This was a good week for receiving some free bonus money, with $285 in total! Some updates too:
» $60 from Unwired Buyer via their $20 Bonus program. I've received $20 PayPal x 3 now, two for both of my eBay accounts* and one for my wife's. For those that haven't had a chance to bid yet, I've updated the post with a link for tons of good auctions to bid on. It's Friday, get it over with!
» $100 from Bank of America for a (now expired) opening bonus (previous post). I've had to fight for BofA bonuses before, but this one came on time without hassle. There is a new $100 bonus available here.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) can be a great way for people to save money on health insurance, especially if you are young and healthy. I looked at them last year (and listed some HSA pros and cons) but missed some deadlines, and need to start again. I found quotes online as low as $80 a month at eHealthInsurance, whereas I currently pay about $200 a month as part of my wife's plan. I could even stay with the same company (BlueCross/BlueShield), just with different deductibles.
Now, HSAs are great mainly due to the fact that earnings grow tax-free, and when used for healthcare expenses withdrawals are tax-free too. I think of it as a Health Roth IRA. Accordingly, the ...
I have been doing 0% balance transfers for a while now, but my original three-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) about how to do them is getting a bit dated. I have also made several follow-up posts to it (like how to get a check directly and tips to manage payments), but they are hard to find for newer readers. Finally, many answers to questions are buried in the comments.
In addition, right now is a great time do this activity as the difference between what you're borrowing at (0%) and what you are earning in interest (over 5%) is the biggest that I can remember. For every $20k you borrow, you can earn $1,000 of interest.
KeyBank is offering a free 1 GB iPod Nano for opening a checking account and either starting direct deposit or opening a credit card. No special link, it's right splat on their front page. (I better not hear "We are not aware of this offer" later on!) I'm going for the direct deposit as credit checks are valuable. The catch is that you must live in an area that KeyBank serves to open an account. Worth a shot!
This week's Carnival of Investing is up at Stock Market Beat. For more information on participating and hosting schedule, please check out the main Carnival of Investing page. My Money Blog also participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Savvy Saver.
Emigrant Direct released their new site today... and promptly got hammered by the millions of people eagerly waiting to type in their 10-digit access code. I finally just got through.
Most importantly, with the new website you also get a different account number! This is extremely important for those that have externally linked their Emigrant account with other 3rd parties, such as TreasuryDirect or credit card bill-payment systems, and they most likely quite possibly won't work anymore. Transfers initiated at Emigrant's website will still work.
I always read my junk mail. You never know when you'll get a juicy targetted offer not available to the general public. It may be extra cashback on a specific category, or just 0% APR with no balance transfer fees from a bank that usually charges fees. Besides, I have to open it to shred it anyways, and after a while you become a pro at sifting through the fine print instantly.
In this case, I got my Discover Miles card back when it was offering a 5,000 mile signup bonus. Now, it's offering a 12,000 miles bonus over 12 months. I cashed in my bonus miles and have been happily earning 5+% interest on my borrowed free money. But for some reason, ...
Schick is offering both a free Quattro Titanium and Intuition (promo code INTSMP06) razor, depending on what you plan on shaving. I usually don't post too much 'Free Sample' stuff, but razors are expensive, and due to these offers I haven't had to buy one in years. I use a free Quattro right now, and it's very nice. Links via Bargainshare.
As a thank you and an additional incentive for the $20 Unwired Buyer Bonus, I am offering everyone who allows me to refer them and qualifies for the $20 bonus, to participate in my ING Direct Share The Referral Love Program. You send me your ING referral, someone else gets their $25 ING Direct bonus, you get another $10. This is retroactive, so if you've already qualified for the $20 (not just signed up) through my referral, get your extra ten bucks!
If you're like me, you get 10+ phishing e-mails a day, asking you to login to some fake bank account site. Heck, my PayPal account was "suspended" five times just today. (Although it was really was frozen once.) Combine this with all the other stories of private information stolen from laptops, and you've got lots of potential headaches.
This MSNBC article entitled 'Know your rights on bank account fraud' clearly outlines what your legal rights are if you do become a victim of idenity theft through your bank account. Although it's from 2005, I learned a lot of new and useful stuff from this article. To quote:
