You're listening to kf I am six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King
on demand on the iHeart Radio f K five and kost H T two Los
Angeles, Orange County Day who hast ab K eight is five o'clock on your
wake up call, I'm Amy King, Good morning, Happy Friday. You
made it through again. I used to always think it was silly when people
said that because I wasn't working a five day work week. But now that
I do work Monday through Friday, I go, whooo, we made it
Okay. All kinds of good stuff coming up for you on wake up call
this morning. We're gonna be talking to the house whisperer. We have a
hero in our midst you're gonna want to hear about this. And do you
use credit cards that earn you points? Well, if you do, we've
got the points guy coming on to tell you which ones are best, which
are worst, and how the government might be trying to cut off access to
them. Oh goody. But here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four
hour newsrooms. Staffing requirements, money and streaming still sticking points for the WGA
writers who are expected to be meeting again with Hollywood Studios for a third day.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Laura has struck a deal with the insurance industry to write
new policies in California. You know, several insurance companies have said they're not
just not going to do it anymore in California because of the cost of it.
The deal will allow insurers to charge higher rates in fire prone areas,
State Farm, USAA, and all State of all requested rate hikes from twenty
eight to thirty nine percent. The Lahina Banyan tree has sprouted. Its first
shoots, sent a wildfire tour through and destroyed the historic town on Maui.
The massive tree is in the center of town. It's one hundred and fifty
years old and just got scorched in the fire. But arbors say this is
a good sign the tree could make it. At six oh five, we've
got handled on the news. Thousands of mattresses sold at Bill's favorite store are
being recalled. Let's start with some of the stories coming out of the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. Business Owners affected by the writers strikes say they are
anxiously awaiting or anxiously waiting to hear whether a deal has been reached with production
companies. Writers have been on strike for over four months and many businesses relying
on movie and TV production I've had to layoff staff, cut costs, and
some have even shut down. CEO of Bridge Furniture and Props Burbank, Dave
Wilson says something has got to give. Last year was the best year we
had in the history of the company, and we were founded in two thousand.
Solupen around for a little while. This year it looks like it's actually
going to be the worst. The WGA has been meeting with studio heads the
last few days and says it won't pull members off the picket lines until a
deal is solidified. Chris Adler KFI News. Negotiators for the striking writers are
said to meet again today with represents representatives of the Hollywood studios. Orange County
DA Todd Spitzer has criticized La County DA George gascon for not seeking the death
penalty against the man accused of murdering in La County Sheriff's deputy in Palmdale.
Gascone charged the man with murder and said he will seek the maximum penalty allowable
under law, which is life in prison without parole. But Spitzer says that
statement is a lie since the death penalty still exists in California and prosecutors can
go for it when it involves the murder of a law enforcement officer. State
Attorney General Rob Bonta issuing clinics known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers for alleged false advertising
of abortion pill reversals. Bonda calls the center's predatory says they took advantage of
vulnerable pregnant patients by making false promises. The procedure is considered experimental and is
opposed by top medical organizations. President Biden has promised another three hundred twenty five
million dollars in military aid to Ukraine. He announced the additional funding yesterday while
he and President Zelenski met at the White House. Because that's what this is
all about, the future, the future of freedom, Zelenski thanked Biden and
the American people. A number of Republicans want to stop sending money to Ukraine.
A new program in San Francisco is offering up to five hundred ninety nine
dollars in gift cards for drug users who get off drugs. Nearly two dozen
patients are part of the program who are trying to kick their addiction of coke
or meth. They are rewarded with gift cards every time they get a negative
drug test, up to five hundred ninety nine dollars. Officials say they're trying
to rewire the brains of those addicted to stim ellence by offering them financial gains
in the form of gift cards. It is five zero six. Let's say
good morning to ABC's Stephen Portnoy. Stephen. House members are headed home for
the weekend, even though a deadline to keep the government funded is just eight
days away, and there's no plan for them to vote on anything that would
avoid a government shutdown at this point, so they're going to be sent home.
And plus Monday is the Jung kipor holiday, so the House will not
be in session out of respect for that. So look, three more days
will pass without an answer here. And there is a narrow path to avoiding
a government shutdown and involves the Senate on a bipartisan basis sending to the House
a short term government funding bill of at this moment indeterminate length that would avoid
a government shutdown on October first, But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is under tremendous
pressure from his right flank not to put such a measure on the floor.
There's a small number of recalcitant Republicans who have worn him not to do that,
that it would imperil his speakership, that would the House would evolve into
chaos if he were to take that step. And yet if he were to
do it, it would easily pass because there would be bipartisan support in the
House to avoid a government shutdown, to fund Ukraine, to fund disaster relief
and other things. Well, then why wouldn't they do it? Because the
small number of House Republicans have threatened the speakers and those guys, that's right.
And twice this week, and extraordinary thing has happened in the House of
Representatives. Before any final vote happens in the House, the House first approves
a resolution that sets the terms of the debate. They call it the rule.
And twice this week, the rule on a Pentagon spending measure that it
was crafted by Republicans, the Democrats opposed. The rule failed. That almost
never happens. In fact, it's happened three times this year, but it
hadn't previously happened for about twenty years, and it's an emblem of the dysfunction
of the House of Representatives currently under Republican leadership, where Kevin McCarthy does not
have that, he has not instilled the kind of discipline that his predecessors were
able to enjoy. Nancy Pelosi had an ethic that she would never put a
measure on the floor that she didn't already know was going to pass. And
now three times so far this year, Kevin McCarthy's tried to advance a measure
and he's been stymied by members of his own party and trying to get it
through. Why are they objecting, Well, they object mainly for these reasons.
They oppose additional Ukraine funding. They want steeper cuts to agencies than Democrats
in the Senate or at the White House would accept. And they want a
return to what they believed to be regular order, which is the twelve individualized
year long appropriations bills that the House would adopt, that the Senate would then
accept or reject with changes, and that would then be signed in the law
by the President. Now that's a wonderful theory. It goes back to the
Budget Act of the mid nineteen seventies, and it has only rarely happened of
late because there is political division the country and certainly in the Congress, and
there is divided government here in Washington, DC, And as a result,
the only efficient way to keep government agencies funded beyond the end of the fiscal
year is to adopt a short term spending measure. It's nobody likes that idea,
but it's all at the moment that seems possible right now. That's all
they ever do. We haven't had like a long term budget for forever.
We're always facing a shutdown. Well, in divided government, that's true.
When there's unified government, the appropriations process can work. But the country has
chosen a Republican House of Representatives and a democratic president, and in that dynamic,
it is not likely that you'll find compromise when there's no incentive for compromise.
In fact, there's incentive for division right now. And the former president
Donald Trump said on a social media platform that he wants Republicans to defund all
aspects of what he calls a weaponized government. So you've got Donald Trump essentially
advocating at least a partial from shutdown it's not clear what all aspects of a
weaponized government means, whether that's all government agencies are just certain ones. But
the bottom light is the idea of you know, operating under regular order under
the Budget Act of nineteen seventy four and having twelve individualized appropriations and measures crafted
by House republic and appropriators the Democrats in the Senate and the White House would
accept, and having it all tied up in a bow by October first is
simply not realistic. So if we go into a shutdown, what I mean,
really what happens, because I mean like stuff comes to us stop,
but once they do finally pass something, which they eventually will, then everything
starts back up and back pay is given and all that right. So I
unfortunately it's a very complicated question. I don't have enough time to answer here,
but let me let me just say this. Essential government workers would would
stay on the job, they would get back pay, but the federal bureaucracy
would would stop, and any interaction that Americans depend on or count on with
federal age would be Stymy think of it this way, social Security checks would
go out. Your attempt to get a Social City card for your new baby,
would be a problem. Okay, we're going to dive into this more.
I'm sure as we get closer to this deadline. Thank you so much,
Steve, and I know you have to go appreciate your time this morning.
But let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. Homes in Rancho Palace Verdes are being damaged by landslides
caused by too much water calwaters. Ivan Kingman says the utility company is prioritizing
calls from customers in the city who are reporting pipe leaks, and what we
do after that is we dispatch crews to go investigate it. Sometimes it's found
to be a league on a customer's private line. Sometimes it could be another
utility line. City councilman Eric Alagria said yesterday two homes have been red tagged
and eight others are being closely watched. He has suggested declaring a state of
emergency so they can fix the damage. A rule change in California could mean
higher in insurance rates for homeowners. The state's insurance commissioner says he wants to
let insurers consider climate risks in pricing in exchange for insuring homes in wildfire prone
areas. Companies are not allowed to factor in current or future risks when deciding
how much to charge for an insurance policy. Instead, they can look at
previous disasters and set the price from there. A man in Inglewood has been
shot and killed by a police officer. Inglewood Police Captain Neil Cochran says the
man was acting erratically in front of a home yesterday. He ran into the
backyard and refused to surrender even after police used tasers, pepperballs, and rubber
bullets. They used various methods of less lethal techniques, but ultimately he charged
the officers with a knife and an office ball shooting took place. One officer
was injured as he fought with the guy before the shooting. The death of
a man who tried to get into or onto a school campus in Long Beach
while holding a sledgehammer has been classified as a homicide. He was stopped from
getting into the elementary school Tuesday by two men who punched and kicked him as
they tried to detain him and get the hammer away from him. Police say
the two men were interviewed, but we're not arrested. The investigation is ongoing.
The president of the UAW has warned more auto workers are going to hit
the picket lines if a deal isn't reached today. About thirteen thousand workers so
far are on strike in the first stage of walkouts. UAW Local five fifty
one Chicago, and it's fifty five hundred members could be the next to walk
out. When I say union, you say strong. Junior Junior Junior workers
rallied yesterday outside Union Hall. The UAW president will be speaking this morning.
The Massachusetts Air National Guard, accused of leaking classified documents, is due in
federal court in Boston. Jack Tashara is charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of
classified national defense information under the Espionage Act. He's been denied requests to be
released from custody while awaiting trial. Charter bus carrying members of a high school
marching bands crashed in New York, killing two adults and hurting dozens of students.
The wreck yesterday happened on I eighty four. The bus rolled down an
embankment. The authorities are examining pieces of the bus that fell off in this
horrific crash, and they have a ladder extended that's how they may have extracted
people through the windows. Aaron Katurski says the students were headed to band camp
in Pennsylvania. The school's band director was one of the two people killed.
A two year old girl in Michigan who wandered away from home with two of
her dogs, has been found in the woods sleeping on one of the dogs,
using it as a pillow. Police say they found the girls surrounded by
the other dog yesterday. That dog was protecting her. Troopers used drones and
police dogs to find the little girl. She wandered away on Wednesday night.
Okay, our very own producer Anne is my hero today and here is why.
We were out and about doing one of our segments earlier this week,
and we had just wrapped up and was on her way home from one of
our from our outing, she stopped at a gas station and saw something horrific.
So Anne tell us what was happening. Yeah, yeah, No,
it was one of those moments where you're like, oh my gosh, I
can't believe this is happening. I'm pumping gas. I hear a dog,
like a small dog, yelping and crying, and I couldn't tell where it
was happening. So I kind of looked around the parking lot, and further
over, in the corning corner of the gas station, there was this homeless
guy kicking this little dog it looked like a puppy, just kicking it full
long. It was yeah, and the puppy was up against a fence,
so it couldn't really go anywhere, So he is kicking it. And then
there's another little dog which is about ten feet away, barking hysterically like leave
my friend alone, but wasn't running over there because it was scared. I
was like, oh crap, So what do you do? Yeah, that's
a weird situation to be in, because you also could put yourself in danger
if you tried to intervene, right, But I knew at that moment also
I was not leaving without those dogs. So I slowly start driving over and
honking my horn, and I had my window down and I'm yelling stop,
what are you doing? What are you doing? Stop? Stop? And
he turns around starts walking towards me, and he's screaming at me nonsensical.
I have no idea what he was saying. And I opened my car door
and I'm thinking, oh god, please don't stab me, but I gotta
make this happen. He turns back towards the dogs. Yeah, and I
just started going, come on, come on, and clapping my hands and
they literally belined it to me. They ran to me, and I'm probably
about ten feet away in my car, still door open. They run to
me. I grabbed them by the scruff of their neck, throw them in
my passenger seat. The guy starts walking back towards me, and I'm backing
my car up and pull it out of the gas station. And I just
kind of looked at him like, hey, look, hi, how are
you guys doing? And so I still have them. You just saved two
dogs lives. Yeah, no, I really And they're just the sweetest little
thing. So you know that makes me so mad because I know that,
like you think about if you're on the street and not using drugs. I
mean, dogs can be such fabulous companions if you care for them. But
to see them being abused like that in front of everybody, with no regard
for the dog at all. I mean, it's you're You're my hero today.
You rest thank you well. The first thing I did was I texted
you and I said, Amy you're not even gonna believe what just happened.
I know, we were seeing Nick and I are sitting at lunch and we're
like, she's sending us pictures of these adorable dogs. Now, I asked,
of course, immediately, are you going to keep them? And so
like me, you can't have a dog right now. I live in an
apartment. I can't have a dog. Your schedule is crazy, and you
know you have to be fair to the dogs too. But we have some
really good friends at the Pasadena Humane Society who were really closely with We were
just there and I called them and they said, you know, bring them
in. We'll make sure they get a really good home. And I'm you
know, I said, please let us know, make sure that we know
what's going on, and if we can keep them together, that would be
amazing because they are very attached. But they're they're my husband's been walking them
and so they're they're great on a leash, they're not a food aggressive,
they're they're amazing. They're really going to be amazing pets for someone. And
she sent videos and these dogs are so adorable running around her yard and jumping
up on everything. Yeah, they're adorable. I wish you could keep them,
but I think that we're You're going to put them in good hands and
yacity in the humane society. And thank you because I know that you know
you just don't know what you're gonna do when you're confronted with that situation.
And I love that you stepped up. And I love that those dogs recognize
that you were there to save them. I truly believe they knew that I
was their way out at that moment. Dogs is smart, amazing. Thank
you so much. M Let's get back to some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Theyellow kind of Sheriff's West Hollywood Station
is testing out some new technology that will allow drivers and deputies to communicate on
video chat during traffic stops. The conversations will happen through an app called safe
Stop. It's designed to reduce tension people may have when they're interacting with law
enforcement, So after pulling drivers over, deputies will video chat with them before
walking up to their vehicles. West Hollywood Station is going to test the technology
during a six month pilot program. I'll be anxious to see how that all
works. News brought to you by Semper Claris. Schools in Orange County have
reported a one hundred seventy eight percent increase in racial slurs in the latest hate
Crimes report, four hundred and fifty reported hate crimes in incidents Rouncewealth THEEO.
Allison Edwards says the twenty twenty two O Hate Crimes Report also shows a one
hundred twenty six percent increase in LGBTQ hate. When we see so much rhetoric
that targets the LGBTQ community, then we see a rise in she says.
Conversely, political rhetoric against Asians declined, and so have reports of hate.
It has gone down as opposed to the years that we were more deeply impacted
by COVID. She says. Overall hate crimes increase seventy five in the last
five years in Orange County. Corbin Carson ka if I News, Poland's Prime
minister says his country is no longer sending weapons to Ukraine. He says Poland
is arming itself. The decision follows months of tensions over a temporary ban on
Ukrainian grain imports to European Union countries. ABC's Inez Delaquitterra says it also has
to do with Ukraine's behavior towards Poland's government weeks before a tight general election.
Elections will also soon be held in Slovakia, where a pro Russian populist who
has sets Slovakia would not send a single round to Ukraine is leading in the
polls. In the spring, Poland became the first NATO country to send fighter
jets to Ukraine. Okay, you know how Walt Disney always said that Disneyland
will never be finished. Well, apparently he's right. So Disneyland just recently
announced a sixty billion dollars planned to expand Disneyland Park or Disney Parks that would
include Disneyland. And there's a new plan called Disneyland Forward that we don't have
the all the details, the nitty gritty, but some Disney execs are sort
of floating ideas of what could happen. So the Disney Park's chair Josh Demorrow
kind of hinted that there could be something based on Frozen's Arundel, that there
could be black panthers, Waconda or maybe Santa Cecilia from Coco. And Bob
Eiger also has been hinting that an avatar experience could be coming to the Disneyland
resort. There's one at Disney World, but it'll be interesting to see what
they come forward with. There's also talk of Tangled and Peter Pan and Zotopia
and Toy Story and Tron Tron also has a right at disney World. But
and I wouldn't be surprised about Zootopia because I'm seeing more Zotopia stuff in the
parks, and sometimes that's a precursor for something that's coming. We're gonna have
to wait and see. But Disney Forward twenty twenty four, I love it.
Can't wait to see what they do next. Right now, let's say
good morning to the house whisper and host of home every weekend on KFI.
Good morning Dean Sharp, Good morning Amy. So we're talking appliances today.
It's an appliance weekend. You know, this is one of the kind of
peaks or spikes in appliance buying throughout the year because people are kind of looking
at the holidays and they're looking at their kitchens or their major appliances, and
they're saying things to their spouses and their partners, like listen, if you
expect me to cook for your family On Thanksgiving, I am not doing it
in that old oven. So major appliances tend to kind of spike right now
in purchase. So we thought we would take the weekend and kind of update
everybody as to what's out there, what's changing, because it's it's a little
funky right now in the appliance world. Okay, so let's lead with that.
What is changing? What can you find and what can you will not
be able to find? Well, you know, one of the things,
as you know, that is an ongoing thing for life right now, is
the changeover of fuel sources. Right we are moving from fossil fuels in our
cars to electric, some people think far faster than we should be. Congress
is shutting down what California would like to do as far as say no more
in twenty thirty, and there's a lot of pushback on that. Well,
there's pushback happening as well in the appliance world. The state of California,
though, has mandated by twenty thirty there will be no more sales and installation
in new construction of gas heaters, and right now, as of right now,
there are no more gas appliances in new homes being built. Water heaters
and stuff is that considered as yes, well, so everything from the water
heater to and most relevant to the kitchen to the cook toop and the oven
right, So people are having to kind of negotiate these transitions now. Fortunately,
arguably in the automotive world, you know, maybe you're not thrilled with
the performance of an evy vehicle yet as far as it's range and things like
that. But fortunately in the kitchen world, there is a completely viable alternative.
We have induction cooktops now, which just maybe five d eight years ago
where outliers. Now they are the tip of the spear of new appliance purchases
for cooktops because they are not only more efficient than a gas cook toop,
but arguably many people are discovering their more powerful, they're more sensitive on both
ends, they're more extreme. They are a fantastic replace. Whether you hate
them or love them, you have to admit the fact that they are a
fantastic alternative to a gas cooktop, and they're coming on strong. Okay,
I don't think i've ever even seen one. Is it a flat surface like
or is it does it look like a gas range? Yeah? No,
no, it looks like it tell you. A lot of people get this
confused, So I'm glad you asked. It is a flat glass surface,
okay, And it looks a lot like an electric cook the electric cooktops that
have been out there forever, right, which are halogen cook tops, the
ones that heat up. But induction cooktops are pretty magical. They don't heat
up at all. Maybe they don't heat up. They do not emit heat.
What they do is they create a magnetic field which grabs onto the molecules
in the pan, and they heat the pan. The pan heats up as
a result of in duct Okay. Induction, by the way, is the
same process that you charge an electric vehicle with. There's no direct current flow
between the two, there's no heat exchange between the two. So imagine this
a magnetic field heating up the pan instead of a flame. And that's what
a flame does on a pan, right. The heat of the flame makes
the molecules in the pan start shaking violently, and as a result, that's
friction that creates heat. The pan gets hot, the food gets hot,
and it cooks your food. Instead of heat moving the pan, they use
this magnetic field. The pan heats up faster more evenly more intensely cooks your
food without any transition of heat. So yeah, you could be cooking right
on an induction cook top, move the pan, put your hand down on
the glass. It would be warm because of the pan's heat heating up the
glass, not the other way around. Okay, So it's sort of like
the same thing as with a gas stove as soon as you turn except it's
different than a gas stove because you never have the heat generating off of it
is never there to begin with. Here's here's a funky thing. Okay,
when Tina we have an induction cooktop in our island at home. When Tina
and I are making pasta, you know how inevitably you turn your back and
the pasta pop might boil over a little bit, right, foam over the
top. We can actually lay down a towel on our cooktop and then put
the pot on top of the towel and then walk away from it, because
it cooks through the towel. The induction transferred through the towel, and if
it boils over, it just the towel catches the little foamy boilerver. Okay,
that's a weird freaky star trek technology. Okay, so let's talk about
something else. I just bought something that I didn't think I was ever going
to purchase. But it's one of those you know, it's not just a
microwave, and I need a microwave. So I was looking for something,
but I wanted to have the air fryre because everybody's got the air fryer and
all that stuff. And I found a three in one, which is a
convection of an air fryer and a microwave. Those are kind of becoming pretty
mainstream now. They used to be really hard to fine, but now you
get them everywhere. You're right, they are becoming mainstream. Not only has
isolated the like countertop versions, but also built into like double oven combo sets.
It's really common now that one oven will be a standard of and the
other might be a convection microwave combo. And yeah, and by the way,
an air fryer is essentially a convection of it on steroids. I mean,
an air fryer is basically taking hot air and moving it really fast and
using the air movement in order to create the crisping in the frying effect.
So you figure we've had convection ovens around for a long time. Now,
that's an oven with a fan in it that moves the air around, and
they're supercharging these fans. Now, so yeah, you can buy a full
size oven with the quote unquote air fryer setting in which in which the convection
goes on overdrive and basically create Now, it does take a smidge longer,
right then you're than the little countertop air fryers because those things are so small.
But yeah, these ovens legitimately will move that air around fast enough to
get the air fryer effect in the oven and then the microwave. Now,
of course they don't operate at the same time, but the microwave option is
there as well. And you know some recipes you could actually combine the two
together in cycles so that you know, it takes care of everything. Microwaves
are great at heating up water, that's what their thing is. So if
you've got a food in there that has a moisture content, that's what the
microwave is doing. The air fryer is all about crisping it up, the
ovens all about baking it. And these days you can have it all in
one unit. So one of the things again I'm obsessed with my little Brevil
and trying it out, is that it says you can take a frozen piece
of meat like a steak and put it in there and bake it to completion.
It'll thought bake it, crisp it and done exactly because you just imagine
it's doing what you would be doing in the kitchen with like two or three
things. Because you're gonna take the meat, hop it in the microwave on
a defrost setting. It'll defrost that frozen steak and then you would take it
out of the microwave and you'd put it in there, you know, And
instead this oven just runs through cycles. First the microwave defrost, and then
it starts to bake, and then it crisps it and then you're done.
I love it. I wish we had more time to talk about this,
but you do have more time to talk about that this weekend. So it's
six to eight tomorrow morning and then nine to noon on Sunday exactly at home
with Dean Sharp, and I'm sure he's going to talk to you more about
all these things. Plus I'm gonna listen because you're gonna be talking about in
wall toilets, which freaked me out because I think they're going to fall down.
I know they're not, but it always just reminds me of, you
know, like a collapsing thing, and then that would be embarrassing in the
bathroom. In wall toilets, they're safer than regular toilets, and they save
you an entire foot in the bathroom. And yes, I'm going to talk
about it all both days, all Appliance weekend on home. I love it.
Thank you much, Dean Sharp. Right now, let's say good morning
to the managing editor of The Points Guy, Clint Henderson. Good morning,
Clint, Good morning. How are you well. I'm great. We're going
to be talking about points programs, credit cards, and I will tell you
that I am a I have an Alaska Airlines mileage credit cards. So every
time I spend money, I get miles. Is that a good one?
Love it? It is a good one. I have that too. In
fact, I have the consumer and the business version of that card. I
love Alaska. I think it's a very underrated program overall. But you know,
credit cards are a big part of my travel strategy, and they can
even help fill in folks who just want to get a little cash back,
who want a little more money in their budget for everyday expenses. So obviously
I work for the points guy. I'm a big fan of credit cards.
I have twenty seven myself. You have twenty seven credit cards? Yes,
you do? You use a little good credit. By the way, of
course you have good I wrote. I rotate most of them, so I
don't use them all every day somewhere in a sock drawer, but I do
use them and depending on you know, the most bang for my buck.
I'm I'm not recommending every consumer try to do what I'm doing and keep a
spreadsheet, but definitely credit cards should be part of everyone's strategy to save some
money. Okay, and you're we were discussing that right now with everybody's budgets
so tight, and some of the cards offering cash back, is that a
good card to have? Yeah? I think you know, find the best
sign up bonus. Even check with your local banks. Sometimes they'll offer you
three hundred dollars cash back just to open the card, and then they'll give
you one percent up to five percent in some categories on a cash back card.
So this can really help budget budgets, especially in the days of rising
gas prices again and inflation. They can be a big tool in a consumer's
toolbox to try to get them through tight times. You know, sometimes we
say, oh, yeah, you should redeem for a business classiflight to Europe.
But sometimes you just want to pay the electric bill. So there's something
for everyone in this ecosystem. Okay, So then, Clint, how do
you best take advantage of these programs that are offered without ending up losing money
by all the interest you pay for the credit cards? Yeah, so the
first rule of getting involved in this is you have to pay the balance off
every month, because otherwise it's almost not worth it. You want to pay
those balances off right away. You don't want to get behind on payments because
that hurts your credit as well. So you've got to be able to just
charge and then pay off. But you just pretend it's a debit card,
you know what I mean, Like, that's how I think of it.
I use it as a debit as if it's a debit card, and I
pay that balance off every month. So that's the first rule, and then
you know, look for the best option for you. If you're a beginner,
maybe you just start with your banks cash backcard, just to see how
the sort of sort of how it works. You know, times they'll they'll
let you wipe charges off your statement, which is a nice little fun thing.
And then as you get more advanced, you know, open a airline
credit card. Some thirty million Americans have airline co branded credit cards. You
get free bags, but you also get a big sign up bonus and that
can help people, you know, when they're planning their annual vacation. If
you can get one of the flights free, that's that's amazing. That's a
great reward. Absolutely, And I know that you have a lot of cards
and it's you know, it's the industry you're in. But so for the
average average person, do you think it's a good idea to have, Like
you're using different cards for different things, because like I use almost exclusively I
use my Alaska mileage card because I want to bank those miles. But is
it better to kind of put everything in one basket or to split it up?
So here's the deal with that. I yes, if you want to
keep it simple, just use one credit card and call it a day.
You don't have to get into advanced theory of credit card usage. However,
you're potentially leaving money on the table because you could be opening a new credit
card or even two a year and getting this big sign up bonus for those.
So there you don't have to get two in the weeds in this.
But just if you're opening one or two credit cards a year getting the sign
up bonuses, that can really help with budgets. Okay. And do you
get dinged if you open to a many credit card accounts by the credit companies.
You do not, in fact, and I'm the perfect example of that.
I have all these credit cards, I just don't carry balances on them.
If you're not carrying balances on the credit cards, even if you have
multiple, you're not going to get ding The only cautionary notice I would say,
if you're about to buy a house, probably not wise to open eight
credit cards right before. But otherwise otherwise it's not gonna it's not gonna affect
your credit score. In fact, it could help in a lot of cases.
Okay, But the key to success in racking up those points and getting
the cash back is paying those suckers off every single month. That is it.
That's exactly it. It's what I st Okay, where can we find
more information about the Points guy So you can go to our website. But
there's actually legislation pending on Capitol Hell. They want to take away credit card
rewards potentially. There's this bill they're working on that would would sort of force
the retailers to switch transactions providers. And this happened ten years ago with debit
cards, and they instantly took away all the rewards and cash back for debit
card uses. Oh, is that why that happened. I used to get
cash back on my debit card. I remember that. Yeah. I used
to get a unite A United debit card. I got United miles every time
I use it. As soon as this legislation passed, it went away.
So we're telling people talk to your congressperson. Go to hands off my Rewards
dot com and you can you can find out how you can tell your local
congress person to back off and don't pass this dumb legislation they're considering on Capital
Oil. Okay, hands off my rewards dot com and you can probably get
a link to that and find out more information about the best way to use
your credit cards at the Point Guys website. Right, and is that the
point guys points guy dot com, points dot com. That's it all right,
Clinn Henderson, thank you so much for your time this morning. Thanks
for having me all right, makes me want to go spend money. Okay,
so thanks the wake up Call, We're done. This is KFI and
KOSTHD to Los Angeles, Orange County. I'm Amy King. This has been
your Friday wake up call. If you missed any wake up call, you
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