Mastercard Free ID Theft Protection and Credit Monitoring

Posted on April 28, 2022 // 9 Comments

Update April 2022: Just a quick update that this has been a useful, additional free identity theft protection service. Today, I electronically signed some “power of attorney”-type papers through Docusign and they had me answer some identity verification questions like “which address have you been associated with?” that pulled from my credit reports and driver’s license data. Immediately, I got the following alert from Mastercard Identity Protection that even included the exact questions asked:

Previously, this service has also alerted me that my personal information like name/email have been found in data breaches from random websites like autoexpresscars.com and drivesure.com. These are all events that did not trigger any alerts from my other credit bureau-based monitoring services. Therefore, I feel signing up for this additional free service rounds them out. Services like Docusign are useful but open you up to potentially more severe cases of fraud.

Original post:

Data breaches are scary fact of life these days. If you have a Mastercard, did you know that they offer a Mastercard ID Theft Protection service to cardholders for free? If you activate it, Mastercard has paid on your behalf for a private-label identity theft protection service provided by Generali Global Assistance, Inc. (GGA). The same way that Safeway doesn’t actually make their generic version of Cheerios, Mastercard has outsourced this service. Thanks to reader Bill P for the tip.

Services are provided by Generali Global Assistance, Inc. (GGA), one of the largest providers of private-label identity protection services in the United States. GGA has handled thousands of identity-related cases and has protected millions of customers since it began offering the service in 2003. GGA’s in-house identity theft resolution specialists are certified identity theft risk management specialists – CITRMS® certification by the Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE) and FCRA-certification (Fair Credit Reporting Act by the Consumer Data Industry Association).

You’ll receive an alert if there’s a change to your TransUnion credit report (e.g., new inquiries, new accounts, updated personal information by creditors). That’s nice, but I already get more comprehensive coverage from all three bureaus than this from my combination of Credit Sesame, Credit Karma, and FreeCreditScore.

The difference that caught my eye was their emphasis on full-service, human help if you do become a victim of identity theft. Emphasis mine:

This program is designed to help protect you from identity theft and provide full-service, hands-on assistance in the event of an incident. Studies have shown that the largest cost to victims of identity theft is lost time and stress associated with figuring out how to restore their identity, including replacing cards and documents while communicating with creditors to dispute fraudulent activity. In the event of an incident, we will assign you with a personal case manager to help you resolve issues, saving you countless hours and reducing the stress associated with identity theft.

Their package of services includes: identity theft affidavit assistance and submission, creditor notification, dispute and follow-up, 3-bureau fraud alert placement, inform police/legal authorities, placement of credit freeze and opt-out services provided by certified identity theft resolution specialists.

These could be hollow claims, but hopefully they are truly helpful in taking care of these things on your behalf. If you have a Mastercard, it may be another worthwhile service to add to your defenses.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, Insurance //

I Savings Bonds: Nearly 10% Yield + 10X More Popular!

Posted on April 24, 2022 // 16 Comments

Nothing like a 10% yield with no principal risk to attract more attention to a quiet little investment option. The WSJ has a new article What Are I Bonds? Everything You Need to Know to Earn Nearly 10% Interest as a follow-up to The Safe Investment That Will Soon Yield Almost 10% (paywall?). No groundbreaking discoveries, but you might find something useful as they are admittedly more complicated than a traditional bank savings account. Here’s an interesting stat of how TreasuryDirect is selling several billions of dollars more than in previous years:

Americans snatched up nearly $11 billion in I Bonds, which are inflation-adjusted U.S. savings bonds, over the past six months, compared with around $1.2 billion during the same period in 2020 and 2021, according to Treasury Department records. That figure will likely rise even higher on an expected jump in rates next month.

Another common question is to buy this week in April or wait until May. Here is another perspective:

I Bonds will be subject to at least one rate change in a 12-month period. Elliot Pepper, a financial planner in Baltimore, doesn’t know what the next rate after 9.6% will be. So, he’ll try to mitigate the risk that it will be lower than 7.12% by taking half of his annual limit and “locking in” the combined 7.12% and 9.6% and then buying the remaining $5,000 in late October, when he has more visibility about the next rate.

If the rate then is lower than 7.12%, Mr. Pepper said he would have been better off investing his $10,000 maximum before May. If the rate is higher than 7.12%, he would have been better off buying the bonds after May, he said.

My view remains that historically, a 7.12% inflation rate is much higher than average. So if you take a step back, your options are:

7.12% for 6 months + 9.62% for 6 months + ??? for 6 months

Or:

9.62% for 6 months + ??? for 6 months + ???? for 6 months

I’d rather lock in the 7.12% over an unknown number. However, if the new rate in October does end up being even higher, I will still eventually get that future ??? rate as a long-term holder of I bonds (it’ll just be shifted six months later). Finally, you get to start earning the interest a month earlier if bought in April. As I had the cash available in other low-interest vehicles, I saw no reason to wait. I’ve already maxed out for 2022 and 2021 (and 2020 and 2019…)

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Till Financial Review: Kid Banking App That Teaches Compound Interest

Posted on April 21, 2022 // 17 Comments

There are many apps in the “reloadable debit card for kids” category, where parents can transfer money into their account and kids can spend it. However, I have been looking for a better app that can illustrate the power of compound interest and deferred gratification. Till Financial allows the parent to incentivize savings via both custom matching and interest amounts. The idea is to provide them a safe place to fail and learn, such that they don’t have to learn it later through missed opportunities and credit card debt. Here are some important highlights followed by details about my favorite features:

  • No monthly fees. No premium tier exists, so not even requests to “upgrade”.
  • Child can be of any age. Family owner must be 18+.
  • Free virtual and optional physical Visa debit card.
  • Now supports both iOS and Android app.
  • Banking services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC.
  • No interest paid.

Match each savings contribution. Parents can encourage transfers to savings by matching each transfer by a custom percentage. For example, if they move $10 from their Spend bucket to the Savings bucket, you might match another $5 or $10. Any transfers both in and out of savings must be approved by a parent/admin account.

Pay monthly “interest” on savings balances. Parents can also encourage savings accumulation by paying a custom “interest” rate. For example, you might pay them 5% or 10% monthly for a while and see if they notice how fast it can compound if they don’t touch it. 5% growth every month compounded for a year is +80% growth, i.e. $100 would turn into $180. 10% growth every month compounded for a year is +213% growth, i.e. $100 would turn into $313!

Automatic weekly allowance or one-time transfers. You set the allowance to “auto-pilot” once a week, or just give manually.

Save for a specific goal. Your child can set a goal (ex. $100 for Airpods) and then redirect their allowance, other income, or requested gifts from friends and family into that goal.

Tasks. You can create a menu of specific tasks along with specific payouts (ex. $25 for mowing the lawn.) Tasks can be made available daily, weekly, or on a one-time basis.

If it’s free, how does Till plan on making money? This quote from TechCrunch sums it up well:

Besides making money on interchange fees, Till aims to earn revenue by partnering with merchants to offer rewards to users. It also plans to earn referral fees by referring the teens to other financial institutions when they get older and have different needs.

“It’s not our intention to be your son or daughter’s forever bank. It’s our intention to be their first bank,” Burton said. “So, when they hit the age of majority, we’re actually giving them a high-five off of our platform and introducing them to maybe their first college loan or their first credit card.”

Does Till offer a sign-up bonus for new customers? Yes, if you apply at this link and enter my referral code JP8548 during sign-up, you will get $25 (now only $10?) once you set up an account, create a family, fund, and make one debit card purchase transaction. My cash bonus arrived without problem.

My kids are still on the younger side, so I have been using this mostly as a virtual piggy bank for my kids so far, as they can log into their account and see the (growing) balance. I expect to gradually allow them to handle money and take some responsibility for their spending and saving decisions.

Bottom line. If you are looking for an educational spending app for your kids, check out Till. This is not a “high interest” account, but more about showing them how compound interest and consistent savings adds up. Hopefully, they can use the app to learn deferred gratification in a real-world environment. There is currently a referral bonus for new customers.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Family //

INVEST: New American Express and Vanguard Co-Branded Robo-Advisor

Posted on April 18, 2022 // 7 Comments

I had to double-check the date when I received the press release for this product to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. 🤯 INVEST is a new partnership between Vanguard and American Express, but Vanguard provides all of the financial investment advice. More accurately, Vanguard is paying a credit card company to find new customers and charging those new customers higher prices to cover the marketing costs. Yes, the same Vanguard that made its brand by putting its customers first, selling direct, and not paying sales commissions to financial advisors though big upfront loads on mutual funds. Somebody please create an animated GIF with Jack Bogle shaking his disappointed head. 😞

Another step towards the “New” Vanguard(TM). I wonder how many “consultants” were involved. Ah well, I suppose I should take a closer look anyway.

  • Annual gross advisory fee of 0.50%. (Waived for the first 90 days.)
  • Minimum $10,000 to eligible assets to start.
  • Includes Vanguard’s digital advisory platform.
  • Access to a 30-minute consultation where you can talk with a Vanguard advisor.
  • If you maintain $100,000 or more in your account(s) managed by INVEST, you get ongoing access to “an unlimited number of advisory phone calls”
  • Bonus American Express Membership Rewards® points annually based on the average annual taxable assets: 5,000 points for $50,000+, 25,000 points for $100,000+, 50,000 points for $500,000+.
  • Interest boost on American Express High Yield Savings Account. Get $15 for every $10,000 in average daily balance over the last 12 months (up to $50,000) in your Amex Savings account.

We basically have a few add-ons wrapped around the basic Vanguard Digital Advisor Services (VDAS) product (my review). As a reminder, VDAS sets you up with a model portfolio of low-cost Vanguard index ETFs and charges an annual gross advisory fee of only 0.20% and a lower minimum investment of $3,000.

So let’s add on the perks. Everyone gets a one-time 30-minute phone call. Thirty whole minutes! With a real, live human! If you give them $100,000, then you get unlimited phone calls. They don’t promise access to certified financial planners or anything specific. But if you had $50,000 to invest, you could alternatively upgrade to Vanguard Personal Advisory Services (VPAS) which also includes access to human advisors and more complex advice. VPAS charge an annual advisory fee of 0.30% on top of the expenses from underlying investments. Add on the estimated 0.05% from a model underlying ETF portfolio, and you’d have 0.35%.

For the bonus points, using a value of of 1 cent per Membership Rewards point, the bonus works out to a $50 value on exactly a $50,000 balance, or 0.10%. But that’s a little deceiving because you need $10,000 to open an account. That makes the bonus worth only 0.05%. $250 value on exactly a $100,000 balance is 0.25%. $500 value on exactly a $500,000 balance is 0.10%. So $100,000 is the sweet spot, but the cutoff is a bit severe if you miss it.

For the savings account interest boost, you are adding about 0.15% to the interest rate at the most optimistic on the AmEx online savings account. Their current rate is 0.50% APY. That’s about the same as most “high yield online savings accounts”, but comparison shoppers can almost always do much better. I wouldn’t really consider this a worthwhile bonus since 0.15% is not a significant margin when you don’t know if the base rate will stay competitive.

To summarize, the added perks do not reliably offset the higher cost of this product when compared to going directly through Vanguard.

Vanguard, known for not paying commissions to financial advisors…. is paying a commission to American Express. So why are you paying 0.15% to 0.30% more annually than going direct through Vanguard? Well, you should know that up to half of the fees that you pay will go directly into American Express’s pocket.

American Express (Amex) will receive a promoter fee in an amount that is up to 50% of the advisory fee that you pay to Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (VAI) if you enroll in INVEST. The promoter fee Amex receives will be reduced by certain costs, including the cost of your advisory calls with VAI Financial Advisors and other benefits that provide an incentive for you to consider INVEST. This promoter fee will be paid by VAI to Amex for so long as you maintain your advisory relationship with VAI.

Is this the most evil thing ever? No. You can always argue that anything that exposes people to investing is good, even if it’s a bit more expensive than necessary. I’m still disappointed. Vanguard was different because it was boring with little advertising and letting the product sell itself.

Bottom line. INVEST has Vanguard’s robo-advisor at its core but with a higher costs and added perks. The added perks do not reliably offset the higher cost of this product when compared to going directly through Vanguard. The reason for this is that… wait for it…. costs matter. Vanguard has to pay American Express a cut of half of your fees forever for this marketing relationship, which eventually lowers your returns as an investor. I wonder what company taught me that?!

via GIPHY

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Wells Fargo $1,500 New Business Checking Account Bonus (In-Branch Only)

Posted on April 11, 2022 //

(Update: Looks like Wells Fargo ended this promotion early. Hope those interested got the code while they could.)

wellsfargo_logoWells Fargo has a $1,500 bonus offer if you open a new business checking account in a physical branch with a special bonus code from this offer webpage. Thanks to reader Matt for the tip. Here are the bonus details:

  • Open a new, eligible business checking account at a Wells Fargo branch with a minimum opening deposit of $25 by 05/13/2022. You must provide the bonus offer code (generated via link above) to the banker at the time of account opening.
  • Have at least $5,000 ending daily balance in your new business checking account on the 30th calendar day and the 60th calendar day after account opening.
  • We will deposit the bonus into your new business checking account within 30 days after meeting all offer requirements.

Here is the full list of documents you will need to bring to the branch for each type of business (sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, etc). If you are a sole proprietorship that does work using your legal first and last name and your SSS as Tax ID, there aren’t any additional documents beyond a driver’s license required.

More fine print:

You must open a new Initiate Business Checking®, Navigate Business Checking®, Optimize Business Checking® or Analyzed Business Checking account in order to be eligible for this bonus offer.

This offer is intended for new business checking customers only. You must use your bonus offer code at account opening when you apply for a new eligible Wells Fargo business checking account. For this offer, a new business checking customer is identified by the U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number for the business used to open the new business checking account.

You are not eligible for this offer if:
– You are a current owner of a Wells Fargo business checking account.
– You received a bonus for opening a Wells Fargo business checking account within the past 12 months.
– You are a Wells Fargo employee.

Bonus offer code can only be used once.

While this requires an physical branch visit, Wells Fargo does have nearly 5,000 branches nationwide (map locator) and this is a quite big bonus with relatively modest balance requirements.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Best Interest Rates on Cash – April 2022 Update

Posted on April 6, 2022 // 7 Comments

Here’s my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash as of April 2022, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities (useful for both cash reserves and as possible bond substitutes). I look for lesser-known opportunities available to individuals while still maintaining FDIC insurance or equivalent. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you’d earn by moving money between accounts. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 4/6/2022.

Significant changes since last month: Short-term rates are moving up. Don’t overlook US Treasury bonds, as they are now relatively attractive in the 6-month to 5-year range, while CD rates are still lagging (but may catch up later). 7.12% Savings I Bonds still available if you haven’t done it yet. SoFi 1.25% APY and some short-term CD rate bumps from the banks. Deposit promos are another alternative.

Fintech accounts
Available only to individual investors, fintech companies often pay higher-than-market rates in order to achieve fast short-term growth (often using venture capital). “Fintech” is usually a software layer on top of a partner bank’s FDIC insurance.

  • 4% APY on $2,000/$6,000. Current offers 4% APY on up to $2,000 on each of their “savings pods”. Free users get 1 savings pod, while premium users get 3 savings pods. Potential promos include $50 bonus and “Premium free for life”. Please see my Current app review for details.
  • 3% APY on up to $100,000, but requires direct deposit and credit card spend. HM Bradley pays up to 3% APY if you open both a checking and credit card with them, and maintain $1,500 in total direct deposit each month and make $100 in credit card purchases each month. Please see my updated HM Bradley review for details.
  • 3% APY on 10% of direct deposits + 1% APY on $25,000. One Finance lets you earn 3% APY on “auto-save” deposits (up to 10% of your direct deposit, up to $1,000 per month). Separately, they also pay 1% APY on up to another $25,000 with direct deposit. New customer $50 bonus via referral. See my One Finance review.
  • 3% APY on up to $15,000, requires direct deposit and credit card transactions. Porte requires a one-time direct deposit of $1,000+ to open a savings account. Porte then requires $3,000 in direct deposits and 15 debit card purchases per quarter (average $1,000 direct deposit and 5 debit purchases per month) to receive 3% APY on up to $15,000. New customer bonus via referral. See my Porte review.
  • 1.20% APY on up to $50,000. You must maintain a $250 direct deposit each month for this balance cap, otherwise you’ll still earn 1.20% on up to $5,000. They also pay 6% on USDC stablecoin, but I avoid this as it is not FDIC-insured (and you can get higher rates elsewhere if you did want to hold USDC.) New customer $100 bonus via referral. See my OnJuno review.
  • 1.25% APY (no balance cap). SoFi is now offering 1.25% APY with no balance cap as of 4/5/22. You must maintain a direct deposit each month of any amount. Convenient if you already have a relationship with them. See $25 + $300 SoFi Money new account and deposit bonus.

High-yield savings accounts
Since the huge megabanks pay essentially no interest, I think every should have a separate, no-fee online savings account to accompany your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

  • T-Mobile Money is still at 1.00% APY with no minimum balance requirements. The main focus is on the 4% APY on your first $3,000 of balances as a qualifying T-mobile customer, but the lesser-known fact is that the 1% APY is available for everyone. Thanks to the readers who helped me understand this. Unfortunately, some readers have reported their applications being denied.
  • AdelFi (formerly ECCU) is offering new members 1.01% APY on up to $25,000 when you bundle a High-Yield Money Market Account & Basic Checking. (Existing members can get 0.75% APY.) To join this credit union, you must attest to their statement of faith.
  • There are several other established high-yield savings accounts at closer to 0.50% APY. Marcus by Goldman Sachs is on that list, and if you open a new account with a Marcus referral link (that’s mine), they will give you and the referrer a 1.00% APY for your first 3 months (a 0.50% boost). You can then extend this by referring others.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

  • No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. CFG Bank has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 0.85% APY with a $500 minimum deposit. Ally Bank has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 0.50% APY for all balance tiers. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 0.65% APY with a $500 minimum deposit. You may wish to open multiple CDs in smaller increments for more flexibility.
  • Alternatively, Marcus has a 10-month CD at 1.10% APY and a 1-year Treasury Bond has a rate of about 1.76% (purchase at TreasuryDirect.gov or with brokerage account, details below).

Money market mutual funds + Ultra-short bond ETFs
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Unfortunately, money market fund rates are very low across the board right now. Ultra-short bond funds are another possible alternative, but they are NOT FDIC-insured and may experience short-term losses at times. These numbers are just for reference, not a recommendation.

  • The default sweep option is the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund which has an SEC yield of 0.19%.
  • Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund currently pays 1.45% SEC yield ($3,000 min) and 1.55% SEC Yield ($50,000 min). The average duration is ~1 year, so your principal may vary a little bit.
  • The PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active Bond ETF (MINT) has a 1.36% SEC yield and the iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (NEAR) has a 1.23% SEC yield while holding a portfolio of investment-grade bonds with an average duration of ~6 months.

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes. Right now, this section isn’t very interesting as T-Bills are yielding close to zero!

  • You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 4/6/2022, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 0.19% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 1.76% annualized interest.
  • The Goldman Sachs Access Treasury 0-1 Year ETF (GBIL) has a 0.22% SEC yield and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) has a 0.04% (!) SEC yield. GBIL appears to have a slightly longer average maturity than BIL.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov. You can also buy an additional $5,000 in paper I bonds using your tax refund with IRS Form 8888.

  • “I Bonds” bought between November 2021 and April 2022 will earn a 7.12% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
  • In mid-April 2022, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will have another post up at that time.
  • See below about EE Bonds as a potential long-term bond alternative.

Prepaid Cards with Attached Savings Accounts
A small subset of prepaid debit cards have an “attached” FDIC-insured savings account with exceptionally high interest rates. The negatives are that balances are severely capped, and there are many fees that you must be careful to avoid (lest they eat up your interest). There is a long list of previous offers that have already disappeared with little notice. I don’t personally recommend nor use any of these anymore, as I feel the work required and risk of messing up exceeds any small potential benefit.

  • Mango Money pays 6% APY on up to $2,500, if you manage to jump through several hoops. Requirements include $1,500+ in “signature” purchases and a minimum balance of $25.00 at the end of the month.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

  • Lafayette Federal Credit Union is offering 2.02% APY on balances up to $25,000 with a $500 minimum monthly direct deposit to their checking account. No debit transaction requirement. They are also offering new members a $100 bonus with certain requirements. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization ($10 one-time fee).
  • Quontic Bank is offering 1.01% APY on balances up to $150,000. May be useful for those with high balances. You need to make 10 debit card point of sale transactions of $10 or more per statement cycle required to earn this rate.
  • The Bank of Denver pays 2.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases of $5+ each, receive only online statements, and make at least 1 ACH credit or debit transaction per statement cycle. If you meet those qualifications, you can also link a Kasasa savings account that pays 1.00% APY on up to $25k. Thanks to reader Bill for the updated info.
  • Presidential Bank pays 2.25% APY on balances between $500 and up to $25,000, if you maintain a $500+ direct deposit and at least 7 electronic withdrawals per month (ATM, POS, ACH and Billpay counts).
  • Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union pays 3.30% APY on up to $20,000. You’ll need at least 15 debit transactions and other requirements every month.
  • Lake Michigan Credit Union pays 3.00% APY on up to $15,000. You’ll need at least 10 debit transactions and other requirements every month.
  • Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

  • NASA Federal Credit Union has a special 49-month Share Certificate at 1.80% APY ($10,000 min of new funds). Early withdrawal penalty is 1 year of interest. They also have a 15-month special at 1.20% APY and 9-month at 0.90% APY.
    Anyone can join this credit union by joining the National Space Society (free). However, NASA FCU will perform a hard credit check as part of new member application.
  • KS StateBank has a 5-year CD at 2.05% APY ($500 min). Early withdrawal penalty is 18 months of interest.
  • You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year CD at 2.70% APY. Be wary of higher rates from callable CDs listed by Fidelity.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk, but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

  • Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CD at 3.00% APY vs. 2.64% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs from Fidelity.
  • How about two decades? Series EE Savings Bonds are not indexed to inflation, but they have a unique guarantee that the value will double in value in 20 years, which equals a guaranteed return of 3.5% a year. However, if you don’t hold for that long, you’ll be stuck with the normal rate which is quite low (currently 0.10%). I view this as a huge early withdrawal penalty. But if holding for 20 years isn’t an issue, it can also serve as a hedge against prolonged deflation during that time. Purchase limit is $10,000 each calendar year for each Social Security Number. As of 4/6/2022, the 20-year Treasury Bond rate was 2.81%.

All rates were checked as of 4/6/2022.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing //

Marcus Bank CD Promo: 1.10% APY for 10-Month Term, Rising Rate Commentary

Posted on March 30, 2022 // 2 Comments

Rates are rising… slowly. Marcus Bank has a 10-month promo CD paying 1.10% APY ($500 min, early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest). Ally Bank has a 14-month promo CD paying 1.00% APY (No min, early withdrawal penalty is 60 days of interest). If you have a short-term window, these (sadly) are competitive rates. I figure I should mention them, although you can also get 1%+ APY from a liquid savings account if you know where to look.

Personally, I’m only keeping my cash in short-term lock-ups with high effective APYs like the deposit promos recently from CIT Bank (still live) and Live Oak Bank (probably too late if you haven’t started) and Marcus Bank (already expired).

Overall, I definitely don’t on locking in any 5-year CDs due to the mix of current low rates and impending possibility of higher rates soon. Inflation numbers are still elevated. However, I also don’t expect to see significantly higher rates on savings accounts right away. Banks tend to raise their rates on credit cards first and by a lot, and savings account last and by a little. Via Axios (notice the different scales!):

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Mint Mobile: My Canada International Roaming Experience and Tips

Posted on March 29, 2022 // 11 Comments

After a delay of two years, my family finally used up our flight credits and stash of hotel points to travel internationally to Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia for some snow-filled fun. I was a bit worried about how well my “budget” cellular service Mint Mobile would work in Canada. (I’ve used them for years now to keep my monthly bill under $20 a month – see my Mint Mobile review.) Hopefully this information along with my personal experiences will be helpful to other cost-conscious travelers.

Mint Mobile has an international roaming page with some basic “official” information:

  • You can add prepaid funds to your international roaming balance in $5, $10 or $20 increments. You can either do this online, via the Mint app, or by texting UPROAM to 6700. You should probably do this in advance, as you need internet access or cell service in the first place.
  • For Canada, the rates are: 6 cents per minute voice, 2 cents per SMS text, and 6 cents per MB of data. This means 1 GB of data costs $60!
  • You can check your balance by texting ROAM to 6700.
  • Note: While in the US, you can make free voice calls from the US to Canada and Mexico. Handy for trip planning!

Additional tips to activate voice and data roaming on your phone. Mint says the above is all you need, but I dug up following additional steps to try after reading about user difficulties on the Reddit forum which seemed to make sense (i.e. make sure you enable cellular voice network roaming and cellular data roaming). I did all this upfront and both voice calls and texts worked fine for me, but I’m not sure if it was critical. Try the following on your phone:

– Before leaving the US, enable airplane mode.
– Once you arrive at your destination’s, disable airplane mode.
– Dial (#766#) from your phone’s keypad to activate roaming.
– Activate roaming and data roaming on your device.

No data? Check your APN settings. Again, my cellular data roaming worked fine without changing my APN settings, but if it doesn’t for you, changing them to one of the settings either at Mint Mobile (try the Android settings even if you have an iPhone) or Ultra Mobile (same owner) has worked for other users. I might even print these out beforehand, or copy them onto an offline doc on your phone. After changing your APN settings, you may be allowed to pick a specific local network provider in Canada like TELUS.

Tips to minimize costs. Due to the high cost of cellular data, we pretended we were back in 2010.

  • Cellular coverage was quite adequate in Vancouver and Whistler, BC. My wife and I communicated primarily by SMS text message. At 2 cents each, it was very efficient and economical. We did have a few voice calls when text was too cumbersome.
  • We turned off cellular data for 95% of the time, only really using it when we needed Uber/Lyft or additional Google Maps guidance.
  • When cellular data was turned on, it was on “Low Data” mode to prevent too much automatic background usage.
  • We did all our iMessage, emails, and other activities when we were back on hotel WiFi, free restaurant/coffee shop WiFi, or other free public/airport WiFi.
  • While on WiFi, we also downloaded offline maps onto the Google Maps app for all the areas we knew we’d be going. GPS worked fine using offline maps. We also *gasp* used physical maps too! Felt strange.

Before we left, we loaded $20 each ($40 total) to our Mint international roaming balance. After about 10 days of running around Canada, we ended up using about $10 each ($20 total). The balance supposedly never expires, so we can use the rest later. Overall, I felt it was a very reasonable price for the flexibility provided. Again, some other users do report having trouble with initially connecting to cellular data in Canada, but we had no such issues. Hopefully, with all the troubleshooting tips above, you can also use Mint Mobile while on a short trip to Canada.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Schwab Starter Kit: $101 in Free Stock (or Cash) For New Customers

Posted on March 22, 2022 // 7 Comments

I’m a old fart now, but if I am going to keep most of my net worth somewhere, I want it somewhere that if I called their phone number, I’d be confident to have a knowledgable human pick up the phone and help me with my problem. That means Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab over Robinhood. Still, competition is good. I like trying out new interfaces and features, and the best of those new apps usually flows down to everyone else. The Robinhood era has helped make everyone’s apps more user-friendly. Commissions are lower. And now even the big boys have are willing to pay you cash to try them out!

Schwab has a Schwab Starter Kit that includes $101 in free fractional shares of stock (“slices”) plus some educational resources. The $101 will be split equally across the top five largest companies in the S&P 500 index – currently Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, and Tesla. (If you do not want the stock shares and just want the $101 in cash, see the fine print quoted below for the short window of time when you can cancel the trades.) To qualify, you must be a new customer opening a Schwab account through that page and deposit at least $50 within 30 days. Emphasis mine:

After you enroll in the offer, here’s what will happen:

Two business days after your account is opened, Schwab will begin checking for qualifying deposits every business day. Once your qualifying deposit has been received, Schwab will credit the $101 cash bonus to your brokerage account at approximately 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time the next trading day. (If you make your qualifying deposit after 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Schwab will credit the $101 cash bonus at approximately 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time two trading days later.)

Schwab will send you an email about your 5 trade orders the night before the orders are placed.

Schwab will place the 5 orders for you ($20.20 fractional share orders for each of the top 5 stocks in the S&P 500) at approximately 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time the day the cash bonus is credited to your account, provided you maintain at least $50 in your brokerage account at that time.

You will have a short period of time (from approximately 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time until approximately 9:25 a.m. the next trading day) to cancel the orders.

To cancel the orders, you will need to go to the Order Status page on schwab.com or on any of Schwab’s other trading platforms or call a Schwab representative at 800-435-4000.

If you cancel your orders, you will keep the $101 cash bonus and can save or invest it however you want.

If you take no action, the orders will be executed shortly after market open the next trading day. You will then see the stocks reflected in your account and Schwab will send you trade confirmations for the trades.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Amazon Pickup Points Promo: $10 Off First Order of $20+ (Targeted)

Posted on March 22, 2022 // 1 Comment

Amazon has a targeted promotion of $10 off $20+ purchase when you try out an Amazon pickup point, which include in-store pickup counters (like Whole Foods) and self-service Amazon Hub lockers. Enter the code 10OFFPICKUP and select an Amazon pickup location as your shipping address at checkout. Must be shipped and sold by Amazon. Expires May 9th, 2022, valid for first 40,000 uses. If you use a locker, there may be size restrictions. Amazon knows quite well that people are lazy and they need to incentive us to make behavioral changes. 🙂

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

PFS Buyers Club: New US Mint Coin Arbitrage Opportunity ($250+ Net Profit, March 2022)

Posted on March 15, 2022 // 26 Comments

New deal March 17th, 2022. The US Mint regularly releases limited-edition coins to collectors. The coin sets are often limited to one per household, but end up with a market value greater than the initial cost. PFS Buyers Club is a website broker that recruits regular folks to buy their allotted coin set with a set markup amount, with the agreement that they will sell only to PFS Buyers Club. For example, you might pay $300 for a coin and they’ll agree to pay you $350 for it – a fixed profit of $50.

On Thursday, March 17th at 12:00 pm Noon Eastern Time, there is a new guaranteed profit opportunity. A limited edition American Eagle Four-Coin Set will be released then, with a purchase limit of one per household. The cost of the Four-Coin Set should be either $5,332.50 or $5,240.00 (depends on the spot price of Gold). Shipping will cost $4.95.

PFS will pay you a fixed commission of $162.55 for each Four-Coin Set, on top of your cost for the set.

You’ll also earn credit card rewards on your ~$5,000 purchase (worth another ~$100 here at 2% cash back), or also possibly satisfying the requirements for some $500+ value credit card bonuses. This makes the total net profit safely over $250.

Note that the eventual value of the set may exceed that elsewhere – you may see a higher bid on eBay, for example – but if you want to make that bet, don’t promise to sell to PFS Buyers Club. Just buy it on your own and try to sell it yourself. Keep in mind that eBay seller fees can be quite high (12.9% of the final selling price + PayPal fees), and you’ll be responsible for other costs like the proper shipping with adequate insurance. PFS Buyers Club will send you a free prepaid mailing label (including insurance) and pay you via eCheck, paper check, or PayPal. I enjoy the low-stress experience.

My past experience. I used PFS last year for the first time, and everything went smoothly and I was paid my money in full without issue. The amount of communication was great and better than expected; I was kept up-to-date every step of the way. The total time commitment was about 30 minutes for $400+ profit, including the stop at the Fedex store to drop off the box with prepaid label. The eCheck option worked great – I printed the check out at home and deposited immediately via mobile app. PFS has a very solid reputation online, although some folks were unable to buy the coins from the US Mint before it went out of stock. I have done over six deals with them myself with no issues whatsoever.

If you want to jump on this, you can sign up to join PFS Buyers Club here. Sometimes these deals fill up, so I would sign-up (it’s free) and opt-in sooner rather than later. You can still opt out of the deal until an hour prior to the coins going on sale. They will provide very detailed instructions. Follow them carefully, and it was pretty easy for me as a first-time buyer. If you use that link, I will receive a referral fee the first time you successfully sell your coin for a profit. Thanks for those that use it, and for those that already used it last time! I would sign up, but I will unfortunately be skipping this round because I am currently on vacation and at that moment I will be on a dogsledding excursion!

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Plaid Data Privacy $58M Class Action Settlement (Venmo, Robinhood, Chime, SoFi, Coinbase, Etc)

Posted on March 9, 2022 // 2 Comments

Many online banking, stock trading, crypto, and fintech apps use the Plaid service to provide easy funding via your existing bank accounts. The price of this convenience is that you are providing some very sensitive data to a small, private company. They have your bank login information and can see all your transaction data. (Visa was in an agreement to acquire Plaid for over $5 billion, but it was cancelled to due antitrust concerns.) A recent Plaid class action lawsuit alleges the following improper actions:

The allegations include that Plaid: (1) obtained more financial data than was needed by a user’s app, and (2) obtained log-in credentials (username and password) through its user interface, known as “Plaid Link,” which had the look and feel of the user’s own bank account login screen, when users were actually providing their login credentials directly to Plaid. Plaid denies these allegations and any wrongdoing and maintains that it adequately disclosed and maintained transparency about its practices to consumers.

(You may have gotten an e-mail about this as early as mid-January. Thanks to those who sent it in as well. I still managed to forget about it until writing a post about firewall bank accounts to avoid such data privacy concerns.)

If you connected your financial account(s) to a mobile or web-based app that has used Plaid between January 1, 2013 and November 19, 2021 in the United States, you may be eligible for a payment from this class action Settlement. This might include Venmo, Robinhood, Chime, SoFi, Coinbase, OnJuno, Lili, M1 Finance, or Blockfi just off the top of my head. I don’t have any special insights about the merits of this lawsuit, but the proposed settlement amount is for $58 million with the payout per claim being unknown. The settlement also requires Plaid to:

  • Delete certain data from Plaid systems;
  • Inform Class Members of their ability to use Plaid Portal to manage the connections made between their financial accounts and chosen applications using Plaid and delete data stored in Plaid’s systems;
  • Continue to include certain disclosures and features in Plaid’s standard Link flow;
  • Enhance disclosures about Plaid’s data collection practices, how Plaid uses data, and privacy controls Plaid has made available to uses in Plaid’s End User Privacy Policy;
  • Minimize the data that Plaid stores; and
  • Continue to host a dedicated webpage with detailed information about Plaid’s security practices.

The deadline to submit a claim is April 28, 2022.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //
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