad way to get me to correct information that I said that was wrong to learn new things that I had not thought about or heard about. And that's why I love Joni that you took the time and you're going to be on the lookout for me. As you said, messing up again. I love it. So thank you for taking the time to write your Clark stinks. And thank you to everybody else who took the time to post a Clark Stings because we're all in this together. We all learn from each other. Coming up ahead, I'm going to talk about the job market is not as good as it was, but it's not bad. How do you handle that if you've just gotten out of school at any level?

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[Listener]

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[Clark Howard]

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[Clark Howard]

Right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started at LinkedIn.com results terms and conditions apply. So you graduated from high school and you're not going on to additional education or training. You've been in some kind of community college, technical college, or you've graduated from college and the job market is not as friendly to you as it was the last three years. Job market was much stronger for college graduates and 22, 23 and 24. But I want to tell you, if I'm talking to you and you are like feeling anxious about finding that job out of school, that this is not the best of times for job seekers. Like the last three years were coming out of school. But absolutely this is not the worst of times. If you talk to an aunt or an uncle or a much older brother or sister who came of age coming out of school of whatever level 15 years ago during the Great Recession, they did come into a job market of doom and gloom and extremely high unemployment. Even though openings are not as plentiful today as they have been the last three years, the unemployment rate at 4 point something percent is phenomenally low. And by the way, I want you listening. If you're way past school and you found yourself in a layoff situation, the fact that the job creation each month is still good and there's some amount of job rotation going on means that you are going to have to work harder to find the next job. But it's not a doom and gloom time for you. And going back to the core when I want to talk about students who have just finished school, if you only completed high school and you're not finding the job market to be particularly friendly, there are a lot of trades and you don't want to go to college. That's you. There are a lot of trades that are extremely short of workers that face an aging workforce that offer really nice levels of pay and potential for income growth over the years. And I would really encourage you, as a recent high school graduate who's finding the reality of the job market not to your liking, that you really think about looking at jobs that you can apprentice at or jobs that require you go to state supported technical college and get the skills that will give you a really solid kind of thing. Aircraft mechanic, auto mechanic, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, electrician. Some of these are ones you can do an apprenticeship route, school route, or combination of the two. Those are just a small number of examples of things that will get you a solid path to a solid employment cycle in front of you. If you finished a technical college, if you have a skill in one of the areas that are sought after, don't worry that there's a slowdown in the economy, it's not a deep dive and you're still needed in the skill areas in which you've trained. The hardest picture is for recent college graduates who don't have a lot of work experience other than part time jobs you may have had in school over the years. That's the hardest path. And so you may have to start at something that is something you're like, well, I didn't need to go to college to get this job. Don't let that freak you out. It's just a fact that you may be doing something that is your first job that gets you some work experience, gets you out there and it will lead somewhere. It does. And have faith in yourself. I want to talk about people who are headed into college. The most important thing you can do while you're in college, in addition to whatever major you pick, is to get work experience in the field in some way while you're in school. There are schools that their whole academic setup is based on that. Northeastern is where if you want a great launch into a career, Northeastern is amazing because they have the greatest success at their graduates getting jobs in their chosen career than any school in America. Because the whole curriculum is set up so by the time you graduate, which takes longer, you have years of work experience in your field.

[Listener]

All right, let's go to questions. Kim in Arkansas says we use Monarch money to track our expenses and a new feature being offered is to sync Amazon purchases. Although it sounds fantastic as an easier way to categorize purchases, I just wanted to check to see if this throws up any red flags for you as far as security.

[Clark Howard]

So it all depends how the information scraped from Amazon If Monarch has one of these modern systems for scraping, they don't have stored in their system your password. That's where the vulnerability would be created. If they have your username and password for Amazon, that's the risk. As long as they don't, it's great that they track them. But I would like an experiment from you for a while Kim. Want you to compare. You're from Arkansas, the home of Walmart, and you're buying from Amazon anyway day in and day out, Walmart and particularly the warehouse clubs. Over time you'll spend less money than you would with Amazon. And so in addition to tracking your Amazon purchases, take some time comparing what it would be buying from another retailer that might lower your overall costs of your purchases.

[Listener]

Sean in Connecticut says my company uses Empower for our retirement plans. I have a number of my bank accounts, credit union accounts, annuities and 401k accounts linked to my Empower page so I can easily look in one place for much of my retirement information. Did I hear you tell a listener during one of your podcasts not to link accounts for security purposes or you just referring to something else?

[Clark Howard]

I don't remember the context of that, but the answer in your situation is virtually identical to with Kim's thing. I don't know how Empower's dashboard works. They call dashboards screen scrapers, whatever. But if they are using the most modern technology where they are not capturing your username and password from the various bank accounts, your credit union account, all the stuff that you're linking in there, if and they suffer a data breach, that none of that information is available, where you're laying out on a silver platter for criminals all your usernames and passwords. As long as they use a modern system for creating that financial dashboard, you're absolutely fine. I did want to say one thing about Empower. Empower plans can be more expensive than other providers of 401ks. And I like for people within Power plans to spend more time looking at the expenses of the various funds being offered in the plan to make sure that you're holding down expenses as much as you can and keeping proper allocations in your plan so that the money is there for you later for retirement and not going to them in various expenses.

[Listener]

Okay, this came in from Massimo in New Jersey. I lost two of my credit cards which fell out of my wallet. Within two hours I received an alert from Capital One asking If I spent $4700 at Best Buy.

[Clark Howard]

How do you like that big screen tv?

[Listener]

I immediately contacted Them that this was not my charge. I checked my other cards and noticed another charge on my Costco city card for $914 at the Dollar Tree. Also within two hours of losing the card.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, that's not possible.

[Listener]

Both cards have credited the amounts to me. My questions are one, how are these frauds being investigated? And two, who is responsible for the charges? The credit card company or the merchant? Three, why didn't Citi alert me about the $914 at Dollar Tree before I identified it as fraud? I never go to Dollar Tree and who would spend $914 have been a very suspicious transaction.

[Clark Howard]

What in the world would somebody spend 900? Okay, so let's be realistic for a second. Somebody was probably fencing goods from there.

[Listener]

Yes.

[Clark Howard]

So it would be something like brand name razor blades because they do sell brand name Dollar Tree. It'd be something that's fencible, that can be sold off somewhere else. But that would be weird because I don't know, you have a Citibank Visa. I'll go somewhere and I'll try to buy something for $3 and 80 cents. And they don't approve. Yeah, because it's out of my normal pattern. Yep, be completely out of your pattern. Something went wrong.

[Listener]

I wouldn't flag you spending money at Dollar Tree though.

[Clark Howard]

No, it would not flag me at Dollar Tree. You know the funny one, American Express. Whenever I would use American Express at Walmart, immediately they'd say declined. Yeah, I guess it doesn't fit the pattern of where American Express card would be used. But to your questions, first of all, why am I making light about it? You're not responsible for any of this. Two, obviously the fraud system at Capital One, the fraud system at Citibank, that usually are pretty effective, both failed in this case. Well, Capital One caught it after the purchase. I thought that's unusual that would have made it through the fraud system.

[Listener]

Both cards are taking responsibility.

[Clark Howard]

They take responsibility. The merchant does not lose the money. If card was present and the card was put through their system either as a swipe, a chip or a tap, the merchants protected. On the other hand, if it was BestBuy.com Best Buy gets stuck with the losses. The risk to merchants is so much higher with an online sale than it is an in person sale. So I think I answered, oh, why didn't City alert you about Dollar Tree? I will never understand that complete failure of their fraud detection system. Number one, if it doesn't fit your pattern of where you shop. And number two, come on, 900 plus dollars at Dollar Tree, even at One25 Tree. Now, that's a lot of.

[Listener]

I mean, I feel bad for the clerk having to count up all this. Whatever it was. It's got to be.

[Clark Howard]

They can't count them anymore. They have to actually scan them now.

[Listener]

Oh, wow. That must have taken forever.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Full inventory. Well, that manager is like, wow, we had a great day today. Look at our sales. Well, thank you all for joining us this week on the podcast, and I hope that you're having a great weekend in front of you. Can't wait to be with you next week. Our Monday show will be Bastille Day. We will celebrate Bastille Day with you on the podcast and enjoy yourself. But be careful with your money. Think about how can you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off all this summer weekend.