Clark Howard vs Dave Ramsey - What a difference!

[angwill]

I can attest to the debit card protection from just last week.

Monday, someone in New Jersey/New York decided $700 of my recent tax refund would be better spent in their pocket from my debit card.

Tuesday, I get a call from some protection service of which sounded like a scam about fraudulent charges and I didn't call them back. I looked the number up online and it looked like a scam according to online testimony as well. I had planned to call the credit union the following day during business hours.

Wednesday, I get a call from my credit union about fraudulent charges before I was able to call. I went in and signed the papers stating I did not approve of the charges.

Thursday, I had my $700 back in my account. Quick and simple as that.

All taken care of by Visa, which is the logo on my debit card.

As long as your credit/debit card has the Visa logo on it you get the same services as a credit card. I experienced a problem with a purchase and called my bank and got the same service one would get with a credit card.

 

[Swimalie]

I can attest to the debit card protection from just last week.

Monday, someone in New Jersey/New York decided $700 of my recent tax refund would be better spent in their pocket from my debit card.

Tuesday, I get a call from some protection service of which sounded like a scam about fraudulent charges and I didn't call them back. I looked the number up online and it looked like a scam according to online testimony as well. I had planned to call the credit union the following day during business hours.

Wednesday, I get a call from my credit union about fraudulent charges before I was able to call. I went in and signed the papers stating I did not approve of the charges.

Thursday, I had my $700 back in my account. Quick and simple as that.

All taken care of by Visa, which is the logo on my debit card.

The difference is, and this is Clark's point, that from Monday until Thurs, you were out that $700. Some people couldn't live if they were out that much money from their account. Or it might overdraw their account. With a credit card, you keep the money until the bill arrives and then you can dispute a fraudulent charge.

 

[jaminmd]

Didn't DR declare bankruptcy twice? I'd have a hard time accepting any financial advice from someone like that. IMO, he takes advantage of his fellow Christians when he tries to push his products on people who are broke and not exactly financially savvy. His name calling is a complete turnoff, too.

 

[wdwmaw]

Didn't DR declare bankruptcy twice? I'd have a hard time accepting any financial advice from someone like that. IMO, he takes advantage of his fellow Christians when he tries to push his products on people who are broke and not exactly financially savvy. His name calling is a complete turnoff, too.

Thank you for posting,I came here to say this exact same thing. Dave has in fact declared bankruptcy. Dave is a fruad, living the high life off those that pinch every penny, not taking precious vacations when their children are small, and doing without so he can sit on the beach and not work for a month at a time. REALLY!!

 

[Miz Diz]

Clark also has a free hotline that you can call and his team will give you advice. I called once because I had a collection agency calling my house about a debt that wasn't mine that was incurred at a furniture company I had never even heard of. The company kept harassing me - calling several times a day even though I told them it was not me. They even gave me the last 4 digits of the social security number of the person they were looking for, which I told them was not mine.

I called Clark's hotline and one of his advisers told me exactly what to do and the company quit calling my house.

 

[Miz Diz]

Years ago, Clark was on the Today Show. The show was putting him up in a hotel and he refused to stay at the hotel they wanted him to stay at because it was too expensive. He found a cheaper hotel and booked it himself. He was talking about it on the radio station and said that the Today Show people got mad at him because of this. I like that even though he wasn't paying for the room, he handled it the same way he would if he were paying for it himself.

 

[SeptDisney]

I love Clark Howard, listen to him daily!!

Another interesting fact he was talking about is that when he travels to do interviews, etc., the radio or tv station will generally let him book his own travel, because he will get the cheapest price!!

 

[happygirl]

Hi year old post, good to see you again lol

 

[mjantz]

DH & I are currently in a DR class. We are making a few changes like going cash only for groceries & setting a spending limit on eating out but I don't really think we are his target audience. We have no car payments & while we have credit card debt, it's not on a bunch of cards & we've been paying them off.
I do disagree with DR on a few things. I don't think car payments are the worst thing in the whole world. Our last car we bought the interest rate was ridiculously low (less than 2 car payments worth of interest) & we've driven that car for over 10 years. We are in need of a new car & we will buy new with payments & pay it off early. I also don't like that he recommends stop funding your retirement, even for a time. To me, that feels like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
I've decided to take what we can & use the class as a reminder that we are in a better position than we thought.

 

[2disneyboys]

I do like listening to Clark more than Dave, but I must say(as I've said before) DR helped DH &I change our financial life, and while we (thankfully) were not hugly in debt, We applied the principals of his that we agreed with and made sense to us and we are in a completely different place then I ever expected we would be. I have also taken advice from Suze O, Clark, and others. I dont' agree w/ any of them "guru's" 100% because I feel that nothing is 100%, however, DH& I have taken something from all of them & have put ourselves in a much better place. Its just like exercise programs, or weight loss programs, or many other things that have multiple "guru's" that are passionate about thier "product" You take what speaks to you & use it to make changes, and that's what becomes sucessful

it is funny to me to see the DR haters... I mean, if you don't agree w/ something that's fine, but I don't understand the fury some of them put into thier posts against him... There are lots of celebraties, talk show hosts etc that I don't like. I don't "hate" on them or wish them evil. I just turn them off

 

[EMHDad]

it is funny to me to see the DR haters... I mean, if you don't agree w/ something that's fine, but I don't understand the fury some of them put into thier posts against him... There are lots of celebraties, talk show hosts etc that I don't like. I don't "hate" on them or wish them evil. I just turn them off

Didn't understand this either.

 

[lillygator]

I listen to both dave and clark every day (they are the only reason i would listen to those stations). once i get past personality and attitudes and look at the raw information i find they have very little over-lap.

dave has a specific plan and a specific goal, that is to be debt free and wealthy at any cost (no pun intended).

clark also has a specific goal, to help people, "spend less, save more and not get ripped off".

i follow ramsey's plan. I am working the baby steps which involves not spending on much of anything. I also take clark's advice so when i do spend and invest i am not getting ripped off.

the only point of contention i have found between them is credit card vs debit card. clark says debit cards do not have the same protection as credit cards. dave says there are debit cards with the same protections.

for me it is not a dave or clark situation. i think they deal with very different topics but both topics deal with finance.

i have very little in common with dave or clark. both of them can get on my nerves, but i focus on the information they provide.

as for dave ripping people off, i got his book on cd for christmas, and listen to him on the radio. i am following the plan and have spent $0.00 of my money to do so. quite frankly i see no reason to spend money for a dave rally when i get it for free on the radio.

one last point. dave seems to be quite conservative politically. me, i am a liberal. i find dave,s message is very useful to a liberal in that me and my liberal friends want to defund banks (not pay interest to them by being in debt) and we want financial liberty (liberal). i find that it is easy to point out all the differences, but it is more useful to point out the similarities. so, i wish both of my conservative friends in radio the best of health, wealth, and wisdom.

Clint

interesting first post....
I like CH....I've read TMM and some of Ramsey's things but he is so arrogant and over the top I just don't like him.

 

[Diet Dr Chill]

Beaters are good choices IF you know what you are doing. I don't think everyone does and DR certainly doesn't seem to give any guide to buying one that I have seen. I read TMMO and he talked a lot about driving some bondo filled garbage, so I really do think he expects people to buy a POS car. In his mind, it was only temporary, for a few months while your got your finances together and then you could sell it to help pay for a better car.

I agree with him about not having car payments. I am dead set against them. However, I have experience buying used, know the value of the car, know how to look for mechanical problems and I have gotten pretty good at diagnosing a lot of the common issues. In other words, I didn't fall off a turnip truck into a car lot or CL situation. That is how you get screwed. For people who don't know the first thing about buying beaters and don't have time to learn, then it is a very bad choice to give up a good car that you have now that works for some $700 hot mess. But if you know what you are doing, I've never had the math work that it was more expensive for me to have a beater than a car payment any day of the week, month, or year.

I do understand his stance on credit cards but don't personally agree with it.

I think his investment advice is in lala land.

I do agree with having well funded EFs.

I don't think bankruptcy is the end of the world when all else fails and I think it is hypocritical of him to denounce it as much as he does when it bailed him out at least once.

 

[letsgoreds]

I would LOVE to hear Clark Howard's analysis of the DDP. I would bet my bottom dollar that he would give it a thumbs down, even when it was free (assuming there are other room only discounts available).

Hmm...maybe he has looked at it?

 

[letsgoreds]

Ha! He did receive a call about the dining plan, but was clueless as to what it really was. No help or opinions.

 

[JB2K]

This being the age of the Internet audio stream I suggest that if you've never heard of Clark Howard you do a search and see if you can stream his show and check out the differences for yourself.

Also, if you can't catch Clark Howard's radio show, he has a TV program which airs midday weekends on (CNN) Headline News.

 

[bellebud]

Have always loved Clark!! He's clearly in it because he loves helping people.

 

[MrsPete]

I cannot claim to be a follower of either Clark Howard OR Dave Ramsey; however, I've always believed that all the financial folks had something to offer -- and something that's just garbage.

I've read loads of financial books including those by Amy Daczyn, Suzi Ormond, Mary Hunt, Elizabeth Warren and more, and although I liked some of them better than others, I never found any one philosophy to which I could adhere completely. None of them fully reflected my own financial goals and needs. Personally, I'm giving my soon-to-be-high-school graduate a copy of Suzi Ormond's book Young, Fabulous and Broke (at least that's close to the title), yet I've been teaching her a budgeting system based on Warren's book (because it's easy for a young person to grasp -- later, when she's more experienced, she'll make her own alterations to the system), and she's been living frugally like the Daczyn family all her life. Pick and choose what works for you.

Dave Ramsey is running a business. So what? A whole lot of people have learned from his style. If it's the thing that gets you on the right track financially, it might be money well spent.

 

[mama2ella]

I live in the Nashville area where DR's show is based. Before his show went national it was a local show called "The Money Game". My DH used to listen to it daily but once DR went national he changed...the show was more about pushing his advertisers...DR would cut callers off and not treat them with respect. My DH quit listening to him.

I do think DR has good advice for the most part but it is not always realistic. I think you have to take what he says and adapt it to your own situation.

I have never heard of HC but I will check him out!

 

[kelemvor]

I've never heard of Clark Howard but do know of Dave Ramsey and love his ideas. I haven't read his books and our radio stations don't carry his show (although I've heard a few excerpts online).

However, I have taken his Financial Peace University (FPU) class once and have also run the class once as well. I've never had anyone go through the course and have complaints about it.

Reading the books is fine. Listening to a radio show is fine. But they aren't an all encompassing system and don't have any accountability.

FPU is a 13 week course that takes you step by step through his "Baby Steps". Anyone can do it and it's very easy if you actually just do it. More importantly, the insight and knowledge of past experiences you get from discussing each lesson with the rest of the people in the class is hugely helpful as well.

Just another point of view...