Free AirTran Ticket With $10k Deposit at SunTrust Bank

SunTrust Bank is offering a free roundtrip ticket on AirTran (16 bonus A+ Rewards credits) for depositing $10,000 of new money into a Premium Money Market Performance Account by March 9, 2007. You must keep it there for 90 days, and the account currently pays 2.25% APY. Doing some rough math, the interest rate difference from an online savings account paying 5% APY for this period would be about $75. That seems like a good price for those that could use it.

You must also reside in AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, or WV. Here’s the rest of the fine print:
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Wells Fargo Lowers Requirements for Free Stock Trades

Wells Fargo is now offering 100 free online trades per year if you have $25,000 in brokerage equity, loan balances, or deposits with them (down from $250,000). This seems to be in direct response to Bank of America’s Free Trade program, which requires $25,000 in cash deposits.

Much Easier To Qualify
Although Wells Fargo is offering less trades than BofA (100/year vs. 30/month), it’s easier to qualify at Wells since you can use both brokerage and loan balances:

Wells Fargo accounts used for balance qualification include checking, savings, time accounts (CDs), retirement (IRAs), brokerage, trust (excluding irrevocable trusts), loans, outstanding credit cards and line of credit balances, and 10% of outstanding mortgage balance (certain mortgages not eligible).

I called them and confirmed that you can simply move over $25,000 in existing stocks and mutual funds to qualify for the free trades. You can even have, for example, $12,500 in taxable brokerage and $12,500 in an IRA and get 100 free trades for both accounts. Nice! There are no annual fees if you maintain the $25,000 all in one brokerage account, but if you split it across accounts you may be subject to maintenance fees (fee schedule). You will also need to open a PMA checking account with them.

Free Mutual Fund Trades Too
In addition to the stock trades, Wells Fargo is offering free mutual fund trades. This includes all no-load fund families that they offer, not just the ones on their no-transaction-fee (NTF) list, and includes names like Vanguard, Fidelity, Dodge & Cox, and Bridgeway. This could be great for people who want to consolidate all their holdings from different fund families into one account.

Don’t Have $25k? Try Zecco
Zecco.com continues to offer the lowest requirement for free stock trades, just a $2,500 minimum opening amount including stock equity. See my Zecco feature review for details. Zecco’s hurdles include their young brand and doubt that their business model will be able to keep the trades fee in the long run.

Etrade Bank Complete Savings $25 Opening Bonus

ETrade is offering a $25 bonus for opening a Complete Savings account with at least $1. It is currently paying 5.05% APY with no minimum balance and no account fees. For more information, see my E-Trade Bank Complete Savings Feature Review. Expires February 28, 2007.

E-Trade is my financial arch-nemesis. I still have an IRA there with 18 cents in it that I cannot close. I even tried opening one of these savings accounts, filling out the entire application and getting an account number. A week later, they didn’t withdraw my deposit and nothing showed up online. After another week of multiple e-mails and an hour on hold, still no account. I feel like their money-saving model is “ignore them until they give up”. Am I the only one?

Thanks to K via BankDeals via Shraz for the tip.

My Favorite Business Rewards Credit Cards

I’ve written about my favorite rewards cards already, but someone asked about my favorite business cards. On top of the extra rewards, I like these because they can also help you track and separate your business expenses. Remember, individuals can also sign up for business cards under their own name.

For Big Spenders: The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN
The New Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPENI forgot about the The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN (which I also got for the rewards), that also offers a good deal of Membership Rewards points during the first year. Limited Time Offer: Get 50,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $5,000 in the first three months of Card membership. Terms and restrictions apply. Points are earned only on eligible purchases. Bonus points limitations apply.

It’s a bit hidden – if you click on the ‘Learn More’ link on the application page, you’ll see the bonus points offer:

  • 3X points on airfare
  • 2x points on purchases in the U.S. for advertising in select media, gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, and shipping
  • 1X points on other purchases

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10,000 points is equal to $100 in gift cards or 10,000 frequent flyer miles, so roughly 1 point = 1 cent.

Let’s say you spend $60,000 in the first year. You’ll get 1 point per $1 spent, so 60,000 points. You’ll also get all 30,000 points above. That’s 90,000 points (~$900) for $60,000 in spending, for an overall 1.5% back.

You can get another 10,000 points for the one-year card renewal, getting you to their 100,000 point level, but you’ll be charged the $125 annual fee, so you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it. The first year’s annual fee is waived.

Here are some fine print details for the cards:

Chase Business Cash Rewards Card

You will earn 1 point per $1 for new net purchases totaling $0 to $2,000 each billing cycle. New net purchases totaling over $2,000 and up to $2,500 will earn 5 points per $1, and new net purchases totaling over $2500 will earn 1.25 points per $1. To determine the level of points earned for each billing cycle, only new net purchases are used in the calculation, and net purchases spending thresholds will reset to $0 at the start of each new billing cycle.

PayPal Promotion: $15 Off Any $30 Purchase

PayPal is offering a $15 rebate on any single purchase of $30 or more between February 8 and March 31. Valid anywhere PayPal is accepted in the U.S. and Canada, including eBay. You must register your primary e-mail here first.

I always buy my dog’s flea medication from eBay anyways (cheapest price I could find), so it works out great for me. Thanks Tom for the tip.

Added: The page has changed since I first posted this. It appears now to be only open for certain people. For a while, it was available to everyone and even on the front page of PayPal. Bummer.

Free 24 Minutes of Skype for Chinese New Year

Right now Skype is giving out 24 free minutes of calling in celebration of Chinese New Year. Yes, it’s only worth 50 cents. But I’d pick up two quarters off the street any day. Kung Hei Fat Choi!

4 More Ways To Get A Free Credit Report

Logos for 3 Major Credit Bureaus

I think the media in general has been pretty successful about promoting AnnualCreditReport.com, the official government-mandated source of free credit reports. I checked all mine last March. But what happens when it hasn’t been 12 months yet but you need to check again? Do you try one of those free trial gimmicks and remember to cancel in time?

Not so fast! There are several more ways to get a free credit report without having to use up all your freebies:

  1. You were denied credit, insurance, or a job due to information on your credit report. A notice stating which credit bureau supplied the report should be included in your letter of denial. You then have 60 days to request a free copy of your report from them.
  2. You are unemployed. You’re also entitled to one free report a year if you?re unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days.
  3. You are on welfare.
  4. Your believe yourself to be a victim of identity theft. Perhaps you recently found a suspicious transaction, or lost your wallet. Have you shopped at TJ Maxx or Marshall’s since 2003? Place a fraud alert on your file, and then ask for a free copy of your credit report.

Here are the numbers you’ll need:

* Equifax: 800-685-1111; Fraud Dept. 800-525-6285
* Experian: 888-397-3742 (same for Fraud Dept.)
* Trans Union: 800-916-8800; Fraud Dept. 800-680-7289

This is all taken from the Federal Trade Commission, so you can reference that if they try to argue with you.

Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Update – December Payouts

Bonuses for my Emigrant Direct Signup Promotion went out today for those that sent me their final form in December. Emigrant Direct offers a savings account paying 5.05% APY with no minimum balance. If you’re interested, be sure to get another $10-$20 out of it.

Wachovia Bank $50 Bonus For Free Checking Account

Wachovia Bank is offering a $50 sign-up bonus for opening one of their Free Checking accounts. The account looks pretty good, with no monthly service fee, no minimum balance, and no direct deposit requirement. However you will get a hard credit pull and you need to open with at least $100. You also have to be a little patient:

Account must be opened in good faith and remain in good standing through 04/30/2007 in order to be eligible for the offer. Account must be funded with a minimum opening deposit of $100. Offer expires on 04/01/2007. […] The $50 bonus will appear in the form of a credit to the account within 60 days of the offer expiration date.

Overall, it looks good if you have a lot of Wachovia’s around and need a low-maintenance local bank account. The interest rates on their savings accounts are awful, so link it up to an online savings account paying 5% APY. Thanks to JP for the tip.

Free iPod Shuffle From Hedgestreet Arrived

For everyone that joined me in the Hedgestreet iPod promotion, your patience should be rewarded shortly. In fact, I’d check your inbox for an e-mail titled “HedgeStreet iPod Shuffle Promotion” if you haven’t gotten it already.

I think I should be getting two more of these puppies later for the referrals I gave out (thanks!), as I got multiple iPod e-mails. I decided that one of these will be given away as a prize for my Make A Goal Experiment. The other one, we’ll have to see…

If you did it right, the $79 Shuffle should have cost under $3 – or maybe you even made money! This is another one of my little activities that nets me an extra few thousand dollars a year. Here’s to free stuff!

Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Update – November Payouts

Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in November for my Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Promotion was paid this week. If you’re interested in opening an account with Emigrant Direct’s 5.05% APY with no minimums, why not get yourself an extra $20 out of it?

Free 8-Week Membership At Bally’s Gym

As I sign of my psychic genius, I will predict your New Year’s Resolutions. They are:

1. I will save or earn more money.
2. I will become more healthy.
3. I will be less cluttered and more organized.

Hopefully I can help with the first one (subscribe to updates!). And here’s something for the second – Discovery Health is offering a free 8-week membership at Bally’s for registering for their Body Challenge:

All registered National Body Challenge participants will receive FREE access to our online customized meal plan, a personalized weight tracker, extensive information from doctors and health & fitness experts, a free 8-week membership to Bally Total Fitness?, online recipes, special savings from Discovery Channel Stores and more. The 8-week Bally Total Fitness? pass is only available until January 16, 2007 at 11:59 PM (ET) and is effective from January 13, 2007 through March 10, 2007.

You must register, print out the pass, and bring it to Bally’s starting on the the 13th. I just read somewhere that out of the huge amount of gym sign-ups in January, the majority are canceled by April. This is a great way to try using a gym (if you have a Bally’s nearby) without any commitment.

Oh, you’re on your own for the third one. Getting organizational advice from me is like asking Britney Spears how to be a good mom.

Update: I still think this is potentially a great deal, although you may need to endure a sales pitch. Some Bally’s may use lame sales tactics, but all gyms in a nationwide chain are not created equal. They should give you the passes without requiring your credit card information. If not, fight back!