The deal is pretty straight forward:

• Visit VISA’s deal page to check if you qualify.
• As long as you’re a Visa Signature card holder, you’ll be presented with a Southwest promo code after verifying
• You’ll have to input your email address before they give you the promo code
• Search for flights on either Southwest or SWABIZ, or use the tool on the VISA page

The fare saver codes are available from Jan 20th to April 30th, 2011. Works at Southwest.com or SWABIZ.com. Codes are valid for travel between Jan 20th through June 1st, 2011.  The code works only ONCE and you’ll only be issued one code per Visa Signature card you own, so use them wisely.

Here are the blackout dates:

• April 21, 2011 through April 25, 2011
• May 20, 2011 through May 24, 2011.

Despite the blackout dates, this is still a very good deal, considering you can get an easy 15% off the lowest “Wanna Get Away” fare and its real saving especially if you do a cross country trip.  I generally take Southwest for their daily shuttles from SNA to SFO, but they’re perfectly fine for long-haul transcontinental trips too.  If I recall correctly, my pal Jim at Bargaineering is a raving Southwest fan.

This post "Southwest Promo Code: 15% Off! (via Visa Signature)" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

Well here’s a stupidly good deal that you really can’t pass up on (especially if you’re going to buy something at Amazon in the near future). LivingSocial.com is having a nation-wide deal on a $20 Amazon gift card, 50% off for $10. The deal started a couple of hours ago and went from 50,000 takers, to 200,000 to the now incredible 740,000 sign-ups (as of time of writing). Grab the deal fast as time is running out.

For those that aren’t familiar with Living Social (or sites like it such as Groupon), these are daily group-buy deal websites that presents you with usually location/local based deals. You can see from the screenshot above that they’re currently presenting me with Orange County, CA deals.

Groupon and LivingSocial have both been around for quite awhile now (about 2 years+), and both are legitimate companies offering local deals. If you’re wondering why and how Living Social is doing this sweet Amazon deal, in short, Amazon has invested about $175 million into Living Social in recent months. It’s unsurprising that they’d want more coverage and brand recognition for the company they’ve invested in, and its most likely Amazon is heavily subsidizing this particular deal.

Still Not a Big Fan Yet of Local Deal-of-the-Day Sites

Although I’m a big time bargain hunter, I still haven’t really taken advantage of any Groupon or Living Social, etc. deal sites yet. Simply put, most of the deals don’t really interest and/or entice me. A quick skim on local nearby deals shows that I can premium skin care in Los Angeles, discount on a cleaning agency in Orange County, and uh, yoga sessions in San Fernando Valley. Today’s Groupon deal shows $20 for $40 worth of scrapbooking supplies and classes at a local scrapbooking store:

Having said that, these deal-of-the-day group buying sites can be of great value to users and local businesses that sometimes promote on them (even if results are sometimes mixed). You can find and support local businesses that you may have never heard about before, and for the local small businesses, perhaps earn a new loyal customer.

Have you tried sites like Groupon and Living Social yet? If so, share your experience in the comments below.

Don’t forget to take advantage of the Amazon deal if you’re buying something from Amazon in the near future (the gift card will be available the following day).

This post "$20 Amazon Gift Card for $10 from Living Social" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

For a long time, myFICO offers FICO score for free via a trial service with their Score Watch product, but for whatever reason they discontinued this trial offer earlier this year. If you’re ever in need of the credit score and not just estimates from third parties, you will usually have to fork over anywhere from $12-$15 for these numbers. Thankfully, myFICO has now reintroduced their free trial offer (this time, a 10-day trial offer versus the previous 30-day offer).

Getting your free FICO score is rather easy:

1. Visit the myFICO free trial sign-up page and sign-up for an account.
2. Input your personal and payment information.
3. You will not be charged until the trial offer ends, as noted by this page.
4. myFICO will email you 3 days before your trial ends to remind you to cancel or keep your subscription.
5. To cancel your account, simply use this form, select “I would like to cancel my production subscription” and then choose the Score Watch product.

Important: If you do decide to keep the Score Watch service, know that the service has a minimum of 3 month subscription!

Personally, the previous cancel option from the previous 30 day trial service was much easier, as you simply clicked a link and the service is cancelled. But myFICO still made it relatively easy when compared to other companies that has “free trial” offers, and it’s much appreciated that they email you in advance to warn you that the trial service is ending.  By using the contact form, you won’t have to deal with any phone reps that may be trying to upsale you to other services or hardball you to keep your service (none of that AOL never-cancel service tactic, thank-you-very-much).

Though I’ve never fully written about the Score Watch service before (and I’ve been meaning to since 2006), its generally one of the better paid credit monitoring service available.  Beyond the fact that you’re getting a real free FICO score, the newly designed interface makes the monitoring service easier to navigate and provides the right educational information right where you need it.  For example, if you have a negative item in your credit report, myFICO points you to the right place to get it disputed.

The Score Watch summary page breaks down your Equifax credit score (click to enarlge pictured above), give you a quick run through of the four main FICO score ingredients: payment history, amount of debt, length of credit history, and amount of new credit.  My credit score as you can see above, is rather low, but myFICO has classified it as “good.”  This relatively low score is due to some recent balance transfer as I shuffle money around, something that should clear up quickly once the balances are paid off.  When compared with my old score of 790, it can be quite a difference!

If you’re interested in getting your FICO Score for free, give this free trial a whirl. Do remember that if you’re not interested in the service, request a day or two in advance to cancel the trial period just so you won’t be accidentally billed.  A FICO score is a handy reference if you’re in any financial situation that needs it: shopping for auto loan, mortgage, etc.; other than these situations, paying for a score due to curiosity probably isn’t worth it — but if you’re still dying to know, thankfully the free trial offer is back!

Related Resources & Links:

• Equifax’s Score Watch slightly cheaper than myFICO’s
• Score Watch cancel contact form example
• myFICO Credit Education Center

This post "Free FICO Score: Score Watch Trial is Back (Yay!)" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

It’s sad but true, I used to be a real FICO score junkie (especially during the time where I was trying to make my scores consistently more positive). If there was anything I learned from my binge of credit score tracking was that you should never pay full price for your FICO scores from Fair Isaac. In recent days, there have been a number of myfico promotional code available online which will save you a few pretty pennies. Check the promo codes below if you’re currently interested in purchasing some of the scores and reports from myFICO.com. Each link will take you to each product’s page and automatically embed in the discount code for you.  Read on for more description for each of the FICO product offerings, when you should (and shouldn’t) purchase them — after all, being a credit score junkie isn’t easy on the wallet.

myFICO Score Watch

What it is? Score Watch from myFICO.com provides you with daily monitoring of your Equifax Credit Report and weekly monitoring of your FICO score.  It notifies you when you may qualify for better interest rate (such as significant change to your FICO score), delivers alerts when important changes to your score and report are detected, and shows you key factors affecting your FICO score and how lenders view you.

Why do I need it? You may have recently come across financial situations where you need to keep on tabs of your credit score.  Perhaps you’re trying to better understand and control your credit worthiness before applying for a large loan such as a mortgage or an auto loan; or perhaps you’re actively trying to keep track of your credit scores so you can better negotiate with lenders for more favorable interest rates.

How much does it really cost? myFICO’s Score Watch use to have a free trial offering but that is no longer available. Without the discount, the monthly subscription fee is a $9.95, with a 3 months advance payment required, which brings the cost to $29.85.  You can potentially “save” a bit of money by opting for an annual subscription of $99.95, but with the discount, the monthly subscription fee is at $7.96, making the 3 month cost $23.88 and an annual subscription costing you $79.96. The annual FICO score tracking plan can be quite a saving when compare to buying your score individually monthly. The current myFICO promotional code discount definitely makes purchasing the credit score more of a bargain, but again, consider carefully if you need such a subscription before you sign-up.

Having said all that, unlike many other credit subscription services offered on the web, myFICO has no high pressure monthly subscription demands or phone calls to loop through to cancel. You can easily log into your account and hit the “cancel subscription” option. This is from personal experience, so if you don’t like the service, you can end it anytime after the 3-month subscription period.

FICO25: 25% off myFICO Standard

What is it? myFICO Standard consist of a FICO score and a credit report of your choice from either Equifax or TransUnion. If you’re wondering about a FICO score from Experian, unfortunately the agreement between Experian and Fair Isaac fell through, so you can no longer purhcase your Experian FICO score thru myFICO.com (or anywhere else for that matter). A FICO Standard purchase will give include an explanation of the positive and negative factors affecting your score, plus access to the FICO Score Simulator, which shows you how actions like paying off an existing account or opening new accounts may affect your FICO scores.

Why do I need it? This is a no frills purchase, and is a solid choice for people that simply wants to know what their FICO score is based on their Equifax or TransUnion credit history. Maybe you need to know your FICO score before you head to the car dealership to negotiate financing terms or maybe you were just told by a lender that your FICO score ranges were much lower than you expected — in these situations, purchasing a real FICO score from myFICO can give you more knowledge and ammunition before engaging in financial transactions that involves credit history.

How much does it really cost? A FICO Standard purchase cost $15.95 per purchase, and in perspective, this is quite a bit of money to pay just for a set of numbers (of course, you also receive a detailed credit report, but you can always request those for free annually). There is no monthly recurring cost and this is a one-time purchase. With discount, the expensive purchase can be lighten to $11.80. myFICO regularly releases certain promotional code, so you should never pay full price. Either bookmark this page or keep an eye open for new promotions that will give substantial discounts.

CPPSAVINGS: 25% off FICO Quarterly Monitoring

What is it? FICO Quarterly monitoring provides you with quarterly update of your TransUnion FICO credit score and credit report.  In short, you get 4 TransUnion FICO score per year, and in a sense this is a variant of the Score Watch service, but pulls your TransUnion credit history instead of your Equifax credit history.  The FICO Quarterly Monitoring service also use 400 other data sources for signs of identity theft, providing you alerts whenever there are new information added to your TransUnion credit report.  Lastly, you’ll also receive a $25,000, no-deductible identity theft insurance policy from St. Paul Travelers as part of your subscription.

Why do I need it? This is a product that’s pitched for those that may have reasons to suspect their identity have (or will be) stolen.  With FICO Quarterly Monitoring, you can have a somewhat peace of mind as you set specific alerts so you can be notified whenever additional information are tied into your credit history (such as name, phone number, residential address, etc.).  If you’ve recently lost your wallet that contains many of your personal and sensitive financial information, FICO Quarterly Monitoring may be a good service to consider (as it provides you with weekly monitoring).  If you suspect that you may be a victim (or potential victim) of identity theft, whether from strangers or family members (sadly this happens frequently), FICO Quarterly Monitoring can be an additional tool to ensure your credit profile isn’t being fiddled with.  Take note however that this service will only monitor your TransUnion credit profile.  If you’re absolutely certain you’re a victim of identity theft, you may want to consider a credit freeze.

How much does it really cost? The service will cost $4.95 monthly or with an annual subscription rate of $49.95.  With the discount promotional code above, you will save 30% off your monthly subscription fee or your annual rate, bringing the cost to $3.46 per month or $34.96.  You’ll also receive an additional 20% discount whenever you opt to purchase other myFICO services whenever you’re subscribed to FICO Quarterly Monitoring (for example if you want to complement the service with an additional subscription of Score Watch).  In some sense, this is one of the cheaper service, especially if you’re ever in a situation where you need to purchase more than two TransUnion FICO scores or report.

This post "myFICO Score Watch Promotional Code" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

2% Cash Back Detail

• To get 2% cash back for six months, you will have to open a new account online with at least a $25 deposit.
• You can earn cash back on all non-PIN debit card purchase.
• After six months, you’ll earn 1% cash back on all non-PIN debit card purchase.
• There’s also two other type of rewards offered: Free music and free coffee.
• If you choose the other rewards instead of cash back, you’ll earn double the reward for the first six months.
• Offer only available to brand new PerkStreet customer!
• Offer expires July 15, 2010 (in a month), so take advantage of the offer if you’re interested before it’s too late.

I gotta tell you, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen any account opening bonus offers from banks — or at least, one that doesn’t require you to jump through numerous hoops.  PerkStreet Financial is now offering a $50 sign-up bonus for any new PerkStreet Financial checking account with a minimum deposit of $25.  Deposit $25 and get $50?  No hard credit inquiry? Sounds like a decent deal.

PerkStreet has partnered with the Bancorp Bank, member FDIC, to provide several of its banking services, such as FDIC insurance.  The checking account, while lacking in any interest bearing capability, is actually quite decent.  It touts a 1% “cash-back” debit card, giving you cash-back in the form of a Visa Gift Card, or a gift card to some of the leading retailers (such as Target & Amazon).

If you’re a proponent of debit card over a credit card but occasionally harbor  hidden-jealousy for credit card rewards, then PerkStreet’s checking account with rewards debit card may just be what you’re looking for.

$50 PerkStreet Sign-Up Bonus Details

• Offer expires 2/28/2010.
• Open an account with a $25 minimum deposit.
• Keep the account active for three months
• You can keep account active by using your initial $25 deposit with your debit card
• $50 bonus will be credited into account within 15 business days at end of third month
• Valid for only first-time customers

Things to note:

• There is an account inactivity fee of $4.50!  To avoid this fee, you can do any of the activities: make a transaction with your debit card, write a check that clears the account, use online bill pay, initiate a withdrawal, or make a deposit to the account.
• There is no hard credit pull with the regular account, but the Plus account with overdraft protection may have a hard credit inquiry (via Fatwallet forums).
• If you want to milk things even more, you can fund the account up to $500 with a credit card, which will count as a purchase on your credit card, and not a cash-advance.  The initial funding will not cost you any fees from PerkStreet, but subsequent funding via credit cards will be charged 2% of funding amount.

PerkStreet Checking Account Features

• Visa Debit Card with 1% cash back, free music, or coffee
• Free checks, $25 deposit to open
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly fees when you use your account
• A large surcharge-free ATM network
• Free bill pay, switch perks without penalty

Look for a longer, in-depth review when I get a chance to test drive the account longer.

This post "PerkStreet Financial: Free $50 Promotion" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

How to Referral a Friend with Zecco Refer

• Sign up for a Zecco Trading account if you don’t already have one.

• Visit the Zecco Refer a Friend program site at: hello.zecco.com/raf

• Fill in your name and email address that’s associate with your Zecco Trading account.
• Fill out your friend’s name and email address. Click send. Your friend must sign-up with Zecco Trading using the same email address through which you invited them.
• If your friend signs-up and funds their account with $500 within 60 days, you’ll get a $75 cash referral bonus from Zecco deposited into your account. If you have an IRA with Zecco, you’ll receive a $75 Amazon gift certificate to your email address instead.
• You receive your reward in the first 10 business days of the following month after your friend has funded their account.

This post "Zecco Refer & Referral a Friend Program" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

The online discount broker ShareBuilder currently has a sign-up bonus promotion for Costco members.  ShareBuilder encourages recurring monthly investment, dollar cost averaging, and the general idea of building your investment for the future — because of that, it wasn’t much of a surprise when ING Direct decided to purchase ShareBuilder a few years ago.

The promotion is simple. You get a $90 account bonus if you’re a Costco Executive member along with a 25% transaction charge rebate, or you’ll receive a $70 account bonus with a 10% transaction charge rebate if you’re a Costco Gold Star and Business member.

Sign-up Bonus Requirement:

1. Visit the ShareBuilder/Costco sign-up page to register for an account.
2. You must be a current Costco member with a valid Costco membership number.
3. Bonus will be deposited into account 6-8 weeks after first stock purchase.
4. Offer valid for only new Joint, Individual, or Custodial accounts. Offer doesn’t apply for IRA and Education Savings Account, bummer!
5. Limit one bonus per unique customer or unique custodial account.
6. Offer ends 5/31/09. First stock purchase must be made by 7/31/09.

If you’ve been looking  for a simple-to-use brokerage account to do automatic investing and dollar cost averaging with,  ShareBuilder can be a good consideration as their low $4 per trade cost  for automatic investing isn’t too bad for some stocks and exchange traded funds — but only if you buy in large chunks as $4 per trade can easily add up.

ShareBuilder is also an okay starter account for those that have limited fund but are interested in starting an Individual Retirement Account or an Education Savings Account, as they offer no cost, no load mutual funds from ING.  The ING mutual funds also offers a low initial investment minimum of $250 for IRA and ESA’s, compare with $1,000 to $3,000 for select funds at Fidelity or Vanguard.  Take note however that some of the fund’s expense ratio is slightly more expensive at around the 1.0% ranges.

A ShareBuilder account is perfect for those that fit into the above scenarios, and the current Costco promotion bonus can definitely be an icing on the cake for those opening a non-IRA/ESA account.

This post "ShareBuilder Costco Sign-Up Bonus Promotion" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

If you’re already planning to buy the book, join in on Ramit’s giveaway at his site. He’s giving away a Kindle every hour (2 left as of this writing), and a chance to win $1,000 throughout the day from the good folks at Mint.  Simply forward your email receipt to iboughtthebook@iwillteachyoutoberich.com and you’ll have a chance to enter in the giveaway.  Other prizes and full details can be found at Ramit’s blog.

I haven’t fully read the book yet, but of the chapters I’ve skim across, the book seems to be very solid and contains no-nonsense, straight-forward personal finance advice along with steps that works. Stick around on the personal finance blogsphere and I’m sure in the coming weeks you’ll be seeing reviews popping up on various personal finance blogs.

This post "Free Kindle & $5,000 @ IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

If you’re a procrastinator like me and haven’t finished filing your taxes yet, this will be a timely giveaway. Contest will end soon on next Monday, just to make sure you get a copy in time before April 15.

H&R Block highlights two important difference between TaxCut and TurboTax:

• Live tax consultation: One complimentary unlimited session covering one tax topic with a H&R Block tax professional is included. TurboTax will cost you $34.95 for the first 20 minutes and $15.95 for each additional 20 minutes – through a 3rd party.
• Live audit support: Included with e-file and provided by H&R Block tax professional or IRS certified agent. TurboTax charges $34.95 provided through a 3rd party or use self service form letters through the website.

Taxcut Giveaway rules:

• Leave a comment in this post for a chance at winning a copy of TaxCut.
• For an extra entry into the giveaway, Tweet me @holycap with a message.
  Include #taxcutplz in the Tweet so I can find the message easily.
• Enter an email address when submitting so you can be contacted if you win.
• One entry via each method, per person, per household address.
• Ends next Monday, 3/16/2009, 11:59 PM PST.

I’ll highlight more differences between the two tax software in a future post, but if you want to read more about TaxCut or other tax preparation software, check out the related links below.

This post "Free H&R Block TaxCut Giveaway – Win a Copy of TaxCut" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

You’ll have to be a true credit junkie to know this, but myFICO is celebrating their 8th anniversary and is offering 30% off any of their FICO products.  It doesn’t beat the previous 50% off discount, but 30% isn’t too shabby either.

All these discount updates I’ve posted through out the years should confirm one thing: you should never pay full price for any myFICO scores!

FICO Score Watch – $12.95 $9.74 – 25% off discount

FICO Credit Score - $31.90 $22.32 – 30% off discount

FICO Quarterly Monitoring - $49.95 $34.97 – 30% off discount

Suze Orman’s FICO Kit - $49.95 $34.97 – 30% off discount

This post "myFICO 8th Anniversary 30% Off Promotional Code" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

After careful consideration, I’ve realized that the best way to grind through a spell of late-night sleep deprivation would be not one, but two juicy In-N-Out burger.  Super sweet.

Long time readers will remember that I’ve promised to give away In-N-Out gifts cards whenever I eat at In-N-Out. I think I’ve forgotten to purchase the gift cards a few times while enjoying a burger — but what can you do, I’m a selfish bastard.

Luckily I didn’t forget this time, so here’s five $5 In-N-Out gift cards that you can have a shot at winning. Read on if you want some juicy burger, fries, and a sweet cup of ice tea.

Burgerific rules:

• Leave a comment in this post for a chance at winning a $5 gift card.
• For an extra entry into the giveaway, Tweet me @holycap with a message.
  Include #burgerplz in the Tweet so I can find the message easily.
• Only for California, Arizona, and Nevada residents. Sorry everyone else!
• Leave an email address in the comment so you can be contacted if you win.
• One gift card per person, per household address.
• Ends next Sunday, 3/15/2009, 11:59 PM PST.

I’ll pick five random lucky burger lovers when the giveaway ends.

P.S. Fast food is bad for you.

This post "Late Night Munchies = Free In-N-Out Burgers for Readers" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

If you don’t want to wait, speak with the manager and request for a rain check coupon, which will enable you to come back at another time to get your free Grand Slam at a more convenient time of your choosing.  Each Denny’s should have 500 of these Grand Slam rain check coupons.

To entice you further, each customer that orders a free Grand Slam will receive a coupon book with more freebies with purchases. Each restaurant should have 1,000 of these coupon books.

Estimated customers taking advantage of this deal is expected to be about two million. You can search for a nearest location at Dennys.com.  Just an FYI to all that may not have seen the Super Bowl ad.

For the nutritional conscious: A Grand Slam is about 795 calories, 50 grams of fat (14 grams of saturated fat), 460 milligram of  cholesterol, 2273 milligram of sodium, 65 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, and 34 grams of protein.

Yum.  A healthy jog/walk with the pals after breakfast certainly wouldn’t hurt.

This post "Denny’s Free Grand Slam Breakfast" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

Pretty darn good deal. 50% off all myFICO products.  If you’ve been considering checking your credit score for whatever reason, this will be as good of a time as any because the usual myfico discounts are only about 10% to 25% off (with the max I’ve seen at 30% off). This 50% off discount will expire soon so take advantage of it before it goes the way of dodo birds.

FICO Score Watch – $89.95 $44.95 – 50% off discount

FICO Credit Complete – $47.85 $23.91 – 50% off discount

FICO Quarterly Monitoring - $49.95 $24.97 – 50% off discount

Suze Orman’s FICO Kit - $49.95 $24.97 – 50% off discount

This post "50% Discount Off All myFICO Products" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

You can download the eBook by visiting Oprah.com or use the link below to view or download the eBook (right click, save as).

Download Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan

The book is in PDF format, 1.2 MB, and at only about 200 pages, it’s a quick enough of a read. The free download offer along with the link will expire on Thursday, January 15th.

Update: The book is no longer available for free download, but you can still read the first chapter of the book on Oprah.com.

This post "Free Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan Book from Oprah.com" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

If you’re a WaMu credit card customer but don’t have a WaMu checking account, you may be seeing the above mailer in your mail box.

A pretty decent deal that I’ll personally hop on too.  Deposit $100 into a free checking account and get $100 bonus?  Regardless of tax on the bonus, it’s a no-brainer deal  (the offer is unfortunately only available to people that have received the mailer).

WaMu’s free checking looks to be pretty solid.  The account has no minimum balance or direct deposit requirements.  Three noteworthy features:

• Free checks for life if you choose the basic check image option.
• Free overdraft or non-sufficient fund fee refund — one use per year.
• Free outgoing wire-transfer worldwide (a $20 to $60 savings per transfer, depending on where you bank).

The promotional details are straight forward enough: Open a WaMu free checking between 11/24/08 and 01/24/09 with a $100 minimum opening deposit of new money (money not currently held by Chase or its affiliates).  Bonus will be deposited into account within 12 weeks after account opening.  No hard credit pull for opening the checking account.

Update:

If you want to try for the promotion without the mailer offer, try calling 1-800-685-1644 and tell them the promotional code you have doesn’t work.  This is true enough as those receiving the mailer or flyer in newspaper in select regions are reporting that the promotional code included doesn’t work online. Current reported regions receiving the promotion are Northern and Southern California and select parts in Washington.

This post "$100 Sign Up Bonus for WaMu Free Checking" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

The promotion terms:

• Find the 160 participating malls here.
• Get a $20 Discover gift card when you make $200 in purchases at participating mall between 11/01/08 to 01/04/09, while supplies last.
• Present original receipts and Discover card used to make purchase at mall’s Customer Service by 01/04/09 to claim gift cards.
• Limit 5 gift cards per account (effectively $100 off $1000 per Discover account).

You get more gift cards if you spend in multiples of $200. I did a quick search and it looks like the participating malls in my area are the expensive upscale ones, but don’t let that deter you, as you can easily spend in multiples of $200 by buying gift cards at select stores.

Sneaky loophole: You can return the purchased items and keep the gift card as there’s no requirement to return the gift card. Up to you if this is ethical or not. If you’re truly returning something because it blows then this should be a non-issue.

Don’t have a Discover card?

Here’s two decent ones that will qualify for this promotion:

Discover More card currently gives $50 cash bonus after spending $500. 1% unlimited cash back on all other purchases and 5% back in select rotating categories (occasionally very hot whenever Discover rolls in the gas, restaurant, and grocery categories for select months).

Discover Miles card currently offers 12,000 bonus miles, which you can claim for $100 cash credit on any travel purchase, or request a $50 gift card along with $25 cash.  The 12,000 bonus miles are earned in increments of 1,000 miles each month you make any purchase, for 12 months. It’s an okay deal as any purchase per month will qualify for the additional 1,000 bonus miles.

I’ve been thinking of opening a Discover More card to take advantage of their rotating 5% cash back categories, and this current promotion may just be enough to sway me into opening yet another card. Will definitely post a review if I open an account.

From [MyMoneyBlog].

This post "Discover Holiday Promotion: $20 back each $200 spent" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

• Sign up for an Orange Savings if you don’t have one to qualify for this bonus.
• Apply for an Electric Orange high-yield checking account.
• Use reference code: EM227 when prompted.
• Activate your Electric Orange MasterCard Debit Card.
• Use your Electric Orange Card to make at least 3 signature-based purchases in the first 45 days after your account has been opened.
• Your $50 bonus will be automatically deposited into your Electric Orange 50 days after your account has been opened.
• Note: May have hard credit inquiry when opening.

Electric Orange Features:

• High interest: 1.50% balance under $50,000; $3.05% APY for balance between $50,000 and $100,00; 3.50% APY for balance is $1000,000 or more.
• MasterCard Debit card for purchases. Free ATM access at over 35,000 ATMs nationwide. Free Bill Pay. Send money securely wih Electric Checks.

Bonus Update:

After confirming a few things, it looks like you need to open the account through a specific Electric Orange link (updated above), along with using the reference code when prompted. You’ll also need to be an existing Orange Savings customer — but there may or may not be a hard credit inquiry as you’re already an existing customer.

If you’re having trouble opening the account due to whatever error code it spits at you, just give ING a ring at 1-888-ING-0727 and they should be able to help you. Make sure you mention the reference code. Lastly, sorry for the unclear post on the sign up bonus!

From [FiveCentNickel] and [FatWallet]

This post "ING Direct Electric Orange $50 Sign Up Bonus" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

For a limited time TradeKing is offering a $50 signup bonus.

I’ve actually have an account at TradeKing for over 2 years now, and haven’t had any major qualms with them. Customer service via the online chat is spot on, trades executes relatively fast and trade commission is pretty darn low. The promotion ends in about a month but you still have plenty of time to fulfill the requirement to get the bonus.

• Fund account with $2,500 within 30 days of account opening.
• First trade must be executed within 180 days of account opening.
• Minimum balance of $2,500 for first six months.
• Only for new, non-retirement accounts.

This post "TradeKing $50 Signup Bonus" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

In a move to no doubt better compete against other free online personal finance management tools, Quicken Online is now free (axing away the monthly $2.99 fee). I took the beta for a test drive sometime last year, but haven’t really checked back as I seriously had too many different tools to use.

Updated 9/14/2011: Quicken Online, for those that didn’t know, has basically been updated & replaced by Mint.com. It has same functionality and more features.

The above screenshot has one credit card account added (well technically three, with two balance transfer cards in the Chase account).

Geared for the fast and simple crowd, Quicken Online is fairly easy to use. You add in financial accounts of your choice (banking, credit, some investments), and Quicken Online will quickly chug out data on if you’re living within your means (money in vs money out).

Features of Note:

• Quicken Beam: Access your balance info faster via a smartphone friendly site: m.quicken.com or text BAL to 636363 to quickly get your balances.
• Set monthly budget at the My Budget tabs for categories you want to track.
• Am I Living Within My Means calculation on front page. Works well enough if your cash flow is simple and straightforward.

Once accounts are added, the last 90 days of data will be grabbed and chugged into your Quicken Online account. Transactions are categorized well enough, but you’ll most likely have to tweak quite a few transactions. You won’t be able to import data from your other Quicken products, but Quicken Online isn’t really designed for in-depth personal finance analysis anyway.

You can only add in major investment accounts, as I don’t see too many other discount brokerages listed in the add accounts page. Which is well enough, as besides balance and transaction listing, there’s not much you can do when you add in investment accounts.

Quicken Online is overall pretty light when compared to Quicken’s desktop offerings. There’s a small categorization bug where they listed a Jack in a Box transaction as a monthly bill, but other than that minor quirk the service can be attractive for those needing a simple personal finance solution, especially considering the new free price tag.

Look for a full review in the future when I get around to taking it for a deeper test spin.

This post "Quicken Online Now Free" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.

Just got this in my mail box. “Credit crisis” may be too dramatic of a description, but the reality of things is that certain types of loans will definitely be harder to come by in current economic conditions — especially for people with average or sub-par credit.

• Enter promotional code FICO25 when you order to receive the discount.
• Discount is for 20% off your FICO scores.

If you have a good to excellent credit history, you should be able to continue to get the loans you need without issues (according to what I’ve read anyway). Unfortunately, if your credit history is below average, you may encounter higher than usual declines for the credit you may need.

Look for a post in the near future on ways you can examine your credit score, report, and general ways to improve your credit worthiness.  Be forewarn that improving credit score takes time and diligent.

This post "“Credit Crisis” 20% Discount on FICO Scores" is from StopBuyingCrap.com.