On his podcast, Clark Howard answers real reader questions on money, credit, debt, retirement, travel, and more, along with co-host Christa DiBiase.

Clark's answer: International wire transfers are a growing problem in the brokerage industry, but you actually can put speed bumps in place. The issue is that Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab still treat blocking them as a manual, clunky process. When you call customer "no service," you’re usually speaking with a junior rep who simply isn't familiar with the procedure. If you’ve hit a brick wall with any of my three favorite children, call back and push to reach a more experienced agent. A great shortcut is to ask an AI tool for the specific steps to place a block at your firm; when you read those instructions back to the frontline rep, they’ll quickly realize it's over their head and transfer you to the right department.