Archives for April 2011

Free IRS Tax Filing Extension Instructions 2011 (Online/E-File)

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The deadline for filing your federal taxes this year is Monday, April 18th, 2011. If you file for an extension, you will automatically be extended to Monday, October 17, 2011. Here’s how you can e-File a federal extension online in minutes for free.

Option #1: TaxACT

This is how I did my extension last year. Just sign up with TaxACT and e-file your extension for free through them. It’s quick. It’s easy. You don’t even need to actually use them to file your taxes later, although TaxACT is also free for federal taxes with e-File included regardless of income, and is only $14.95 for state returns with free e-File.

(That’s cheaper than TurboTax or TaxCut, although if you’re already familiar with those programs it may be worth the extra bucks to stick with them, since you can save time by importing your previous year’s data.)

Directions
To register with TaxACT, you just need an e-mail and to set your passwords. To go directly to the extension form, click on the “Filing” tab on the top, and then the “File Extension” link right below it (see below). You will then be walked through the Form 4868 in a question-and-answer format. You will then be able to have the form filed electronically instantly (or you can print and snail mail).

If you wish to make a tax payment, you will be able to choose to pay with direct withdrawal from a bank account (account and routing numbers required) or pay with a credit card (IRS fees apply). Afterward, they will send a confirmation of your accepted extension e-file by e-mail or text message. I got mine within a few hours.

Option #2: Free File Fillable Forms

This one’s a little harder to find, but here are some step-by-step instructions. Go to the Free File Fillable Forms site (go alliteration!) and click on “Start Free File Fillable Forms”. Click “Sign-in” on the top left, and create a new account with your e-mail and password information. After you’re signed in, click on “Continue” and pick your form. Go with the full form 1040. On the top right, you should see an icon with the label “File an Extension”.

This will bring up Form 4868. Click around the form to fill the boxes out. You’ll need to estimate your total tax liability, but since this is just an online version of the form so there is no guidance included. As above, you can request your estimated tax payment to be withdrawn electronically by supplying your bank’s routing and account numbers. For identification purposes, you’ll need your adjusted gross income (AGI) from your 2009 tax return.

Please note that filing an extension only extends the time to file your return and does not extend the time to pay any tax due. To avoid late payment penalties and interest you must estimate what tax will be due and pay that when you file the extension. I would overestimate my tax liability a bit to avoid penalties, and get a slight refund when I eventually file my full return.

Got state income taxes as well? Here is a helpful page on state-specific tax extensions.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek Expanded Edition

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

I recently finished re-reading the updated edition of the popular book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I read it quickly when it first came out in 2007 or so, but this time I think was more ready for the message.

In the last lifestyle book I read, The Art of Non-Conformity, the goal was to find a convergence between your work and your passion. Ferriss goes the opposite way and clearly separates them. Forget “dream job”, matching your true dreams with a job is too hard for most people. Instead, the ideal job is the one that gives you enough money in exchange for the least amount of time. Now you can pursue your dreams.

This is a critical difference. The overarching goal is now to create automated income and free up time.

Highlights & Notes

Motivation and getting started. The timing will never be just right. Just go for it and correct course as needed. The price of failure is often low, while the price of never trying is often high.

Creating your own income. Includes various ideas on starting your own business with the goal of high income and low time commitment. Resell someone else’s products. License a product. Create your own product. Physical objects are okay, but informational products are even better if you can pull it off. Ferriss himself made his first big money by selling nutritional supplements using ads in magazines. (Not exactly a product to be proud of, which I guess fits into his point above. Good thing he’s great at marketing.)

Shifting from 9-5. Let’s say you don’t want to quit your current job yet. The goal is again to separate work from time. If you can do the work that you spread out over 40 cubicle hours in just 20 hours at home, that will create a lot of free time for you to start that side business. For some, this may be enough to start pursuing your other dreams. Detailed instructions on how to negotiate a remote-working arrangement, starting with a two-week trial and reaching a full-time remote situation.

Time management. As said elsewhere, it’s critical to stop wasting your time and energy on things are really aren’t important. Being busy is not necessarily the same as being productive. Cut out interruptions, stop time-wasters like checking e-mail all the time, and batch tasks together.

Have others work for you. Hire virtual assistants from India. They aren’t just drones, if you teach them a system and allow them to use their own discretion, they can really remove a lot of your workload. Outsource whatever you can, remember that you’re not trying just to maximize profit.

What if I actually succeed? How will you spend your time? Instead of the potentially vague pursuit of “happiness”, he asks why not simply pursue what excites you and makes you feel alive. Ferriss enjoys “mini-retirements” where he does long-term international traveling. People also tend to find satisfaction with tasks that require continuously learning and/or include helping others.

Recap

Even though sometimes I have the urge to go against popular opinion, especially when the author’s primary skill seems to be marketing, I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this book. For me, it provided a good balance of big picture theory and practical advice. As with any book of this type, 99% of the readers won’t be able to actually attain a 4-hour workweek. But in return for ten bucks and a few nights of reading, I definitely felt I got good value.

I would recommend anyone who has the entrepreneurial urge to read this book, and I’m keeping my copy around because the included companies and links are useful for future reference.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529: $25 Matching Contribution

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 college savings plan is offering a $25 matching contribution if you open a new account and invest at least $25 of your own money. No promotion code required. Expires April 30, 2011. (Update: This offer is now expired.) A little kick to get started. Set up an automatic contribution of as little as $25 every month and you’ll barely notice it.

If your in-state plan doesn’t have good tax benefits, I would recommend looking plans with low-cost investment options such as the Utah and Ohio plans (really anyone that offers Vanguard investments). I like Ohio specifically because they offer good investments that suit my preference for very conservative investments for college, including high-yield CDs and inflation-indexed bonds.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


$100 Tradeking Referral Extended to April 14th

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The $100 Refer-A-Friend promo for TradeKing.com has extended to April 14th. You just need to apply by the deadline.

If you get a referral from an existing account holder, open a new account with at least $1,000 within 30 days of application, and make a trade within 180 days, both people will get $100. In addition, you can double-dip this with the up to $150 transfer fee rebate that they offer if you transfer assets from another broker. Visit this post for details.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Side Business Idea For Geeky College Students: Hacking iPhones

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

WaPo has a story about a college student who makes $50,000 a year from jailbreaking iPhones for strangers. By opening up the operation system to tweaks, “jailbreaking” allows iPhone users to do some cool stuff like share 3G connections, switch to T-Mobile, and install non-Apple-approved apps. I can see how non-techy iPhone owners would happily pay money to enhance their iPhone, given that they are already paying $70-$100+ a month for service.

The article doesn’t provide proof or details, but with some simple reverse math, here’s how it might work. $50k a year is about $1,000 a week. If he says he can do 40 unlocks a week, that means he had to charge $25 a pop. Not bad for a cash business with zero overhead besides having an iPhone. Now, there are some risks of data loss, but I’m pretty sure that with some careful reading any college student could figure it out. There are plenty of sites that will guide you through it. In case you’re wondering, in July 2010 the courts ruled that jailbreaking was legal.

This reminds me of when I was in college, I supported my gadget desire by taking advantage of the dot-com boom and the emergence of eBay. A new start-up would offer up stuff with a “we-lose-money-but-make-it-up-in-volume” discount, and I would sell them on eBay for a profit. For example, a Palm Pilot (remember those?) might be on sale for $100, and I could sell it for $150. If I bought three, that meant I could sell two and keep one for free. If I was more motivated by actual money then (I wasn’t) I should have bought 10 or 20, and made some real money.

The main problem with this plan? Supply and demand. Just one day after this article hit, a guy is offering to jailbreak your phone for just five bucks in San Jose. I guess that’s where you’ll have to start using stuff like marketing and finding a good location to stand out. Hello real-world experience!

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


XKCD Remix: The Secret Life of Personal Finance Bloggers

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XKCD is a popular online comic strip, and recently there was a funny one about what really goes on behind time management and productivity blogs. I decided to take advantage of their creative commons license and adapt the original comic to personal finance blogs.

Sometimes it just seems like we just compete on how frugal we are. Sometimes I like to imagine in reality we’re squatting in McMansions and driving our leased luxury SUVs to buy shiny toys with our Kardashian-themed credit cards. Hey, somebody has to do it.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


What Is Trusteer Rapport Software? Is It Safe/Legit?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

In case you haven’t been notified, the e-mail marketing provider Epsilon Data Management got hacked and tons of email addresses and names were stolen. Clients include major companies like Chase, Capital One, Best Buy, Target, and more. While the data breach is not enough for identity theft, the fear is that they will use these emails to target phishing scams since they know what merchants you are comfortable dealing with.

While logging into my Bank of America account this weekend, I saw that they recommended me to download and install a free software program called Trusteer Rapport, which supposedly provided “online fraud protection”. Of course, as I click over, they also point out that:

Trusteer may offer a different privacy policy and level of security than Bank of America. Bank of America is not responsible for and does not endorse, guarantee or monitor content, availability, viewpoints, products or services that are offered or expressed on other websites.

So, basically, “hey, you should install this unknown software program to protect against other unknown software programs, but we don’t officially endorse it, and it’s not our fault if it doesn’t work or actually causes even more damage than doing nothing.” Huh?

First, I looked up Trusteer, a privately held computer security firm. There are numerous articles about Trusteer in various IT security magazines that I’m loosely familiar with, so that gave them some legitimacy. However, they are a new company (first mention is 2009) and unaffiliated with any other well-known security firms. Several other major banks besides Bank of America have “suggested” that people install Rapport, including Capital One 360, HSBC, and Suntrust.

How does Trusteer Rapport work? According to their FAQ:

– Rapport verifies that you are really connected to the bank’s genuine website as opposed to a fake website created by criminals. Although this sounds trivial, it’s not obvious that you reach a genuine website when you type your bank’s address into your web browser
– Once verification is complete, Rapport locks down communication between your computer and the bank’s website. This prevents criminals from hijacking your online connection with the bank
– Rapport protects your computer and internet connection by creating a tunnel for safe communication with your bank, preventing criminals from using malware to steal your log-in data and tamper with transactions

So, they try to stop things like fake websites and keyloggers. Also of interest is the fact that they work closely with the banks themselves to customize the software to each site:

Rapport’s access control policies are set by your bank. Banks that work with Trusteer build and maintain policies that define which information is sensitive and which operations on this information should be restricted.

So what’s with the non-endorsement? BofA says it’s because they already reimburse you for fraudulent losses. From the NYT Bucks Blog:

Using the Rapport software isn’t mandatory for Bank of America customers, Mr. Gordon said, in part because the bank already protects account holders from losses if their account is compromised. But it is advisable, he said, because malicious software programs can also steal sensitive nonfinancial information, which can be used in identity theft. “One of the goals of malware is to go gather information,” he said.

Some users of the of the software have noted that it slows down your system. Trusteer counters that it’s most likely due to your other security software conflicting with what Rapport is trying to do. Well, that sounds like a couple hours of fun troubleshooting. I dislike installing additional software unless necessary, so I think I’ll hold off for now. Prediction: Trusteer will be acquired by a large branded security firm in the near future.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Chase AARP Visa – 5% Cash Back For 6 Months

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Via a specific banner ad, the Chase AARP Visa has a introductory promo of 5% cash back on all purchases for the first 6 months (specifically, 6 billing cycles). There appears to be no limit to their cashback awards and their reported credit limits are about the same as other Chase cards, so if you have the ability to charge a lot of money on your card within the next 6 months, this card is for you. Selected fine print:

For the first 6 billing cycles from your enrollment date in the program, you will earn 4 bonus points in addition to your 1 base point (total 5 points) for each $1 of net purchases. You do not earn points on balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, and money orders, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including fees for products that protect or insure the balances of your account. There is no maximum number of points that you can accumulate in the program.

Doing the math, if you can charge $2,000 total, you’ll get $100 back. Up that to $20,000, and you’ll get $1,000 back. The usual ideas include charging any medical bills, homeowners/car/life insurance, travel expenses, or large home improvement purchases. Some people even prepay their utility bills. If you haven’t already, you could also pay any income taxes owed on the card, and you’d still come out slightly ahead after their usual ~2.5% fees.

Catches? Well, you’ll have to be a member of AARP first. That costs $16 a year and is actually open to those under 50, and although you won’t get full benefits, reportedly it will let you get this card. Otherwise, just avoid doing any funny business that will close your card before you cash out your rewards.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Increase in Housing Quality vs. Increase in Housing Prices

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Catherine over at Visualizing Economics has another nice graphic on Housing Quality and its effect on Home Values. In the top chart, she shows how inflation-adjusted median home values have increased due to the fact that the median home has changed (bigger, better plumbing). This is in contrast with the popular Case-Shiller home price chart, which tracks the inflation-adjusted resale value of a fixed-size house in large metro areas.


Click to view full image

It’s a different view of things, but the Shiller chart still shows that my house’s value probably won’t increase much faster than inflation over time (my house isn’t going to magically grow in size). That doesn’t necessarily mean someone shouldn’t buy a house though, because I can pay off my house, while rent also increases with inflation.

What I also found interesting was something I’ve noticed before – how the average household has gotten so much smaller, even as houses keep getting larger and larger. From 1940 to 2010, the amount of square feet per person has tripled in size.

25% of the houses were already built in 1940, so today’s new houses being built are bigger than the median 2,135 sf. Oops, misread that, 2,135 is for new houses. I did find that the median size of new houses actually dropped from over 2,300 sf recently. Do we really need all that space? Or perhaps going a bit smaller might be another area that people can be frugal and maximize value?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Fifth Third Bank Overdraft Fee Settlement Deadline

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

If you have been a customer of Fifth Third Bank and incurred any overdraft fees related to a debit card transaction, the following may interest you. According to a class action lawsuit, Fifth Third Bank posted debit card transactions and/or ATM withdrawals in non-chronological order so that the bank could maximize the number of overdraft fees it charged to customers. Without admitting wrongdoing, Fifth Third ended up settling for $9.5 million. The official website is OverdraftSettlement.com. Taken from the claim form:

Eligibility: If you hold or held a Fifth Third Account any time between October 21, 2004 and July 1, 2010 and incurred at least one Overdraft Fee associated with at least one Fifth Third Debit Card Transaction, you are eligible to submit a Claim Form.

Settlement Benefits: Settlement Class Members who submit a valid Claim Form may receive a payment of up to three times the amount claimed on this Claim Form, depending on the total amount of valid claims submitted. The Court in charge of this case still has to decide whether to approve the settlement. Payments will not be made until the Court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. Please be patient.

The applicable period is pretty long, nearly six years. You could get up to triple your overdraft fees back. Supposedly final approval was supposed to be given on March 16, 2011, but I can’t find any updates. Claim deadline is coming up soon on May 2, 2011.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


PenFed Adds New Ways To Join – Red Cross Donors

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Kind of hidden at the bottom of my last post was that discovery that there are new ways to join Pentagon Federal Credit Union, known commonly as PenFed. There are several reasons to join this credit union, including at-times competitive certificate of deposit (CD) rates, a credit card that gives you 5% cash back on gas, and low interest rates on mortgages and auto loans. (Their 5/5 ARM mortgage is relatively unique.)

In general, membership is open to the military, US government employees, or the family or household of existing members. Previously, the most open way to join was with by paying $20 to join the National Military Family Association. (I didn’t realize this was tax-deductible.)

However, recently two new ways have popped up on their eligibility page. First, you can become eligible by joining the Voices for America’s Troops group for a $15 one-time fee (not tax-deductible). Second, you can join by being a Red Cross blood donor (blood or money). I’ve donated both blood and money to the Red Cross, and many of you probably have as well so it may be a good time to join. You’ll need to keep $5 in a share account. Maybe somebody new can apply and tell me how they verify this, but I bet they are using the honor system. Thanks to reader Paul for the tip.

American Red Cross Employees and Volunteers. A volunteer is defined as anyone who provides wealth, wisdom, or work. Wealth can include a blood donation or a financial donation.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Rewards Credit Cards: Rotating Categories 2011 April to June (Home Improvement)

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

When you charge something on your credit card, the merchant usually pays about 2-3% in transaction fees for the convenience and benefit of accepting these cards. To get your business, issuers often rebate part of these fees in the form of % cashback rewards or frequent flier miles. Credit cards also offer handy conveniences like easily tracking spending, fraud chargeback protection, and extended warranties, but who doesn’t like cash? Extreme users treat them like Swiss army knives to maximize rewards. New customers also get incentives of up to $100.

Here’s an update for the offers during the second quarter of 2011. It’s spring! So it’s all about home improvement stores. Be sure to spread your purchases around if you have multiple cards. For Home Depot and Lowe’s, you can often find a 10% off coupon online if you’ve moved recently or in the moving packets at the post office. (They also match each others coupons.) Stack ’em! You can usually also see the rewards for the rest of the year on the applications.

Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back
Reward categories change quarterly.

From January 1 to March 31, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

  • Gas Stations
  • Amazon.com

From October 1 to December 31, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

  • Dining
  • Department Stores
  • Movie Theaters
  • Charitable Organizations

You must enroll at ChaseBonus.com. All other purchases do earn a standard 1%, with no tiers or expiration of rewards. Currently, the Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back has a promotion offering a $100 check if you sign up and make $799 in purchases in your first three months.

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa CardCiti® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From from 1/1/13 through 3/31/13, you can earn 5% cash back from Citi on eligible purchases at:

  • Zappos.com,
  • Fitness Clubs
  • Drugstores

After you get your card, you must enroll by logging into your account online or calling 1-800-231-0891. There is no cap on the 5% back and all other purchases do earn a full 1% cash back on all other purchases and eligible cash advances, and rewards do not expire as long as you have activity once every 12 months. Also, 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 12 months. After that, the APR will be 12.99%-22.99% variable based on your creditworthiness*.

Discover More CardDiscover More Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1 to June 30, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $400 spent in the following categories:

  • Home Improvement
  • Department stores
  • Clothing stores

In addition, throughout June, cardmembers get 5% cash back on up to $200 in purchases at grocery stores and drug stores.

You must enroll online to activate the rewards each quarter. Discover card has a tiered cashback rate (1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3000; purchases that are part of your first $3000 earn .25%.).

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.