Chase Sapphire Preferred: $625 towards Travel

Posted on March 22, 2011 // 7 Comments

Chase Sapphire Preferred ImageThe Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a rewards credit card offering new cardholders 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. 50,000 points can be redeemed for $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards™ since they offer a 25% boost towards airfare and hotels. Earn 5,000 additional bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. No annual fee for the first year, $95 in future years. Additional details here.

New: Earn 2 points per dollar spent on dining & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

(This card is the “big brother” of the regular Chase Sapphire® Card, where you can get 10,000 points after you spend $500 in purchases within the first 3 months, and an additional 2,500 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. There is no annual fee in the first year or subsequent years.)

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.  “The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Reading Blocked New York Times and Wall Street Journal Articles

Posted on March 22, 2011 // 16 Comments

Starting Monday, the New York Times will limit visitors to NYTimes.com to only 20 articles per month. They’re trying to drive more paid subscriptions. However, they also don’t want to kill off the traffic that tends to be lucrative for attracting advertisers, like search engine visitors and social media users. The Wall Street Journal has been limiting access to their online articles for a while now as well.

Many people know this already, but a quick tip is to copy and paste the article title into Google, and then click on the link from the Google search results. Alternatively, try Google News specifically. (Google may get capped after a while too, so try Bing.) You’ll be able to read the full article. Try it out with the last WSJ article I linked to, which is normally blocked:

Schwab To Spend $1B On OptionsXpress

Additionally, Gizmodo shares more tricks to view the Times, and another fellow made a simple bookmarklet.

It’s a hard balance between paid and advertiser-supported content, and I do value some of their content, but honestly I won’t pay for it if I can’t share it online with other readers to read for themselves. I suppose we’ll see if this nag-ware experiment works.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

5 DVD Rentals for $2 from Blockbuster Express – Groupon

Posted on March 21, 2011 // 9 Comments

Groupon has a nationwide deal again that will get you five one-day rentals at Blockbuster Express kiosks for $2. The regular cost would have been $5. I don’t really get the limitation of one per person when you can buy seemingly unlimited as “gifts”. By the way, Blockbuster Express kiosks are owned by NCR, not the Blockbuster Video that is in bankruptcy.

Note: You can only use one free code per transaction. In order to use all five promo codes you must rent (and check-out) five separate times. I tend to use these Blockbuster kiosks more than Redbox ones simply because they are at Safeway grocery stores, but the idea is basically the same.

If you don’t have a Groupon account already (what!?), please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. Then visit the deal link. Thanks!

Valid through May 1, 2013. Limit 1/person, may buy more as gifts. Valid only at any Blockbuster Express kiosks and for online reservation for pickup at kiosks. Not valid on Blu-ray or Hot List titles. Groupon value reduces by $3 after 5/1/2013, except where prohibited by law.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

AutoSlash.com: Car Rental Price Search Engine

Posted on March 14, 2011 // 18 Comments

It’s always fun to find out new tools to save you time and money. Started by some regulars on the Flyertalk travel forum, AutoSlash.com is a website specifically made for car rentals. Yes, all the big guys like Expedia and Hotwire do car rentals. However, this one is a bit different.

First, you need to remember the unique quirk of car rental reservation systems. When you make a reservation at most car rental shops, you simply get a quote and make a non-binding reservation without giving any payment information. You can cancel at any time, without penalty. Heck, even if you just don’t show there is no penalty, besides the bad karma of knowing that you maybe messed up their inventory management for others.

Second, you add in the fact that for us deal-hunters, there can be hundreds combinations of discount codes, CDP numbers, and promotional codes that must be found to get the actual lowest rate on a rental. Autoslash uses computers to test out the codes in its database for you. The best part? It keeps checking every single day to see if it can get you a lower price. If it does, it automatically cancels your last reservation, books the new one for you, and sends you the new reservation code.

Last week, I was searching for a week-long rental in Orlando, FL next month. I checked the usual suspects like Expedia and was getting about $700 for a week-long rental of a mid-size car. Must be some huge event going on that weekend?! So I tried Autoslash.

  • Day 1 – I was bummed to see the lowest price was also $665.61 including all taxes and fees, with Payless.
  • Day 2 – I was rebooked on Dollar Rent A Car at $346.18.
  • Day 3 – I was rebooked again on Dollar for $320.41. Sweet!

The primary drawback that I can see is that they don’t support all the rental car agencies. Specifically, I did not see Avis or Budget in my comparison matrix. Also, the quality of their results depends on the quality of the coupon codes in their database. Basically, it may be possible to get a better deal on your own. However, given the fact that I can always cancel, AutoSlash does provides a very good baseline deal for almost zero work.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Travel //

Free Star Alliance Silver Elite Status (Free Checked Bag on Continental/United and US Airways)

Posted on March 14, 2011 // 13 Comments

British Midland International, an airline based in the UK, is currently offering new members of their frequent flier club Diamond Club instant a free upgrade to Silver Elite status, good for 12 months. The important associated perk is that this gets you Silver status for Star Alliance, a global group of airlines including Continental, United, and US Airways. Assuming you don’t have a better alternative, this will get you a free checked bag when traveling (and potentially other smaller perks depending on the airline). Via ViewfromtheWing.

One annoying factor is that you may have to provide your BMI Diamond Club number initially with your reservation in order to get the free checked bags and sometimes Priority security lines, and then switch to your “regular” frequent flier number to actually earn miles on the program that you want. This must be done at the gate before you board the plane. Last month, I was checking in for a flight behind an angry guy who couldn’t believe you actually had to pay to check a bag. How quickly things change in a few years…

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

MicroPlace Microlending: Free $20 to Invest

Posted on March 7, 2011 // 12 Comments

As you may know, I support microlending to poor entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva and Microplace. I have a little under four thousand dollars spread across both sites, and intend to continuously reinvest my principal and any earned interest to create a “foundation” where my money keep being lent out over and over. Kiva is non-profit, while Microplace is for-profit. I have lost some principal at Kiva, but none at Microplace yet. Here are my previous posts mentioning Microplace.

Yesterday after reinvesting some funds, the website provided me a link to share that appears to give any new investor a free $20 to invest. No strings attached. When the investment matures, you have the choice of either withdrawing the investment (plus interest) to your Paypal or bank acount, or reinvesting it again in another loan. Why not try it out?

Update: Apparently this link is open to any investor once, not just new investors. I just tried it for myself and it did not give me a choice in investments. The $20 will be invested in “Reduce extreme poverty in Haiti and help reverse its fortune – Sevis Finansye Fonkoze via Oikocredit GC Note”, earning 2.0% per year until April 30, 2014. You do have an alternative to simply donate the $20 instead and receive the tax deduction.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Giving Back //

2011 TradeKing New Account Referral: $100 Bonus

Posted on February 28, 2011 // 4 Comments

Online broker TradeKing.com has brought back their $100 sign-up bonus for new accounts. If you get a referral from an existing account holder, open a new account with at least $1,000, and make a trade, both people will get $100.

TradeKing offers $4.95 trades (market & limit) with no minimum balance requirement. I’ve had an account for years now, and they’ve gotten the job done without issues. They were recently rated #1 in customer service by SmartMoney magazine in 2010. The details:

  • New customer must fund new non-IRA account with a minimum of $1,000 within 30 days of new account opening.
  • Must execute one trade in the new account within 180 days of new account opening.
  • The minimum funds of $1,000 must remain in the account (minus any trading losses) for a minimum of 180 days of new account opening or the credit may be surrendered.

If you’d like a referral just contact me, and I’ll be happy to send you one. I only need your e-mail address. There is no promotion code, but you’ll need to click on the specific link in the e-mail for tracking purposes. Offer expires March 31st, 2011. Update: Alive again from 9/1 to 9/30/11.

Also, if you want to move your stocks over from another broker… If you transfer an account of $2,500 value or greater over to TradeKing, they will also refund up to $150 in account transfer fees charged by your old broker.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

$1 for Three DVD Rentals from Redbox (Again)

Posted on February 28, 2011 // 5 Comments

Groupon has a national deal through the end of March 1st that will get you three one-day rentals at RedBox kiosks for $1. Retail is $1 per day, so $3. If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. Then visit the deal link. Not valid on Blu-ray or video games.

Expires Jun 1, 2011. Limit 1 per person, may buy 2 additional as gifts. May redeem across up to 3 visits. Tax included.

If you’ve never used Redbox before, first-time users that register for a new account on their website also get a code for a free rental after their first paid rental. The unofficial site InsideRedbox is a good source for ongoing free coupon codes. Here is a kiosk locator.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer For 12 Months – Discover Card – Expires 2/28!

Posted on February 25, 2011 // 11 Comments

A reminder that this offer is scheduled to end on February 28th, 2011.

The Discover More Card is available with no balance transfer fee through this online offer link, offering both 0% intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 12 months.

The fact that this card has no balance transfer fee is significant, as other recent offers have had fees of 3% or higher (although they are also up to 24 months). You can literally borrow money for free and pay it back in 12 months (keeping in mind you’ll still need to satisfy the minimum payment each month until then).

When you see the application, be sure to scroll down to the Terms & Conditions and verify that you are getting 0% for 12 months and no balance transfer fee. You should see the following text at the top under “Interest Rates and Interest Charges”:

APR for Balance Transfers: 0.00% introductory APR for 12 months after the first transaction posts to your account under this offer.

And then the following a bit lower under “Fees”:

Transaction Fees * Balance Transfer – 0% of the amount of each transfer made under this offer and with this application; otherwise, either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

Application Quick Tips
In order to get the highest credit limit possible, be sure to maximize your reported “household income” as much as you can legitimately by including everything like the income of everyone living with you, alimony, child support, interest income, dividend income, etc.

If you wish to get cash from this balance transfer offer without it being classified as a “cash advance”, one trick is to request money to be transferred to other non-Discover credit cards that you have. This will create a negative balance, after which you request a refund check be sent to you. Citibank and American Express are recommended for this because they have automatic features on their websites to request a credit balance refund.

Finally, it is important to note that Discover has a new policy that you can only have one open Discover card at any time. If you want this 0% for 12 months with no balance transfer fee and you already have a Discover card, you must cancel that card first, and then come back and apply for this new card. You can’t convert your current Discover and still get this promotion. That will avoid any problems.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Hotel Bidding Tools For Hotwire.com and Priceline.com Travel

Posted on February 24, 2011 // 11 Comments

I’m working on planning our next travel adventure, and discovered a few new sites to help people navigate “opaque” hotel price engines Hotwire.com and Priceline.com. In my 5-Step Guide to Finding The Lowest Rate For Hotel Rooms, I outlined the benefits of using database sites like BiddingForTravel and BetterBidding to gather information from successful purchasers to remove some of the mystery. Hopefully, these will help you even further.

BidGoggles
With Hotwire, you know the price, but not the actual name of the hotel before you commit. A while back, I pointed out the ability to figure out the hidden hotels behind the price on Hotwire primarily using the number of TripAdvisor.com reviews shown. Shortly afterward, they removed that description. The job became harder, but BidGoggles attempts to use all the smaller clues given to you in order to do the same thing again. Here’s how it works.

You provide them with the following: Star rating, Country, State, City, and Subarea (Neighborhood). Then you match up the little logos that show you what amenities the hotel offers, such as a fitness room, swimming pool, or free breakfast. The results have been hit or miss with me, although I found that it helps if you omit a few amenities if you get no matches. Hopefully their database gets better with time, although the site seems to have slowed down development.

The Bidding Traveler
With the ‘Name Your Own Price’ feature of Priceline, you have to bid auction-style for the price of a room, in addition to only knowing the general neighborhood and star-rating of the hotel. So you have to decide how much to bid on any given hotel quality level, as well as having to deal with the rules of how you can bid again if you’re initial offer is rejected.

TheBiddingTraveler has you choose your hotel’s neighborhood (“zones”) along with the highest quality star-rating you want, and then provides you with some guidance as to what your starting bid and your final offer (the absolute highest price you’d be willing to pay). Recently rejected and accepted bids are provided, along with actual hotel names. Finally, the website actually walks you through the “optimal” bidding strategy, step-by-step.

The main downside I noticed was that some of the accepted bids are sparse for some cities and can be a bit old, so again the quality of the database is very important. Happy travels!

Added: You can save another 2% or more with cashback sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Travel //

$2 for Five Movie Rentals from Blockbuster Express – Groupon

Posted on February 19, 2011 // 7 Comments

Groupon has a national deal this weekend that will get you five one-day rentals at Blockbuster Express kiosks for $2. The regular cost would have been $5. I don’t really get the limitation of one per person when you can buy seemingly unlimited as “gifts”.

Note: You can only use one free code per transaction. In order to use all five promo codes you must rent (and check-out) five separate times. I tend to use these Blockbuster kiosks more than Redbox ones simply because they are at Safeway grocery stores, but the idea is basically the same. You can return to any Blockbuster kiosk, not just the one you rented from.

If you are one of the six folks out there that doesn’t have a Groupon account already ;), please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. Then visit the deal link.

Valid through May 1, 2013. Limit 1/person, may buy more as gifts. Valid only at any Blockbuster Express kiosks and for online reservation for pickup at kiosks. Not valid on Blu-ray or Hot List titles. Groupon value reduces by $3 after 5/1/2013, except where prohibited by law.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Tax Software Giveaway: H&R Block At Home

Posted on February 11, 2011 //

H&R Block contacted me to help give away six copies of their H&R Block At Home tax preparation software (formerly TaxCut). Specifically, you will get a free code for H&R Block At Home Premium edition ($49.95 retail value), the level above Deluxe, which has added guidance for the self-employed (Schedule C) and those with rental income (Schedule E). Federal E-file is included. State filing is $34.95 extra.

First, please consider my other H&R Block At Home findings:

  • Amazon.com has H&R Block At Home Deluxe Federal + Federal E-File + State for $24.99. State E-file looks to be another $19.95 extra. (If you are willing to download directly onto your computer, it’s only $21.99. Here are the direct download links for Windows or Mac.) Premium is $44.77.
  • If you are okay with mail-in rebates, you can get H&R Block Deluxe bundled with some anti-virus software for $20 + $2 shipping, and get a $20 prepaid VISA card via rebate at TigerDirect. I couldn’t get the rebate form to download.
  • Until February 15th, you can visit a physical H&R Block location and get your return done for free, but only if you qualify for a 1040-EZ. (No itemized deductions, no dependents, no capital gains.) Otherwise, you’ll have to pay significantly more than the DIY software. Considering the 1040-EZ is only like a page long, if you qualify your taxes should pretty easy to do yourself anyway.
  • You can save 25% off all the online versions here.

If you’d like to be entered for the giveaway, just leave a comment with a valid e-mail below by 11:59pm Pacific on Tuesday, February 15th. Name not necessary. I’ll randomly pick 6 winners and contact you via e-mail.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Taxes //
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