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“Hard-working designers like Calvin Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, or Antoine Bugle Boy… These are the people who saw an overcrowded marketplace and said, “Me too!” –Homer Simpson
We are living in a golden age of payments. Never have there been so many ways for folks to shuffle around money and possibly find ways to make money by doing so! Eventually most of these companies will go broke, merge, get acquired, and so forth, but in the meantime there’s plenty to keep an eye on. [Read more…]
$175 BONUS FOR A B OF A CREDIT CARD: Via MaximizingMoney, you can get $175 cash back when you’re approved for an American Bar Association-cobranded BankAmericard. $175 isn’t amazing, but given the paucity of great sign-up bonuses from Bank of America it might be worth going after. Someone on this FWF thread said they had a $200 offer, so if you’re currently a B of A customer you might want to check your available offers in online banking.
And in case you’re wondering, you don’t have be an ABA member to get the card. I’m still in my thirties, and I’ve never stepped foot on Harvard’s campus, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting an AARP card (for a 5% “unlimited” cash back deal) and a Harvard alumni card (for a 0% no-fee balance transfer).
SUNTRUST $100 CHECKING ACCOUNT BONUS: Via Fatwallet, you can get $100 with a new SunTrust checking account. T&C’s:
Eligible New Checking Accounts: To qualify for the $100 promotional incentive, a new personal checking account must be opened at an in-store SunTrust branch located inside Publix, Kroger,safeway, WalMart, B-Lo and Harris Teeter retail stores between 8/30/2013 and 12/31/2013, and at least $500 must be spend on qualifying purchases with a SunTrust MasterCard Check Card(s) or Delta SkyMiles World Check Card(s) that are associated with the new account within 90 days of opening the new checking account.
As always, keep in mind that you are required to pay income tax on deposit account bonuses (but not for credit card bonuses, of course), so always include that fact in your calculations.
40,000 THANKYOU POINTS: In the comments last week, Chasing The Points mentioned that Citibank is offering up to 40,000 ThankYou Points for opening a checking account with them. You’ll have to have $50K in assets to get the full 40,000 points, but you can also open a basic account and settle for a mere 20,000 points.
A BUY LOW, SELL HIGH GIFT CARD DEAL: Speaking of Chasing The Points, he points out that you can buy a DSW gift card for $150 via an Amex Sync promotion and sell it for $160–AND get 6X Ultimate Reward points if you click through via the Chase online mall.
PENFED FOLLOW UP: Thanks to reader Kirk for pointing out in the comments last week that PenFed has nerfed other credit card rewards as well, not just the Platinum Cash card. The Platinum Rewards Card used to offer 5 points per dollar on gas, 3 on groceries, and 1 on everything else, whereas now it offers 3/2/1, a la the BankAmericard.
But that’s not all: the points are worth less too. As per this Fatwallet thread, here are the new redemption rates for Visa gift cards:
So you’re actually getting less than 3/2/1 with the new structure. Time to move on…
FREE $100, FREE KINDLE: First Tennessee Bank is offering $100 to anybody who opens a new Express Checking account and uses direct deposit. Meanwhile, KeyBank will give you a free Kindle Fire HD when you open one of their checking accounts.
HIGC FLAMEOUT: Last week, we mentioned that Million Mile Secrets had publicized the fact that you could use the Home Improvement Gift Card to load your Bluebird. That deal died around 24 hours later. It got shut down more quickly than I would have guessed, but that it got shut down is not surprising at all, as very lucrative deals with lots of publicity tend not to last too long.
Anyway, if you’ve got some time to kill the whole episode generated 100 pages in just a couple of days on Flyertalk.
TALL, DARK, AND 800: There was a New York Times article a while back with a bunch of anecdotes about people using credit criteria to screen potential mates. Now, the website FreeCreditScore.com has conducted a more extensive survey of 1,000 adults.
The results? “About 30% of women and 20% of men say they won’t marry a person with a low credit score.” The article goes on to say:
Most respondents also said money management skills are just as important as looks when deciding whether someone is worth pursuing.
This is especially true for women, with nearly all female respondents ranking financial responsibility and financial compatibility as more important or just as important as career ambition, physical attraction and sex and intimacy, the survey found.
As with any survey, you have to take the results with a grain of salt since what people say and what people do are two different things. And sadly, the survey did not ask about the attractiveness of people who obsessively chase after credit card deals.
There’s probably something to the findings though, as the ability to control resources (financial, political, or otherwise) is a consideration in marriage decisions throughout all cultures and times. Credit scores are just a measure of financial resources in this particular place and time. (H/T: Bargaineering)
WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET LIBRARY?: Kent Thune, who blogs over at The Financial Philosopher, has some interesting thoughts on books over at The Big Picture:
From time to time people ask me to give them recommendations on good finance books. When I respond, I either get blank stares or laughs…
What’s so funny about the Tao Te Ching, Thoreau’s Walden, or Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling On Happiness?
Were they expecting something like Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace, Kiyosaki’s Poor Dad / Rich Dad or Curtis Faith’s Way of the Turtle? While these are good books (at least measured by sales), I’m not sure it’s responsible to blindly send people on their way to read how someone else got rich. Did the authors of these finance books get rich as a result of reading a book about getting rich? Or did they find success by finding their own pathway to it?
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought. ~ Basho
As you may have already guessed, my reasoning for recommending non-financial books for financial guidance is three-tiered:
- The world doesn’t need more lists of “best financial books.” There are too many as it is now.
- Most people that ask for financial book recommendations don’t want to read a financial book; they want aget-rich-quick book.
- I believe the greatest need in the Business/Finance section of book stores is the Books to Read Before You Read the Finance Book section. Outside of Wall Street, the purpose of money is not to make more money; it is to serve a non-financial purpose. Therefore it is philosophy that guides finance: Life is not about making money; money is about making a life.
I WANT TO STAY IN THIS HOTEL: For those of you looking for new hotel experiences, the Spitbank Fort may be worth looking into. The British built the naval installation one mile off the coast of Portsmouth in 1867, but it is now a luxury hotel. Here’s an aerial view:
Here’s the Victory Bar, which looks like a great place to imbibe:
And let’s not forget the Nelson Suite:
There are more pictures here. Rooms start at $565 per person, or you can rent the whole thing out (sleeps 18!) for only $7,690 per night.
50 FREE PHOTOS FROM TARGET: Thanks to Slickdeals for pointing out that you can get 50 4×6 photos free of charge from Target. You’ll need a printable coupon–go here and then search for ‘4×6’ in the search box.
STAPLES FOLLOW-UP: Remember yesterday’s paper towel deal at Staples? There’s toilet paper too. You’re welcome.
KEYBANK $50 REFERRAL BONUS: As long as we’re following up on stuff: on Friday I mentioned the $200 KeyBank bonus, but it turns out there’s also a $50 bonus if you refer a friend to open an account. Your friend will still get the $200. I’m not eligible for the KeyBank bonus, but anybody who did open an account can feel free to use the comments section below to try to grab some referral money. Come to think of it, if there are any other good referral bonuses out there for pretty much anything else, you’re welcome to use the comments section to see if anybody’s interested.
WHERE TO BUY VANILLA RELOADS: For those posters on certain internet forums who like to bemoan deal-killing bloggers: did you notice how Frequent Miler referred only to a “numerically named convenience store” when telling us all one place where you can still buy VRs with a credit card? I think that’s a reasonable way of doing things, though I’m sure there are people out there who think even that’s too much public discussion.
CITI THANKYOU PREMIER DEVALUATION?: According to Flyertalk, the Citi Premier is being devalued:
Positive changes:
- 3x TY Points/dollar at restuarants
- 2x TY Points/dollar at travel (airfare/hotel)
- No annual fee for adding an AU
- 400 TY points for enrolling in Paperless
Negative changes:
- No more flight points
- No more companion airfare through Spirit
- No more anniversary bonus
- 1.25x rather than 1.33x bonus on airfare purchases with TY points
- No 20% bump on everyday spend (1 pt/dollar)
Commenting on the changes, Gary at View From The Wing reminds us all of one of the great travel hacks of years past:
Years ago you could get Citibank to buy you a ticket at any price if you met the conditions of the Thank You points program. People would manage to buy themselves $8000 coach tickets to Japan, cancel, and retain the airline credit.
Not surprising that they shut down that sort of gaming by implementing maximum ticket values into their award chart.
The sweet spot used to be redeeming for business class tickets inside the US and Canada at a value of 3 cents per point — 90,000 points bought a ticket of “up to” $2700. The trick people came up with was a ‘business class’ (rather than first class-marketed) flight to Canada for as close to $2700 as possible, plus taxes. As long as one segment was refundable, then cancel the ticket and retain a credit.
Someday we’ll be pining for the days of 5% rewards on PIN-enabled prepaid debit cards. Enjoy it while it lasts…
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