Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 07.31.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Property Taxes About this episode Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also, with real estate values skyrocketing past the rate of inflation, homeowners across the country are facing massive property tax hikes—and in some cases, people are literally being priced out of their homes. The core idea should be simple: no one should be forced out of their home due to runaway tax bills. You can appeal on your own, hire a specialized company, or bring in an attorney for larger commercial properties. The key is to act fast: pay close attention to your assessment, check the math, and fight for your money!
All this and more on the July 31, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your opinions or questions: Ask Clark.
Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2
Property Tax Sticker Shock: Segment 3
Ask Clark: Segment 4
Mentioned on the show:
10 Ways To Save on Prescription Drugs - Clark Howard
Why Clark Howard Has Ditched Bill Pay and What He's Doing Instead
When You Should (and Shouldn't) Use a 529 Plan - Clark Howard
How Long Do You Need To Keep Tax Documents? - Clark Howard
Safer Ways To Send Money: Clark Howard’s Rules for Protecting Your Cash
America is in the middle of the biggest property tax revolt in 50 years
Report: The States With the 10 Highest and Lowest Property Taxes
A Single Change to Your Car-Buying Habits Could Add $250,000 to Retirement
The Sneaky Web Tricks Costing You Money - Clark Howard
Stop Paying for a Credit Card You Barely Use - Clark Howard
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. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
0:31 Speaker 01 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100 degree weather, or too much sun. Gator Light, with a specialized blend of five electrolytes, was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gator Light hydrates faster than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
1:04 Speaker 02 It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. Happy Friday. It's time for me to get taken to school in our Clark Stink segment. And later, a lot of people are receiving property tax reassessments or appraisals. And yeah, you got one.
1:36 Speaker 03 Forty percent.
1:37 Speaker 02 I got one, 51%.
1:39 Speaker 03 And not a decrease.
1:41 Speaker 02 No. Actually, on a rental property, I did get a decrease.
1:46 Speaker 03 Wow.
1:47 Speaker 02 Yeah, that was pleasant. But many of us aren't having a pleasant experience. There's a lot of sticker shock. I want to give you general advice about this because this is something that's leading to anger and in some places revolt around the country. What do you do? How do you handle it? But right now, without further ado, it's time to hear where I am stinking it up.
2:12 Speaker 04 I should have never encouraged you to speak.
2:14 Speaker 05 You must think I'm pretty stupid.
2:15 Speaker 06 You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right.
2:23 Speaker 03 All right, we're going to start with Ed. Ed's from Massachusetts and he sent this Clark Stinks in. Clark, thanks for the information you provided about how to save money on prescription drugs. However, you did not mention one other source, GoodRx. I have saved hundreds of dollars using GoodRx, not only for my prescriptions, but also for my pet prescriptions. Please let everyone know.
2:46 Speaker 02 So, thank you. We've talked about GoodRx off and on for years and I guess recently I've not mentioned it, but yes, the difference, particularly if you're at a traditional high-priced pharmacy chain, GoodRx can be an enormous price saver.
3:06 Speaker 03 And then a few came in about using your bank's bill pay system, more than a few, but I'm just going to read a couple here. Anne in California says, "When Clark said that if Bill Pay sends out a paper check and it gets altered, I could be responsible for the inflated amount, he smelled like, to quote an old song, a dead skunk in the middle of the road. Per my new boyfriend AI, you're generally not responsible for the stolen funds if the bank bill paycheck is altered. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, the UCC, banks can only charge your account for properly payable items. Altered or forged checks are not properly payable, meaning the bank must usually reimburse your account. Also, I checked with Schwab and their bill pay sends out checks with their routing numbers, not mine.
3:50 Speaker 03 On the other hand, thanks to Clark and your team for making me a little richer every day." I'm just going to read that one. So, but there were other people who just said like that with their credit union, they don't get the money taken out right away when the check is sent, that when the check is cashed, it's taken out.
4:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, so let me go back to a prior podcast and YouTube show. We had someone who was really upset that their bank takes the money out the second they issue the paper check. And even if the check is never cashed or never received by the recipient, they think the bill's been paid and then they get a notice later saying they didn't pay their bill. What's up? And bill pay works differently at different institutions. And you mentioned one of the things I'm glad Schwab changed. It no longer refers to your account number, just as Ann said.
4:49 Speaker 02 And so you don't have to worry that the criminal has your account number, transit numbers, all that from the bottom of that check, which is a big benefit. Here's the problem that keeps happening, though. Check gets stolen on the way. You don't know it's been stolen. There may be a significant period of time that lapses. And by the time you're aware, under banking regulations, your right to dispute is gone. So the UCC, you're right, but also you can't sit on your rights. And so the problems come when a check is swiped from the mail
5:30 Speaker 02 and you are blissfully unaware that that check's been stolen. And the problems reverberate later. Paper checks are a problem, which is why in country after country, paper checks are almost never used or not used at all. We are an unusual outlier on this.
5:52 Speaker 03 Lisa in Indiana says, this isn't completely stinky, but a bit misleading on the topic of 529 penalties. The 10% penalty is only applicable to the earnings, not the contributions, which can be taken out if not needed. So if the account grew an average of 8% over the years, you're only paying 10% on the 8% that it grew, not the entire withdrawal.
6:14 Speaker 02 True.
6:14 Speaker 03 And if your child gets a scholarship, you can take that amount out of the 529 without penalty as well. Please try not to discourage parents because of this small penalty. Love the show. I've learned so much over the years.
6:26 Speaker 02 Lisa, thank you. And really, the, the great news and the reason Congress changed the statute and allowed money not needed for college to be transferred tax-free and penalty-free into that child's Roth IRA as an adult. Eliminated the biggest objection that parents had to putting money in a 529 account is what if my kid doesn't go to college? What if my kid scholarship's out? What if I don't have another kid who's interested that I can transfer the beneficiary designation to? The ability to turn that into Roth money up to $35,000 is a huge safety valve and
7:11 Speaker 02 a great way to encourage people to contribute to a 529, even if you're not sure your kid, your young child's going to go to college.
7:21 Speaker 03 Tim in Michigan says, "You smell like a weary traveler wearing three changes of clothes pulling his carry-on to the nearest airport lounge. My wife and I travel 20-plus times a year and enjoy being active. We always check our main luggage and bring onboard only small backpacks with some essentials. This gives us great freedom on layover flights to get steps in. At Denver, a lap around Terminal C gets you 2,000 steps. At Chicago's Midway, we often leave the airport and walk the pleasant surrounding neighborhood. Recently, on a five-hour layover, we took the L train to downtown Chicago, got in a four-mile walk along the lakefront, and returned in plenty of time to get through TSA and make our connecting
8:03 Speaker 03 flight. None of this is possible if we follow your advice and avoid checked luggage at pretty much all costs. Instead, travel days would be hours of sitting and snacking. We've never had a problem with lost or delayed luggage in more than six years of heavy traveling."
8:19 Speaker 02 Wow.
8:20 Speaker 03 Someday, we might, and we'll have insurance coverage for that. Anyway, I enjoy your podcast, but sometimes you need to think a little bit outside the lounge.
8:31 Speaker 02 Tim, that's a funny thing because I've got like a visceral hatred of standing in line to check a bag, then being at the carousel and you watch it go around and around and around. And then if there's a flight problem... You can't change to another flight if you've already checked a bag. There's no doubt that I am very, very rigid about this and I should be more flexible in life. That's what my wife says.
9:02 Speaker 03 Joe in Wyoming says, Clark stinks more than my three pugs when they're overdue for a bath. One tinkles on himself, too stinky. So when recently a person wrote in about keeping tax records for X amount of time, Clark forgot to mention that the IRS can go back indefinitely for fraud-related reasons. So any person committing fraud needs to keep supporting documentation forever. Sounds funny, but who knows what could be investigated as fraud? So it's best to keep everything for every year until the end of time, including after death, for any inquiries made to the estate.
9:38 Speaker 02 All right. You're 100% right. There is no statute of limitations with the IRS on fraud. And occasionally you'll be asked for records that go way past six prior tax years because of suspicion of fraud. But the cases where that has happened are so crazy rare that if you can have a digital copy of the older data that you've scanned in anyway, that would be a substitute for keeping stacks and stacks and stacks of paper returns and all the supporting document. Now, I have my tax returns going back to, I think, the 1970s.
10:22 Speaker 02 But the substantiation with it for various things on the return, I've only kept those for the last seven tax years and then I purge and on like that. So I'm taking a risk. You're right. But to me, the risk level is low enough and I'm not engaged in fraud anyway. I know that you're guilty till proven innocent, but I'm not that worried about that because I do have all those returns.
10:51 Speaker 03 All right. I'm going to finish up with a few emails about what you call big bad Zell and objections to your opinion on that. So what I'd like- To do is each one I read is about a different opinion on different things. So maybe just respond to that specific thing between each state.
11:06 Speaker 02 Okay.
11:06 Speaker 03 Does that make sense?
11:07 Speaker 02 Okay.
11:08 Speaker 03 Here's Ben in Texas. Oh, my gosh, I was screaming at the phone when I heard that troop leader subjecting her whole troop to such inane and inconvenient payment methods. She's resorting to using checks because of Clark's fear mongering regarding Zelle and the other peer to peer payment methods. In fact, checks are in order of magnitude less secure than Zelle. Please stop and stop with the nonsense about Zelle being embedded into your checking account. It has little to do with the older security concerns raised by those in the know. The issue stems from Zelle not having its own account or user ID like, say, Venmo. A Zelle user is identified by a phone number or email address. With SIM hijacking or a compromised email, a criminal can redirect a payment
11:50 Speaker 03 to another account they've opened at a bank tied to the stolen phone number or email. The banks have addressed this issue by notifying the old account holder about a new account being linked with the contact info through communication methods that could possibly compromise phone number or email, like messaging through the website or an app. So the problem is not with Zelle. It's with SIM hijacking and email hacking that puts other financial accounts at risk of a hack as well. If you have SIM locked and your email is secure with a unique, long password, you have nothing to worry about. Please stop spreading outdated information and subjecting people to unnecessary inconvenience. Your goal is to improve people's lives, not mess them up.
12:31 Speaker 02 Thank you very much for that. Okay, so given a choice between me handing a troop leader or, you know, somebody collecting money for a teacher or whatever, using Big Bad Zelle or writing a check? I'd rather use Zelle. I said it.
12:51 Speaker 02 Because paper checks are the greatest danger of all. There's a number of things that the banks that own Zelle could have done to make Zelle a safer place to do business.
13:05 Speaker 02 And now, everything they're doing is trying to mitigate the risk that they've created by rushing Zelle out without proper consumer protections. So, anyway, I'll stop right there. Let's hear the next one.
13:16 Speaker 03 This is from Michelle in Arizona. You do not like Zelle, but you're a big Venmo fan. And you said in your recent podcast that you and your wife needed to put more money in Venmo, so it's a little extra work. You also mentioned that one can set up a separate account with their bank for Venmo. Well, one could do the same with Zelle and have it linked to a certain account with their bank, and not an account that has a lot of money in it. Thank you for your podcast. My husband and I have been longtime listeners.
13:42 Speaker 02 Michelle, thank you. I'm so glad you posted that. So, first of all, with the Venmo, we have a separate checking account and a separate institution that we deposit the money in. If you're gonna use Zelle, if you're gonna use Venmo, if you're gonna use Cash App, do not set up the separate bank account at the same institution you have your primary funds at. Because all the banks, and I think most of the credit unions, if not all, have what are known as cross-default clauses. If somebody were to successfully raid and get to the payment app and start pulling money out over and over again, and then it overdraws an account you have at a bank, under the terms of service with your bank,
14:26 Speaker 02 they can then go attack your main account and start pulling money out of it. And it's what's known as a cross-default clause. So, the segregated account has to be at a separate financial institution than where you do your primary banking or credit unioning. There's gotta be a better phrase than credit unioning.
14:50 Speaker 03 Eric in North Carolina says, "The information you give about Zelle just isn't totally true. You consistently yammer on about how it is embedded in your checking account. It is available to activate and use in your checking account. It is not automatically activated for use. It cannot be used until you go in and activate. You have to enroll using an email address or cellphone number. At that time, they send you a code." Code, you have to verify. At that point, you can send or receive money. The second you're done, you can deactivate it. To use it again, the entire process would have to be completed again. I've done it myself multiple times. It's not hard. I appreciate all you do. The entire story is just not being told here.
15:31 Speaker 02 So Eric, I may have been giving old information, but we, or people didn't realize what they'd done, but we've heard from consumers over and over and over again, who didn't even know what Zelle was, lost money through the Zelle app that they had not been using, and they had not, to their knowledge, personally activated Zelle on their account. So there may be additional barriers that financial institutions, or the one you use, have in place to prevent unknown activation of Zelle on their account.
16:10 Speaker 03 John in Oklahoma, I'm going to finish up with this fun one. Clark doesn't stink, of course, but I want to share the contents of my fortune cookie tonight. It literally says, save more, spend less. No joke. And as I'm reading it, I added, and avoid getting ripped off.
16:28 Speaker 03 Thank you for sending that in, John.
16:30 Speaker 02 That's funny. Yeah, so it is funny that I see our phrase that we've used for decades, I see it pop up different places now, and I will see all three pop up in an article or whatever. So I don't care where it comes from. I don't care who duplicates it. The whole thing is creating a mentality of that. Save more, spend less, avoid getting ripped off, because that's what I want you to do. And by the way, all of you who have contacted us continuously for years, passionate about Zelle. Both the negatives and positives of Zelle. I really appreciate that. I appreciate the engagement.
17:14 Speaker 02 And what I'm trying to do is create awareness. And with any of the payment apps, I want you to understand that you don't have the normal consumer protections you do, as an example, with a credit card. If you accidentally enter the wrong payee information and that money goes, there's no way to recapture it. It is a risky process that does not have normal consumer safeguards. So that's what my thing is about it. So I appreciate the conversations about it. The more we can make each other aware, the better we're going to be able to avoid problems that are hard to fix later.
17:59 Speaker 02 And coming up next, something that's doing a job on our wallets, reassessments of real estate coming from most places in the country, from a local government, county government, that sort of thing. I want to talk about that straight ahead.
18:17 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
18:47 Speaker 07 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors, great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist. Imagine building an app with your name on it. With Base44, describe what you want and watch it take shape. Plan, customize, and expand in any direction with payments, data, security, and hosting built in. Go to base44.com.
19:32 Speaker 02 1979 is the most important year in a property tax revolt in the United States. When voters in California passed Proposition 13, which came up with new rules on how property tax was charged in the state of California on existing homeowners. The idea is that no one should be priced out of their house. And I'm firsthand familiar, as a longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, with habitat homeowners who in some jurisdictions have been forced to sell their habitat homes.
20:16 Speaker 02 Because even though they were fine with the mortgage payment they had to make every month and all that, the area that their habitat home was in gentrified and the property taxes, as the value was reassessed, reached a point where it was far, far higher than their mortgage and they could no longer afford to stay in that home that they were privileged to have as the first home they had ever owned and they had to sell. Well, now we're seeing this problem happen around the United States because real estate values, as much inflation as we've had over the last many years, real estate values in a lot of the country escalated at a much higher rate than even the rate of inflation,
21:00 Speaker 02 general rate of inflation. And so people are up in arms. And as someone who spends a lot of time in the state of Florida, I've paid close attention to the fight going on there about actually eliminating property tax on a majority of residences in the state of Florida so that people won't be priced out of their home. That's how much a revolt is going on in jurisdiction after jurisdiction all over the country.
21:30 Speaker 02 Because this goes back, as I understand it, to English common law that for centuries that the concept was that you tax property owners as a way to fund the services that government provides. The problem is if you don't have a method of keeping those property taxes from making it impossible for, let's say, an elderly resident to age in place in the home or condo or townhouse or whatever they live in, and they have to move at a vulnerable time of their lives because they can't afford the property taxes.
22:10 Speaker 02 And so all over the country, we have these, let's call them economic experiments going on, trying to figure out how to reform property tax. But in the meanwhile, in so many jurisdictions, your wallet gets blown apart by the property tax reappraisal you get. Try to imagine being a property tax appraiser in a jurisdiction and trying to get it right in a neighborhood, you know, a big suburban development where there are four or six building plans. It's pretty easy to get it right, but particularly in older neighborhoods where every house is different, they're going to get it wrong most of the time.
22:55 Speaker 02 Even if they're really good as an appraiser, they're going to get it wrong. And so just because you get a notice saying, like, Krista, what'd you say yours was 40% increase? Mine was over 50% that I got recently. And so what are both of us doing? We're appealing. And you can appeal either on your own, you can hire one of these high-volume companies that handle appeals, or if it's a big value property or people own commercial properties, you hire usually a lawyer who specializes.
23:36 Speaker 02 And doing appraisal appeals on expensive properties. And so you just don't take whatever your jurisdiction says. There are very tight deadlines in most places in the country. And when you get that notice, do not forget about it. Do not say, well, that's terrible. And forget about it because you sit on your rights, you lose them if you miss the appeal deadline. Never, never, ever, if you're handling your own appeal, do you get before whatever panel you're talking to, either professionals or fellow citizens? And complain about the government, complain about the services you get.
24:20 Speaker 02 And just generally complain about government. What you do is you come up with the best information you can on what properties similar to yours have sold for recently. Often you'll find that the data, because home prices have stalled in a lot of the country and gone down in some markets, they're using data that is no longer relevant. But it's what they're basing that new value on that then sets your tax rate. When the reality is values may now being lower in your neighborhood than they were before.
25:01 Speaker 02 So, gosh, I need to, another time, I need to talk about the fact that for the first time ever in years and years and years, there's a big increase in the number of foreclosures going on in the country and short sales. But I'm going to address that on another day so I can really dig into that. But in the meantime, remember, pay close attention to that. If the numbers are truly inaccurate, you appeal. Or if you find one of the things in a lot of jurisdictions, If you're being appraised at a much higher value than a neighbor whose house you know is better or nicer or even similar to yours,
25:44 Speaker 02 you're being over appraised compared to them. In many places, that alone is a grounds for you appealing, although your neighbor may not like you later.
25:56 Speaker 03 All right, Jeff in Florida says, I'm looking at the best way to purchase an investment property. I'm 39. My house has listed two years left to pay on it. So we'll have $400,000 in equity. We fully fund two retirements. Colleges paid for through 529 plans. Our total household income is 300K with no debt besides one car. We only have one car at a time and drive it for 20 years or 400,000 miles.
26:21 Speaker 02 Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. Okay, so there are people that were like, well, Jeff's, I mean, he sure is lucky. No, you created your luck. I mean, the thing with the vehicle proves that you are extra careful with your money. Congratulations.
26:39 Speaker 03 What would be the best way to go about purchasing a small lot, either for $12,000 or $50,000 and a tiny home for $75,000? We would Airbnb it out since it's located in a desirable location with no hotels. Pro forma has 7% interest with 3% down on land, making it 6.4 nights a month to break even. This includes a higher than average management cost to accommodate more freedom for me. I have been listening to Clark since my 20s, making $40,000, and now I make $200,000. He has made me very wealthy and happy.
27:13 Speaker 02 Okay, first of all, thank you for saying that. But you know who made you wealthy and happy? You made yourself wealthy and happy. You did it. And I want to talk about this business. So I'm really curious. You've got all this equity on the home. You've saved so much money. I hope you have a decent rainy day account. The dollars you're talking about on buying the lot, buying the home, with the amount of money you make, the amount of resources you have managed to develop in your life, I would rather you just pay cash for this.
27:53 Speaker 02 You should be in a position to do that with your rainy day money. And you having done something that is so important, your income when you first started listening was 40 grand. Now it's 200 grand, but you controlled lifestyle through that process. Driving vehicles 20 years, 400,000 miles. It clearly indicates that you avoided lifestyle creep. So you pay cash for the land. Hopefully you pay cash for the tiny home and you start generating revenue from it. I see no benefit in you borrowing to do it. Next thing, the money has to work.
28:38 Speaker 02 If the rules change where you're going to do this tiny home, as is happening all over the country, people who have had short-term rentals, the law changes and you no longer can do short-term rentals. Can you make the economics work if you have to put a long-term tenant in instead? I'd say with the numbers you talked about, yes, the math would work even as a long-term rental. But anybody who's thinking of buying a property to turn into an Airbnb or whatever, be mindful about how many jurisdictions in the country homeowners associations, condo associations
29:21 Speaker 02 have now banned short-term rentals.
29:24 Speaker 03 Greg in California says, this is a hopefully helpful story rather than a question. I have an Android and I listen to your podcast on Amazon Music. They do an underhanded and sneaky trick as follows. When I open the app, the first screen is whatever I was listening to last with a little play button. After a couple of seconds, many times an ad pops up to enroll in some Amazon subscription for $19.95 a month and the accept button lands right on top of the play button. Once you hit that accept button, it immediately charges your card. I've been caught twice. We're on the way to hitting play, the accept button popped up and I could not stop my finger fast enough.
29:59 Speaker 02 Oh, no.
30:00 Speaker 03 We also recently found out that Uber did something similar with their monthly membership.
30:05 Speaker 02 Uber won.
30:06 Speaker 03 Yep. Why do these mega companies have to be so underhanded?
30:10 Speaker 02 So, gosh, it's so interesting you ask this because we talked about this just like six weeks ago about how the takeover screen will pop up and you're busy, you're multitasking, you don't even realize what's on the screen that you hit. You mentioned Amazon here. This happens with YouTube, Pandora, if people listen to the older music service that used to be dominant. So many different organizations have the pop up. The Uber One, as a regular Uber rider, the Uber One pops up over and over and over again. And then last night,
30:54 Speaker 02 what did I see? There was one that was a whole screen cover on Uber for me to sign up for some kind of Uber Eat subscription.
31:03 Speaker 03 Oh.
31:04 Speaker 02 And you know how I feel about ordering food for delivery. Yuck. I know it's really popular, but it's not my thing. And by the way, on this complete annex, because I'm completely scatterbrained, I feel so badly for people who deliver food for the food delivery apps when I'll be somewhere and there's somebody coming in to pick up food they're going to deliver and the food is not ready. And they're standing there and they're not getting paid minute by minute by minute, waiting for the food to be ready. I feel so bad for a gig worker delivering food who that happens to.
31:47 Speaker 03 All right. Gino in Missouri says, thanks for all the great advice over the years. I do not miss a podcast or newsletter. I know Clark prefers leaving credit card accounts open to avoid lowering your credit score, but we had several cards we weren't using anymore that had upcoming annual fees. I finally ripped the Band-Aid off and closed a handful of them on the same day. Since then, I've been on a points, miles and bonus cash binge for the last 15 months with almost no impact on my credit score. Since March of 25, I've opened eight new credit card accounts and Closed seven. I've even closed my oldest card, which I'd had for more than 20 years. Every one of the eight new cards was open strictly for a signup bonus.
32:29 Speaker 03 As soon as we meet the required spend, we move on to the next one. We've enjoyed two free trips in the last seven months and still have plenty of miles and points left to use. I try to close each card before the annual fee hits. Our total available credit has gone from $90,000 to $145,000. In total, I've earned 675,000 miles and points and $450 in cash from these bonus offers. And here's the real kicker. My FICO score was 825 when this all started, and today it's 832, an increase of seven points. It's never dropped below 821 at any point during the past 15 months. I still have a few more airline and hotel cards on my radar,
33:11 Speaker 03 but I need to slow down since I've blown past the Chase five, I think it's five and 24 months.
33:17 Speaker 02 Yeah, so 524 and other big credit card issuers have followed Chase's example. And if you apply for too many cards in a period of time, whatever they decide that is, they'll approve you for the card, but they invalidate you receiving the signup bonus.
33:34 Speaker 03 All of these accounts have been open in my name, so we may start cycling through some of the cards under my wife's name next. And yes, we pay everything off monthly, often before the billing cycle even closes. And P.S., don't forget about checking account signup bonuses. We've made an extra $2,100 during the same period. Like Krista has mentioned, for my huge mistake, make sure you pay close attention to the requirements.
33:58 Speaker 02 So both my brothers have fully, over the years, capitalized on what you talk about. So you got the signup bonus in his name, then in her name, and just keep cycling through these accounts. And this stuff all works if you do one key thing. You know what that one key thing is?
34:21 Speaker 03 Pay everything off in full.
34:23 Speaker 02 Pay your balance in full every month. Because reward cards, when you don't pay the balance in full, they have some of the highest interest rates out there. And they will blow through every point benefit you're getting. And it gets hard. Uh, my poor wife, can you imagine how hard it would be to be lame? Being married with me, married to me.
34:49 Speaker 03 I'm not answering that trick question.
34:51 Speaker 02 You know, it's hard.
34:52 Speaker 03 No way.
34:52 Speaker 02 You know, it is. And so she laughs how, well, I'm supposed to use this credit card here and I'm supposed to do that one now and do this and, oh, I'm at a restaurant. Which card was I was supposed to use? And it just drives her nuts that I am such a freak about this. So I want you to know that Gino is my pen name. No, not really.
35:19 Speaker 02 But Gino and I are on the same wavelength because the credit card companies are so addicted to the merchant fees that the incentives for them to offer all these point bonuses and all that are so great. And most people being creatures of habit, just keep renewing the cards year after year when they're really not necessarily beneficial to you. I really enjoy when I call up and cancel a reward card. And then you have to talk to the retention department and they go through the whole psychological battery of things, trying to get you to keep it.
36:01 Speaker 02 And it's kind of cleansing when you cycle through, get your bonuses, switch to another card and on like that. If this is the game the banks want to play, you gotta know how to win, just like you do, Gino, and many others we've heard from. So thank you so much for joining us this Friday afternoon. If you listen to us in the afternoon, evening, you don't get around to listening to us till the weekend, whatever. Love having you as a member of our team. And I learned so much from your questions, from your suggestions. We all learn together. We all help each other.
36:45 Speaker 02 That's what we should be about. We should be about service to each other. And I love it that that is the spirit of our community here. So we'll be back at your service on Monday. Here's your job this weekend.
37:02 Speaker 02 Enjoy yourself. Have a great time. And remember, even in that enjoyment, always be thinking, save more, spend less, and never, never, never, not ever, get ripped off. See you next week.
Previous 07.29.26 Investor Alert: Correction Protection / T-Mobile T-Bones Your Wallet Next 08.03.26 Air Travel Update / DIY Home Upgrades Page updated November 6, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
