I'm so glad to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show where it's about you learning ways to

save more and spend less and don't let anyone ever rip you off.

So coming up a little later, we have a segment for you that for many people is their favorite

segment of our show, Clark Stinks. So you get to hear where people are angry at me,

disappointed in me, or feel like I just don't get it right.

So I'm going to talk about something that is not right at all.

There's a pitch that comes in waves that as there's more talk about the US economy

slowing and the possibility of a recession.

Again, it's only a possibility of a recession, about one in three chance.

People start to become a little more serious about their money.

So the pitches start from banks, third parties, and mortgage companies pitching you on paying

your mortgage off with a bi-weekly loan.

The idea is you take half a monthly mortgage payment and make that payment every two weeks.

And what the promise is, at today's mortgage rates, likely on a 30-year loan, you'll cut

four years off your loan and save probably tens of thousands of dollars, earliest couple

of tens of thousands in interest.

So that's the pitch.

So the solicitations will say, save thousands of dollars on your mortgage.

Pay your loan many years earlier, pay it off many years earlier than you would have otherwise.

Sounds pretty exciting, right?

Well let me tell you how this thing plays.

You will either pay a junk fee up front and a junk fee over time every payment you do,

...