Amazon Student $10 Referral Credit Promotion

Posted on August 7, 2013 // 1 Comment

Back to School time is here again, and Amazon has a promotion where you get can $10 free credit for each new Amazon Student member that you refer to sign up. If you’ve got some social media influence in college or just met 100 new friends in your dorm, this would be a pretty easy way to rack up some pizza money as it’s completely free to sign up and you get 6 months of free Amazon Prime 2-day shipping. “All Amazon customers can invite friends to join Amazon Student via email, Facebook post or by sharing a personal invitation link on social media sites.”

Students are verified by providing a working .edu e-mail address, although you can use another e-mail for your account. After the first 6 months, new sign-ups can continue Amazon Student at 50% off ($49 a year) and keep the 2-day free shipping as well as get access to the Amazon Prime streaming movie and TV library, as well as the Amazon Prime Kindle free borrowing service. You have to provide a credit card for the trial I believe, but you can cancel at any time, even immediately and you can still keep the free 6 months and it’ll just stop when time is up without charging your card.

Fine print:

Residents of AR, MN, NC, and RI are ineligible to receive Student referral credit. Credits may take 7 days or longer to appear in your account after new member signup. Credits expire one year from date of issuance, are one-time use, are non-refundable, and can be redeemed only on items sold by Amazon on www.amazon.com.

Sign up for Amazon Student here. Get your own referral links here.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Card Review – Simple 1.5% Cash Back

Posted on August 4, 2013 // 16 Comments

card_name

The card_name is a cash back credit card that earns unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

  • $200 Cash Back after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. For a limited time, also enjoy a $100 credit to use towards flights, stays and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel during your first cardholder year.
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
  • 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; reg_apr,reg_apr_type APR after that; balance transfer fee applies
  • $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
  • Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
  • No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus, cash back won’t expire for the life of the account and there’s no limit to how much you can earn

Bottom line. The card_name is all about simple cash rewards with no gimmicks. No points, no miles, no travel credit, no rotating categories. No annual fee. You can cash out for any amount, at any time. Your rewards never expire and you can redeem for straight cash via check or statement credit.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Satellite TV Retention Department Employee On Haggling Discounts

Posted on August 1, 2013 // 13 Comments

One of my more popular posts is about Haggling To Lower Your Cable or Direct TV Satellite Bill. Looking at the stats, I would confidently estimate that hundreds of people have saved hundreds of dollars each after reading it and taking some action. Today, a call center worker in the Retention Department of a satellite TV company (Dish? DirecTV?) left some interesting thoughts that I didn’t want to get lost in the 135+ comments. I’ve quoted it below, unedited except for a few spaces to break things up.

I work for a satellite company, I wont say which one. and might I just say that if you are going to call in and do all this just to get money off of your bill at least be up front about it. The worst is when people call in and try to give some sob story about not being able to afford it when they have like the highest package but wont go down to a more affordable one. We have done this long enough to know who is “blowing smoke” so if you want the best deal just be nice (we in the retention department deal with mostly escalated situations as well as customer retention)

If you call in and just say “hey, I know you guys have a lot of good deals going on for different customers, is there anything you can do for me” I PROMISE You you will get the best deal.

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Free eBook on Small Business Tax Deductions (Expired)

Posted on July 24, 2013 // 6 Comments

(Update: Free promo is expired, it’s back at $9.99.) Just a quick note that there is a Kindle eBook about tax deductions for small businesses, including self-employed people, that is currently free called Small Business Tax Deduction Secrets by Stephen Nelson, CPA. The author participates in the Bogleheads investment forum under the username SeattleCPA.

I downloaded and skimmed the book briefly, and it does have helpful information for those looking to maximize qualified business expenses and deductions (as you should!). Free for a limited time, so as usual my advice is download now and read later! You can download software to read Kindle books on PC, Mac, smartphones, and tablets.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Optimize Your Cell Phone Plan: The Wireless Efficient Frontier

Posted on July 17, 2013 // 30 Comments

The other day while I was trying to help someone find a cheaper cell phone plan, I realized two things:

  1. There are way too many different options these days. Most are MVNOs that buy bulk minutes and data from the major providers, and many of those are simply clones of each other.
  2. Trying to find the best cell phone plan is similar to the efficient frontier concept in investing. There, you try to achieve the highest return for a given amount of risk, or you try to minimize the risk you have to take in order to get a given return. Anything else is sub-optimal; here’s a quick chart illustration.

In the case of cell phone plans, you’re either trying to maximize features (coverage, phone selection, minutes, texts, data allowance) for a given budget, or more often you’re trying to minimize the cost for the features that you “need”/want.

I’ve mentioned several good deals from various providers, covering everything from a $2.50 a month basic plan to simply saving $10 a month on your “name brand” major provider plan via corporate or student discounts. Below, I’ve placed them all on a single chart of cost vs. features. This is a work-in-progress, but hopefully this will help folks find better alternatives and save some serious money over time.

The Details

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Apple App Store: 5 Top Paid Apps & Games For Free

Posted on July 8, 2013 // Leave a Comment

Apple is celebrating the 5th anniversary of Apple’s App Store by making 5 top apps and 5 top games free for a limited time. Some other developers have also made their apps free as well. here is the official iTunes page, and below are some direct download links as well. I’m not sure if they will rotate these out. I went ahead and downloaded a few now to try out later.

Apps

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Capital One 360 Financial Independence Day Promo 2013

Posted on July 2, 2013 // 5 Comments

Update – This promotion is now EXPIRED

Capital One Consumer Bank has their annual Financial Independence Day promotion which boosts the usual bonus for their Consumer Bank Savings and 360 Checking accounts. (Artist formerly known as ING Direct.) Offers good until Wednesday, July 3rd 11:59PM ET.

Consumer Bank Savings $76 Bonus

  • Open a no-fee 360 Savings account between July 1st and 3rd ($500 minimum deposit) and snag $76.
  • This has to be your first Consumer Bank Savings account (includes Orange Savings Account).
  • The bonus starts earning interest on day 1, but you can’t take it out for at least 30 days.
  • 0.75% variable Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective 6/30/2013.
  • For more, check out my Capital One 360 Savings Account Review.

Consumer Bank Checking $100 Bonus

  • Open a fee-free 360 Checking account between July 1st and 3rd (with a deposit of $500 or more) and grab $100.
  • This has to be your first Consumer Bank Checking account.
  • Make a total of 5 purchases (either signature of PIN-based) using your 360 Checking Debit Card, make 5 CheckMate deposits or any combination of the two within 45 days. Your $100 bonus will be automatically deposited into your account on day 50.
  • Variable APYs effective 6/30/2013: 0.20% Balances under $50,000 / 0.80% Balances between $50,000 and $99,999 / 0.85% $100,000+.
Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

1,000 Bonus Citi ThankYou Points for Linking to Amazon.com

Posted on June 27, 2013 // 11 Comments

If you have a Citi credit card that earns ThankYou points, you can get a 1,000 free ThankYou points for linking your Citi card with Amazon.com for future redemptions. Simply log into your account at ThankYou.com and go to Overview > My Account > Enter a Promotional Code and type in TYAMCAZON2 into the *bottom* Bonus Registration Code form field. You should see the following text:

Thank you. Your code has been submitted. You are ALMOST DONE! Now just click on “Continue” below (or go to amazon.com/citi) to link your ThankYou® and Amazon.com accounts. Offer expires at 11:59 PM ET on 6/30/2013 or until the first 20,000 members have linked-whichever comes first. Once you link, bonus points will be posted to your ThankYou account by July 10th 2013.

I’ll take the bonus points, but I won’t be using this rewards option as it only yields 0.8 cents per point. See previous post on the Best Value for Citi ThankYou Points Redemptions.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Fandango $6 Movie Tickets, $5 for $10 at Target

Posted on June 27, 2013 // Leave a Comment

Quickly, here are some limited-time Groupon deals:

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Home Depot Coupon Code: $10 off $100+ Purchase

Posted on June 17, 2013 // 7 Comments

HomeDepot.com has a coupon code JUNEHD that will take $10 off any purchase of $100 or more. Expires 6/23/13. You can have the item shipped or pick up in-store.

Get another 3% or so rebate via a cashback shopping portal like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Stack the discounts even more with the 5% rotating cash back available currently on home improvement stores from the Citi Dividend and new Discover It card. Or, buy a Home Depot gift card at a grocery store using the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express which offers 6% cash back at US supermarkets, or buy a Home Depot gift card for 7% off at a secondary market like Raise.com.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Chase Ink Bold Review: Business Card Bonus Worth $500 Cash, $625 in Airfare

Posted on June 16, 2013 // 37 Comments

Chase Ink BoldThe Ink Bold® Business Charge Card is a premium small business being offered by Chase, directly competing with the biz cards from American Express. If you have a small business including freelance or online eBay/Etsy sales, using a business card allows you to separate your personal and business expenses as well as get some nice rewards in the process. Just to get you to try it out, Chase is offering 500 bucks in the form of 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months your account is open.

50,000 Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for $500 cash (real money, via statement credit or check) or 25% extra = $625 when used towards airfare, split up however you like into multiple tickets. If your total is more than $625, you simply pay the difference. I’ve used this feature and it’s very easy and flexible to book airfare using their points (system and prices are like Expedia, Travelocity, etc). Here’s an example of combining cash and points:

If you prefer, you can also transfer points to British Airways Avios miles, United Airlines miles, Hyatt hotel points, and Marriott hotel points. 1 Chase point = 1 mile/hotel point for these transfers, so that’s 50,000 miles.

You’ll also earn up to 5 points per $1 spent on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible business purchases:

  • Earn a total of 2 points for each $1 of net purchases made at merchants that classify themselves the following categories: gas stations and hotels stays booked directly with the hotel. (on the first $50,000 spent annually)
  • Earn a total of 5 points for each $1 of net purchases made at merchants that classify themselves the following categories: wireless/telecommunications services (excluding equipment such as phones and fax machines), cable and satellite television services, office supply stores and wholesale distributors of office supplies. (on the first $50,000 spent annually)
  • All other purchases will earn 1 point for each $1 of net purchases.

Getting 5X points back at Office Depot, Staples, and Office Max also means that you get 5X points back on the gift cards sold at these office supply stores. This includes places like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kmart, Starbucks, TJ Maxx, and more.

There is no annual fee for the first year, $95 after that if you decide to keep it. You also get a free annual membership in Lounge Club, which gets you 2 complimentary visits to participating “first class” airport lounges each year and discounted rates on future visits. After you get the Ink card, register at loungeclub.com/inkcard. The Ink Bold Business Charge Card is a business charge card where you must pay in full each month after a 30-day grace period with no interest.

Jot business receipt management. Chase has now partnered with Jot, so now I can snap a picture of my business receipts with my smartphone and link it to my card purchases. No more shoeboxes or scanning, and it exports into Quickbooks. I haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds like a good backup in case the IRS comes knocking.

Business Credit Card Eligibility

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. Why? Because any individual can be a business as well. The business type is called a sole proprietorship. Perhaps you sell items on eBay, Craiglist, or Etsy. Maybe you do some freelancing and/or consulting. You might have gotten a 1099 tax form and filled out a Schedule C. Boom! You’re a sole proprietorship. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

In addition, Chase business cards won’t show up on your personal credit report. Now, this card will require you to personally guarantee that you’ll pay them back what you charge on the card, which means they’ll check your personal credit score like any other consumer card. However, it won’t affect your credit score otherwise, since it doesn’t change things like your credit limits, average account age, or credit utilization ratio.

  • Ink Bold® Business Charge Card Application Link

This card is essentially the small business version of the Chase Sapphire Preferred®Card, a consumer card which offers 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points = $625 in travel) Compare with the other $500+ Bonus credit card promotions currently available.

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.” 

“The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Free VIN Check Trick, Free Vehicle History Report

Posted on June 12, 2013 // 30 Comments

AutoCheck and CarFax are popular ways to check on a used vehicle’s history before buying or selling. They aren’t always 100% accurate, but can still be a useful tool and possibly worth the $30+ retail price. But AutoCheck also lets car dealers check show free basic VIN checks to show their customers, and people (not me) figured out you can piggyback on this feature rather easily.

(Update 7/22: You can still try using the instructions below, but it appears that Autocheck has closed this loophole. You can still get a basic free VIN check at AutoCheck.com that will show you the year, make, model, style and country of assembly for any VIN. It’ll also show you how many vehicle history records there are for this vehicle, but in order to see the details you’ll have to pay for the full report.)

To perform a another basic check of whether a specific car VIN has been reported stolen or has a salvage title, use this free NCIB.gov VINcheck tool. Together, these would provide a good initial check to any potential Craiglist used car purchases. If you wish to proceed, it may be worth it to go ahead and purchase a report.

Finally, there is also a more affordable option called VinAudit.com that sells their vehicle history report for only $12.99. They also include title registration records, junk/salvage records, insurance records, and odometer history. Data is from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS). States, insurance carriers, and salvage yards are required by federal law to report data to NMVTIS. Their sample report looks pretty much the same as the other guys, but Compare with $39.99 for CarFax and $29.99 for AutoCheck.

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers //
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