07.13.26 How Much $ Is In Your Payment App? / Weddings: Less Is More Forever

Summary

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The Clark Howard Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: How Much $ Is In Your Payment App? / Weddings: Less Is More Forever
Air Date: July 13, 2026
Host: Clark Howard
Main Themes: The risks of storing significant funds in payment apps, practical advice on consumer money issues, and new trends in affordable weddings.

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Episode Overview

Clark Howard delivers actionable consumer and financial advice aimed at helping listeners "save more and spend less." In this episode, Clark addresses the financial risks of storing money in payment apps (such as Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal), answers a series of listener questions on personal finance and consumer protection, and explores the movement toward simpler, more affordable weddings among younger generations.

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Key Discussion Points & Advice

1. Payment Apps and Financial Safety

Timestamps: [01:02] – [04:25]

• Clark's Warning: Money stored on most payment apps (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, etc.) is not protected by FDIC insurance like funds in a bank account.
  • Only Zelle, being integrated with traditional checking accounts, benefits from FDIC coverage.
  • "But there's nothing like that for the competitors. Cash App, Venmo, PayPal. Your money is at risk if one of them got into financial trouble." (Clark, [01:45])
• Key Risk: If the app company becomes insolvent, stored funds are vulnerable.
• Advice: Use payment apps for convenience only and never store large amounts of money there.
  • "Having little amounts of convenience money with one of the apps, if you lose, it's not going to be the end of the world. But if you have significant amounts of money stored with any of them, that's what I don't like and what I don't want you to do." (Clark, [04:13])
• Big Picture: Be wary of any financial entity offering storage or outsized returns on your cash unless it's FDIC or NCUA insured. This includes crypto, stablecoins, and promissory note schemes.

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2. Listener Q&A: Security, Estates, Car Rentals Abroad, Costco Pricing, Credit for Young Adults

Timestamps: [04:28] – [29:00]

• Gas Theft at Airport Parking ([04:28] – [06:24]):

  • Listener asks about gas siphoning in airport lots. Clark confirms it does happen, especially when fuel prices spike, and suggests reporting theft to airport police who may have camera footage.
  • "There are cameras all over those things...who knows how sophisticated the system is..." (Clark, [05:37])

• Estate Planning and Protecting Heirs ([06:24] – [09:37]):

  • A listener worries her children wouldn't inherit assets if her spouse remarries after her death.
  • Clark recommends:
    • Consult an attorney for proper trusts or estate planning.
    • Have an open, joint discussion with your spouse about future arrangements.
    • "A lawyer has many different tools they can use to accomplish this...documents that both of you agree to, that protect the interests of these adult daughters." (Clark, [09:22])

• Car Rental Liability Abroad ([09:37] – [13:28]):

  • Listener is anxious about renting a car overseas since insurance usually doesn’t extend abroad.
  • Clark suggests two solutions:
    • Buy a separate liability policy for the duration of the trip (often $200+/week).
    • Purchase liability coverage directly from the rental company (usually pricier).
    • "Just get the coverage. Enjoy your trip." (Clark, [13:13])
  • Extra Note: Many auto insurers, and specifically Tesla, often do not cover rentals, especially outside the U.S.

• Costco Markup and Price Variations ([21:27] – [23:49]):

  • Listener observes price differences for identical items at nearby Costcos.
  • Clark clarifies:
    • Variations are due to local sales performance and sell-through rates.
    • Markdowns are made to move inventory before spoilage.
    • "The pricing of items in a Costco can vary store to store based on the sell-through rate..." (Clark, [22:58])

• Airline Ticket Consolidators & Mileage Brokers ([23:51] – [26:33]):

  • Clark explains that "consolidators" used to sell discounted tickets for international flights but now most operate as mileage brokers—a legally gray area.
  • Risks: Tickets purchased with brokered miles might be voided, and accounts could be shut down for rule violations.

• Building Credit for Young Adults ([26:47] – [29:00]):

  • Listener asks if making her less-responsible 20-year-old son an authorized user is a good idea.

  • Clark: Don’t do it unless the child is demonstrably responsible. Stick with debit cards until maturity is shown.

    • "You are doing them no favors by lending your good credit..." (Clark, [28:32])
    • "He should stick with debit cards until he demonstrates more responsibility. Absolutely, Janet, the right answer in this case." (Clark, [28:39])

  • Memorable Moment: Clark admits ignorance about death metal music, but wishes the listener's son success regardless.

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3. Why Less Is More: Affordable Weddings

Timestamps: [16:43] – [21:27]

• Changing Mentality: Younger generations (20s and 30s) are increasingly rejecting expensive, debt-inducing weddings.
  • "A lot of 20-somethings who are choosing to do ultra affordable weddings..." (Clark, [17:36])
• Personal Stories & Tips:
  • Clark’s nephew had a lovely, low-cost wedding—a Monday night Malibu celebration with food directly from Costco, DIY music, and significant savings.
    • "We just loaded up a rental van and brought stuff. Big wedding, crazy inexpensive." (Clark, [18:09])
  • Creativity over cost: Hiring music students for live music, using a playlist instead of a DJ or band.
  • Saying “party” instead of “wedding” when booking vendors can reduce costs.
    • "Everything is cheaper when you say it's for a party than when you say it's for a wedding." (Clark, [20:13])
• Financial Wisdom: Starting married life with wedding debt is unwise, especially in tough economic times.
  • "Going into debt for a wedding, that's a bad start to a marriage to pull out the Visa and MasterCard and start charging things you can't pay for." (Clark, [20:20])
  • Memorable advice: "Nobody ever got rich paying Visa or MasterCard 25% interest. It doesn't work like that." (Clark, [20:45])
• Bottom Line: You can have a beautiful, memorable day without a huge budget—what matters most is the significance of the commitment.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Payment App Risk:

  • “Your money is at risk if one of them got into financial trouble.” (Clark, [01:45])

• On Affordable Weddings:

  • "There's no reason...that a wedding has to be expensive. What's special about a wedding? That the two people standing there want to spend their lives together. That's what's important.” (Clark, [18:19])
  • “Nobody ever got rich paying Visa or MasterCard 25% interest.” (Clark, [20:45])

• On Credit-Building for Kids:

  • “You are doing them no favors by lending your good credit...” (Clark, [28:32])

• On Costco Pricing:

  • “The pricing of items in a Costco can vary store to store based on the sell-through rate…” (Clark, [22:58])

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Additional Advice Segments

• Trusts and Inheritance: Clarify estate plans with a lawyer to prevent family squabbles and unintentional disinheritance.
• Risk with Gray Market Airline Tickets: Using miles brokers is risky and not recommended.

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Overall Tone & Takeaway

Clark Howard’s approach is direct, practical, and rooted in protecting the consumer. He encourages thoughtful financial decisions, avoiding unnecessary risk, and focusing spending on what truly matters. His anecdotes and humor (including a moment of cultural cluelessness about “death metal”) lend warmth and accessibility to the show.

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For more advice, visit: Clark.com | ClarkDeals.com
To ask a question: clark.com/askclark

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Morning decisions. How about a creamy mocha Frappuccino drink? Or sweet vanilla smooth caramel maybe? Or white chocolate mocha? Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

[C]

I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show.

[D]

Our mission is to serve you with advice and information. It empowers you so you make better

[C]

financial decisions in your life.

[D]

Okay, we're right back on it. Last week we had thing after thing that came up about the payment apps. Well, I got something important about the payment apps, different than I've talked about

[C]

before that I want you to protect yourself on.

[D]

And coming up later, I want to talk about weddings. You know, weddings don't have to be a fortune. And what's great is a lot of 20 somethings and 30 somethings getting married don't have that mentality of weddings being these giant blowouts and how beneficial that is to them financially moving forward.

[C]

We're going to talk about that.

[D]

Okay, I want to talk about something new. Federal warning that when you store money with a payment app, there is no FDIC insurance. So I finally have something I can say that's positive about Zelle. Because Zelle is embedded in your checking account that has FDIC insurance coverage. But there's nothing like that for the competitors. Cash app, Venmo, PayPal. Your money is at risk if one of them got into financial trouble. So forget all the stuff I talk about about all the fraud and theft and all that. With money from the payment apps, a lot of people now are storing money on the apps themselves. When you do that, that money's vulnerable. Now, do I know anything about any of the apps being in financial trouble? No. No. But what the point is is that the money is exposed. If there was an unknown problem and any of the owners of the apps

[C]

went insolvent, your money is at risk.

[D]

This goes along with a theme that you've heard from me in the first half of the year about how there are different entities pitching places for you to store your money. For example, the various crypto exchanges and

[C]

stable coins and all that.

[D]

And then the promissory note, people telling you you're going to get a bigger return on your money by lending it out through them or depositing it with them again and again and again. You're looking at platforms where they're promising you something else, but there's no FDIC or NCUA insurance.

[C]

NCUA is credit unions.

[D]

And so that money you've worked hard to save, and it's money you're not specifically investing, it's money you're saving that you're looking at, is where you put your idle cash. You don't want to take the risk that that money evaporates on you. And so having little amounts of convenience money with one of the apps, if you lose, it's not going to be the end of the world. But if you have significant amounts of money stored with any of them, that's what I don't like and what I

[C]

don't want you to do. Krista.

[E]

All right, let's go to some questions that came in. This one's from Patrick in Georgia. Someone siphoned a full tank of gas from my truck in long term parking at the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport. Is this common? Is there anything I can do to get reimbursed?

[D]

So it's unbelievable. Well, it actually was very common in

[C]

different cycles when gas prices went way up.

[D]

Now, thankfully, we're on a trend line.

[C]

If you look at wholesale gas prices

[D]

are going to normalize over a number

[C]

of months, the impact from what happened with the war is going to steadily lessen.

[D]

But every time we've seen these spikes in gas prices going back to 2009, I think when we hit the all

[C]

time highest price, inflation adjusted.

[D]

And then in the 1970s, twice, people were stealing gas. I had a locking gas cap, my

[C]

gosh, on my car.

[E]

So wouldn't there be cameras all over an airport parking deck?

[D]

In theory.

[C]

In theory.

[D]

And I don't know if Patrick went to the airport police to ask them if they could find who the perpetrator

[C]

was, because there are. I mean, you look in an airport parking garage, there are cameras all over those things.

[D]

Who knows how sophisticated the system is

[C]

to be able to use AI or

[D]

whatever to find where there would have

[C]

been somebody at Patrick's truck.

[D]

But has it been common? Not this time around, that I've heard.

[C]

And hopefully it won't be that, that Patrick, you were just particularly an unlucky person. I'm really sorry, Deb.

[E]

In Connecticut says you recently discussed a situation where a neighbor of yours was crying and you discovered she was being kicked out of her partner's home by his children after he passed away.

[C]

Her husband.

[E]

I've worked very hard my entire life to support my family. My. My biggest fear is that if I pass away at some point, my husband remarries or moves in with someone else. If there aren't any specific rules spelled out, I fear my two daughters, both in their 20s, will be left with nothing. If my husband passes, technically all of our money would go to his new wife. Do you have any advice on how to set up the rules? Do I meet with a lawyer to get all my wishes written down in a will or some other document?

[C]

Yeah. So you're the opposite side of the coin because this was a widow who. The kids threw her out because the

[D]

home was in a trust. And so what happens in order to. In your circumstance, you're trying to do

[C]

what happened in that other situation where she was a subsequent wife and the kids actually had legal right to the

[D]

house when their dad died. That's what you want to do in

[C]

this case, that your daughters will be protected with the value of the house. So, yes, you do go to a lawyer. Yeah.

[D]

You have to have the full understanding and agreement of your husband that you want the house. Don't even talk about, you know, if

[C]

I die first and I want to

[D]

make sure that your next wife doesn't

[C]

end up with everything and my daughters end up with nothing. Don't bring up that scenario.

[D]

Just say you want to have the

[C]

house protected for the benefit of your daughters at the time that either you are no longer living, both of you no longer living, whatever.

[D]

And so that is handled very simply

[C]

by a lawyer in a trust arrangement where you have the right to live in the property and your husband does for the rest of each of your lives, but in the event of your passing, the value passes, both of your passing. At that point, the value passes to your daughters.

[E]

This is, we're hearing more and more of this. I just heard of a family, there's a business, a family owned business involved. The grandfather who started it passed away and his children and grandchildren work in the business. His second wife now received everything in his chair of the business and has never been involved in it. And there's just, it's terrible to see the family squabbling when somebody passes away like that.

[D]

So that's why this has to be

[C]

an upfront conversation and both of you need to lay your cards on the table and agree to what it's going to be. And a lawyer.

[D]

This is one of those things that a lawyer has many different tools they

[C]

can use to accomplish this. And I just mentioned a trust. But there are a variety of ways that a lawyer can prepare documents that both of you agree to that protect the interests of these adult daughters.

[E]

Jeffrey in Georgia says hi, Clark. I have a particular fear of renting a car and I've never done it before in my life. I, I have an interesting vacation in mind, like an upcoming potential trip to the Faroe Islands near Denmark, which is supposed to be one of the most supposed to be one of the most beautiful, untamed wild areas of the world. But everything I read is that it's best accessed by car. My US Car insurance agent tells me that my policy doesn't extend outside of the US And I think my credit card has collision damage waiver coverage. But what can I do to limit my liability in an accident where someone gets hurt or property other than the rental car gets damaged? That's my big fear, being liable in a major accident abroad. Thanks. I want to rent a car abroad, but I'm just too scared.

[C]

All right. So Jeffy, there are a couple of ways to handle this and congratulations on this exciting trip you're going on.

[D]

Okay, number one, you can buy a

[C]

liability policy for temporary use of a rental car.

[D]

And there are a lot of travel

[C]

insurance policies that sell car rental liability coverage for a trip overseas or even domestic. If you have a situation where your own automobile insurer does not cover temporary use of a rental car.

[D]

By the way, to the many Tesla

[C]

owners in states where Tesla writes auto

[D]

insurance, Tesla does not cover in most

[C]

states, temporary use of a rental car does not cover it for liability only if your vehicle is in a Tesla owned repair shop. No vacation coverage. And they're not the only insurer that doesn't cover temporary use of a rental car even though normally it is common you'd be covered, your insurer doesn't cover

[D]

you outside the US So you can

[C]

buy a liability only policy.

[D]

It will be pricier than you might imagine.

[C]

If you're like a week trip might be 200 bucks for one of these policies, something like that that would have a good liability coverage. The alternative is you buy daily liability coverage from the rental car company itself. That will be more expensive normally than you buying a liability only policy.

[D]

This is something if you use your

[C]

search engine and you ask for liability only car rental insurance, you'll see different companies that sell it. You'll be able to get quotes, you'll see if they cover you where you're

[D]

going to be in Denmark.

[C]

Most cover around the world.

[D]

And so you just do that up

[C]

front, you'll have peace of mind.

[D]

Because I think about people who rent

[C]

an Iceland and car rentals get very heavily damaged, particularly when people go to the far eastern coast of Iceland. And a lot of auto insurance that you have on your own vehicle will not cover a lot of the damage that might happen in Iceland.

[D]

And so people have to make that decision to buy an independent policy in

[C]

advance or pay enormous money from the car rental agency itself in Iceland. And there are situations like that in the world. But don't worry so much that you're going to wreck the thing. Just get the coverage. Enjoy your trip. Coming up ahead, Talk about a day that's an expensive day or can be a wedding. I want to talk about how there's

[D]

a counter movement now to not make

[C]

it a day of debt.

[F]

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[D]

something that people go into with an expectation that varies so much from one individual or one couple to another like

[C]

almost nothing else I can think of. It's how people approach their wedding.

[D]

And there's all these stories about how

[C]

the average wedding this year costs blah blah blah blah blah, tens of thousands of dollars.

[D]

And then there will be people who spend crazy six figure amounts on weddings.

[C]

Unless you're Jeff Bezos who spent how

[D]

many tens of millions of dollars? There's every amount of money that people spend on weddings and I think there's something that we can learn from a

[C]

lot of 20 somethings who are choosing to do ultra affordable weddings.

[D]

And I think about my nephew and

[C]

his wife when they got married and

[D]

all the things they did to make the wedding crazy inexpensive. It was so very nice.

[C]

And I told that story before about

[D]

how they got married on a Monday night at a venue space in Malibu.

[C]

The food A group of us went

[D]

to Costco and Bought the food that

[C]

was served after the ceremony, and we just loaded up a rental van and brought stuff.

[D]

And big wedding, crazy inexpensive. I mean, there's no reason other than because we want to that a wedding has to be expensive. What's special about a wedding that the two people standing there want to spend their lives together. That's what's important. But there are people who really do. And if it's something you want to do, go for it.

[C]

You want to spend a fortune.

[D]

But I love reading the stories.

[C]

I read about people who hire for

[D]

having music at a wedding, and they want live music. They hire music students from a nearby college that has a music department. They call and they find students to have them play for a fraction of

[C]

the cost of having a traditional live band.

[D]

And of course, I want musicians to earn a living. Somebody wants to spend the money on a big fancy band, do it.

[C]

They want to have a DJ do it. I was at a wedding last year

[D]

where someone just had their own playlist that they were playing on.

[C]

It was. Wasn't a boombox, but some kind of thing like that that they were playing their own music selection, and it just was just playing the songs.

[D]

And then when it was, it was a song people wanted to dance to. They got up and danced and they didn't. They didn't. But what did they have? The cost of whatever boomboxy kind of thing they had and the time they

[C]

spent putting together the playlist.

[D]

I mean, you don't have to spend big bucks. There are people who get married for whatever the filing fee is at the courthouse, and then they have a party.

[C]

And by the way, everything is cheaper when you say it's for a party than when you say it's for a wedding.

[D]

But in a time that people are having trouble just paying their regular bills, going into debt for a wedding, that's a bad start to a marriage to pull out the Visa and MasterCard and start charging things you can't pay for. And then you're starting off a marriage paying 25% interest. Let me tell you, nobody ever got

[C]

rich paying Visa or MasterCard 25% interest. It doesn't work like that.

[D]

And the richness of the moment is

[C]

the two people that love each other

[D]

that are getting married and the life

[C]

they're going to have together.

[D]

So I could give you examples of individuals who did very inexpensive weddings. But the point is, it's all what's in your head. And if you start off with the attitude that you're not going to make

[C]

this a budget Buster, you absolutely can

[D]

have a beautiful day without making it expensive.

[E]

All right, we'll go to some questions. Double in Washington wrote in with this one. I've been a longtime Clarky and a member and fan of Costco. Recently I discovered that the 14% markup on brand names may not be entirely true. Recently I found an indie mangoes box item 1208 of 4 for $19.99 in one cost Costco and the same item selling for 14.99 in a nearby Costco 25 less. A corporate buyer emailed me back saying they marked down the mango specifically at the second location because of poor sales wanting to sell through the product before it's spoiled. Notice the price still ended with a 99. A lesson for all. Call membership and check prices with nearby stores. You may be able to save money.

[C]

Okay, first of all, I know this quote was directly from Costco corporate buyer because they use the term sell through. Mm, that's warehouse club speak.

[D]

And so the 14% would be accurate

[C]

and unless the mangoes were marked as Kirkland signature, which case it would be 15%.

[D]

So the location selling them for 1499 was losing a lot of money on those.

[C]

They were trying to move them out before they were. They had spoilage.

[D]

So why it wasn't 1497 instead of 99?

[C]

Have no idea. But what you were told is valid,

[D]

that the pricing of items in a Costco can vary store to store based

[C]

on the sell through rate because items,

[D]

different items they don't disclose exactly. But a lot of items in the

[C]

store are supposed to sell through in

[D]

21 days, meaning that the inventory that's

[C]

put on the shelf should have to be. If it's an item that's regularly stock should be gone in 21 days and replaced with new inventory. Costco is the only retailer publicly known that I'm aware of that sells things

[D]

before they even have the invoice date

[C]

due on the items they bought from whoever the supplier is. So in the case of the mangoes, yeah, it's a great idea to go

[D]

to one that they're not selling well

[C]

and get them for less money.

[E]

All right. Tim in Wisconsin says hello Clark. I love the podcast. It makes the miles go faster on road trips. Question, do you have any experience using a specific. He wrote a specific name consolidator for airline tickets. The one I'm looking at specializes in business and first class seats. Your feedback would be appreciated.

[C]

Right. So Tim, first of all, let me explain what a consolidator is. Consolidator in the historical reference and definition is a ticket seller that sells tickets below the official price, usually for international flights.

[D]

And they have a contract with the airline where the airline doesn't want to

[C]

publicly discount fares, but they've got unsold inventory and they use these consolidators or ticket sellers that in the old days they would actually write out a physical ticket. Now it's all computerized, but they would have authority to issue a ticket below the official price.

[D]

Now that's not done nearly as much

[C]

as it used to be because international airfares used to be set through an international air cartel called iata. That now is just a trade association, International Air Transport Association.

[D]

So today most of what you're going to find with the sellers of business

[C]

and first class tickets for international travel are people that are mileage brokers.

[D]

They are buying miles from one traveler.

[C]

Like let's say Krista has a huge amount of miles on a particular airline. She's not going to be able to

[D]

use them anytime soon and she wants

[C]

to get some money for those miles.

[D]

So she would go to one of

[C]

these brokers and sell her miles through

[D]

them to me and then I go

[C]

on a ticket at a big discount from what it would be just actually buying a ticket. Now the danger is at both ends if the airline knows that the miles were sold, which their terms. There may be a few international airlines that allow miles to be sold, but as a general rule they're not marketable.

[D]

That way she can have her account

[C]

wiped out and I can get to the airport to fly and they say I ain't flying.

[D]

So it is a gray market that

[C]

is not against the law, but it's against the frequent flyer programs, rules generally and so carries risk with it.

[E]

So would you buy a ticket today?

[C]

No, I've never done it. I've never sold points, which I've got, you know, points I try to burn regularly and I've never bought a ticket that way.

[E]

Janet in Florida says, I know you've mentioned before that adding a child as an authorized user on a parent's credit card can help them build credit. I have excellent credit around 800 and I'm trying to decide whether this is a good idea for my 20 year old son. My concern is he's not as financially responsible as I would like right now. I worry that helping him build strong credit could actually make it easier for him to open his own credit card, run up the limit and not pay it back on time. He works full time making $20 an hour, has not completed college and is pursuing his dream of being a death metal musician. Should I help him build credit now or stay out of it and encourage him to stick with debit cards until he shows more financial responsibility?

[C]

All right, before I answer this question, I have to show my absolute ignorance. What is a. I don't know what death metal.

[E]

I think it's just a specific type of music. Like you know, heavy metal. There's death metal. Yeah, he's a musician.

[C]

I am really clueless, but I do know the answer to this. All right, so Janet, your instinct is correct.

[D]

You do not lend your credit with a.

[C]

Remember when you issue an authorized use card, you don't give your child access to the card unless you know they're crazy responsible the credit and you're okay with it.

[D]

Usually you're just lending your good name

[C]

your good credit so they have a better credit record. And you are completely right that if your 20 year old son is not

[D]

of a mind to be good with money to be good with credit, it

[C]

could be a maturity problem. Could be just sometimes people just wired

[D]

that way you are doing them no favors by lending your good credit in

[C]

this case so they can establish their own. So in this circumstance your question is the answer. He should stick with debit cards until he reaches the point that he shows more financial responsibility. Absolutely, Janet, the right answer in this case.

[D]

No gray on it.

[C]

And I wish him enormous success playing this death metal music. I don't know what it means, but I hope it goes really, really well.

[D]

And thank you so much for joining

[C]

us today in the empowerment zone.

[D]

Empowerment through knowledge where knowledge you can act on.

[C]

That's our deal.

[D]

And so the ultimate goal is learning

[C]

ways to save more and spend less.

[D]

And don't let anyone ever, ever, not

[C]

ever rip you off. And we will be at your service on Wednesday with more advice you can put to work. Work in your wallet.

[I]

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