Archive for the 'Deals & Offers' Category
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Update: Here are some good investment books that you can get for free or cheap with this discount code. Check out the top-selling Kindle e-textbooks for ideas, but I like The Ivy Portfolio and the classic Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Thanks to reader Max for the tip.
Amazon.com is offering another $10 of free credit towards Kindle e-Textbooks with the code ETXTBOOK. Additional directions and a place to enter your code at this link. I don’t believe you actually need a Kindle to use these electronic textbooks, as there is a Kindle app for PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android phones as well. You must use it by 11:59 p.m. PST on January 9, 2012. I got this for an Amazon Student account, but it should work for everyone.
Are electronic textbooks much cheaper than paper textbooks after taking into account selling the used book back? I have no idea.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 8 Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Republic Wireless is a new cellular service that uses WiFi to place calls and text whenever possible, saving you and them money. They advertise an $19 a month Unlimited Plan with unlimited minutes, data, and text – all with no contracts and no early termination fees. What’s the catch? Read on.
(Instead of having the information all over the place, I’m keeping all updates and news about Republic Wireless in this one post. Everything is dated, and the new stuff is on top.)
Republic Wireless goes “all-in” (11/26/11)
In response to complaints about the confusing limits of their “unlimited” service, Republic Wireless has a new blog announcement that they will not kick anyone off their network during their Beta phase. Everyone will get unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data the entire time. Also, their money back guarantee now lasts 90 days instead of 30. I guess Republic just wants to see if they can pull this thing off without kicking anyone out of the network for using too much Sprint data… at least initially.
Long-term, it’s nearly impossible for them to allow this. On average, they can’t have people go over their Sprint network usage (see below), but maybe there will be enough low resource users to counter the high resource users. In any case, you might get a nice year or so of unlimited everything at $19/month during their beta without worries.
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers, Frugal Living | 18 Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Update: The following Citi holiday promotion has ended. If you’re in the market for a top notch balance transfer credit card, check out our list of the best credit cards offering a 0% intro APR on balance transfers.
Here’s another nice 0% interest balance transfer offer – it is a holiday promotion, but any time is a good time to pay down your balances even faster with less interest! The Citi Diamond Preferred MasterCard now gives you 0% APR for 18 months on both balance transfers and purchases. Now, the balance transfer fee is 3% (minimum $5). This means that you could transfer a balance of up to $6,650 and still have your transfer fee completely covered. Transfer less than that, say $5,000, and you’d actually net yourself $50. Remember, purchases are at 0% APR as well. No annual fee.
Comparing this with the other best no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers, the New Slate® from Chase – No Balance Transfer mentioned earlier has no balance transfer fee at all, for a period of 15 months. If your balances are less than or around $7,000 you would get six more months at 0% with the Diamond Preferred over the Slate. If your balances are higher and/or you plan on paying them offer within a year, then the Slate would work out better.
Which reminds me… Citibank balance transfers are the easiest to get in the form of a check sent directly to you. I just confirmed in my Citi account and here is a screenshot to show what to look for.
*Online purchases are coded differently than physical locations where you swipe your card – even paying your cable bill online or auto insurance online counts.
Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 15 Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Discount stock brokerage Sharebuilder is offering a $75 cash bonus as long as you open a new account with $100 by December 31st with promotion code EXTRA75. It doesn’t appear that you even need to make a trade. Fine print:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers | 21 Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Winner Announcement! The contest is now over. Congratulations to Devin A. and Julia D., the lucky winners of $2,500 and an iPad 2. You should have received an e-mail notification to your registered e-mail address. Thanks to all who entered, I hope to do it again next year.
‘Tis the season of giving so I’ve decided to award two lucky MyMoneyBlog readers with $2,500 in cold hard cash! And as an added bonus, each winner will receive a brand new iPad 2 (64gb). Yes, really! I don’t think you’ll find a richer giveaway on the web so please tell your friends, family and coworkers to get an entry in! Winners will be selected at random on the morning of Wednesday, December 21st and to enter the giveaway, you need to follow two simple steps:
Read the rest of this entry…
Posted in Deals & Offers, Giving Back | 113 Comments »
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Groupon is again offering $20 to spend at Old Navy for $10. 100,000+ sold already, with days left so it may sell out. I guess the idea is for some last-minute Christmas gifts. You can buy one for yourself and also one as a gift.
Posted in Deals & Offers | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
American Express has another promotion offering 5% off all gas purchases at BP until 1/31/2012 when you register your card. It says you must be invited, but these offers are often found via a simple banner link somewhere on their website and usually work as long as they accept your card number. You get the 5% back via statement credit, on top of your existing card rewards. I registered my trusty Starwood AmEx travel rewards card with no issues.
Try yours… it’s worth a shot for an additional 15+ cents off per gallon. If you combined this with the Blue Cash Preferred AmEx with 3% back on gas, you’d be looking at 8% total cashback.
Update: The wording is ambiguous, could mean 5% back on all your purchases for the entire month!
Posted in Deals & Offers | 24 Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Regular readers will know that I like using credit cards for the cashback or travel rewards, even though I never carry a balance from month to month or pay any interest. However, I also accept that many people prefer debit cards as they suck money straight out of your checking account. If that sounds like like you, you’re not alone – when it comes to a charge card purchase, nationally it’s just as likely to be a debit card as a credit card. I get it – debit cards more psychologically similar to spending cash and there is no change of racking up a balance (although there are overdraft fees).
The best way to describe Perkstreet Financial is that it’s the best checking account if you don’t like using credit cards. They offer the best cashback rewards on debit cards by far:
- 1% cash back on all non-PIN debit card purchases. The cash back you can earn on these purchases is unlimited.
- 2% cash back at popular retail stores. On online purchases at: Amazon.com®, iTunes®, Target.com, Apple.com, Walmart.com and Bestbuy.com, on in-store purchases, when you have a Current Account Balance of $5,000 or more at: Walmart, Target®, Best Buy® & Apple® stores, and when you and a friend use your cards at the same restaurant, bar or coffee shop within 60 minutes of each other.
- 5% cash back at a rotating set of retailers. Up to $250 a year. For May 2012, they are Zappos.com®, Sports Authority®, Williams-Sonoma®, and Hallmark.
As long as you have some sort of activity each month (billpay, deposit, withdrawal, cleared check, debit card purchase) then there is no monthly fee. Some other improvements they’ve made are that you can deposit checks sent overnight for free at UPS Stores or Mailbox Etc. (or via free prepaid envelopes). They don’t offer ATM rebates like some other places like my account at Ally Checking, but they do offer 42,000 free ATMs across the country; use their ATM locator to see if there are convenient ones to you.
Right now, you can get an extra $25 bonus cash back when you apply for an account online by December 25th, fund with $25 or more, and use your card at least 3 times in the first month. (Ironically, last time I started an application they let me fund with with a credit card up to $500 and promised it would go through as a purchase and not a cash advance.)
Posted in Banking, Deals & Offers | 9 Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Here’s another nice promotion via my Amazon Kindle w/ Special Offers, but it appears to be open to all. If you visit the offer page on 12/20, you will find a code that will take $10 off any $100 purchase of products sold by Amazon.com (no 3rd party sellers) when you use your Mastercard. In addition, you will later receive another coupon code code for $10 off $50. 12/20 only. Here is the text of the offer via e-mail:
To receive your $10 discount during the MasterCard Savings Days Promotion on December 20th:
1. Add $100 of eligible products as described on the promotion to your shopping cart.
2. At checkout, ensure MasterCard is selected as your method of payment.
3. Enter the promotion code found at the top of the landing page in step 1 and apply the code to your order. This group promotion code is only good for 24 hours (12:01AM PST to 11:59PM PST) or while discounts last. The discount will be reflected in your shopping cart total for orders over $100 on products sold by Amazon.com.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 9 Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Here’s a quick Groupon promo for both new and existing users. You can get a $10 credit after registering on this page on 12/19 and buying a “local” Groupon worth $10+ by midnight 12/24. Valid for the first 150,000. Local means a physical business in your area – no online deals or getaways. More details in the FAQ.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
BeFrugal.com is yet another cashback shopping portal that gives a percentage back on online shopping purchases made through their links. Like most of the others, it’s also offering a $10 sign-up bonus for a limited-time to get you started. You’ll need to accrue $20 total (so an additional $10) to withdraw your rewards.
Other sites that I have successfully cashed out from are eBates ($10 new user bonus after any purchase of $25+), Mr. Rebates ($5 new user bonus – minimum cash-out balance is $10), or BigCrumbs (no bonus, but often offers the best payouts). The bonuses also help you reach the minimum cash-out requirements faster if you’re like me and don’t shop online all that much outside of Amazon.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
American Express has a new money transfer and payment service – think PayPal – called Serve. To promote it, they are currently offering a $10 bonus just for signing up for a new account by 1/5/12. In addition, they have another promo site called PlayMoneyMover.com that will give you another $10 for playing their trivia game. You can’t actually lose, you either just get another question (google it!) or you can “phone a friend” (again, use your friend google!). Total: $20 for about 5 minutes of your time.
You’ll need to provide your name, email, and last 4 digits of SSN. You can either request your money via check (7-10 business days) or via online transfer to a linked bank account. Alternatively, they’ll send you a Serve ATM debit card that you can use anywhere AmEx is accepted. The first ATM withdrawal per month is free, $2 after that.
Eagle-eyed readers may also notice that you can load your account via credit card, and the usual 2.9% + $0.30 fee is waived until January 1, 2012. Don’t get too excited though, as they have a hidden limit of $100 per day and $250 total per month. (Try it if you like.) At 2% cash back, that’s a $5 benefit.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 54 Comments »
