03.19.25 Dealing With Debt / An Important Travel Warning

Clark wants to help you to save more, spend less, and if you’re struggling with debt - avoid ripoffs that target debt with more debt. Know how to get legit help if you’re in too deep. Also today - a warning for all travelers involving a serious, fast-growing crime happening here in the U. S. and abroad. Dig Out Of Debt: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Travel Warning: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Warning: Here’s What Those Debt Settlement Companies Don’t Tell You Clark Howard's 2025 Credit Card Debt Elimination Strategy How To Get Out of Debt in 7 Steps 6 Things To Know Before Contacting the National Foundation for Credit Counseling Why You Should Keep Old Credit Card Accounts Open How and When To Cancel a Credit Card Best Airline Credit Cards for 2025: Are They Right For You? Best Travel Credit Cards: Top Rewards Picks for 2025 Follow Clark Howard's #1 Rule To Travel Cheap How To Save Money With Google Flights Best Free Streaming Services in 2025: Movies and TV for Cord Cutters Credit Score Experts: How To Take Your Score from ‘Good’ To ‘Exceptional’ 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 Sponsors Credit Karma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:06Speaker 03

  It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And you know, I want you to save more, spend less, and avoid rip-offs. But what if you're already in a mess with your debt? How do you climb out without getting ripped off? We're going to talk about that. And later, oh, I have a danger out there. I need to make sure you're aware of a warning for you when you travel. It's an important warning for all single travelers. So...

• 1:50Speaker 03

  It's a cycle and the number of people we're hearing from that are in debt with credit cards, whatever, but particularly with credit cards is going through a cycle right now. And it's funny because funny ironic, not funny funny. Talked a while back about how many more people are in debt with credit cards overall. And then we're getting a reflection of that with the people we're hearing from. So I want to talk about a couple of things you gotta know. So people out there who promise to be a hero and promise they're gonna clean

• 2:31Speaker 03

  up your debt for you and they're gonna do it magically. You just do the things they tell you to do, pay them this money. Often it'll be in the upper hundreds or even in the thousands of dollars and they're gonna wipe that slate clean for you. They're liars. They're liars and you end up in worse trouble than before. One of the techniques that these people will pitch you is stop paying on all your debt. Just stop paying and everything's gonna be great if you just stop paying. Let me tell you, that's not how it's gonna play.

• 3:09Speaker 03

  Then the second scenario that is a big problem are phony debt counselors who will try to get you to pay them money upfront and they're gonna counsel you into some kind of plan or supposedly negotiate for you, all that phony baloney. Then the third thing that's not a scam, but seldom gets you out of debt is when people do debt consolidations where you got all these credit cards with debt and they say, oh, we're gonna just work it out where you'll have one easy monthly payment. And my experience over the years, it does

• 3:53Speaker 03

  not work. What does work? Well, okay, I'm gonna get cold here and I apologize because we're dealing with something that's eating at you. If you have a level of debt, That there's no way you can see your way clear to paying. You're gonna need help. A legitimate help. And it's gonna require hard work on your part. And that's to go to a real legitimate credit counselor. Do not trust just because somebody's marketing themselves as a nonprofit. A lot of them are just scamsters hiding behind nonprofit status.

• 4:37Speaker 03

  One default you'll hear me talk about is NFCC, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, that has standards that legit credit counselors must meet. And what they'll do is they'll see if they can work out a budget for you. If they can't, they will then go to bat for you with the people you owed money to and work out a payment plan. There's small administrative costs for managing the payment plan, but tiny money. And the goal is to get you out of debt. Now, I'm gonna, this is where it gets cold. People in the legitimate credit counseling business will tell you

• 5:18Speaker 03

  that a lot of times, people don't come to them not till the 11th hour, but the 12th hour. That the financial situation's too far gone. And that is unfortunately, when it may become appropriate, that you might have to file for bankruptcy. But I know the TV ads and you think that's a first resort. That's a last resort to file for bankruptcy. But a payment plan, a legit payment plan from a legit credit counselor, if you can see your way to make it through that payment plan, will right the ship and get you out of debt.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  Alright, so why do I hate consolidations so much? Because people look at that as a lifeline and I look at it as more rope to hang your finances. Because what tends to happen when somebody does a debt consolidation, the cards now have no balances on them. But there's been no change in what's going on in your life. So typically, you're now having to make all those payments on that consolidation. And creeping step by step, usually over within a year and a half, the cards are charged back up and you have the consolidation. That's a train wreck. So it takes hard work.

• 6:43Speaker 03

  If you've reached Armageddon financially, bankruptcy is there and is a potential clean slate. But none of this is the end of the world. Krista?

• 6:55Speaker 04

  Okay. Arnold in Pennsylvania says, I received notice from JCPenney and Kohl's that their cards are being replaced. Pennies by Mastercard and Kohl's by Capital One. I don't want to use either one because I already have a Mastercard and a Capital One card. I use both store cards infrequently, so I'm not concerned with losing rewards. What's the best solution? Should I even activate the cards if I don't intend to use them? Or do I have to call the stores and cancel the cards? Is this a new trend with store cards? I'm sure other listeners are in the same situation and thanks for all you do.

• 7:25Speaker 03

  Okay, thank you for this question, Arnold, because this is a clear pattern that what are known as mono lines, a credit card that's only good at a particular retailer are going the way of the dodo bird generally. Because the cards are expensive to run the programs. The store cards tend to have sky high interest rates on them. Not at all unusual to be 35, 36% on a store card. And they tend to get more use if they're affiliated with Mastercard or Visa. You say with pennies, it's becoming a Mastercard pennies card. Kohl's, you say Capital One, but you don't say,

• 8:08Speaker 03

  is it still just only usable at Kohl's? Or is it a Capital One? Most often Capital One, although it could be a Visa. Usually they're going to be Mastercards. It is to your advantage ironically enough that the card no longer be a mono line. A card affiliated with one of the card networks, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, whatever.

• 8:32Speaker 03

  Are treated very differently on your credit reporting and in the mix of your credit score than a store only card. So it seems like a bad to you. It's actually a good. Even if you don't intend to use them, if you shop JCPenney and Kohl's, it's potentially worth having for the discounts you get by having those cards. There's not an advantage to closing them.

• 9:00Speaker 04

  Paul in Florida says, "I love the show and consider you the patron saint of finance. I have the Delta Platinum Amex card and my APR was just increased to 29% resulting in a minimum monthly payment of $736. What options do I have or should I do with this card? I have contacted them and they offered a long-term financial relief program, but even that is $635 for 48 months in the program. I'm thinking of reaching out to a consolidation company, but that would result in closing the account and a few dings on my already low credit score. However, making this payment will be very difficult month to month anyway."

• 9:38Speaker 03

  Paul, I'm really sorry. This is a bad trap because frequent flyer credit cards are the worst to run a balance on. They carry the highest interest rates of any credit cards from a major issuer and they only work for people who can pay the balance in full, not occasionally, but every single month. That's obviously not the circumstance you're in. And you're the perfect person to do what I just talked about and go to NFCC.org, get

• 10:18Speaker 03

  with a legitimate credit counselor and they will have more negotiating power with American Express than you have coming up with a payment plan that works for you. One thing about when you go to a legitimate credit counselor, they'll not just look at this one card with Amex. They'll be looking at your overall picture.

• 10:42Speaker 03

  You know, everything going on with your finances, your monthly obligations and all the rest, you'll be filling out a lot of paperwork to try to determine what's got to give in your budget or in your life to make your finances work more in your favor. And it's worth going through that process. And I say something else about the airline cards. Because of the extreme valuation of airline frequent flyer points, the points from American, United and Delta are really not that great anymore to have.

• 11:22Speaker 03

  And the cards are not that wonderful to have unless there are perks with them other than the points that make it worth having those cards. Otherwise, they really are something that needs to go extinct in your life. The best cards to have, if you are a frequent traveler, is to look at the cards that the points are transferable to a variety of purposes, a variety of airlines, or just a simple cash back card.

• 11:53Speaker 04

  Christina in Georgia says, I just recently paid off most of my credit cards.

• 11:58Speaker 03

  Congratulations, Christina.

• 12:00Speaker 04

  They all have very high interest rates. They are in the 30% range. My question is, should I cancel them or just keep them and not use them? Right now, I have them locked and put away so that I do not use them.

• 12:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, you keep them because they stay active for a good, long while is part of what makes up your credit mix and helps your credit score. You close them, ironically enough, you will impact, lower your credit score potentially by a meaningful amount of points because the amount of your available credit, the percent of your available credit you're using, represents roughly a third of what makes up your credit score. So you want to keep those cards locked away like you have them so you don't use them. But it will still help you in your credit standing and credit mix and credit score. And congratulations to you and thank you for sharing that you've been able to pay off

• 12:55Speaker 03

  these cards because that's inspiration to others who feel like they just can't get their arms around their debt. It happened step by step, month by month, and you made it happen. I have more about how to pay down balances on credit cards at Clark.com. How I recommend you do it, the most efficient way to get it done on Clark.com. Coming up ahead, I gotta talk about something that single travelers face that could cost you your life when you're traveling. I need for you to pay attention to this because it's a serious, fast-growing crime around the world.

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• 15:25Speaker 03

  There was a criminal trial in New York recently that got a lot of coverage around the United States because this ring was targeting people in bars and slipping drugs into their drinks. Then they were using their faces on iPhones to unlock their phone and empty their bank accounts and brokerage accounts. Along the way, there were people who, they put too much drugs in the drinks, people died. And the criminal ring thankfully was busted by hard detective work, by police in New

• 16:06Speaker 03

  York, and the criminals are where they belong, behind bars. But this type of crime has spread around the globe. And you, as a traveler, heading out, enjoying yourself with nightlife, whatever, you need to be aware. In fact, the State Department has issued a new warning about travelers repeatedly being drugged in Brazil. But it's not just Brazil. There are reports about this happening in Europe, in Asia, around the world, just as it's happened here in the United States.

• 16:47Speaker 03

  And you need to be very, very careful when you're out having a good time. So I have a simple rule, and that is, even if you don't like beer very much, that beer is what you drink when you're out and about, where it's popped open in front of you. Do not drink a draft beer. You want a bottled beer that the bartender opens in front of you, so that you don't have to worry about something put in your drink. And if you do ever use recreational drugs, I can't act like people don't use those, you ever use recreational drugs and you meet somebody and you're hanging out with them

• 17:30Speaker 03

  and they say, "Hey, you want to do whatever?" Don't take any drugs that they're supplying, because you could be set up. And the cases in Brazil, that there are so many, unfortunately have happened in Brazil...

• 17:45Speaker 03

  There are criminal rings targeting guys specifically, as also has happened in Europe. And you'll meet a woman in a bar and she'll lure you back to her place, or the hotel you're staying at, or whatever. They prefer to go to your hotel. I'll tell you why in a second. They drug you, and while you're drugged, they take all your stuff. Your passport is worth a lot of money outside the United States. Passport's number one target they want to get from you. Of course, they get your credit cards, your money, whatever, your iPhone, Android. Much more interested in iPhones. iPhone people tend to have more money.

• 18:30Speaker 03

  Anyway, so know that this is a copycat kind of crime that is unfortunately really, really in right now with criminals. Parents, if you've got a teenager or 20 something who's going off on an adventure with friends overseas, make sure you give them the talk, the eye roll talk, that they're gonna be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a certain naivete, particularly with late teens, early twenties, that puts them at risk. I mean, you think about how many generations of women

• 19:13Speaker 03

  have been warned about somebody putting something in their drink? Right now, in addition to women, guys, we gotta pay attention to this because this is a real and present danger to your health, your finances, potentially your life. Okay, Daddy Clark time is over.

• 19:37Speaker 04

  Well, and you, you knew someone that this happened to?

• 19:40Speaker 03

  I knew someone who died from the actions of one of these criminal rings. A really great person who at the prime of his life is deceased now because he was a victim of one of these criminal rings.

• 19:55Speaker 04

  Super scary. I know there's also things that you can buy where you can test your drink. People often cover their drink when they leave. I mean, just crazy.

• 20:03Speaker 03

  What's wrong with my beer suggestion?

• 20:05Speaker 04

  I mean, that's, yeah, whatever.

• 20:07Speaker 03

  That bottle beer opened in front of you?

• 20:10Speaker 04

  Yeah. Okay, we'll go to questions now. Logan in Arizona has a travel question. My significant other and I are attending a wedding in Dublin in early December. Normally, I'm a big fan of going where the deal is, but given that I have a fixed date and location, how can I get the best airfare? In a perfect world, I'd use points, Chase or Amex, but I'm also happy to pay cash if that gets me the better price. Should I be looking at flights to other large European airports and then flying someone like Ryanair to Dublin? And should I be looking for deals to London and just sucking it up and going through customs and immigrations twice? Should I be trying to fly or drive somewhere else in the US first? Ultimately, we only plan to stay for a day or two in Ireland for the wedding,

• 20:53Speaker 04

  and then we plan to stay, spend the rest of our time in either Switzerland, Austria, or the Czech Republic. My local airport is Phoenix, if that helps. Thanks for all you do in saving your listeners' time, money, and headaches with the airlines.

• 21:05Speaker 03

  Well, Logan, congratulations that you have have to go to this wedding. So you have to go to Europe. But couldn't they have picked a better month to get married than December?

• 21:16Speaker 04

  Well, that's good for your wallet, though, right?

• 21:17Speaker 03

  It is really good for your wallet as long as it's not too close to Christmas. If you're in the air by, haven't looked at this year's calendar, no later than the 14th or 15th of December, you should get some of the lowest fares of the year. You're too early to buy those right now. And going, you know, the old Scotch Cheap flights. Yeah, I had to say it. Put out a list recently that found, fortunately for you, that Dublin has lately been the best deal airport to fly to in Europe, if I'm not misquoting what Goings said. But there have been deals, one after another, to Dublin.

• 22:00Speaker 03

  And the best deals naturally are from the East Coast, from Boston, where there's such a large Irish population. Any market served by Iceland Air, where you can go via Reykjavik, have a free stopover in Iceland. I mean, what could be more fun in December than to have a free stopover in Iceland if you want it? But anyway, the deals for December, as long as you don't cross into that peak Christmas cycle, 15th or 16th of December, you're going to find very good deals, even from out west, not having to come back east.

• 22:43Speaker 03

  You should be able to find a deal around 500, 550 round trip from Phoenix to get you to Dublin. But if a great deal comes along to one of the other airports, one of the other places you're going, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, grab it and go to that and set up alerts to Prague, set up an alert to Vienna, set up an alert to Zurich, Geneva, whatever, as well as Dublin on Google Flights. And every time the fare moves, Google Flights will give you an alert. When the fare is what you want, go ahead and buy it at that point.

• 23:28Speaker 03

  But this should be, barring the peak of that Christmas cycle in December, this should be a real deal ticket.

• 23:34Speaker 04

  Frank in Florida says, Clark, while in Florida for the winter, some neighbors have been talking about a TV streaming service called, do you want me to say the name?

• 23:43Speaker 03

  Don't want you to say the name.

• 23:45Speaker 04

  Called something.

• 23:46Speaker 03

  Because it's a stolen name, named after pretending to be another company.

• 23:50Speaker 04

  Ah, 1,000 channels, local channels, sports, movies, et cetera, for $160 per year. You pay through Cash App, Bitcoin, or Shake Pay. They have a website, and here's the website, is this legit?

• 24:05Speaker 03

  Okay Frank, let's, let's think about this. The only way you can pay them is through Cash App, Bitcoin, or Shake Pay. Do they sound legit? No. These are pirate sites. There are lots of pirate sites. People ask us about them all the time. This one I always have gotten a kick out of because they use the same exact name as a big company. That is a legit company. And so people think, oh, this must be okay. They're using a media company, it's a media company's operation. And it's completely, I mean, you can use it and you'll get the programming, but you're stealing it.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  Don't know that you'll suffer consequences for it. But this is like back when we, 20 years ago, used to hear about people stealing music with, was it Napster?

• 24:58Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:00Speaker 04

  There's also like, a lot of these channels are actually available for free that they, they promote. Like I have a Google Television and Google TV on there is free, not their YouTube TV that they own, but Google TV. And it just, it's a large collection of already available streaming TV channels online and free old TV shows and movies.

• 25:17Speaker 03

  What we have on Clark.com, we have our Fast Guide, free ad-supported television. The amount of content now available for free legitimately, just like what happened in music. Where with music, what really got rid of all the, the people stealing music was all these music services that you can listen in one form or another for free with ads has really become the thing in music for people that are cheap like me to listen to the ads, I have free music. And same thing in television.

• 25:51Speaker 04

  Donald in Wisconsin says, is there any way to cancel a new credit card that I was misled into taking without damaging my credit score, which is 820 right now?

• 26:01Speaker 03

  Okay, so Donald, got a brand-new card. You don't have to accept it when it comes to you. You can reject that card. You will still have the small hit for a hard inquiry that will be very few points. As long as you have sufficient available credit otherwise, and they conned you, saying, "Oh, this card's gonna do all these great things for you." And you get it, and it's a bunch of hooey. You can close that account, and you will have no significant harm on your credit. Again, as long as you have sufficient available credit that your ratios remain good. What's your ratio?

• 26:43Speaker 03

  That you're never using more than 30% of your available credit limit on credit cards. As long as you are staying below that 30%, closing this card, you're good. And this card may have some kind of ugly annual fee. When you call to cancel, they may say, "Why?" You say, "Well, I thought it was gonna do this." It doesn't. They may offer to convert that card to a fee-free card that would keep your available credit in your mix, and you'd be able to have that as an alternative solution. And thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. Remember, we serve you around the clock, as I mentioned a second ago,

• 27:27Speaker 03

  with our free streaming guide at Clark.com. We have Clark Deals, where you get the latest hot deals of the day. And then for each, we have a daily free newsletter, the Clark Newsletter and the Clark Deals Newsletter. The whole idea of these is to give you wonderful, I believe, information that empowers you with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And have a great day.