Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 02.17.25 Joining A Gym + Health Trackers & Privacy / Payment App Warning About this episode Mid February and as resolutions fade, make the choice to double down! Today, the Clark smart way to join a gym, and what to know about health trackers and your privacy. Also - Zelle is not the only payment app to be concerned about. Spotlight on Cash App and the safest way to transfer money. How To Join A Gym: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Payment App Warning: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: How To Get a Gym Membership for Practically Free Why Does Clark Howard Wear 2 Watches? 13 of the Best Free Workout And Fitness Apps Consumer Reports - Your Exercise Bike Knows a Lot About You & Doesn't Keep Every Secret IRS Direct File Expands to Millions More Taxpayers 9 Free Federal and State Tax Filing Services for 2025 Cash App Ordered To Pay Millions for Fraud, Security Issues Safer Ways To Send Money - Clark.com 6 Things To Know Before You Buy Gas at Costco Wholesale Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is about taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your financial advisor personalizes your plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
0:15 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
0:50 Speaker 02 Welcome to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. So it's mid-February, and so many people who made New Year's resolutions to hit the gym are now driving a different route just so they're not reminded of that gym they joined. I got some key advice for you about that, about joining a gym. And also, you know, I wear three fitness and health trackers. Are they doing bad stuff to me or about me?
1:33 Speaker 02 I want to talk about that. And later, I routinely pick on Big Bad Zelle, but they're not the only bad boy payment app in town. In fact, you got to know why payment apps, by their very nature, can be playing with kryptonite.
1:51 Speaker 02 But right now, I want to talk about the gym thing. So we've got all these people who did the New Year's resolution stuff about six weeks ago. And, you know, the gym rats don't like the New Year's resolution crowd because they fill up all the parking spaces and they got to wait for their favorite machines in the gym and all that. And then, man, something starts happening by now, because about six weeks in, after the New Year's resolution crowd joins, that they kind of vanish. It's hard to start new habits, but a lot of those folks who signed up last month from
2:33 Speaker 02 that barrage of advertising on social media and on websites and on television and all that, a lot of those people signed long-term contracts with gyms. And this is a terrible idea, not just for a New Year's resolution person, but for anyone, because you never know what happens in your life. And never prepay for a long period of time for a gym, because the fitness business is an unstable business, a lot of places close down and all the rest.
3:13 Speaker 02 My thing is for you to join a gym month to month, even if you end up staying for years to come. And gyms are all different kinds. The biggest no-frills chain, Planet Fitness, what's great about Planet Fitness is it is a month-to-month gym with different membership levels, but dirt, dirt cheap. And all it's got is it's got machines to work out on. That versus signing up for a place where there's a long-term contract, and depending on the state, long-term contract usually means three years, and then you get injured or you don't go, or you can't afford it anymore, you're still stuck.
3:59 Speaker 02 And a lot of those contract membership gyms have what are known as rollover provisions. One of the most unsavory, ugliest practices in high-pressure sales. It's like how a lot of burglar alarm companies sell you those hideous burglar alarm contracts, where you're obligated for a long period of time. And then if you don't notify exactly as they require by a certain date, you are automatically re-renewed for a long period of time at whatever the prevailing rate is. Same kind of junk with the gyms, a lot of the contract gyms.
4:38 Speaker 02 Anytime you've got a commissioned salesperson trying to sign you up and pressuring you and say, "Well, if you sign today, we're going to do this for you," or "waive that," or whatever, that's a danger signal. So when you want to work out, the key is consistency, habit, whatever your workout is. But also, you don't know when you sign up for a gym that you're actually going to like the facility over time, or find that it's clean, or that the equipment is well-maintained or available during the cycle of when you're most likely to work out. And you sign that long-term deal? Bad idea.
5:21 Speaker 02 A month-to-month gym, or a nonprofit like a YMCA, they earn your business day after day by providing you a facility that works for you. A contract gym is only about the contract. And they actually have the opposite interest, signing you up and hoping you don't work out. So don't fall for it. The other thing is Consumer Reports has done an investigation. Of all the different fitness apps, the fitness trackers, of which I have three. Those of you who watch the YouTube show, you can see I have my Oura ring. I have my Samsung smartwatch, my Garmin fitness tracker.
6:06 Speaker 02 I'm obsessed with these numbers and I'll look and I'll see what my heart rate is on. One is reporting what the other is reporting. Right now, my Samsung and Garmin are reporting virtually identical heart rates at the moment. All this data, you agreed to terms of use and how they can resell it. And Consumer Reports found again and again, these apps are taking your personal information and making money from it, selling off your info. And if that really freaks you out, then you shouldn't be doing what I'm doing and wearing any of these things. Krista?
6:45 Speaker 03 Okay, speaking of that, Mark in Pennsylvania wrote in with this. I purchased my first Oura ring in December of 2021 and have not paid for a membership, thus thinking I had a lifetime membership status. I purchased a new Oura ring earlier this month and connected it to my existing Oura account. Now I'm being told that I will have to start paying for my membership. I thought that the membership status was not tied to the ring, but when I tried to talk to Customer No Service via email, they are saying that they have no record of my lifetime membership. What can I do? I have no actual record of having any lifetime membership, but the fact that I have never paid for my membership and/or even had a credit card on my account should be proof enough, shouldn't it?
7:29 Speaker 02 Mark, this is one of the weirdest things involving Oura. So Oura never, when they started, had any idea of doing what so many apps do and charge you a monthly subscription fee or an annual fee.
7:45 Speaker 02 And then there are a lot of people who signed up for Aura when they specifically offered, when you bought the ring, you got a lifetime membership. And if you go to your Aura sign in, you'll see when you go to your membership portal, it will show you if you, in fact, originally bought your Aura ring with an attached lifetime membership. So people, gosh, this sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook double talk, doesn't it? It's just I've been reading a lot about this.
8:20 Speaker 03 Do you have the lifetime?
8:21 Speaker 02 I don't know. I should, I've never paid a fee and I'm on the Aura 3.
8:26 Speaker 03 Okay.
8:27 Speaker 02 I'm certainly going to check to see if it says I have a lifetime membership before I sign up for an Aura 4, which has a lot more sophisticated tracking than the original, the 2 or the 3. But you have to sign in, then you'll see. And I don't even know if they checked when they said, well, we don't see that you had lifetime membership. But if it's not listed there, then do a search of your email way back when you got your original Aura, if you have not deleted it, back from the end of 2021. Because it would have said when you bought your ring, apparently, based on what people have said on Reddit,
9:10 Speaker 02 that you have lifetime membership. If not, then if you're wearing an Aura 4 now, or you bought an Aura 4, you have to, with the Aura 4, pay the monthly fee. And that's not very good news that I just described. But talking to Aura customer no service, they're a pretty small but scrappy organization. But they have developed customer no service like one of the big behemoths now. And it is hard to talk to anybody there.
9:44 Speaker 03 Alyssa in Washington says, "Thank you so much for having this podcast. You've really made a big difference in my life."
9:49 Speaker 02 Thank you for that.
9:50 Speaker 03 "I had a quick question about the new ability to file taxes with the IRS. I went to their website and clicked on the Fillable Forms link, but it looks like it takes me to a different website, and the website is FreeFileFillableForms.com. Nowhere in this URL does it seem to connect to the IRS or say it's a .gov page. Is this legitimate? And why isn't it still on the IRS website directly? I don't want to create an account and provide any sensitive information when I don't quite understand how it all works and connects back. And I don't know if you've done this, Clark, but I went to the IRS website and it did click me over to this exact site."
10:23 Speaker 02 But not under Direct File?
10:25 Speaker 03 No, it's under Fillable Forms.
10:27 Speaker 02 Right.
10:27 Speaker 03 Right.
10:28 Speaker 02 So, so that's where it gets confusing when you go to IRS.gov. So you're going to have a three-part decision tree for doing tax stuff through IRS.gov. One is the Free Fillable Forms. I'm not sure what the value of that is because then you're sending in a paper return. The other two, the one that I talked about in January, Direct File, which is an IRS program that was a pilot before, now is available to, I think, about 2/3 of taxpayers in about half or a little bit more than half the states, where you can file your return for free directly with the IRS.
11:10 Speaker 02 And you click on their little logo at IRS.gov that says "Direct File." And so that's one program you get to see if you're eligible with the complexity of your tax return and also if you're eligible in the state you live in. The second IRS program is Free File. Free File is a cooperative effort Between the IRS and a bunch of tax prep software firms, where people who qualify, and I think somewhere close to 90% of taxpayers' income qualify for free file, and instead of paying to buy a third-party software package,
11:52 Speaker 02 you can use a third-party software package for free. So those are the two programs that essentially automate your tax prep. The form filler, I just don't get it. I don't see what benefit that is to people.
12:08 Speaker 03 Hugh in Ohio says, "When buying a new car, the dealer had a manufacturer financing offer above the cash discount offered by the dealer. The deal was an additional $5,000 off the sale price if financed through the manufacturer. We took the deal. When doing the paperwork, the finance officer told us we had to keep the loan account open for 90 days, which we did, and then we paid off the note. The loan officer told us if we closed the loan in less than 90 days, the $5,000 would be quote-unquote "added" to the loan. We found out later that that was not the case, but that the dealer would lose manufacturer reimbursement for originating the note."
12:44 Speaker 02 Okay, so I'm familiar with this. So when you are sitting with the finance and insurance, it's the F and I person at the dealership, their job is to generate the profit for the dealership. That's why they try to sell you all those terrible extended warranties that are just a bunch of junk, and all kinds of add-ons like paint protection packages and blah, blah, blah. They're trying to score as much profit as they can from the loans. So they only get a kickback from the manufacturer on manufacturer-provided financing from a lot of brands if you keep the loan in place for three to six months, most common amount of time.
13:28 Speaker 02 So you, as a borrower, there's no requirement that you keep it in place that long unless, and often this is true, the dealer had you sign an addendum and all the paperwork they had you sign that said you were subject to having to pay this money back to them if you didn't keep the loan in place for a period of time. So there would have been no requirement from the manufacturer's finance arm. The requirement is a separate document that the dealer generally makes you sign.
14:03 Speaker 02 It's always a trick to the trade at the dealers, right? And coming up ahead, something that's more trick than treat. If we were doing a Halloween show, that's the payment apps like Cash App, Venmo, and Big Bad Zelle. Want to tell you, there's so many ways you can get burned with these apps. We're going to talk about that straight ahead.
14:28 Speaker 00 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters so you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich together. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
14:58 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
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16:40 Speaker 02 You know, there's financial inventions and improvements all the time. And if you look at what's available because of the ultimate Swiss Army knife are smartphones, with how you can instantly send money to a friend, family member, even a stranger, or some company using a simple transaction on your phone, using app-based payments with the three most popular being Cash App, Venmo, and Big Bad Zelle. These are a marvel that you can move money so easily.
17:22 Speaker 02 Why is it that I'm so harsh on these apps? Well, let's take a recent action where Cash App is having to pay more than a quarter billion dollars in penalties and restitution for their customers of Cash App being ripped off because of weak security, according to the feds and the agreement they've agreed to, for weak security that has allowed criminals to steal money through people's Cash App and not be able to get any reimbursement from Cash App. By the way, if you beat your head against the wall with Cash App trying to get reimbursement
18:07 Speaker 02 after a criminal somehow tapped into your Cash App, you may be eligible for this restitution fund. And when the procedure becomes available, we'll make sure we have it for you at Clark.com. But let's go to the core of the problem with Cash App, Venmo, and Big Bad Zelle. So let's look at the progression of, let's call them, modern payment methods in modern times. So one of them may seem prehistoric to you, but when credit cards came into prominence in the 60s and early 70s, there were no consumer protections at all. There would be these horror stories, and people were like, "This is too hot to touch. I can't use this thing."
18:52 Speaker 02 They were getting no usage at all. People were still doing everything with cash and checks. So then Congress came up with rules and consumer protections, and credit card use exploded. Well, fast forward into a different era. Let's call it the 90s to round things off, but really more like the 00s. The piece of trash fake Visa and fake MasterCard, the debit card, came into prominence. But at that time, the banks were very short-sighted and fought every effort in the US Congress,
19:33 Speaker 02 and with all the lobbyists and dirty money the banks spread, they were able to prevent any meaningful consumer protections for debit cards. And so people get burned by debit cards, which is why I have all these rules about when it's not as harmful to use a debit card, instead of talking about all the reasons it would be great to use a debit card. Now we move forward into the last, really, seven years that payment apps like Cash App, Venmo, and Big Bad Zelle have come into prominence. And why am I so afraid of these? And why have I set up so many guardrails for you if you're going to use them?
20:15 Speaker 02 Because there are no consumer protections under law specifically governing this kind of thing. So these apps, the problem with them is it's not a matter of if, it's only a matter of when you're gonna get burned. And the bank or Cash App or Venmo are gonna say, "Gosh, joke's on you." Which is why if you wanna be safe using these things, you tie them into a separate account at a separate financial institution that what you normally use. Set up a fee-free savings account, checking account, whatever. Tie them into those and only have the money in there that if you lost it, it would be
20:57 Speaker 02 a bummer, but it's not going to be a huge problem for you. Because you have to set up essentially your own insurance policy. Like we saw with Cash App, where they're now having to pay more than a quarter billion dollars in restitution and fines. So what would be smarter is if the banks realized, like they did, "Why are they so successful with credit cards? Because you don't have to be afraid using one." I mean, how cynical is it to say, "Yeah, we're gonna see how much we can harm consumers and then fool them with advertising and marketing to use our product."
21:38 Speaker 02 And with Cash App, Venmo, big bad Zelle, I don't want you using at all for specific reasons. Anyway.
21:46 Speaker 03 Check out our YouTube video on that.
21:48 Speaker 02 Yes.
21:49 Speaker 03 Youtube.com/Clark.
21:50 Speaker 02 Thank you. You only pay, I mean, for the safest zone, you've set up the separate account, you limit how much money's in it, and you only pay money to known people, family, friends, period. Until and unless real consumer protections with teeth become the law of the land.
22:12 Speaker 03 So, a quick question. A friend of mine, you know her, Kim the dentist, texted me because one of her tenants saw your video on Zelle, and she had just gone through the trouble of setting up LLCs and stuff and using Zelle to have her tenants pay her rent. Is it safe for her tenant to pay her?
22:30 Speaker 02 Not really.
22:31 Speaker 03 Okay.
22:32 Speaker 02 Because it's not about paying Kim the dentist.
22:34 Speaker 03 Right, it's about the other issues.
22:35 Speaker 02 It's about the other things that happen with big bad Zelle. And the banks shirking their responsibility with this. They were so terrified of people using non-bank entities like Cash App and Venmo. They rushed this Zelle thing out there without proper guardrails or protections in place. The reason Zelle is so much more dangerous even than Venmo or Cash App is that it's embedded inside your bank account. So there are so many ways criminals have been able to use big bad Zelle to empty your bank account and you don't know till bills start bouncing, you know, checks start bouncing.
23:17 Speaker 02 It's a mess with the banks who, let me tell you, people in customer no service with banks hate those Zelle calls because they're not given the authority to fix the very problems the banks created with having inferior architecture to protect your money. Enough about that, though.
23:39 Speaker 03 Sorry, Kim.
23:39 Speaker 02 I could talk about it all day long.
23:41 Speaker 03 Charlotte in Arizona says regarding Clark's beloved Costco. I live equidistant from two Costco stores. I've noticed that the price of gas at each store can vary as much as 30 cents per gallon, but it's usually around seven to 10 cents. I started checking other Costcos in my metropolitan area and they all differ in price per gallon. Why is this? Are taxes different in each location or does Costco charge more based on location? I.e. one store is closer to a freeway. Thanks for all you do. I live in the Phoenix area, if that helps.
24:12 Speaker 02 Okay. I only know this historically and I don't know if there's been any change in this, but Costco prices gas competitively adjacent to a store, depending on the metro market, usually within a two or five mile radius of a store. So they survey what's going on with gas around them and price accordingly. There's a Costco near Krista's luxurious, high-end neighborhood that she lives in.
24:45 Speaker 02 And that Costco charges roughly 30 cents more a gallon than the Costcos that are also a little further from you Krista, that are in very competitive retail zones for gasoline. They could have the Walmart gas seller, Murphy gas, near them. They could have a Sam's Club gas near them. There could be various factors. So it is a competitive market response. They'll be cheaper than the others that are near them, but they're not going to be nearly as cheap as a Costco gas that's in a highly competitive district.
25:23 Speaker 03 So do you think they still abide by their max markup percentage at the gas pump that they do in the stores?
25:29 Speaker 02 So I'm not sure that Costco makes any money selling gas at all.
25:34 Speaker 03 Oh, it's a loss leader.
25:34 Speaker 02 I think that gas is like the Costco hot dog and drink for a buck 50. They won't talk about how many hundreds of millions of dollars they lose each year on that hot dog and drink. But clearly, that is not a moneymaker. What gas does is it gets people to the store a lot more often. And while they're there, they're like, oh, well, I should go in and get some whatever. So it increases the number of visits per year by a Costco member and increases renewals by having the gas. I was talking to an Uber driver one
26:14 Speaker 02 day. We were talking about gas prices. He said he only joined Costco because the gas was so much cheaper there and he's driving so many tens of thousands of miles a year driving for Uber.
26:27 Speaker 03 Smart. Daniel in California says, my wife and I have benefited from your expertise and teamwork for years, and we wanted to share a milestone. My wife grew up in communist East Germany. When she was 16 and the Berlin Wall came down, she had not a penny to her name. She completed a tuition-free work-study position in a US public MBA program, worked on an H1B visa for a few years, and then returned to complete a PhD program at the same State school.
26:55 Speaker 02 Brainiac.
26:56 Speaker 03 This time receiving a small stipend in addition to work-study waivers. Upon graduating, she accepted a research position at a prestigious US university. And there's the name of it. She saves.
27:07 Speaker 02 That's a school I couldn't get into.
27:09 Speaker 03 She saves over 20% of her earnings, lives modestly, and is debt-free with an 800-plus credit score. And as of the last month, at age 50, she has an individual net worth of over $1 million. Although, according to my calculations, this would be significantly higher if Sephora didn't exist. It's still a great example of what's possible in our amazing country, and I hope it inspires others to know that they can do the same.
27:35 Speaker 02 Danielle, thank you. Thanks for telling that story. And when I was a young reporter, I had such a privilege to be in Berlin covering the fall of the Berlin Wall.
27:48 Speaker 03 How do you know that?
27:49 Speaker 02 You didn't know?
27:50 Speaker 03 You're always full of surprises, Clark Howard.
27:53 Speaker 02 Yeah, and it was still East Germany at that point, as the wall was coming down and there was such chaos. And I got detained in East Germany by border guards. And then they released me, but they wouldn't let me go back into West Germany. And it was quite a story.
28:11 Speaker 03 Wow.
28:12 Speaker 02 I said the wrong thing. They asked, "What are you here for?"
28:15 Speaker 03 I was a reporter.
28:17 Speaker 02 That was so stupid. I should've said, "Oh, I don't know. I thought there would be really fun deals over here."
28:23 Speaker 03 Well, thank you, Danielle. That's an awesome, awesome story. Lynn in Florida wrote in with this. "I donate money to a lot of causes, mostly nonprofits. More and more frequently, large chain stores are asking if I'd like to round up my purchase to the next dollar or contribute money to a cause they are supporting. My questions are: Isn't it better to give directly to a nonprofit? Does the store donate all of the money, or is there overhead? Do they report it to the IRS as a tax write-off? I've asked cashiers and store managers and have been unable to get an answer."
28:54 Speaker 02 Okay, so Lynn, what happens with that money? It is just a pass-through from that retailer or restaurant to the charity. The retailer or restaurant. Is not eligible for a tax deduction on that donation. Who is eligible for a tax deduction? You are. But the truth is, nobody ever does anything about that who at a register donates 82 cents or, you know, give $5 to this or that or the other or a dollar. Nobody ever keeps track of that.
29:35 Speaker 02 So it goes non-deducted by anybody as a charitable deduction. What's in it for the restaurant or retailer? They get enormous publicity from the charitable organization. I used to be on a board where we had a tie-in with a supermarket for Roundup and we would get millions of dollars in donations a year from that supermarket chain. And then that chain was sold and the new owners weren't interested in our charity. That money stopped right away. So there's a certain vanity about it that it could be connected to a cause that matters to the executives or the chairman of the board of a company or something like that.
30:18 Speaker 02 And that's how they pick that particular organization. There is a benefit to you if you take advantage of it and just positive publicity for the retailer or the restaurant. And I want to thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. I hope that you learned something today that would be really useful to you in your own life, hearing a question somebody else has or hearing a story or anything like that. Our whole goal is to empower you with knowledge that gives you ways to save more and spend less and avoid getting ripped off. And if you feel like you're on the verge of a rip-off or you have been taken advantage
31:00 Speaker 02 or whatever, and you don't know what to do, or you just have a consumer question, know that 30 hours each week for free, we'll answer your question one-on-one in the Team Clark Consumer Action Center. We've been doing this since February of 93. So if you have a question you need an answer to, go to Clark.com/CAC to get that one-on-one advice and guidance. And we'll see you Wednesday.
31:36 Speaker 00 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are, with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters, so you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich, together. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
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