Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 11.05.25 Spend Less On Internet Service / SCAM WARNINGS About this episode Today - You know Clark loves competition, and there is more choice for you now in the home internet market. More providers are offering wireless internet. Also, scams keep morphing and proliferating. Clark discusses the patterns to recognize so you’re able to protect yourself and others. Home Internet For Less: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Scam Warnings: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Mint Mobile Introduces 5G Home Internet From $30/Month The Best Unlimited Hotspot Plans The Best Phone Plan For You - Compare Phone Plans 10 Ways To Save on Prescription Drugs Receive a letter from the Supreme Court? Think again, Social Security watchdog says Chinese Criminals Made More Than $1 Billion From Those Annoying Texts -WSJ DOJ seizes $15 billion in bitcoin from massive 'pig butchering' scam based in Cambodia Crypto ATM crime scene Medicare Advantage Warning: Read This Before You Auto-Renew Why Vacation Clubs Are Even Worse Than Timeshares Automatic Bill Pay: How It Works and How To Do It Safely 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 It's great to have you here on 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. Today, you know, I love competition, and there's yet more coming to your home internet. This is the kind of thing that's money that's so easy for you to grab. And coming later, talking about grabbing money from you in a blink. The scamsters are getting worse and worse and worse. And you think, oh, I'm too sophisticated. I'd never get taken by a scammer.
1:34 Speaker 02 People of all income levels, all walks of life are getting taken. And I want to just give you some examples of what you should be looking for, not those specific things, but how the patterns work to protect yourself. That's coming later. So, got a notice yesterday from my home internet service telling me that they were going up five bucks. What's that my invitation to do? Well, that's my invitation to bolt, to go to their competition and see what I can get. And then change internet service. It's not that hard.
2:17 Speaker 02 But there's something I want you to think a little wider outside the box. It's no longer just going to the monopoly local phone company or the cable monster and playing one against the other. That's the old game. That's small ball. The big game now is more and more players are offering wireless internet. And this is something that is not for everybody. Tell you who it's not for. Principally, it's not for people that are gamers. Now, if you are an obsessed gamer, you have to have lightning fast internet.
3:00 Speaker 02 No matter what you have, it's probably not going to seem fast enough as you're gaming against other people over their internet connections. Other than that, I don't know who else needs it at their home. Because the internet service available from these wireless providers is plenty fast enough to stream all you want, to do whatever it is you're doing, you know, with video content streaming in, anything, you're web surfing, you're going to be just fine. And here's proof. Think about now how much stuff we do on these cell phones of ours, where the internet connection we have
3:44 Speaker 02 is plenty fast enough to do anything we're doing on our phones. And it's not exactly equivalent, but close for these fixed wireless. The first big player in it was T-Mobile, followed by Verizon is doing big play in it. And now some of the discounters are doing it. T-Mobile has a discount brand they own called Net Mobile. Used to be an independent company, but T-Mobile bought it. And they, to their subscribers, for cellphone service. And by the way, if you've never looked, Net...
4:24 Speaker 02 Is so cheap for your cellphone service, your mobile phone service. Well, if you have your mobile phone service with them, or you switch to them, your home internet becomes $30 a month. But let's say that's too much a leap for you. You don't want to also move your mobile phone service, but you'd like to get cheaper home internet. Well, it's 40 a month. That's a lot better than paying the cable monster, or the phone monopoly, what is usually about 80, 90 bucks a month. And you're saying, "Well, actually, I'm paying 100 and something." Anyway, whatever it is.
5:06 Speaker 02 And you can use something like the Mint Mobile thing as a lever to get a much lower price from your internet service that you have from one of the traditional players. Or you could just switch. But if you use it as a lever, did you know, more often than not, your traditional monopoly phone company, or cable monster, will, in order to not lose you, offer you internet service at your home for somewhere $30 to $45 a month? Usually a third to half of what you're paying right now. And so, this is your money that month after month multiplies.
5:51 Speaker 02 Money gone. If you save 40, 50, 60 bucks a month, that adds up over time. Think about how many things in our lives we're paying for as monthlies, like our internet connection, that we could really reduce. And if you live by yourself in an apartment, if your mobile phone plan includes unlimited hotspot, you very well probably don't need a home internet connection at all. You can just run off that unlimited hotspot. And on Clark.com, you can see which providers, even the bargain ones,
6:33 Speaker 02 offer really robust, good, unlimited hotspots as part of your monthly mobile phone service.
6:42 Speaker 02 It's your money. Krista?
6:44 Speaker 03 Okay, the first question today is from JD in California. Clark, you may have heard that AT&T has agreed to pay consumers $177 million to settle a class action lawsuit over several data breaches. Coincidentally, or maybe not, I recently received an email notifying me that my home internet would soon go up in price. Could it be that big bad AT&T is forcing consumers to pay for the settlement out of their own pockets? And if so, how do they get away with it?
7:13 Speaker 02 So first of all, a company that big, $177 million would be like, oh, there's a penny down there. Should I pick it up? Wonder if the copper might be worth 1.7 cents. Should I pick it up? I mean, it's not even a penny to them. Their revenues are so large that that's irrelevant. It's all part of the inertia strategy. Companies know that most people just keep doing what they're doing because they've been doing it. So much noise in life, so many things going on, that they pinch us five bucks here, 10 bucks there.
7:55 Speaker 02 It was funny, I was reading this outrage online, all these posts and all this on social media. T-Mobile raised some more junk fees starting this month. And people were just in an uproar. But the reality is, customers, because they're creatures of habit, are just going to keep using T-Mobile for their mobile phone service in overwhelming numbers. The churn rate on people switching their mobile phone service is about 1.5% to 2% of people a month dump it. So companies know that they can push through these increases, and most people just say, oh, well, I'll just pay it.
8:40 Speaker 02 That's not my strategy.
8:41 Speaker 03 That's why we have tools at Clark.com, including our cell phone plan finder. I recently got a friend to switch from one of the big bad cell phone companies to another one.
8:52 Speaker 02 And now you never hear from them anymore because their phone doesn't work, right?
8:55 Speaker 03 No. In fact, he was like, I can't believe it. I got my bill this month. It really is just $29 a month for like the full unlimited plan. And I was like, yeah, I was paying $90 a month.
9:09 Speaker 02 90 to 29, that's a little bit of difference.
9:13 Speaker 03 Just a little.
9:13 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:14 Speaker 03 David in California says, have you seen the lines at store pharmacies? I was shocked how the closing of Rite Aid stores has affected pharmacy access at the stores that are still available. What do you think will pop up in our economy to fill this void? Perhaps smaller kiosk operations, like the drive-through coffee stands? Or maybe more Walgreens and CVS pharmacies popping up in other places? When you need a prescription the same day, you go to one of these rather than online mail for meds.
9:42 Speaker 02 All right. So what a great question. And you at the very end stated where the problem is. So CVS and Walgreens also closing locations. Rite Aid had been in steep decline for a long time before they finally gave up. And so the number of traditional chain pharmacies has been going steadily down. But there's something that we have not noticed that's been kind of under the radar happening around the country. And that is independent pharmacies have reemerged. It's kind of like, you think about with the bookstores, how the big chain bookstores destroyed the corner bookstore and there was like a movie like a generation ago about it.
10:26 Speaker 03 You've got mail.
10:26 Speaker 02 Thank you.
10:27 Speaker 03 I love that movie.
10:29 Speaker 02 Now, the small independently owned bookstores are coming back to life, not obviously like they were before because people reading electronic books. But the same thing is happening in pharmacy or same day meds. So you don't, I'm telling you, you walk down a street, you don't even notice these independents. So you're driving down the street, you don't really notice them because you think CVS, Walgreens, CVS, Walgreens, uh-uh, look wider. And the outlets providing prescriptions.
11:03 Speaker 02 That our alternative same day keep rising. The warehouse clubs are taking larger and larger market share on the same day prescriptions because they're often one tenth the cost of filling a prescription same day what it is at Walgreens and CVS. And Walmart is a big player in the same day market with a huge number of prescriptions at flat rate four bucks. So yeah, CVS and Walgreens are not irrelevant, but they are less relevant than they used
11:41 Speaker 02 to be because we now have ultra tiny alternatives and then we have the huge big boxes as alternatives.
11:51 Speaker 03 I also, a lot of times my Costco won't have something same day, I've noticed. And so there are some grocery stores near me that I'll price out that will often have
11:59 Speaker 02 I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the grocery stores.
12:02 Speaker 03 Yeah, so maybe check that out too. Okay, Angie in Pennsylvania, speaking of warehouse clubs, has a question for the expert on all warehouse clubs. She says, "I have a BJ's membership. I've had it for years and they just moved their store to a horrible location across town and built it with less parking and gas pumps in the smallest space possible. I hate it," in all caps. Costco just built a new store finally, which has a great, great space and pumps. It's not open yet. It's the first Costco to open near me. I have the BJ's one plus credit card now and it renews next month. I'd like to move to Costco plus credit card and membership. So how can I go about making the switch? I assume I'll have to cancel the BJ's credit card and apply for the Costco credit card.
12:46 Speaker 03 Help me make the switch to your favorite place on earth. I do not need to keep the BJ's credit card in any form. I already have three other credit cards.
12:54 Speaker 02 All right. So first of all, factual correction. My favorite place on earth is wherever I am with my wife.
13:00 Speaker 03 Aww.
13:01 Speaker 02 Okay. The second thing is, yes, we do receive our mail at Costco. No, we don't. Anyway. When Costco comes into a new market, there's usually some incentive on market open or pre-open of that store. They'll set up even before the store opens. They'll have like a tent out in front with a new member special. And at that time, you may get a better deal on the initial signup for the membership and potentially a better deal on the credit card. And they know that people who carry the Costco card, Visa card, tend to shop a lot more in the store than people who don't.
13:46 Speaker 02 So you might get the whole shebang before it opens. So look online at Costco. See when that store is going to have pre-open. And that's when you want to be there to join. As for dumping the BJ's membership and the credit card, this is what I call hopscotching, where you replace one item of credit with another and you end up in the same position for your credit score and credit standing. You'll be just fine doing that switch. There is something that as much as I love Costco, BJ's Wholesale has a big advantage over Costco and over Sam's. They have far more SKUs.
14:29 Speaker 02 You know, they have a lot more variety of items. So you're used to walking into BJ's Wholesale and you can have any of 24 different varieties of toothpaste. You're going to walk into Costco or into a Sam's Club, you're going to probably have four. I mean, it's far, far more limited choice at Costco and Sam's, but at a lower price because of the buying power or the leverage they have with the manufacturers. You want to be on a Costco or Sam's Club shelf more than you want to be on a BJ's Wholesale shelf.
15:05 Speaker 03 Okay, I have a question for you.
15:06 Speaker 02 Yes.
15:07 Speaker 03 This is a hard one. Someone said to you, you have no other choice. For the rest of your life, you can only belong to one of the warehouse clubs. What would you choose?
15:20 Speaker 02 You're really gonna do that to me?
15:21 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:23 Speaker 02 Well, I mean, our dog is named Kirkland Signature. I think the answer is obvious. But you know, as I talked about, Sam's has improved so much. I mean, Sam's was a 98-pound weekling competitor. And Sam's has leadership now that's done a great job to make it a more user-friendly experience. And I wish that Costco would follow both BJ's Wholesale and Sam's with having scanning on your phone, checking out on your phone, and not having to get into those long, long lines at a Costco on a weekend that you would just check yourself out and go right out the door.
16:08 Speaker 02 This is not self-checkout at a register. This is where you ring yourself up on your phone as you go through the store, pay right there on your phone. You don't even have to show the barcode usually because of the AI that knows that you're not shoplifting anything.
16:25 Speaker 03 So room for improvement, but your choice is clear.
16:28 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's Costco.
16:30 Speaker 03 Okay.
16:31 Speaker 02 I mean, we had one dog who's passed away named Costco Wholesale. Now we have a dog named Kirkland Signature. I think it's pretty clear. I love that company. By the way, Warehouse Club sales are up 50% in the last five years. So a portion of that is because of inflation in items in the stores. But most of it is the Warehouse Clubs are so much cheaper day in and day out than other stores, the three chains, that market share at a time of inflation just choking people has moved market share to them. And that's why they're worth the big parking lots, they're worth the lines that you now only have to do at Costco.
17:15 Speaker 02 They're worth all that because your money goes so much further. Coming up ahead, that money I just saved you? Crooks are coming along to steal it in a second. I got a story for you from last night.
17:35 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.
18:05 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. Welcome to the 50th Hunger Day.
18:37 Speaker 04 Witness the beginning of the revolution.
18:39 Speaker 05 Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from the start.
18:42 Speaker 04 Film for IMAX.
18:43 Speaker 05 Make them remember you.
18:46 Speaker 04 The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, November 20th, rated P13.
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19:21 Speaker 02 So, last night, I get a frantic message from my middle brother. He says, middle mean older, I'm the baby.
19:32 Speaker 02 So Neil sends me this message. He needs me to call him right away because friend of he and his wife's got a message that she was being arrested for failure to show up for jury duty. And I cut my brother off immediately. Then we talked about other things. I said, "You text him right now. Tell him this is a scam. Been around for a while. Don't fall for it." In fact, a lot of court systems now have on their webpages, a notice usually highlighted in red type, saying, "This is a scam. We're not coming after you this way. Don't believe
20:14 Speaker 02 anybody who says you have to pay a fine right now or else." And what the criminals do is they keep morphing how they steal. A lot of these are foreign criminal rings who have been able to trade in personal information. They know so much about us. This individual my brother was talking about, who was being contacted supposedly about not showing up for jury duty, they knew, the criminals knew, current address, prior address, all kinds of information. And we're really telling such a good tale that it suddenly has credibility.
20:56 Speaker 02 And these scams operate on fear, immediacy, and the get out of jail free card. "We're going to ruin your life unless you do something right now." And that right now is going to be giving us access to your checking account, or personal information, or whatever. I mean, this is the common method of operation of these scams, again, overwhelmingly originating outside the United States, beyond the reach of our law enforcement, and stealing billions of dollars, billions, from people of all ages, all levels of sophistication. And by the way, one of the hottest targets right
21:41 Speaker 02 Right now with high success rates are people in their twenties and thirties who are so used to doing everything online that you're more likely to get taken by letting your guard down from a scamster who's contacting you online. But the big money comes from people that are older because they've got more money. And remember I said, the method of operation is fairly consistent, but what is different is what's the ruse. And right now, the hot one is where you're getting a letter, a physical letter in the mail, official government business
22:23 Speaker 02 from the US Supreme Court. It's a dupe of the Supreme Court letterhead telling you you're in trouble and you're going to have to pay all this money because you owe money back to one of the common scam letters with the Supreme Court letterhead is you owe money for improper receipt of money from social security. And people, because of the way the scams have thought through and how much, because of all the identity theft stuff, how much the scammers know in personal information about us, it has enhanced cred.
23:02 Speaker 02 Wall Street Journal says more than a billion dollars has been stolen by Chinese criminals that they know of. And listen to this one, fifteen billion dollars has been stolen by criminals in Cambodia in crypto scams. Fifteen billion dollars. I know we're a huge economy, but if it's your money that makes up part of that one billion, the Chinese have stolen the fifteen billion, the Cambodians have stolen. I mean, when it's your money, it
23:42 Speaker 02 is real and it hurts. And with the crypto ones, so many people have stolen people's life savings. All right. So there's something available now all over America that is the gateway for these gangs to steal money.
24:02 Speaker 02 And it's not the fault of the operators or owners of the ATMs, or the retailers that house them in their stores. But you need to know the crypto ATMs, or how the criminals, particularly in foreign countries, steal money from us without a trace. And these crypto ATMs, you go to them and they're, many of them are reverse ATMs. You put in US dollars. You put in, many times you'll put in a particular code. And then you have transmitted money that's untraceable to a criminal here in the US or anywhere in the world.
24:43 Speaker 02 Anytime anybody says you need to pay them by any payment app, like Venmo Cash App or Big Mad Zelle. Did I mention PayPal? Anytime they say you need to go to one of these reverse ATMs that you're putting in your real US money. Anytime you're being told you need to send a wire right now. Any of these right nows, the sense of urgency. That's what I need in your head. I don't care what they say. I don't care how they tell you. You're being thrown in jail and they're throwing away the key.
25:24 Speaker 02 Remember, that's all part of creating the fear, followed by the urgency, followed by you running and throwing money, your hard earned money, to a crook that is unrecoverable. You think I'm a little frustrated by this?
25:43 Speaker 03 Oh, it's crazy. I actually got the jury one after I had missed jury duty. Cause I had a missed flight and I, or a flight canceled.
25:51 Speaker 02 We don't have handcuffs here to put on.
25:53 Speaker 03 And I almost fell for it. But when I, the number, you know, they said there was sheriff from my local department, my local county, the whole thing. This was a few years ago. I looked it up because I was like, this just doesn't feel right. And I figured out it was a scam, but it was, you know, it was close. I mean, it sounded legit, especially because I knew I had jury duty and I've been trying to call them. So, okay.
26:17 Speaker 02 And then you did serve.
26:18 Speaker 03 I did serve and I've got another one.
26:19 Speaker 02 And then they made sure you were on a really tough case.
26:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, and I've just been called again. Yeah, Superior Court again, I don't know. Patrick in North Carolina says, this is a strange off the wall question. I was looking at moving to Panama in retirement.
26:35 Speaker 02 Panama.
26:36 Speaker 03 This is several years off. I understand you can't use regular Medicare there, but you can use some advantage plans there. I know you don't like these disadvantaged plans, as you call them. What's your opinion on that? Also, what happens if I move back? Can I go back to regular Medicare?
26:53 Speaker 02 So, all right, let's deal with the questions in reverse. Except in a tiny number of states, Patrick, I think maybe four or six states. Once you go into a Medicare disadvantaged plan, you cannot go back fully into traditional Medicare because you won't be able to buy, except the small number of states that have consumer protections. You won't be able to buy what's known as a Medigap, which is absolutely 100% necessary with traditional Medicare. You can only get that when you first become Medicare eligible to get a Medigap policy for most of us and most of America. So, the problem with a disadvantaged plan
27:38 Speaker 02 is that, let's say you go into one because they'll cover you in foreign countries. And then the following year, they say, yeah, we were just kidding. We don't cover that anymore. By the way, that's what people are experiencing right now. With disadvantaged plans for 26 is a lot of the insurers are saying, yeah, we used to offer this, we used to offer that, we're not doing that anymore. And then there you are, you are stuck, although you're stuck generally only within the world of going from one disadvantaged plan to another. But you again, can't go back to real Medicare. And real Medicare is overwhelmingly
28:22 Speaker 02 superior to any disadvantaged plan if you get sick. As long as you're healthy, disadvantaged plans are fine. But when you get sick, that's when you would really wish and your life could easily depend on having access to the best facilities, best providers, most up to date treatments that you're not going to have in most disadvantaged plans. So what do you do? If you go like Panama is right now, one of the most popular places in the world for Americans to move either pre-retirement or in retirement. This is country specific, but in Panama, there
29:07 Speaker 02 are local policies that Americans and Canadians buy in Panama that provide care. And Panama is one of the places in Panama City where people buy plans directly from one of the first tier hospitals that are kind of like prepaid hospitalization plans. The care is obviously much cheaper there, but if you have no coverage, it's real money coming out of your pocket, which is why people buy a Panamanian insurance policy, or will buy one of the more narrow ones that is for one of the hospitals there. But every country that Americans migrate to around
29:50 Speaker 02 the world, there are expat groups that help each other that you can find online. They could be in social media kind of environments like Facebook, but more often Reddit is a really popular place now where you find Reddit groups devoted to guiding each other for Americans that are relocating to somewhere else in the world.
30:18 Speaker 03 Phil in Connecticut says, I received a card inviting me to the travel and adventure show in my suburban town. It said, join us for a fun-filled travel, cruise and adventure showcase. This feels more like a timeshare pitch than a travel show.
30:31 Speaker 02 I bet they said, but we're not a timeshare.
30:33 Speaker 03 First, there's no date listed. You have to call. Secondly, it says, in exchange for your time and opinion, you get a four-night cruise from a major cruise line or two round-trip airline tickets and two nights at a Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt hotel. It also says, this is not a timeshare or real estate solicitation. I haven't heard of this. What's the catch here?
30:52 Speaker 02 Odds are overwhelming that this is a new category that is called a vacation club, where you pay thousands of dollars for supposedly the ability to travel around the world nearly for free. And this is so close to scam. It's like you're flying right next to scam is a word. A lot of these do turn out to be criminal enterprise. They turn out completely to be cons. Others, just a bad deal.
31:31 Speaker 02 And the reality, you will likely never get anything of real value given to you at any of these presentations, any of these shows. So I would say, you said, what's the catch? That's the catch. Nobody's giving you a free trip just for showing up. Not a real free trip.
31:57 Speaker 03 Susan in New York says, I'm a New York State employee which qualified me for PSLF, Public Service Loan Forgiveness on student loans. It existed way before President Biden's attempts at forgiving loans. I have satisfied the 10 years in repayment qualification and I have had two of the four loans forgiven so far. The last two qualify in the spring of 26. My problem is that I have auto pay from my checking account monthly and the company kept taking payment money after one loan was effectively forgiven, leaving a ...credit balance on the loan account of $372 and change. It has been six months since this happened and every time I email them about applying this credit to the two outstanding loans, I get a response, usually a week or 10 days
32:39 Speaker 03 later, that says basically, they'll do it when they get around to it. It is infuriating. I email every month. I know it's not a huge sum, but I would like them to either cut me a check or apply it to the other loans. I plan to discontinue the auto pay before the forgiveness on the final two and try to avoid this issue next spring. I didn't have this problem when the first loan was forgiven. I just don't know where to bring this problem. Who should I email next? Is there a rule that says they can hold my money for a period of time?
33:06 Speaker 02 No.
33:07 Speaker 03 Thanks for all you do. I've been listening to you forever and I locked mine in my kid's Sims last week.
33:13 Speaker 02 Good for you. Good for you doing that. All right. So this goes way beyond federal student loans. Anytime you have automatic payment set up with a provider, number one example I'll tell you, we've heard over the years, is any fitness center or gym membership. You discontinue that membership and more often than not, they keep taking the money out of your account, month after month after month, after you have properly canceled your membership. You lease a car or you have an auto loan on a vehicle. In both of those cases, you pay off the loan.
33:58 Speaker 02 Let's say you trade in a vehicle and you still owe on it and the dealer, as part of the deal, pays the vehicle off. There can be problems with that, by the way. Anyway, the lender, the bank, often continues to auto debit the account long after the auto loan has been paid off, vehicle traded in, the lease done.
34:23 Speaker 02 You want to always remember this, two months out from the end of a loan, a lease, whatever, in this case, student loans, you discontinue auto pay. Like you said, you're going to do with the remaining two loans, once they have met the 10-year requirement for the remainder being loan forgiven. Because, once the financial institution has your money, the bank has your money, the loan servicer has your money, getting it back out of their bureaucracy, either because of dishonesty or incompetence, is extremely hard. Now, if
35:02 Speaker 02 you notice a debit within the first 10 days, 10 banking days, which is two weeks, you should be able to get a reversal through your own credit union or bank. And that's what you want to do. You want to dispute that debit and try to get that money reclaimed. Once it goes past that, you're in hassle land. Getting the money back, they don't ever intend likely to give you that money back from the student loan servicer. The place you go is the Student Loan Advocate Office in the US Department of Education. That is where
35:44 Speaker 02 you're going to be able to, hopefully, apply pressure, there's an ombudsman thing there, to apply pressure to the loan servicer to get you your money back. But as far as their intention of giving you the money back, the middle Tuesday of never, maybe. And, gosh, what a negative way to end. But I think with a positive message, and that is, it is you and me that have to discontinue those auto pays with anything we're doing when we're not going to do business with whoever it is, or we've met our obligation with whoever it is. But you do it before, and then remember, you've got to manually make that last payment
36:29 Speaker 02 or two to fulfill your obligation. So you're done with them, and they're done with being able to access money from you. So, thank you so much for being with us today. I hope that you have a great rest of your day today. Know that we're here to serve you all week long, 24 hours a day, at Clark.com or ClarkDeals.com. So you're empowered with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And remember Friday, my favorite podcast of the week and YouTube show, and we have Clark Stinks.
37:15 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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