Archives for December 2016

Spare5 App Review: Earn Less Than Minimum Wage In Your Spare Time

December 29, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 2 Comments

sp5app0 Find yourself bored on this holiday break? Spare5 is a new entrant in the world of “earn money in your spare time”. You sign up and do short tasks on either their smartphone app or desktop web browser. They pay cash via PayPal weekly or donate to a charity of your choice.

What kind of tasks? The problem they are solving is that certain things are very hard for machines to do, but are easy for humans to do. Examples are assessing the tone of a conversation or separating elements of a photos. You’re basically creating an “answer sheet” to help compare against and train machine learning algorithms. (Help train the robots that will take over the world!) Some tasks were mildly amusing, while others were quite tedious.

How much money do they pay per task? As far as I can tell, very little. The tasks that I was offered ranged from zero to $0.10 per task. Most were around a penny each. It took me roughly an hour to reach the minimum payout of $1. I know that they want you to prove yourself before offering higher-value tasks, but from my experience it will take a while to even reach $5 an hour on average.

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Is Spare5 legit and do they actually pay out? Yes, they paid me via PayPal. Here’s a screenshot:

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Bottom line. Like most “earn money in your spare time” options like paid surveys or mystery shopping, the per-hour wage is low. I doubt the average user makes even close to minimum wage. Honestly, if you are a motivated person I would invest your time into improving your skill set so you can eventually make $25, $50, or $100 a hour.

That said, I think this app is going to be successful. Machine learning is growing, and they’ll need to test it against real human intelligence. While I won’t be a regular user, there will be more than enough people who are willing to do the work. Of course, I also fail to see why people spend hours playing games on their phones. If you just want something to cure boredom, I suppose getting paid $1 an hour is better than paying someone else $1 for a virtual axe or something.

This is far from a glowing recommendation, but if you do sign up there is a referral bonus that offers new users a 10% bonus on up to $100 in earnings in your first 180 days with a my referral link. That’s an extra $1 for every $10 in earnings. Thanks if you use my link, I will get $2 for every $10 you earn with Spare5 (up to $20).

Filed Under: Reviews

Last updated: December 29, 2016

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ETF Tax-Loss Harvesting: 70% Overlap Rule of Thumb for Substantially Identical

December 26, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 2 Comments

calc_10key Tax-loss harvesting (TLH) is a common practice used to improve after-tax returns by realizing losses to either offset realized capital gains or to defer capital gains into the future. Many robo-advisors including Betterment and Wealthfront offer automated tax-loss harvesting as a feature. As nearly all of them hold ETFs, they accomplish this by selling the primary ETF for each asset class and replacing it temporarily with an alternative, secondary ETF. DIY investors can perform a similar maneuver as well.

The IRS wash sale rule states that you can’t deduct a loss by selling a security and immediately replacing it with something “substantially identical”. Instead, harvesters buy an ETF that is slightly different. It’s a grey area, as there is no solid definition of what “substantially identical” means. However, this recent Barron’s article (paywall, use Google News) offered up a rough rule of thumb that I hadn’t seen before (bolding mine):

Although the wash-sale rule remains ambiguous, there may be an alternative standard that investors can use for guidance. In the 1980s, the IRS created the “straddle rules” to address a loophole in hedged long-short portfolios. For tax-loss purposes, the portfolios on the long side couldn’t be “substantially similar” to those on the short, which the IRS defined as having over 70% overlap. “Some people use the straddle-rules definition as a surrogate to apply to the wash-sale rule,” says Eric Fox, a principal at Deloitte Tax. “If two ETFs don’t have more than 70% overlap and they’re not substantially similar, how could they ever be considered substantially identical?” That should give loss harvesters some confidence.

I was surprised by the conservativeness of this rule of thumb. Most of the TLH articles I have read by both human and software-based advisors implement more aggressive strategies than the 70% maximum overlap suggested above. A traditional advisor quoted in the Barron’s article admitted swapping between the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) and the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF (VEU). VXUS and VEU have a 76% overlap by weight, according to this ETFResearchCenter.com Overlap Tool:

etf_tax1

Perhaps more importantly, these two ETFs have a near 100% performance correlation. Here’s a chart of the two ETFs over the last 12 months, per Morningstar (click to enlarge):

Meanwhile, this Wealthfront whitepaper shows their ETF tax-loss pairings and their correlations. Out of the 7 pairs, 4 have correlations of 97%+ and all of them are over 70%.

etf_tax3

Commentary. There are few firm answers here. If robo-advisors marketing aggressive ETF tax-loss harvesting gather a lot of assets, I suspect the IRS will eventually provide additional guidance. I imagine the worst-case scenario as the IRS classifying past trades as violating the wash sale rule, nullifying your tax losses and possibly imposing additional penalties. I guess current practitioners don’t see a big risk of that happening. They essentially see a nearly free lunch by substituting these similar ETFs. Still, when you market something publicly as 99% correlated, aren’t you basically admitting that they are “substantially identical”?

Filed Under: Investing, Taxes

Last updated: December 26, 2016

Happy Holidays from My Money Blog

December 22, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 34 Comments

Earlier this month, we welcomed a third wonderful child into our family. (Yes, I know, the picture on the sidebar is really old…) We are truly blessed. I am also grateful for many other things, including your continued readership. While my posting may be lighter over the next oh… 18 years or so, I am still having a good time and hope that this year brings you a little closer to financial freedom and living a life true to yourself, not necessarily the life others expect from you. Have a joyful holiday season!

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(Having photographers available in the maternity ward was a brilliant business idea.)

Filed Under: Family

Last updated: December 23, 2016

Year-End Portfolio Rebalancing: Impact on Returns vs. Risk

December 19, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 1 Comment

scale As we close in on the end of the year, it is a good time to take stock of your investment portfolio. If you haven’t already, you should consider rebalancing your portfolio back towards your target asset allocation. Overall, this means selling your recent winners and buying more of your recent losers.

Now, you may think that rebalancing will improve your returns because you are “selling high” and “buying low”. However, the full picture is a bit more nuanced than that. If you think about it, the asset classes with the highest returns should eventually take over the portfolio if you never rebalance. If you started in 1965 with 50% stocks and 50% bonds and did nothing to 50 years, your portfolio in 2015 would have been overwhelmingly stocks. If you kept selling stocks and buying bonds, you would have probably lowered your returns in the long run. So why rebalance?

rebalchart

In his post How Portfolio Rebalancing Usually Reduces Long-Term Returns (But Is Good Risk Management Anyway), Michael Kitces provide a handy visual to summarize the effect of rebalancing into two scenarios:

When rebalancing between asset classes with similar returns, the likely effect is to help increase your overall returns while not affecting your risk. An example is rebalancing between US and International stocks.
When rebalancing between asset classes with different returns, the likely effect is to help lower your overall risk (improving your risk management in the chart) while decreasing your overall return. An example is rebalancing between stocks and bonds.

In the end, Kitces reminds us while your overall returns probably won’t be enhanced, the net effect of rebalancing is better risk management. I think of it similarly as preventing my portfolio from getting “out of control”. This is why people create “rebalancing bands” that let their portfolios wander a bit but not too much. For example, a 20% target allocation can vary from 15% to 25% before being rebalanced back towards the target number.

Filed Under: Investing

Last updated: December 19, 2016

Free Gillette Razor With Picture Upload

December 18, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 1 Comment

gillette5 Here’s a throwback to when free razor samples were everywhere – Gillette is running a Welcome Back promotion where if you share your story about how you tried Harry’s, Dollar Share Club, or another razor brand and want to come back to Gillette, they’ll send you a free razor. You just need to tell them a quick blurb of why you didn’t like their competitors and upload any photo of yourself. Took me under a minute. Valid while supplies last.

I actually did the Harry’s free trial and wasn’t overly-impressed, although they did offer “no hassle” experience. By the way, anyone can use these free razors, whether it is colored blue or pink. 🙂

Filed Under: Deals & Offers

Last updated: December 18, 2016

Andrews Federal Credit Union Application and Account Opening Review

December 14, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 30 Comments

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I keep a portion of my cash reserves in certificates of deposit. I decided to open a share certificate from Andrews Federal Credit Union during their 2016 Holiday Promotion. The review information below should apply to anyone trying to open any deposit account at Andrews FCU.

Joining an eligible group for membership. Here is their page on membership eligibility:

Our field of membership includes Washington, DC, civilian and military personnel of Joint Base Andrews, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and military installations in central Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands; as well as over 200 employer groups throughout Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. We also have nationwide membership eligibility through the American Consumer Council.

As I do not live the in DC area and do not qualify otherwise, I joined the American Consumer Council (ACC), a non-profit organization dedicated to consumer education, advocacy and financial literacy. Sounds like something worth supporting! You can join through the website. I believe the cost is a one-time $8, although there is a promo code “consumer” that has worked to get the membership fee waived. You can make additional donations as you wish. They will send you an e-mail shortly with your ACC membership number.

Application process. You can then proceed to the Andrews FCU website and start the application. You will need your ACC number to satisfy the eligibility question “I am a member of the American Consumer Council (ACC), and my ACC membership number is ___”.

Note: Applying for an account will result in a hard credit inquiry. At least for me, they checked my TransUnion credit report.

You will need to provide the usual personal information – name, address, SSN, driver’s license, etc. You will also need to provide them with a bank account routing and account number to fund the initial share account. The minimum amount is $5. You will need to keep $5 in your Share account for as long as you are an Andrews FCU member. I just started with $5.

Account approval. Once your account is approved, you should get the following message:

Congratulations, your account with Andrews Federal Credit Union has been opened. Your member number is XXXXXXXX. The signature card has been sent to your email address via DocuSign for you to sign electronically.

Your new account funding is being processed and will be posted to your new account once received by us from your other institution. If you requested an ATM or VISA Debit Card as part of your application, your card order has been placed. The routing number for Andrews Federal is 255074111.

You may now enroll for SmartConnect, our online banking system, by visiting our web site www.andrewsfcu.org and selecting Online Banking Enrollment. If you require further assistance, please call us at 800.487.5500.

Thank you for choosing Andrews Federal Credit Union.

It’s nice that you can do the signature card via DocuSign. That meant my entire application process was completed online. I did try to call them a few times, but had some trouble navigating their phone tree without a member number. However, if I didn’t have my TransUnion report locked, I wouldn’t have had any reason to call them at all. Other than that delay, I would say the application took only one or two days to process.

Funding your checking, savings, or certificate account. I found the easiest way to open my share certificate was to move money into my share savings account, and then fund the certificate from the share savings. I use Ally Bank as my banking hub, so I added Andrews FCU as an external account in my Ally account using my share account number and routing number (255074111). For some reason, the direct login verification didn’t work for me, so I completed the verification using two small test deposits. It took 2 business days for the test deposits, and 2 business days for the transfer from Ally to Andrews FCU.

Opening the share certificate. Once the funds arrived, I opened the share certificate online by clicking on “Open an Additional Account”. Despite the promotion stating you had to call in, the special certificates were available online. Here’s a screenshot (click to enlarge):

You will need to chose your dividend reinvestment and maturity options. That’s it. The share certificate now shows up on my online banking page, right next to the share savings account. The process was pretty straightforward, just be sure to remove any credit locks or freezes on your TransUnion credit report. Remember that you’ll need to fund your special certificate by any stated deadline.

Filed Under: Banking, Reviews

Last updated: November 22, 2019

Netflix: Download Movies and Shows for Offline Viewing

December 13, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments

netflix0 I just saw that Netflix now allows an offline download option for many of their shows and videos (and not just Netflix-only shows). You will need iOS 8.0 or later, Android 4.4.2 or later, and the latest version of the Netflix iOS or Netflix Android app. This can save you money on cellular data and alleviates the pain of using slow WiFi. From the press release:

Many of your favorite streaming series and movies are already available for download, with more on the way, so there is plenty of content available for those times when you are offline. For example, Orange is The New Black, Narcos and The Crown are available for download today.

From The Verge:

… selection includes stuff made by Netflix (Stranger Things, The Crown, Narcos, Orange is the New Black, etc) but also a lot of other random choices. You’ve got Breaking Bad. You’ve got Mad Men. You’ve got… Paddington and Minions and Kung Fu Panda 3. This is going to be a huge deal for parents. Movies include Boyhood, Pulp Fiction, Nightcrawler, Good Will Hunting, Hot Fuzz, and more.

I agree, I’ve only started downloading tons of offline content after having kids. Here is a link to the Netflix Help Page on Downloading.

Not all titles are available for download. If you have a particular title in mind, you can search for that title and look for the download icon download.png. If you are interested in browsing downloadable titles, select Available for Download from the Netflix menu.

netflix_dl

Amazon Prime Video also allows downloads for offline viewing.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers

Last updated: December 14, 2016

Credit Karma Tax 2019: $0 Federal and $0 State Tax Filing w/ No Last-Minute Charges

December 12, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 22 Comments

Tax season is officially here and the IRS is accepting E-files. For you early birds, Credit Karma Tax is now on its 4th year of offering 100% free Federal AND State tax preparation software with free e-File and no income restrictions. You can have itemized deductions, business income, self-employment tax, and/or capital gains and losses. They now also have a Max Refund Guarantee, Accurate Calculations Guarantee, and Audit Defense include if you get audited.

My favorite feature of this product is that there is no “upgrade” version, so there are no upsells and no last-minute fees. Your bill will always be $0 Federal, $0 State. I hate the feeling when you have spent hours (days?!) typing in all that data and you expect a certain price, but then at the very end they want to charge you a little bit more. You are just too tired to do it all over again, so you accept, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Is this legit? What’s the catch? Yes, they are legit. Credit Karma purchased AFJC Corporation, which was a private-label software provider and previously supplied the online tax software for Jackson Hewitt. They’ve been running this offer since 2016.

The “catch” is that you must also sign up for the main CreditKarma.com site, which takes your personal information and provides you access to your credit scores and reports from two of the three major consumer credit bureaus. They make money by also using that personal information to show you customized advertisements for things like credit cards, banking, and insurance products.

What’s included.

Free Federal filing with free e-File for 90%+ of filers with no income restrictions.
Free State filing for 40 states + Washington DC. (Some states don’t have income tax).
No upsells, no upgrades, no “premium version”.
You can print and snail mail if you choose not to e-File.

Here are some popular forms included by Credit Karma Tax that other “Free” editions probably don’t cover:

Schedule C – Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship)
Schedule D – Capital Gains and Losses (Stock Sales)
Schedule E – Supplemental Income and Loss (Rental property)
Schedule SE – Self-employment tax

What’s NOT included. Credit Karma will NOT support the following forms this year:

Multiple state filings
Part-year state filing
Foreign earned income
State returns for married filing separately in community property states*
State filing without a federal filing

No business tax returns. Credit Karma Tax supports Sole Proprietorships and income reportable on a Schedule C/E/SE, but does NOT yet support business tax returns for an S corporation, C corporation, partnership or multi-member LLC.

Tell me more about how Credit Karma makes money. Quoted from their site:

When you visit Credit Karma, we show you offers and recommendations (like credit cards or loans) that could save you money. If you take one of these offers, the bank or lender usually pays us. We never charge you a dime. And we never sell your info to marketers.

For example, if they know you have a 4% rate mortgage, they could sell you a 3.5% refinance mortgage. If they know you are older and have a paid-off home (i.e. you pay property taxes but no claim no mortgage interest), they could sell you a reverse mortgage. If they know your income, they can estimate the amount of life insurance you need. You could actually like this customization, be creeped out completely, or simply plan to ignore the ads.

Try before you commit. Nearly all the online tax prep software only bills you when you are ready to file. If you’re not sold on a single product, why not sign up and do this and a competitor side-by-side in two different browser tabs. It’s a bit more work, but not a lot if you’re doing it simultaneously. That way, you can double-check the calculations. Ideally, you should get the same refund/due amount for both and then you can file for free!

Bottom line. Credit Karma Tax will give you free Federal and State tax returns. There is no other version, so you will never be hit with a last-minute upcharge. In exchange, you let them show you ads based on your financial data. In terms of technical accuracy, I expect that they are roughly equal to the other major providers. However, you may value the convenience factors offered by competitors (easily import last year’s data, unlimited phone support, automatic import of 1099-B tax lot data).

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Taxes

Last updated: January 28, 2020

Amazon Store Card Review: 5% Back on Amazon Purchases with Prime

December 8, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 14 Comments

amazonstore A few readers have asked my opinions of the Amazon Store Card, a retail card issued by Synchrony Bank. You can only use it to buy things at Amazon.com – note the lack of a logo from Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express. This is a separate product from the Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card (3% back at Amazon), which is a credit card issued by Chase that you can use anywhere that Visa is accepted. The key benefits of the Amazon Store Card are:

5% Back for Amazon Prime members. Amazon Prime members are automatically upgraded to the Amazon Prime Store Card and can earn 5% back on all Amazon.com purchases.
No annual fee.

There are also financing offers, that come with the card, similar to retailer cards from Home Depot or Lowe’s.

No interest if paid in full within 6 months on any purchase totaling $149 or more. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional balance is not paid in full within 6 months. Minimum monthly payments required.
No interest if paid in full within 12 months on any purchase totaling $599 or more. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional balance is not paid in full within 12 months. Minimum monthly payments required.
No interest if paid in full within 24 months on select items sold by Amazon.com. Items sold by third parties do not qualify. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional balance is not paid in full within 24 months. Minimum monthly payments required and may pay off purchase before end of promo period.
12 Month Equal Pay Offer: 0% APR until paid in full. 12 equal monthly payments required.

As with those home improvement offers, you have to watch out for the balloon interest payment at the end. If you don’t pay in full, you will get charged back-dated interest starting back from the purchase date and not the end of the promo period. This credit line charges a variable interest rate based on the Prime Rate. The current Variable purchase APR is 26.24%. Yikes.

Commentary. So why don’t I mention the Amazon Store Card all the time? My rule of thumb is that a “hard” credit check can reliably net me at least $500 in value, usually from “try me! try me!” credit card incentives. It is very rare that I shop at any specific retailer enough to get $500 in savings. For example, it would take $10,000 of Amazon purchases at 5% back to net me $500 in cash back.

At the same time, 5% rotating category credit cards often have Amazon or a place that sells Amazon gift cards as an eligible category. Other cards like the American Express Blue Cash Preferred offer 6% back at grocery stores (that sell Amazon gift cards) or Chase Ink Business cards offer 5% back at office supply stores (that sell Amazon gift cards). Basically, there are other ways that I can stock up on Amazon gift cards at 5% off without having this card.

If you are a loyal Prime member that spends a lot of money at Amazon and prefer simplicity, then this card can make sense. The 5% off is automatic with your bill, and you get to easily track how much your Amazon habit is costing you. You’ll also want to be the type that either pays your bills in full or is great at navigating the fine print on financing opportunities. 26% APR interest is scary.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers

Last updated: December 9, 2016

ThanksAgain: 200 Bonus Points Promo Link, Keep Multiple Miles Accounts From Expiring

December 6, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 8 Comments

ta_app0 Updated with another 100 point link. ThanksAgain is a smartphone app for frequent travelers that gives you points for buying things inside of airports. You link up your credit card number and then automatically earn miles at participating merchants when you shop at them. You don’t need to remember to show membership cards, etc.

Through this Hilton Honors-branded link, scroll down to the bottom and see that you can get 100 Hilton Honors points if you sign up before 12/31/16.

Sign up and earn 100 bonus points just for enrolling! (Enrollment bonus is valid through 12/31/16).

Added: Reader KP comments that after you sign up you should visit this link for a 1-question survey that will land you another 100 points. Easy-peasy.

To be more specific, you get 100 ThanksAgain points, which can be converted to a variety of frequent flier mile and/or hotel loyalty points programs. Here is the list along with conversion ratios. The neat feature is that you can convert as little as 10 points, meaning you can create “partner activity” on a variety of programs and potentially keep your points from otherwise expiring.

Aeromexico Club Premier® x 0.5 pts
Alaska Mileage Plan™ x 0.5 pts
American AAdvantage®x 0.5 pts
Fiesta Rewards® x 1.0 pts
Frontier EarlyReturns® x 0.5 pts
Hilton HHonors® x 1.0 pts
JetBlue TrueBlue® x 0.5 pts
Southwest Rapid Rewards® x 0.5 pts
United MileagePlus® x 0.5 pts

In other words, your 100 ThanksAgain points can be converted to 5 Alaska Mileage Plan miles, 5 American AAdvantage miles, 10 Hilton points, 5 JetBlue points, 5 Southwest RR points, 5 United miles, and so on. Alternatively, you could save your points for later and as long as this feature remains (it might not), keep doling them out over time to keep your accounts active.

ta_app2

There is a prompt for a promo code on the sign-up form, but a promo code is not required for these 100 points. I just signed up using the “Register” link on the top right corner of the page, and immediately after signing up and logging in for the first time, I saw my free 100 bonus points:

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I then promptly linked up my (almost inactive) Alaska Airlines account and transferred over 10 points = 5 Alaska Air miles. According to the website, they should arrive in 7 days. Update: The 5 points arrived in 5 days. Easy.

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Overall, signing up for ThanksAgain and linking up a credit card appears to be no-lose proposition. It’s free. You don’t need to change any of your spending habits. If you do end up buying an overpriced Burger King Whopper while catching a flight, you’ll automatically get a few points that can delay the expiration of your frequent flier miles. The hardest part for me will be that I keep using different credit cards all the time.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers

Last updated: April 8, 2017

How To Stop Mailed Paper Catalogs and Other Junk Mail

December 5, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 10 Comments

surlacat As a follow-up to how to stop balance transfer checks, here’s all I know about stopping unwanted paper catalogs. Direct mail catalogs are like weeds. You unsubscribe from a bunch of them, but then later you buy someone a cast iron skillet and then – poof! – you get Sur La Table catalogs. I don’t need three different kitchen tools to remove strawberry stems, trim brussels sprouts, or cut grapes in half. I have a paring knife and opposable thumbs!

Unfortunately, there is no standardized way to unsubscribe from all or specific catalogs. Here’s what is available:

Catalog Choice. This appears to be the most up-to-date and thorough website, although you’ll have to do most of the work. Run as a non-profit that is unaffiliated with the direct marketing industry, CatalogChoice.org serves as a database that helps guide you on how to manually unsubscribe from various catalogs. They used to offer something call the Mail Stop Envelope that let you mail them the address labels from your unwanted catalogs, but they discontinued the service. They also used to have an app called Mail Stop Mobile, but that is also gone. Sigh.

National Do Not Mail List. You can add your mailing address to the National Do Not Mail List run by DirectMail.com here.

We can use our vast direct marketing expertise to get your name off of those lists. As direct marketers ourselves, we know that mail-order companies don’t want to waste their money sending mail to people who don’t want to receive it.

DMAChoice.org. This is the big one. According to their website, “DMAChoice.org is an online tool developed by the Direct Marketing Association to help you manage your mail.” However, the Consumerist warns us that Direct Marketing Association’s Opt Out Website Is A Joke and may not fulfill its promises. While writing this post, their website didn’t even load half the time. It’s still worth a shot.

Other Direct Mail lists. Other direct mail lists that you can opt out of include ValPak and RedPlum Mail.

Phone books / Yellow Pages. You can opt out at both Dex Media and YellowPagesOptout.com to finally end delivery of those huge phone books.

Paper Karma app. I discovered Paper Karma a couple years ago, but I never could really tell if it worked or not since it takes months for catalogs to actually stop coming. The app store reviews indicate hit or miss success as well. Recently, I received reports that new users were being asked to pay $20 per year. That’s too bad as the fact that you just take a smartphone picture of the address label makes it so appealing. I just snapped another address label picture using their app (December 2016) and it went through without asking me to pay, but perhaps I am in some sort of grandfathered free account (or they give out a certain number of freebies?). If you can get it to work for free, this may also be worth the effort.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Simple Living

Last updated: August 9, 2018

How To Stop Balance Transfer Checks from Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Etc.

December 4, 2016 By Jonathan Ping 14 Comments

mailbox ‘Tis the season for a mailbox full of catalogs and credit card balance transfer checks. (Hint: There is a connection between the two.) If you want these “access” checks to stop, you just have to ask. You simply call them up (see back of credit card) or go online into their Live Chat or Secure Message systems and ask them.

In the past, I didn’t mind the checks as I wanted the opportunity to get money at 0% APR with no balance transfer fee. However, given the current low interest rates and the fact that nearly all of them have balance transfer fees, I’d rather just have less paper to shred. The wording isn’t particularly important, but you can just copy and paste this if you’d like:

Dear Credit Card Issuer,

I am writing to request that balance transfer and/or purchase access checks no longer be sent to me via mail. I would like for this preference to be applied across all of my credit card accounts.

Thank you,

Your Customer

Here are my successful results after online inquiries to Capital One, Chase, and Citibank. I didn’t have to call anyone.

Citibank. Via their Secure Message system:

nochecks_citi

Chase. Via their Secure Message system:

nochecks_chase

Capital One. I did this one via live chat. In retrospect, rather than waiting around for all the back and forth, it was probably easier to just send off a secure message and wait for the confirmation reply. Below is an excerpt of the chat.

nochecks_cap

If you don’t want any unsolicited offers for new credit cards sent to you, you can also enroll at OptOutPrescreen.com. This is not the same situation as above, because if you already have a relationship they can send you junk until you opt out.

Filed Under: Credit Cards

Last updated: December 4, 2016

Archives for December 2016

Spare5 App Review: Earn Less Than Minimum Wage In Your Spare Time

ETF Tax-Loss Harvesting: 70% Overlap Rule of Thumb for Substantially Identical

Happy Holidays from My Money Blog

Year-End Portfolio Rebalancing: Impact on Returns vs. Risk

Free Gillette Razor With Picture Upload

Andrews Federal Credit Union Application and Account Opening Review

Netflix: Download Movies and Shows for Offline Viewing

Credit Karma Tax 2019: $0 Federal and $0 State Tax Filing w/ No Last-Minute Charges

Amazon Store Card Review: 5% Back on Amazon Purchases with Prime

ThanksAgain: 200 Bonus Points Promo Link, Keep Multiple Miles Accounts From Expiring

How To Stop Mailed Paper Catalogs and Other Junk Mail

How To Stop Balance Transfer Checks from Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Etc.

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