12.29.25 Save On Ride Share Services / Up In ARMs - The Adjustable-Rate Mortgage

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast

Episode: 12.29.25 – Save On Ride Share Services / Up In ARMs – The Adjustable-Rate Mortgage

Date: December 29, 2025
Host: Clark Howard
Co-host/Producer: Krista

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Overview

In this holiday edition and the final episode of 2025, Clark Howard focuses on two key themes:

• Maximizing savings when using ride share services, especially as New Year's Eve approaches
• Understanding the renewed popularity—and risks—of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) as interest rates and housing market conditions evolve

Clark and Krista also field listener questions on topics including credit freezes and insurance, prenuptial agreements, “junk fees,” travel booking websites, car warranties, and the security of digital wallets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. New Year's Eve, Ride Shares, and Robo Taxis

(00:43–08:44)

• New Year's Eve is Uber and Lyft’s biggest night. Clark reminds listeners that some communities offer free rides rather than using paid ride-shares.
• Comparison shopping is key. Clark cites a study that found over 85% of people only ever check one ride-share app before booking, missing out on potential savings.
  • "Every ride I ever take, I look at the Uber price, I look at the Lyft price, and whichever is cheaper, that's who I'm using. Turns out roughly 85% of people never comparison shop." – Clark Howard (03:34)
• Public transit still rules for cost savings, but not always practical—example: recent airport trip in Philadelphia.
• Habit harms your wallet. Clark urges breaking the “just use what you know” pattern when shopping for goods and services.
• Robo taxis are on the rise. Waymo and Tesla are expanding autonomous taxi services; in 2026, more cities will have these options, creating a new layer of comparison shopping.
  • "The robo taxi market is going to become so common..." – Clark Howard (05:49)
• Funny side story: Producer Krista shares a viral video where a Waymo robo taxi drives into the middle of a police standoff, contrasting with Clark’s experience of Tesla’s Full Self-Drive properly pulling over for an ambulance.

Notable Quotes:

• "We become creatures of habit...The more you comparison shop, the better." – Clark Howard (05:14)
• “By the fifth time...[riding a robo taxi] is totally routine.” – Clark Howard (06:24)

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2. Listener Q&A – Credit Freezes and Insurance Rates

(08:44–12:06)

• Does a frozen credit report affect shopping for auto/homeowners insurance?
  • Generally, in most states, insurers can access your credit report to set rates even if the report is frozen, but not everywhere.
  • If denied or quoted high rates, you may need to “thaw” your credit temporarily.
  • "Insurers may well charge more to somebody with a credit report that's not so hot than they charge somebody who's had a DUI, DWI." – Clark Howard (10:23)

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3. Prenuptial Agreements and Debt in Marriage

(12:06–14:07)

• Fred from Wisconsin asks about prenups due to his fiancée’s significant debt.
  • Clark advises consulting a lawyer, especially since Wisconsin is a community property (“marital property”) state.
  • Debt prior to marriage may remain separate if kept separate, but all debts acquired during marriage are usually shared.
  • Navigating prenup talks requires care and compassion.

Notable Quotes:

• "If you're worried about issues like that, you consult a lawyer. You don't consult me. I am not a lawyer." – Clark Howard (12:58)

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4. Junk Fees – A Call for Transparency

(14:07–16:29)

• Fees tacked onto restaurant bills or retail purchases are “junk fees.” Clark is adamant they should be clearly disclosed up front.
• He compares to the airline and hotel industries, and spotlights healthcare as egregiously non-transparent.
  • "For free markets to work well, you have to have disclosure, clear price disclosure before somebody makes a decision." – Clark Howard (15:01)

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5. Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARMs) Are Back

(18:23–22:29)

• ARMs are making a comeback, especially for refinances and home purchases.
  • Usually fixed for the first 5 years, then adjust annually.
  • Initial rates are lower, tempting cost-stretched buyers.
  • Real risk: after 5 years, if rates are higher or there’s little home equity (common with small down payments), payments can increase sharply and refinancing may not be possible.
  • "What a bad pun—mortgaging the future by going into an ARM..." – Clark Howard (19:19)
• ARMs might be appropriate if:
  • You have significant equity
  • You plan (not just hope) to leave the property within the fixed period
  • The rate/payment savings are substantial
• Clark’s bottom line:
  • For most new buyers, especially with little down, ARMs are too risky—even if it means waiting to buy.
  • "I can't come up with a circumstance I would [recommend] it even if it means you have to pass for now on buying a home." – Clark Howard (22:20)

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6. Listener Q&A – Travel Booking, Car Warranties, Digital Wallets

(22:29–29:46)

a. Google Flights and Third-Party Sites

(22:29–25:25)

• Clark warns against booking flights through unfamiliar (“UFO”) or even reputable third-party sites that appear via Google Flights due to difficulties with customer support in the event of cancellations or problems.
  • “Even the ones that are legit are not necessarily safe to use because any problem—the airline starts the finger pointing.” – Clark Howard (23:06)
• The risk applies even to travel credit card booking portals.

b. CarMax Extended Warranties (MaxCare)

(25:25–27:01)

• Clark has heard no complaints about CarMax MaxCare warranties, which distinguishes them from most third-party warranties sold at dealerships.
• If CarMax stands behind the warranty, they may be safer.

c. Digital Wallet Security (Google Pay/Apple Pay)

(27:01–29:46)

• Clark explains that, as best he knows, using Google Pay via Chrome browser or Chromebook is as secure as using it on an Android device.
• He encourages digital wallet usage for its enhanced security over typing card numbers or physical card use.

Notable Quotes:

• “Using the pay apps is a more secure way to protect yourself.” – Clark Howard (29:25)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• “Every ride I ever take, I look at the Uber price, I look at the Lyft price, and whichever is cheaper, that's who I'm using.” (03:34)
• “[Robo taxis are] so clearly part of our future...People will not even need to own their own vehicles because vehicles sit idle 90 some odd percent of the time.” (08:08)
• “For free markets to work well, there has to be disclosure, clear price disclosure before somebody makes a decision.” (15:01)
• “Mortgaging the future by going into an ARM with the hope that sometime in the next five years rates are going to be lower enough that you can then refi...” (19:19)
• "I can't come up with a circumstance I would [recommend an ARM] even if it means you have to pass for now on buying a home." (22:20)
• “Even the ones that are legit are not necessarily safe to use because any problem the airline starts the finger pointing.” (23:06)
• “Using the pay apps is a more secure way to protect yourself.” (29:25)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Ride Shares & Robo Taxis: 00:43–08:44
• Credit Reports & Insurance: 08:44–12:06
• Prenuptial Agreements/Debt: 12:06–14:07
• Junk Fees: 14:07–16:29
• Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARMs): 18:23–22:29
• Travel Booking Cautions: 22:29–25:25
• CarMax Warranty: 25:25–27:01
• Digital Wallet Security: 27:01–29:46

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Closing

Clark wraps up the year with gratitude for his audience, focusing—as ever—on actionable advice to help listeners save more, spend less, and avoid rip-offs. He wishes everyone a happy and financially secure 2026.

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For more tips, ask Clark a question at clark.com/askclark or subscribe to the free daily newsletter for ongoing consumer advice.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

My pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard show, where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And this holiday week leading up to New Year's is our last show of 2025. Today, I want to thank each of you for listening to or watching this show. I hope that over this year I brought you information, something that has been valuable and actionable in your life. In this episode. Two days from now will be the biggest night of the year for Uber and Lyft. New Year's Eve. People know now not to drink and drive, so they get an Uber or a Lyft. Usually an Uber. By the way, I should mention before I forget, some communities offer free ride programs on New Year's Eve. And that's even better than what I'm about to talk about when with Uber and Lyft. But I want to talk about how you get the best deal also. Oh boy. Bit of a Debbie Downer here. There's a mortgage product that's becoming really ultra popular right now. Old bad ideas can become popular again. I'm going to give you my best advice if you're going to buy a home or refi sometime in 26. Okay, so what are the odds that if you have the apps on your phone for Uber and Lyft that you comparison shop per ride? One study I saw found that over 85% of people only ever click on one of them. Now, there was a study done by a newspaper reporter that found huge differences in price per ride. And then after doing the test, the reporter did did a more formalized test with many different people recording what the prices were each ride for Uber and Lyft. And first thing you need to know is that not one was cheaper or automatically more expensive each time. And this fits exactly with what I've discovered because every ride I ever take I look at the Uber price, I look at the lift price, and whichever is cheaper, that's who I'm using. You're like, yeah, duh, who wouldn't do that? Turns out roughly 85% of people never comparison shop. You get in the habit of using Uber most often. Some people lift, but the advantage to your wallet over the course of time is quite large if you do that comparison shopping each time. And what the reporter found has been completely true in my experience. I never know when I look at the prices which one is going to be cheaper. Now, I've traveled a lot by airplane and my go to is public transit. If there's convenient, reasonably operated and safe public transit in a market, that's how I got around. That saves me the most money. But then there are a lot of situations. I end up in an Uber Lyft. Recently I was in Philadelphia and I had to go to the airport at a pretty tight time from when I was going to the airport till when the flight was first. I looked at SEPTA to see if I could take Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority SEPTA to the airport and it was just going to take too long. So then I was stuck doing an Uber Lyft and I use both of them and saw what was cheaper. That's what I'd like you to do. And this is so much a part of what happens in life that we become creatures of habit that we go to any website that we've shopped at in the past, buying clothes or buying stuff or whatever, and we just automatically go to it. And we're not comparison shopping with others. That's not a good recipe for your wallet. The more you comparison shop, the better. And by the way, 26 is going to bring a huge increase in the number of, for lack of a better term, we're called robo taxis. And the Waymos are increasing exponentially in number of cities and number of Waymos operating in other cities. Tesla is terrified they're going to be left behind. And so Tesla is stepping up its effort and offering robo taxis way beyond what they did initially in the Austin, Texas metro area. And so this is going to be a year that's going to become more common that in cities with the Waymo app that you've got a third thing to compare. But the robo taxi market is going to become so common and so many people who get in one, the first time they get in it, they may be really scared or they may be really excited, and then it's by the fifth time they ride apparently it's totally routine.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Did you watch the video I sent you that a Waymo went in the middle of a police standoff. You can search this online.

[Clark Howard]

No, I'm not.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Way more sent to me. Yes, it is the funniest video. Literally a guy is on the ground, alleged criminal, whatever, laying face down. And there's all these police cars, like people, you know, with guns pointed at him and stuff. And the Waymo just goes slowly and goes right past the guy, like past the police cars very slowly. And you see the guy look up like what the heck? Like the four people. And if there are people in the Waymo, I don't know, it was is the funniest video that. It's insane, right?

[Clark Howard]

So opposite story. Yeah, I have a Tesla with the full self drive. For those of you that are Tesla, it's version 14.1.2. So an ambulance is coming the other way on a really wide thoroughfare. And the Tesla takes like a right turn to the far right lane and abruptly stops. And then I'm looking in my rear view mirror, you know that thing. Objects are closer than they appear. I see a pickup truck barreling down about to take me apart. And so I have to disengage. I have to disengage.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Well, the Tesla is doing what you're supposed to do.

[Clark Howard]

The Tesla was doing what you're supposed to do, what the Waymo did not do in the video. I'm sorry that I ignored your text to me and didn't see the video.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Really funny.

[Clark Howard]

But the robo taxi thing is so clearly part of our future. And if you believe the futurists, and I do, building design is going to change so much in America in the next 10 years where we're not going to need all these parking lots, parking decks, parking structures, whatever they're called, where you live, parking garages that people will not even need to own their own vehicles because vehicles sit idle 90 some odd percent of the time. And we'll be going around in robo vehicles.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

All right, we'll go to questions. This one's from Mark in Arizona. Following Clark's advice, I've frozen my credit at the three major credit bureaus. I've also heard him say that insurance companies use credit scores to approve or deny and set rates on new policies. My question is, if I'm shopping for a new car or homeowner's insurance, should I thaw my credit for a new, sorry, new car or homeowners, like auto or homeowners insurance, not for a new car.

[Clark Howard]

Right. Okay. So we've heard from the industry. Do not say we monitor credit scores in the insurance industry. We monitor credit reports. I don't get the distinction because the industry has its own scoring models, but they are, except in states that expressly outlaw the use of credit reports for setting insurance rates for homeowner and auto or even selling you auto or homeowner's insurance based on your credit report, that it's become in those states, the principal price trigger for your policy. And trying to remember who did the study, I don't remember if it was Consumer Reports or who found that insurers may well charge more to somebody with a credit report that's not so hot than they charge somebody who's had a dui, dwi. So now to your question. So many states now have laws that explicitly allow insurance companies to see your credit report even if your credit is frozen for the purpose of establishing homeowner or auto insurance. But not everywhere. And if the insurer, let's say they deny you insurance or they are charging you some kind of really high rate, they have to send you an adverse letter saying, we relied on credit reporting information to set a rate for you or we could not validate your credit history or whatever it is. And that signals you that you have to thaw your credit in your state to get the best rates on auto or homeowners temporarily. You contact the company, say your credit's now thawed, rerun your check on me, and then your auto or homeowner's insurance rates, particularly if you've got great credit, should drop. Okay, that was a long explanation. You know, that was a bad job of me. I should have been able to say that more concisely.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I think you are all set. All right. Fred in Wisconsin says, my girlfriend and I are planning to get married after 10 years of dating. Congratulations to Fred. There's one issue, though. She had close to a quarter million dollars in debt. Student loans and a car loan. I only have less than $300,000 in debt from my mortgage. I want to get a prenup to keep our finances completely separate in case of divorce. I think now's the best time to discuss and solidify this sticky issue while we're in love. Hopefully we'll never need it. What's your advice on where to get prenup? Does it hold in a state like Wisconsin? Is it worth it to hire a lawyer or use a website? Thanks, Clark, for all the advice I got from you for the last 15 years, at least.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you. And way back Machine. I don't remember. If Wisconsin is a community property state, which would come to the heart of what you're asking there in terms of the responsibility on the debt. A prenup, if it is a community property state, which Krista will let me know in a second prenup, would not help in regards to the student loan debt that would come into the marriage. It becomes in a community property state, the debt of one becomes the debt of both and you're treated as if you are one person. So that's number one. Number two, if you're worried about issues like that, what you do is you consult a lawyer. You don't consult me. I am not a lawyer. You go to a lawyer and say, here's what I'm worried about. How do I protect myself? How do we protect each other? And everything you do about protecting is about protecting each other.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Here's what I found. Wisconsin is a community property state, though it calls its system marital property, meaning assets and debts acquired during marriage are generally owned equally, 5050 by both spouses and divided that way in divorce, with exceptions for gifts, inheritances and premarital property kept separate. Wisconsin adopted this system in 1986.

[Clark Howard]

So what's interesting about what you just read, it said property acquired. It didn't say debts acquired before. So absolutely in your situation, if this is a real worry where you got this quarter million dollars hanging out there that you fear, you do consult an attorney prior to marriage and you got to be very careful how you navigate the conversation with your intended and going to see a lawyer, it's something that could cause real hurt not addressed properly.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Eric in Georgia says since retailers and restaurant owners are now starting to add standard percent fees to cover profits, living expenses, fair wages, etc. Shouldn't this be treated like junk fees and get lawmakers to require this to be clearly added to the price of everything on the menu and shelf label? We already have the same issue with hotels and resorts and airlines trying to hide their costs.

[Clark Howard]

Right. The junk fee thing is just maddening that if there's a cost to a business, make it in the price of the item. Don't add it as a surprise junk fee at the end when you're being given a bill or at a restaurant being given the check for your meal, whatever. I believe in free market. I believe that people should be able to charge what they want. But I also believe that for free markets to work well, you have to have disclosure, clear price disclosure before somebody makes a decision. So Eric, I'm a big believer in full disclosure and we should have it with airlines. We should have it most especially with medical. You know, if we want Americans that are responsible for more and more of deductibles and co pays and all that. If we want Americans to be smarter consumers and buying health care, we have to have clear disclosure up front of prices. And we don't have that now. And the medical industry, particularly the hospitals, fight any any remote idea of having price disclosure as like the worst possible thing they should ever have to do. It's just crazy. So yeah, I'm with you. Let the free market set the price, but let the customer know ahead of time what that price is really going to be coming up ahead. Speaking of something, the free market is bringing us right now something in the mortgage market that is being sold like snake oil salespeople, I need to warn you about what's going on, who it's appropriate for and who it's not. If you're a homeowner or a potential.

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[Clark Howard]

Something's roared back in the mortgage market that had gone dormant for about the last, oh, dozen or so years, and that is ARMs. Adjustable Rate Mortgages. They're being pushed on people doing refis, they're being pushed on people buying a home. And an ARM in its most common form has a rate that's fixed for the next 60 months. You take out the refi, you take out a mortgage, buy in a place. And so for five years you know what your rate's going to be and the rates will be lower on that arm, that arm, then they'll be on a traditional long term fixed rate mortgage. So people trying to stretch or deal with the cost of living are, what a bad pun? Mortgaging the future by going into an ARM with the hope that sometime in the next five years rates are going to be lower enough that you can then refi into a fixed rate mortgage. Okay, so let's say you take out the ARM on this refi or this buying a home and you hit five years and the rates have not gotten better, or you haven't been able to qualify for a refi because you don't have enough equity in the property, which is the most common problem. And then what happens at five years is it resets in most cases into a one year adjustable rate. And every year the rate could go up or down, more often up than down, depending on how the index is set for year six and forward. It's taking on a really high level of potential risk. Now, if you have substantial equity in your home and your intention, not certainty, but your intention is to stay a shorter period of time rather than a longer period of time. And you can get a meaningfully lower payment and interest rate by going from your fixed rate into an adjustable rate. That was if, if, if, then doing an ARM can make sense. But what's been happening and the big uptake in ARMS lately has been all about the stretch, people that are trying to stretch into that home. And so you're buying a home, minimal down payment, you're taking out the ARM and you're worrying about the details later. And the problem with that is later happens. And if you put in a low down payment, you're not going to be able to refi. Because when you refi, you've got to have meaningful equity. Home values are not going to go up for years to come, maybe for a long, long, long time, like they did for a short period of years where the Values were ratcheting up year by year. The market overshot which is why roughly half of housing market survey in the United States have declining home prices. Now instead of rising, the market is wheezing from the price points and that's why you can't count on getting in having rising prices of homes covering you with more flexibility. So when should you take out an arm? If you're a new home buyer or new to you home buyer and you're doing a low down payment, I can't come up with a circumstance I wouldn't do it even if it means you have to pass for now on buying a home.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Krista let's go to questions. This first one is from Sona in Colorado. I've been using Google flights to search for fares for a flight to New Zealand in March. The site sometimes has some relatively reasonable fares, but it shows booking options of random sites to book through. Are these sites legit and safe to use? Thank you for all you and your team do. And we had a question recently about.

[Clark Howard]

Last week.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

And I have this question too because I've been looking for something on Google flights and these sites seem.

[Clark Howard]

So UFO and you don't use them. The stakes are even higher with your flight than with your hotel. Don't do it.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

All right.

[Clark Howard]

There's way too many problems with these UFO sites. The words you use was legit and safe to use. Even the ones that are legit are not necessarily safe to use because any problem the airline starts the finger pointing.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

And good luck talking to someone at Google if you have an issue.

[Clark Howard]

Right? Well Google is not going to help you. But but you use even with third party sites that are well known and recognized names, Expedia, using them for booking a flight as has been a clear pattern for years and years and years when there's a flight cancel, a misconnect, whatever you know, the airline says call Expedia, you booked with them and Expedia is like pound sand. They don't do anything meaningful to help people. That's the problem with the third party sites. This has also come up with something that's completely legitimate. That's the booking engines of the big travel credit cards that they push you to use them because you'll get some kind of higher reward points with the card if you go through their engine. Just know that if you do have a flight problem and you book through one of these credit card portals, you're more on your own than you might like. And so yeah, when I'm doing a Google flight search and it shows the weirdo UFO sites to book with. I then eliminate those and then I only get what I call real fares popping up. By the way, for anybody who really covets flying in the front of the plane, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of sites now that say they're going to get you business class for a fraction of a business class fare. And what they're doing is they're points brokers. They are buying people's points from them and then booking you in the seats with their points, usually having to pretend they're the individual who they bought the points from. That comes with an even higher level of risk.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Chelsea in Minnesota says Clark, I know in general you discourage people from buying car dealership extended warranties. I've also heard you sing praises of CarMax. How do you feel about the Carmax extended warranty? Max Care? We've been saving for a new car for a while and typically drive our cars into the ground at 150,000 miles or more and own them for a decade or more. Max Care covers repairs to out to 150,000 miles or for 60 months, whichever comes first. Considering we only drive 10,000 miles a year, the five years would come first. Unless we bought a car that already has over 100,000 miles on it. Is it worth the extra $2,000?

[Clark Howard]

So CarMax sells these and you hear me talk so badly about the third party warranties. To my knowledge we have never heard a complaint from someone who bought the CarMax branded warranty.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I've never seen one come through myself. Yeah, I mean ask our off air.

[Clark Howard]

Team, but that's never come on my radar. And it's possible. I'm not saying it is, but it's possible that the CarMax one doesn't have the problems of all these third party warranties that we hear endless complaints about. The idea is that if CarMax is actually standing behind the warranty like a manufacturer of a brand would, then it would make it safer than the junky ones that are sold, the independent ones that are sold at traditional car dealers.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Greg in California says, I know Clark promotes digital wallets. When I put my credit card information into the wallet on Google Pay, the numbers pop up online with my computer when I'm about to make a purchase. Are our online numbers as safe as the ones they transmit when using our phones? Sorry if you already cover this. I enjoy the daily emails.

[Clark Howard]

Well, thank you for that. We work very hard on our emails and I'm really proud of the newsletter product we put out every day. Our newsletters are free easy to subscribe to if you find them not useful in your life, easy to unsubscribe to as well. And to your question, you must be using the Chrome browser or a Chromebook that what you've stored in Google Pay is showing up there. The way they transmit the credit card numbers on the pop up that you see there usually is going to be the same safety as I've read and understand as you have using Google Pay if you're on an Android. So I doesn't freak me out if you use that pop up to send a transmission of a payment through the Google Pay essentially application through the Chrome browser or the Chromebook. And I'm looking forward to hearing from somebody and security for technology who will tell me why it's not as secure. But as best I know the same level of security is available that way as it is on an Android phone. And while we're on this, Google Pay and Apple Pay are such great tools for you to pay things because it is a more secure way for you to pay than handing over your physical card anywhere or typing in a number on a website to buy something. Using the pay apps is a more secure way to protect yourself. And thank you so much for joining us today. And you know what this is? This is my signing off for the year. You won't hear me again or see me again for an entire year which is only 3 days away. Hope the rest of your 25 is great, your New Year's Eve is fantastic and that 2026 turns out to be the greatest year of your life. See you next year.

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