Credit card debt in the U.S. has surged — now around $1.2 trillion — while average APRs hover near 20%. In this interview with Bankrate’s Ted Rossman we break down what’s driving higher balances and rates, who benefits from rewards, why minimum payments barely dent balances, and practical steps to escape the cycle: pay in full when possible, prioritize debt payoff, consider 0% balance transfers or personal-loan consolidation, contact nonprofit credit counselors, and trim short-term expenses or boost income to accelerate repayment. Clear, actionable advice for anyone worried about mounting credit card bills.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Joining me now, Ray McGrath is an automobile enthusiast, and I affectionately refer to this segment as Ray’s Garage. Ray, always great to see you.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Oh, thank you for having me, Jeff. Always a pleasure.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Ray, as you know, and I think most Americans watching the show know, and quite frankly, those around the globe, that there are some challenges with affordability. I was hoping that we could explore ways to minimize, outside of gas prices, how we can minimize the cost of maintenance for our vehicles. So let me start with a basic question.
What’s the best way to go about getting, annual maintenance is important, is it not?
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Oh, it most certainly is. I mean, a lot of folks don’t even follow the bare minimum maintenance, which is in your owner’s manual. I mean, I’m not a fan of waiting 10,000 miles to change your oil, but the most single important thing you can do is probably change your oil more frequently, especially if you’re doing a lot of, you know, city driving.
And when I say more frequently, 5,000 is probably the maximum for me. 10,000, I don’t know. I’m not a fan of that.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So with that timeframe in mind, where do you go? Because the dealership tends to be a little bit, my experience, I’m going to hear yours, tends to be a little bit more pricey, but they also have certified techs that have been trained on specifically their brand. So where can you go to get a really good deal outside of doing it yourself?
Because most people are not going to be able to do the oil change and also dispose of the oil.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
All right. No, I agree with that. The dealership is probably the best price, but it’s also the high end price.
Not always at convenience. Maybe if you don’t want to, you know, you get a cup of coffee. I’m not also a fan of the quick change places because they don’t always do the best job, but I prefer an independent, to be honest, someone you trust.
I don’t like going into a place and, you know, for a $50 procedure and then getting a 700 or a $5,000 estimate to replace everything. So it’s hard to say, but it’s usually good, someone you trust, basically an independent mechanic.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So it is, you know, you mentioned the dealership. You mentioned some of these 15, 20 minute oil change places. Is the, I remember growing up that there were automotive places around the neighborhood.
Is that still a thing? At least in New Jersey, can you go and find a neighborhood mechanic? How do you find someone that works for you?
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Yeah, I mean, it is tough, Jeff, because even with the electrification of America, I mean, there’s not as many cars for mechanics to fix. Most people are under warranty. They go to the dealer.
It’s all service there. Yeah, I feel there’s definitely a loophole or a missing. Yeah, I don’t know.
I know I’m flipping around a lot, Jeff, but there’s no good answer that works for everyone.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So maybe, maybe you talk to friends and family. I, you know, I mean, where I grew up in Baltimore and even here in Charlotte, there are still independent garages. You probably just need to do like word of mouth.
Like it would be like hiring or finding a doctor or finding another, you know, professional person.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Yeah, I have folks that bring me their car to change the oil, which I don’t mind because they’re sort of family. But, you know, then I’m stuck with gallons of oil and I got to just recycle it. You know, so it’s, it’s, it’s not easy, but, you know, that’s probably why people go 10,000 miles without changing the oil, but it, it creates a level of dirt inside the engine, which causes all kinds of issues with the valve train and the timing of the valve timing.
So it really is important to try and change it more frequently than less frequently.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. I mean, I can, I can understand the, the why people are doing it. They, but, but as you hold on most people, and we’ve discussed this with you, the average American new car is $50,000.
That’s a lot. I would, my car doesn’t cost $50,000. That’s a lot to purchase a new car.
Therefore it makes it behooves you to pay for maintenance. Let me ask you about tires because tires are obviously an important part of the car. And remember the whole trick about looking at Abraham Lincoln’s head on the penny.
If you even have a penny anymore to see whether or not you need tires, where do you go to buy tires? Do you go online and have someone put them on? Do you go to one of the, the, the dealership?
Do you go to an independent mechanic?
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Yeah. I mean, I personally go online like a tire rack, but I also go to Costco as well. I was looking at prices in advance of this call and, you know, they haven’t gone up as much as you might say eggs have, you know, but tires are still expensive.
But what you look at is, you know, sometimes you could just tell by listening when you’re, if you’re in the car and it’s very noisy on the highway, your tires are worn down to some degree. But there are little ridges in between the grooves called wear indicators built into the tires. And if your tread is level with that wear indicator and it’s almost in the Valley of the tire, your tire is worn.
And, you know, it’s probably not even safe to be in the rain, definitely not the snow with tires like that. So yeah. I know the dealer’s the high end option.
You could probably go to say Firestone, you know, they’ll, they’ll sell you a Firestone tire, but you know, yeah.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Sorry, Jeff. Well, I was going to not to, not to step on your thought, but you know, I think it’s difficult and you allude to the price of tires not having gone up, but doesn’t, don’t, doesn’t, isn’t rubber constructed from petroleum and wouldn’t that go up over time not to get wonky or economic?
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
No, I looked at Michelin’s yesterday and it was like a 200 some odd a tire. And that’s what it was about a year ago. So, and I know, you know, a lot of rubber comes from Vietnam, things like that, but you know, there’s obviously the proliferation of Chinese tires.
So I always, and their names that sound good instead of like Goodyear it’s, it’s Good Rear or Lion Hardy. Not that it’s bad, but you should read the reviews on the tires. There’s a lot of tire names that sound like it’s called the Braveheart.
I’m like, oh, okay. But that’s not a tire brand you and I grew up with. So it’s good to read the reviews.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So yeah, I, I never heard of Good Rear. I’ve heard of Goodyear, but that’s something I will certainly look, look out for. Ray, how important is it to maintain your alignment and the weights on the vehicle?
So the longer you go out without maintenance, tires can get out of alignment. That’s going to have an impact on the wear and tear of the car.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
So what I like to do is before I get my tires replaced, you almost got to get on the ground and look at your tires to see if they’re wearing properly. Odds are, if they’re, if they’re not worn on the inside or outside or bubbly, your alignment’s probably fine unless you’ve hit a pothole. But if your steering hasn’t changed and your, your old tires wore fine, you probably don’t need an alignment.
I know a lot of places recommend an alignment every time. It’s a good habit, but you know, it’s an extra $150 you may not need to spend. So if your tires are wearing fine and your car doesn’t have 300,000 miles and maybe the whole front end is loose, that’s a different story.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
But Ray, what about, I think like air filters in the cabin, you can probably change yourself. That’s probably one way. That’s what I do in our vehicle.
You can buy them in AutoZone or one of the parts stores, but let’s talk about some of the engine maintenance things. And this is probably in addition to tires and oil, making sure that that engine is, you know, humming appropriately, not to use a bad metaphor.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Yeah. I mean, you know, the dealerships recommend you don’t have to change the spark plugs for a hundred thousand miles, but I can tell you when you take that spark plug out, compare it to a new one, it’s pretty worn and you’ll notice, people notice an improvement. Maybe it’s psychosomatic, but we’re just putting new plugs in, but air filters is another item.
I mean, I just got a note from Carfax telling me today’s a time to change my air filter, which is interesting, but you know, your car breathes through that air filter. If you, if you drive on a gravel road, a lot of dust, things like that can pollute your air filter. So it definitely, you know, maybe in the 50,000 mile range, do some of those things.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. There’s a lot, I think that I wasn’t aware of until I really peeled back that owner’s manual. And it is important, as you said, to really adhere to the schedule.
I mean, that for whatever reason, the factory came up or the dealership, not the dealership, the brand came up with the specs, probably pretty important to stick to that schedule. Although you don’t necessarily agree, you think you should do oil changes more frequently than what is prescribed. Right.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Yeah. I look at it as cheap insurance. I mean, yeah, because there’s just so much relying on the cleanliness of oil and the engines today, in order to get the most fuel efficiency possible, they’ve lowered the tolerances inside the engine so that even if you have dirty oil, you’ll start to see that you’ll start burning oil, which is something you think went away in the 60s, but it really hasn’t because engines now are really relying on just clean, pure oil.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Ray, last question for you, outside of the oil change and changing tires and maybe some of the engine maintenance, are there any other things that we can do, you know, outside of cleaning the car that we can do to help minimize some of that expense? These cars are very complex, more technology, but are there any other things that we can do? Maybe our wiper blades, as an example.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Wiper blades, for sure. I mean, they degrade just from the sunlight or ozone over time. You know, you can wipe them if you want it with an alcohol swab just to try and improve the cleaning ability, but I think, you know, a lot of people don’t know the difference between a burning oil smell versus a burning brake smell versus coolant smell.
So I have one son, I’m very proud of him. He can smell and listen and hear everything and he’s pretty good at diagnosing things. So, you know, if your car starts to smell a little funny, something might be going on.
So your senses play a role. So always be aware of what you think, you see, you feel. Don’t just turn up the radio, so to speak, you know.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Or turn up the iPad or the iPhone. Ray, I wish you were closer because I would bring my car for an oil change to you. Unfortunately, we’re not close anymore.
I’m in Charlotte, you’re in New Jersey. Thanks for joining us and we look forward to having you back again next month.
Ray McGrath, Automobile Enthusiast
Thank you, Jeff, and safe travels.
