How to Get Your $50 Sign Up Bonus

1. Visit TradeKing and open an account by 11/30/09.
2. Fund your account with at least $2,500 within 30 days of opening it.
3. Execute one trade within 180 days of opening your account.
4. Get your $50 deposited into your account.

Terms and Conditions

• One offer per household.
• U.S. Residents Only.
• You must keep your account at a minimum of $2,500 (minus trading losses) for 6 months or your bonus may be surrendered.

Benefits

Low Fees. TradeKing charges $4.95 per trade plus 65 cents per option contract. For stocks priced less than $1.00, they add $0.01 per share on the entire order.

No Account Minimum. An account minimum applies for this promotion but not for the account in general.

Free Trading Tools. TradeKing has tools like a Profit + Loss Calculator, Probability Calculator, Technical Analysis Tool, and Scanning Tools that work for your individual options and complete option strategies.

SmartMoney also touts TradeKing’s great customer service. See for yourself or check out our TradeKing review.

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They’re back with another great opportunity to open an Electric Orange checking account. It’s our Free Money Friday offer this week!

How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus

1. Visit ING Direct to sign up for an Electric Orange Checking Account.
2. Activate your Electric Orange Debit Card.
3. Use your debit card to make at least 3 signature-based purchases in the first 45 days after your account has been opened.
4. Get your $50 bonus credited to your account 50 days after it has been opened.

ING Direct

Here’s some more info about the account that you might want to know:

Initial Deposit Requirement: None.

Interest Rates (as of the beginning of this week):

• 0.25% on balances under $50,000
• 1.50% on balances between $50,000 and $99,999.99
• 1.55% on balances $100,000 or higher

Also, don’t forget to check out why we are big fans of ING Direct!

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And it could quite possibly be the fastest $50 we’ve ever earned. I signed up my husband (because I already had an account) and it took a total of 4 minutes to get the $50!

How to Get Your $50 Sign Up Bonus

1. Create a new lender account at Prosper.
2. Get your $50 immediately deposited into your account.
3. Make two $25 bids on Prosper loans by December 31, 2009.

Prosper Bonus Terms and Conditions

• Limited time offer.
• The $50 sign up bonus may not be immediately withdrawn.
• The bonus will expire on December 31, 2009 if it is not invested by bidding on loan listings.

More About Prosper

Funding the Account. We did not have to fund the account with any additional money. You can use the $50 they deposit to immediately invest in the two loans.

Peer to Peer Lending. Prosper is a peer to peer lender focused on connecting borrowers and lenders by eliminating the bank in between.

Referrals. Once you are a prosper member, you can refer your friends and family. You get $100 if your friend gets a prosper loan.

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And why would you want to renew? Well, if you are a SERO customer, it’s a no brainer! Since there aren’t any plans around like it, I figured why not take the extra $70!

How to Get Your $70 Sprint Credit

1. Login to your account at Sprint once you are at least 22 months into your contract.
2. Use the contact us link, and select email us.
3. Search for renew contract to get to the web form.
4. Submit an email to ecare saying that you heard there is a $70 credit available to renew your contract and you’d like to do so.
5. Select Plans, features, and services for the topic and Plan inquires for the subtopic.
6. They will email you back within 24 hours to let you know if your account is eligible.

More About Sprint

SERO Customers. Almost two years ago, we signed up for the Sprint SERO service. You know, the irresistible one with unlimited data, texts, and 500 anytime minutes for $30 per month. It’s since been discontinued, but if you have it, you can renew your contract to keep it.

Phone Discount. Taking advantage of the $70 credit did not void our $150 available to get new phones. We’re still shopping for the phone since we missed out on the $199 Touch Pro 2 that was available last week. However, some people are now reporting that you might have to choose between the credit and the phone upgrade.

Credit for Each Line. My husband and I each got the credit for a total of $140 credited to our account. We only had to send one email.

Credit to slickdeals (via My Money Blog) for saving me $140 on something I was going to do anyways!

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How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus

1. Visit Sovereign Bank or a Sovereign branch to open a new checking account with a minimum deposit of $100.
2. Add a Sovereign Savings or Money Market Savings with $100 opening deposit. (Or you can already have an existing one of these accounts.)
3. Enroll in free online banking.
4. Request a Sovereign CheckCard and use it to make 2 qualified purchases within 60 days.
5. Your $100 will be credited to your account within 75 days of opening the checking account.

Terms and Conditions

• One credit per customer.
• Hurry, the offer expires October 30, 2009!
• Current personal checking customers or anyone who has had a personal checking account with Sovereign Bank or any of its divisions in the last 6 months are not eligible for this offer.
• Current employees of Sovereign Bank or any of its divisions are also not eligible for this offer.

Sovereign Bank Checking

Checking accounts. You can open various checking accounts for the bonus including Sovereign Premier Checking, Business Owner Premier Checking, Interest Checking or Partnership Checking account.

Residence. Sovereign requires that your residence be located in ME, VT, NH, CT, RI, MA, NY, NJ, PA, WV, MD, DE, or the District of Columbia.

Thanks for the great find Dimitar!

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How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus

1. Open a qualifying personal checking account with a minimum of $500 by December 31, 2009.
2. Use offer code: AOU261009
3. Leave your checking account open for at least 30 days and make at least one transaction with your new check card.
4. Your $100 will be deposited into your account within 90 days of your opening it.

Terms and Conditions

• Limit one offer per household.
• This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account.
• The new customer is not eligible for this offer if they were a signer on a Bank of America checking account that was closed within the last three months.
• Offer does not apply to Bank of America associates, current checking customers or student checking accounts.

Bank of America Checking Details

• No monthly maintenance fee. There is no monthly maintenance fee when you open this account online.
• Online Banking Service with Bill Pay. Bill pay is offered as a free service with this checking account.
• Free ATM’s. Get free access to Bank of America’s more than 18,000 free ATM’s across the country.

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How to Get Your $50

1. Be a current customer, which is defined as having a HSBC Direct Online Savings Account as of September 8, 2009.
2. Open an Online Payment Account by September 30, 2009.
3. Make 3 debit card purchases using your HSBC debit card by October 31, 2009.
4. Get your $50 bonus by December 31, 2009.

HSBC Bonus Offer Terms and Conditions

• ATM transactions and cash withdrawals do not qualify.
• Account adjustment transactions/returns are not considered eligible for this offer.
• Limit one bonus per household.

More Information. For more information on the bonus offer, see the HSBC Direct offer page. Credit goes to Squeezer99 at Fatwallet for the find.

Prepare for the Future. If you aren’t a current customer you can always open a HSBC Direct account to take advantage of future offers. The minimum deposit to open is $1 and there are no regular monthly or transaction fees.

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In addition to the Ohio 529 College Advantage $25 sign up bonus, they’re giving $25 more to sign up for electronic funds transfer.

How to Get Your $25

1. Start a new recurring monthly electronic funds transfer (EFT) by January 31, 2010.
2. Contribute $25 per month via the EFT for three consecutive months.
3. Keep the EFT active for longer than 90 days.
4. Get a $25 bonus applied after 90 days.

$25 Bonus Offer Extras

For new and existing accounts. The bonus is available to new and existing accounts. If you don’t have an account yet, get your $25 sign up bonus first, then enroll in EFT to get this bonus.

Payroll deduction option. Payroll deduction also qualifies for the bonus; you qualify once your employer has sent at least one check or bank transfer for a minimum of $25 and it has been applied to the account.

Stacking bonuses. You can get an additional $25 for another EFT funded from another contributor. For example, Scott and I could each start a separate EFT for one account; the account will get $50. (Multiply that by the 13 accounts we have, and you can see where this will add up!)

For more information on the bonus offer, see College Advantage Account Services.

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Sometimes when you can’t spend any less, the only way to give your budget some breathing room is to give yourself a little more cash to work with. These 5 tips will help put cash in your wallet without changing your standard of living – and you can get started on most of them with just one phone call!

Cash at Your Fingertips

1. Refinance your house. If you are a homeowner with considerable equity in your home and decent credit score, refinancing could save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan and lower your monthly mortgage payment – leaving cash in your pocket. Doing this tip can be as simple as making a phone call to your current lender or using the service.
2. Adjust your tax withholding. If you get an annual tax refund, lower your withholding to increase your take-home pay now. If you find yourself owing taxes come April, without the money to pay the bill, increase your withholding to save yourself the stress later. If you’re ready to do it, talk to your payroll department at work.
3. Consolidate credit card debt. If you’re lucky enough to still get 0% or other low-interest balance transfer offers, consolidating credit card debt on a new card could make your monthly payment lower, allowing you to keep extra cash in your pocket for other expenses or pay down your debt faster. Just make sure to pay off the card before any promotional rates expire, and don’t use that newly freed-up credit to finance any new purchases!
4. Liquidate small taxable investment accounts. Maybe you inherited a small investment account, or put a few hundred dollars into a “hot” stock once on the advice of a friend or magazine. Chances are you’re paying exorbitant fees for a broker to keep that money – and not seeing much growth if it’s a small amount in an undiversified portfolio. Call your broker or log in to your online account to liquidate the account and get the cash – investing is better done in a retirement or other tax-advantaged account. If you’ve held the investments for less than a year and they’ve increased in value, wait to sell them until you hit the one-year mark so you can pay the lower long-term capital gains tax rate!
5. Increase your insurance deductibles. Increasing deductibles on your home, car, and even health insurance can lower your monthly or yearly premium. Before you do this, make sure you have the cash to pay the deductible should something happen – if you don’t have it now, maybe you can use one of the tips above to get it! To take action on this tip, call your insurance agent.

Do you have any other ways to access cash?

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And this time it’s better than ever with increased payouts for referring friends and family!

How to Earn Your $25 Referral Bonus

1. Open a new Ohio 529 College Advantage account by December 15, 2009.
2. Use the referral code: 2323158.
3. Fund your account with $25.
4. Get a $25 credit to your account within 7-10 business days after your account is established.

How to Earn $75 More from the Ohio 529

Once you sign up, or if you already have an account, you can earn more by referring your family members. (This is where it comes in handy to have a spouse or lots of kids!)

1. After opening the initial account for one child, login and send yourself a referral.
2. Open a second account for another child.
3. Earn $75 more ($50 referral bonus and a $25 sign up bonus), for a total of $100 in 529 bonus money.
4. Rinse and repeat for all the family members in your house.

The deal is even sweeter this time around, because they increased the referral bonuses to $50 and they are allowing account owners to get unlimited referral bonuses!

Ohio 529 College Advantage Accounts

We have 13 accounts with the Ohio 529 College Advantage program (and of course I’ll open 2 more for our new baby during this promotion).

Want to know why? (Besides being a superfan that keeps signing up for their sign up bonuses!)

• No account fees. There are no maintenance fees or enrollment fees.
• Low management fees. They offer cheap Vanguard index funds; I like the Vanguard 500 index fund with a 0.19% expense ratio.
• Low minimum. It’s only $25 to open an account.
• No residence restrictions. You don’t have to live in Ohio to open an account; Ohio residents get a state tax deduction.
• No kids needed. Just enroll and list yourself (or your spouse, if you have one) as the beneficiary.

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You get an additional $25 bonus to use their bill pay service. It’s our Free Money Friday offer this week.

How to Get Your Bonus

1. Use your existing Bank of America checking account or open a new one.
2. Sign up for the bill pay bonus offer.
3. Pay two bills from your checking account within 30 days.
4. $25 will be credited to your account or mailed by check within 90 days.

Terms and Conditions

• Limit one incentive per customer.
• The offer is available to existing consumer and small business customers who have not made a bill payment with Bank of America Online Banking within the last 6 months.
• No end date is listed; check the bill pay bonus offer site for updates.

Thanks Ifi for the tip!

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Readers Favorite Cash Back Programs

My Favorite Cash Back Programs

Just like readers, the program I use the most is Ebates. It seems like they come out on top a lot when I check ev’reward for a particular store. In addition, the $5 sign up bonus is a nice feature.

I also like Big Crumbs. Their payments are the best, because there is no minimum, and you get a payment monthly via Paypal. I use it a lot, so I was surprised to see it at the bottom of the list for readers.

I’m also a fan of Upromise. I don’t use them a lot for online shopping, but I do use them automatically for groceries and gas, which adds up. It transfers automatically to our 529 plan in Iowa.

In addition, I forgot to include FatWallet Cash Back in the poll. It’s another one of my favorite programs that often shows up in ev’rewards.

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How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus

1. Open a new Free MyAccess Checking account with a minimum balance of $500 by August 30, 2009.
2. Use the code AOU260609 when opening your account.
3. Keep the account open for at least 30 days and make one transaction with the check card.
4. $75 will be credited to your account within 90 days of opening.

Bank of America Checking Details

No monthly maintenance fee. There is no monthly maintenance fee when you open this account online.

No minimum balance required. While there is a minimum balance to open; you don’t need to tie it up from month to month.

More on Fees. I contacted Bank of America to verify that there is no fee, since when you go through the application process, it mentions a fee. They provided me with a copy of the addendum that confirms there is no fee if you open the account online.

Terms and Conditions

• Limit one offer per household.
• This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account.
• The new customer is not eligible for this offer if they were a signer on a Bank of America checking account that was closed within the last three months.
• Offer does not apply to Bank of America associates, current checking customers or student checking accounts.

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WTDirect is once again offering a sign up bonus. Lots of readers took advantage of their winter blast promotion back in December. The program is similar, but with lower payouts; we’ll cash in for Free Money Friday.

How to Get Your Sign up Bonus

1. Open a new WTDirect online savings account.
2. Verify that you see a promo code starting with the letters “WFIT” on the application.
3. Updated: Fund your account by July 31, 2009 August 15, 2009.
4. Keep the money in the account until October 31, 2009.
5. Get your bonus around November 20.

Amount of the Bonus

The amount you earn will be based on the initial funding level. Here is the WTDirect bonus schedule:

WTDirect

Here is more information about WTDirect and the bonus offer:

• FDIC Insured.
• No fees.
• This offer is available to new WTDirect clients only.
• Primary account holder must not have held a WTDirect account in the past 12 months.

Do the Math

As always, with a sign up bonus offer that ties up our money, we have to figure out if it’s a good deal.

The WTDirect account earns 1.76% APY for the first 60 days no matter what the balance is. It will stay at 1.76% APY after that as long as you have $10,000 on deposit.

Once you add the interest together with the sign up bonus, you should be able to get almost 2.96% for the three months at the $50,000 level. For the lower levels, it looks like you’ll get 2.76%. The calculations ignore the time it takes to make the ACH transfers.

At any level, it clearly beats other market leaders like Ally Bank and Bank of Internet, right now.

It’s a great deal for those of us who need to renew a portion of a CD ladder or who have idle credit card arbitrage money.

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Bing included a cash back program! Let’s check it out.

How to Earn Your Bing Cash Back

1. Sign up for a Windows Live ID Bing Cash Back account or use your Hotmail, Messenger, or Xbox LIVE ID.
2. Shop for products using Bing Shopping.
3. Once you reach $5 in cash back, you can redeem your cash back.
4. Redeem your cash back by PayPal, direct deposit to your bank account, or a check.

Bing Cash Back Details

Maximum Cash Back. You can earn up to $2,500 in cash back savings every calendar year.

Integrated Shopping. The cash back amounts show directly on the shopping page, which is very convenient.

eBay Purchases. Cash back includes purchases at eBay.

Partner Stores. Check out the complete list of partner stores to see the percentages of cash back at each store.

Get the Highest Cash Back

As always, before making a purchase, I use ev’reward to determine the best cash back program for each store.

That way I can be sure I’m getting the biggest bang for my buck whether it’s using Ebates, Mr. Rebates, Upromise Rewards, MyPoints or other cash back programs.

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