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want. We've been talking

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a lot recently, a lot of complaints

1:00

from consumers about

1:02

credit card surcharges

1:04

at places you shop.

1:06

Well, now there's an ongoing

1:09

war with Visa and

1:11

its merchants over the surcharges.

1:15

Also in this episode, I am

1:18

the man from Roth. I'm

1:20

talking about Roth IRAs, Roth

1:23

401ks, Roth, Roth, Roth,

1:25

Roth all the time.

1:28

It's something that's now widely available

1:30

to us, Roth 401ks. People

1:33

just aren't really into them. I'm

1:36

going to talk about why that's

1:39

probably not a good

1:41

decision on your part to

1:43

not grab that Roth 401k. Hear

1:46

me out on that later. Okay,

1:49

so I am actually

1:52

a supporter of

1:54

businesses charging

1:57

a surcharge to you when

1:59

you use a a credit card if they wish

2:02

and more and more you're seeing that. You

2:06

know where that started forever ago? Gas

2:09

stations. In a lot of

2:11

places around the country you'll

2:13

see a flash with a price

2:16

and you'll see a flash with another price, cash

2:18

credit, cash credit.

2:19

Because credit

2:21

cards are a massive

2:24

expense for businesses.

2:27

If you own a business you're nodding your

2:29

head right now. So

2:32

it has become because we have the highest,

2:34

by far the highest merchant fees in

2:38

the world in the United States because

2:40

of the Visa MasterCard Cartel.

2:43

Visa

2:44

is striking back against

2:46

all these merchants that are charging

2:49

extra fees. And

2:52

Visa is sending out undercover

2:54

agents to spy

2:56

on businesses according

2:59

to Bloomberg.

3:00

They are playing rough, rough,

3:02

rough.

3:03

They are imposing limits

3:06

on how much you

3:08

as a business can charge

3:11

as a surcharge. And

3:14

businesses are just really

3:16

up in arms about this. So

3:18

this is such a mixed bag because

3:21

if our massive merchant

3:24

fees

3:25

went away

3:26

and businesses paid fees

3:29

similar to businesses elsewhere in the world,

3:32

all these reward cards that a

3:34

lot of us including me love to

3:36

use would cease to exist. Because

3:39

all those rewards that I get

3:42

and if you use them you get

3:44

are all on the backs of merchants

3:47

paying these humongous fees

3:50

to Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

3:54

So just know

3:57

that you and I are just in

3:59

the... middle of something

4:01

that we don't control.

4:03

The merchant involved

4:07

is just trying to make

4:09

a go of it in his or her business. And

4:13

you then have a choice.

4:16

Do you want to pay?

4:18

Uh, I know it's weird, but there's

4:21

this thing that people used to carry called,

4:24

uh, cash,

4:27

cash, cash. That's what

4:29

it was called cash. How,

4:32

when's the last time you pulled cash out

4:34

of your purse, Krista? Actually, I just

4:37

paid someone cash because her Venmo

4:39

account got hacked. And

4:42

that's the only reason you paid cash.

4:44

Yes. We did have someone write in asking

4:46

how can it be legal for business not

4:48

to accept cash? There are some

4:50

jurisdictions in the country, some local

4:52

governments that have outlawed

4:55

a business, not accepting cash. But

4:58

that's the other side of this crime

5:01

businesses in areas that have

5:04

crime problems, or they're worried about internal

5:07

theft, you know, sticky fingers and the drawer, they

5:10

are no longer taking cash and

5:12

you go to a number of businesses now and

5:14

they say, we do not accept

5:17

cash or we are electronic

5:19

payment only, or they'll say something like that.

5:22

And so there's, there's a lot

5:24

involved in this. You know, the Supreme

5:26

court

5:28

legalized the surcharges

5:31

six years ago. Uh, actually what

5:33

they did was invalidated the credit card

5:35

company saying you couldn't do it. And visa just

5:37

hates this

5:39

and they're going to do everything they can to make life

5:41

miserable for merchants. So just

5:43

know that you could get

5:45

a ugly lawyer letter

5:48

at your business, but you

5:50

have rights and you may have to change

5:52

a little how you do the surcharge,

5:54

but you can, so what do I

5:57

do if I go to a restaurant,

5:59

I get 3%. cash back

6:01

on a card I have.

6:02

Other places I get 2%. I

6:05

look at what the surcharge is and then

6:07

I make that call.

6:08

There's a place I

6:10

pay a 1% surcharge using

6:13

a credit card,

6:14

which was not very much

6:16

when I get 2% cash back so I keep

6:19

using the card there. So I make

6:21

that judgment as I go places.

6:24

Just know the

6:25

Visa MasterCard Cartel,

6:27

want to pick your pocket as a business

6:30

owner and just

6:32

know that

6:33

Visa at least

6:35

is playing really hard and tough

6:38

with the businesses. It does stink though

6:40

that it reduces our rewards. Exactly.

6:43

But who's paying for those rewards?

6:46

Right. Okay, we'll go to questions now.

6:48

Randy in Florida says, Clark, I see you

6:51

have the Fidelity Visa Card as one of the top

6:53

picks on your website. I just canceled

6:55

mine and here's why. I noticed

6:58

they are offering 2% cash back to new

7:00

customers, but they were only paying me 1.5%.

7:04

I called to find out why. Basically, they said they inherited

7:06

my account from another credit card company

7:09

and that was the rate at the time. Fine.

7:11

Can you fix it? No, you have to reapply.

7:13

This is not an acceptable answer to a

7:15

customer who has had the same card for 10 plus

7:18

years. So I voted with my feet. Bottom

7:21

line, existing Fidelity Visa customers

7:23

need to scrutinize their statement and see how

7:25

much cash back they're getting.

7:27

Okay. I am shocked, Randy.

7:29

No one else has ever expressed

7:31

that they've had this problem.

7:33

That sounds like real customer,

7:35

no service from Fidelity. And

7:38

I wonder if you just got somebody who was

7:42

not on their game or maybe they are

7:44

playing dirty pool like

7:46

that. But Fidelity offers

7:49

a great credit card

7:51

with 2% cash back that can go into

7:53

a 529 account,

7:56

a Roth IRA, or go into

7:58

a regular investment account.

8:00

And it's a real deal with

8:03

actual real money

8:05

coming into your life, that 2%.

8:07

So that's an odd one that

8:09

I've not heard from anybody. Jen

8:11

in Maryland says, I have an EV

8:14

charging etiquette question. My

8:16

workplace is located in a large office

8:18

complex. It has four free

8:20

chargers with no marked time limit, first

8:23

come, first serve. However, there are

8:25

always these four Teslas plugged in

8:27

all day and not charging. I

8:29

don't want to just unplug and run the risk of irritating

8:32

these people. Is there anything I can do?

8:34

P.S., I don't know these people as they may

8:36

be working in a different office in the same complex.

8:39

Thanks very much for your help from Jen, who

8:41

would really like to get enough charge to make

8:43

it home. So Jen, you don't say

8:45

you've gone to talk to management at

8:48

the complex. It's a multi-tenant complex.

8:51

And I would bet management

8:53

isn't even aware of the problem.

8:55

All they have to do, and I see this

8:58

all the time at office buildings, is

9:00

there will be usually friendly signs,

9:03

sometimes not as friendly, saying

9:05

time limit charging limited to X

9:07

number of hours,

9:08

please move your car at this time.

9:11

And that is a common courtesy

9:14

with electric vehicle charging. And most

9:16

office buildings, she said it's free there,

9:18

right? Most office buildings

9:21

you pay, and depending on what vendor

9:23

they use, you may be paying a lot of money

9:25

for charging because it's a convenience

9:27

and you could be paying more than you're paying

9:30

at

9:31

your own home or wherever else you'd go.

9:33

So if

9:35

it's the same for Teslas all

9:38

the time, they're just freeloading

9:40

because it's free there and they're

9:42

leaving the vehicle after it's charged. So

9:45

it really is something

9:46

that is up to the management of that complex

9:49

to do something about.

9:51

Elaine Jane in Georgia says, Clark, I heard

9:53

you recommend Ally Bank a few years ago,

9:55

and as a result, it opens a savings account

9:57

there, and I like interacting with them.

9:59

I'm considering buying a new home and want

10:02

to get pre-qualified so I can jump on something,

10:04

what is your opinion on using them for that? My

10:07

credit score is over 800 if that makes a

10:09

difference as to who I should choose.

10:11

So, plain Jane, that's

10:14

quite a deal that you're above 800. That's

10:17

rarefied air what they call in the credit world,

10:20

it means you're golden.

10:21

So if you're buying a home, I

10:24

don't want you doing a mortgage

10:27

with anybody who's remote

10:29

like that, like Ally, I

10:31

want you to deal with someone who

10:34

if you're re-fying, of course it's fine

10:36

to do with Ally or anything like that. When

10:38

you're buying a home there's always

10:41

complications, always.

10:43

And that's why I want you with a mortgage broker

10:46

who is there to be able to shop

10:48

with multiple lenders, is able

10:50

to massage problems that may occur

10:53

through the process.

10:55

I want you with a person,

10:57

not an 800 number. Coming

11:00

up ahead, we're

11:02

going to talk about the Roth

11:04

401ks

11:06

and why they're so great and

11:07

why it's so frustrating to

11:10

me, nobody wants to do them. I

11:14

love the Roth. Now

11:16

I never knew

11:18

Senator William Roth of Delaware, but

11:21

I love what he did

11:23

where he came up with this idea

11:25

of a retirement

11:27

account

11:28

that wouldn't tilt everything

11:30

towards wealthier individuals. Because

11:33

the way retirement accounts had worked prior

11:36

to Senator Roth coming up with the idea

11:38

of the Roth is that you

11:40

got an upfront deduction

11:43

that was much more valuable to wealthier

11:46

individuals, people who made much bigger paychecks

11:49

and wasn't much benefit to people lower

11:51

down the pay scale,

11:53

and then everything they had in their traditional

11:56

401k or traditional IRA would be

11:58

taxed at retirement.

12:00

Well, most people would benefit

12:02

actually from doing the Roth

12:05

and now somewhere around 80% of

12:08

employers more or less

12:10

offer in their 401k the choice

12:13

of a traditional

12:15

or the Roth version of a 401k.

12:18

According to Vanguard data, only

12:20

somewhere around 19% of people who have access

12:22

to a Roth

12:25

401k do it. Over 80%

12:29

of people with access to

12:32

a Roth 401k

12:34

are still doing a traditional.

12:36

Now let me tell you something. Over 80%

12:40

of people at a workplace are not making

12:42

big money and automatically

12:44

would be in a better position doing

12:47

the Roth 401k, giving up that

12:49

current deduction, tax deduction, and

12:52

having an account that grows tax-free

12:55

and you spend it tax-free.

12:57

The new news though came from

12:59

a Wall Street Journal article

13:01

and it made perfect sense

13:04

that even for high-income earners,

13:07

it is to your advantage to

13:09

do a Roth 401k, give up

13:11

that big tax deduction

13:14

and have the Roth 401k

13:17

grow through the decades

13:19

and then in retirement, you

13:22

wouldn't have the big, what's known as RMD

13:25

problem, required minimum distributions

13:27

that may lead to big taxes

13:30

for you on Medicare and

13:33

end up taking away pretty

13:36

much the party from you from

13:38

your 401k money in retirement.

13:41

So that was a new wrinkle but

13:44

the reality is there's

13:46

a real lack of understanding

13:48

which we're busy and there's all

13:51

noise when you talk about financial stuff.

13:53

People are ending

13:55

up hurting themselves down the road by

13:59

not doing the Roth IRA

14:01

instead of a traditional IRA and

14:03

not doing a Roth

14:06

401k instead of a traditional.

14:08

It's your money and I want it to actually

14:10

be your money. If you have

14:13

money in a Roth IRA

14:15

or Roth 401k and

14:17

it's growing, you see your actual

14:20

purchasing power in retirement.

14:23

On the other hand, if you

14:25

have a traditional IRA or

14:28

a traditional 401k, it's

14:30

an illusion. You see a balance,

14:33

but it's not your real spending

14:35

power later on because

14:38

you have taxes that

14:40

can be so significant in retirement

14:43

and punitive costs for

14:46

people who've got big balances, again,

14:48

from

14:49

the Medicare angle.

14:51

And that's why I am

14:53

the man from Roth because

14:56

even though it's not really marketed well,

14:58

the Roth, both versions, 401k,

15:01

IRA, superior

15:03

ways for you to save for your future.

15:06

Trust me on this. Krista?

15:09

So related to this, Krishna

15:11

in North Carolina wrote in and said,

15:13

I'm 49 years old and opened

15:16

a 401k with my company three years ago. I initially

15:19

opted for pre-tax money to be taken out of my

15:21

account.

15:22

I get a company match up to 5% but

15:24

maximize my contributions. After

15:26

reading on clark.com and other websites,

15:29

I changed my contributions for a couple of

15:31

years to half each of pre-tax

15:33

and 401k Roth.

15:34

I cannot contribute to a separate

15:37

Roth due to income limitations. It's a good

15:39

problem to have. It is. This year I have

15:41

made it fully Roth 401k and

15:43

plan to keep it that way. My question

15:45

is when I withdraw, how will taxes

15:48

be calculated? The 401k from now

15:50

on is post-tax money, but

15:52

it also had some pre-tax money for

15:54

two years. Am I in trouble in the future?

15:57

Is there any way I can correct this?

15:58

So I've had a 401k. 401k forever

16:02

and there used to not be the Roth

16:04

version of the 401k and my statement

16:07

show me the

16:08

segregated amounts

16:10

and I'd be surprised if your

16:13

employer's 401k administrator

16:16

doesn't segregate the money that way

16:18

where you can see what is Roth

16:21

401k money and what is traditional.

16:24

That would be very unusual if

16:27

your statements don't have a way for you

16:29

to see what the breakdown

16:32

is of each. I assume

16:34

yours has that or do you do? I

16:37

have just done the traditional 401k it just

16:39

became available not that long ago so I

16:41

am planning on changing it. Julian Utah

16:44

says Goldman Sachs has opened an online

16:46

bank which is paying very high interest. Its

16:48

name is Marcus it's FDIC insured.

16:51

This is not listed on your online banks and I

16:53

wondered if you had an opinion

16:54

on it. Yeah Marcus is absolutely

16:57

fine and it actually is on

16:59

our list the

17:01

current list of the best high-yield

17:03

savings accounts. Marcus

17:06

is the long troubled operation

17:09

of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs has

17:11

lost a lot of its partners money on trying

17:15

to offer consumer banking

17:17

kind of things and the

17:20

savings account seemed to be the last

17:23

surviving part that will

17:25

remain of Marcus until they

17:27

sell it off to somebody. But the

17:29

accounts are just as you said FDIC

17:32

insured they're absolutely fine

17:34

and rates have been volatile

17:36

lately. It's always a good idea

17:39

if you open an online savings account

17:41

a while back to look to see

17:43

if the rates are still competitive wherever

17:46

you have your online bank account versus

17:49

what are now the best rates out in the

17:51

marketplace and with the Federal

17:53

Reserve's latest increase in interest

17:55

rates

17:56

there are lots of ways for you to earn

17:59

good money all day. on your money,

18:01

my favorite remains through

18:03

Vanguard Schwab and Fidelity,

18:05

placing either in broker place

18:08

CDs, if you have money, you can tie

18:10

up longer term or buying

18:13

US Treasuries through the treasury money funds

18:18

of any of the three big discounters. Justina

18:21

in Wisconsin says, thank you for all you

18:23

do, Clark. My gym closed at the

18:25

end of June without warning.

18:27

I found out by a post on Facebook.

18:29

This is the same gym chain we heard about before

18:32

experience. Experience fitness

18:35

with an X not EX. I

18:37

immediately contacted their finance company

18:39

to cancel my membership. So no more money

18:41

would be taken out. They emailed me back,

18:44

stating they no longer do business with the gym

18:46

and I would need to cancel with them. I tried

18:49

calling the local closed branch, corporate,

18:51

et cetera, without ever reaching an actual

18:53

person. I gave up and just decided

18:55

there was no way they would take it out if they

18:57

closed. Ah,

18:59

so there were lots of TV stories about

19:01

this people with the same thing

19:03

as you had where

19:05

they were trying to reach people

19:07

with experience and it's like

19:09

they went

19:11

poof. They vanished in the night.

19:13

Fast forward to mid July. I have an ACH

19:15

withdrawal from planet fitness for almost $57 the

19:18

cost of my experience

19:20

membership. I called planet fitness and

19:22

was notified that they bought all the memberships from

19:24

experience. What, how? Their

19:27

top tier membership is $25

19:29

and they charged me almost 60. I

19:31

let planet know that I would be disputing with my

19:33

credit card. They said that's fine. If

19:35

I win, they will take me to collections for the

19:37

amount. I physically had to go to my

19:39

local planet fitness to cancel my

19:41

membership.

19:42

Okay. So a couple of confusing

19:44

things, Justina, you said credit

19:46

card. It must have been a debit card

19:49

you were using with experience

19:51

because planet fitness doesn't

19:53

take credit cards. They only take ACH as you experienced.

19:58

So they would have to pay

19:59

for it. have only had your ACH

20:01

information through your

20:04

bank, through your debit card.

20:06

I think there's more going on here and you generally

20:09

do not have

20:10

chargeback rights with

20:12

a debit card. So I don't know what

20:15

your own bank will do. If

20:17

you want to dispute the $60, $57, no

20:18

one was able to tell you how

20:22

they came

20:24

up with $57.

20:25

Well, that was, I guess, because they bought the memberships

20:28

and that was her price contract price. That's

20:31

what she was paying. But,

20:33

but as she said, Planet Fitness

20:35

is maximum is 25 plus

20:38

junk fees. So this

20:41

is totally puzzling.

20:43

You've now canceled

20:45

with Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness,

20:47

you know, we had the questions about them

20:50

during COVID. People that were afraid to go

20:52

in a gym

20:53

and wanted to cancel and Planet Fitness

20:55

would only let you cancel if you went in person.

20:58

It's a no frills place. It's the

21:00

way they do business.

21:02

It would depend on your original

21:05

contract

21:06

with experience.

21:09

If you have to pay this money.

21:12

So I don't know if you still have an

21:14

old email or anything like that,

21:16

your original contract with experience,

21:19

but normally a gym contract

21:22

allows for what they call a change

21:24

of control,

21:25

meaning that the gym can be

21:27

sold or the accounts can be sold

21:30

and your obligation continues

21:32

with the new gym that

21:35

existed with the old one,

21:37

I don't know if they took over the location

21:39

you had, or if they just transferred

21:42

you to the closest planet fitness, it's

21:44

not a good look

21:46

to charge people

21:48

when they don't even know it's going on.

21:51

And I hope it's not

21:54

a bitter experience that you just

21:56

have basically lost this

21:59

And Planet Fitness

22:02

would have been smart to have been

22:04

in some way accommodating to you to

22:06

try to get you to remain as a member

22:08

of them.

22:09

Because I don't know if you know this about Planet

22:11

Fitness, they have no

22:13

ongoing obligation.

22:15

They live on people who pay

22:18

the membership anyway, who

22:20

never go. And that's how

22:22

normal gyms operate with the contract

22:24

you're a prisoner to.

22:26

Planet Fitness, you're not a prisoner.

22:28

You can quit pretty much at any time

22:31

with them. But they have

22:33

the overwhelming percent of

22:35

people that are Planet Fitness members

22:38

don't ever go. So they're

22:40

subsidizing

22:41

with those very low membership fees they

22:43

have. They're subsidizing the people who

22:46

do go.

22:47

So I'd love to hear back from

22:49

you, Justina, how this all ultimately

22:52

plays out.

22:53

But there's been a lot

22:55

of fuss about how

22:57

messy the extinction

23:00

of experience has been. Reason 1498

23:02

why you never want to sign a contract at a gym.

23:07

That is so well put.

23:09

Yeah, gym contracts is

23:12

I've talked I talk about every January

23:15

when all those ads appear on

23:17

the football games and drive me crazy.

23:19

You

23:20

know, when they have the impossible bodies

23:22

smiling while they're working out. And

23:25

then they like, Oh, well, that could be me.

23:28

And you go sign up for some long

23:30

term gym contract.

23:33

That doesn't make you work out. It just

23:35

makes you spend money.

23:36

I want to thank you so much

23:39

for being with us today.

23:41

Know that we are there for you

23:43

at Clark comm.

23:45

Whenever you have a question about your

23:47

wallet,

23:48

check out what we've got, whether we've

23:50

done

23:51

some research on the area you're

23:53

trying to figure out and know

23:55

that we offer for free

23:57

as we've done for almost 31 years

24:00

now, one-on-one free

24:02

advice at the Team Clark

24:04

Consumer Action Center, available

24:07

to you 30 hours each week.

24:09

If you go to Clark.com slash

24:12

CAC, you'll see

24:14

the phone number to call, the hours,

24:16

and all the particulars of

24:18

being able to get free one-on-one

24:20

advice, guidance, and information.

24:23

Have a great day.