It’s another great Free Money offer for all of you college savers! You can stack the 2 bonuses below to get a $75 bonus: $50 towards a Colorado 529 plan account and $25 for a Upromise account.

How to Get Your $50 Sign Up Bonus

1. Sign up for Colorado’s CollegeInvest 529 Plan.
2. Fund the account with a minimum of $50.
3. Set up a $1 minimum automatic transfer to the account for six months.
4. Receive a $50 bonus in your account!

FirstBank Terms and Conditions

• Limit one gift per beneficiary.
• FirstBank College Savings Accounts do not have a minimum balance.
• Minimum opening deposit of $50 and an automatic transfer into the FirstBank College Savings Account(s) of at least $1 is required to receive the gift. Transfers must occur at least monthly for six consecutive months.
• The $50 award is considered interest and is subject to IRS and other tax reporting.

More on Saving for College

UPromise Bonus. You can earn an additional $25 if you open a Upromise account and link it to your Colorado 529! The $25 will be credited to your Upromise account.

Saving for College. If you’re just getting started on saving for college, make sure to check out our comparison of college savings plans and things to consider when saving for college.

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Happy Black Friday! Did you get all your shopping done and pick up your Black Friday free stuff? Now it’s time to settle in at the computer to prepare for round two: the online shopping extravaganza!

And in Free Money Friday spirit, I’m ranking the cash back programs in order of sign up bonuses so you can earn some cash back today before you even start your shopping!

11 Online Cash Back Shopping Sites

To maximize online shopping over the next few weeks, I make sure I have all of my cash back sites and login information at my fingertips. How many of you actually remember all your passwords from last holiday season?

Here’s a rundown of the sites I’m planning to use this holiday season and the sign up bonus (if they have one):

1. Ebates: Get a $5 sign up bonus.
2. Mr. Rebates: Get a $5 sign up bonus.
3. Cash Crate: Get a $1 sign up bonus.
4. SwagBucks: Get a 30 swagbuck sign up bonus.
5. Cashbaq: Your Cashbaq account needs your attention; it’s time to convert your Cashbaq account to Ebates. Ebates will then pay you the amount in your Cashbaq account.
6. Shop at Home: Don’t forget the 110% cash back guarantee to get the highest cash back.
7. Upromise: Are you skipping Upromise because the money is cashed out in a 529? Don’t. You can request a check!
8. MyPoints: My original and oldest cash back account.
9. FatWallet: The FatWallet cash back is convenient if you are using Fatwallet to search for deals.
10. Bing Rewards: At some point Bing went away and came back as Bing rewards. My old login still works.
11. Big Crumbs: Don’t forget the ability to refer your family members and earn extra cash back tiers on their accounts.

More on Your Cash Back Accounts

Cash Out Your Accounts. As you verify all of your login information for each cash back program, don’t forget to cash out any money you have sitting in those the accounts from the last holiday shopping season. I was pleased to find $34 I had forgotten about!

Note Redemption Amounts. In addition, as you go through your cash back accounts, if you are close to any redemption levels, make a note of that and make sure you get the needed amount to cash out.

Now, don’t forget to take advantage of your American Express $25 Small Business Saturday Shopping Credit this weekend!

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This one is for all of you Amazon lovers taking advantage of the countdown to Black Friday lightning deals!

We’re continuing our holiday week full of Free Money online shopping offers. Discover is offering double cash back at Amazon for up to $250 in purchases!

How to Get Your Double Cash Back

1. Shop at Amazon.com during this billing period.
2. Use your Discover card for your purchases.
3. Automatically earn a 2% Cashback Bonus.
4. The cash will be credited to your Cashback Bonus account within 5 weeks!

Discover Terms and Conditions

• The 2% is subject to a cap of $250 in purchases. After that, you still earn 1% cash back.
• If a purchase is coded for a merchant other than Amazon.com it will not qualify.

More on Discover Cashback

Discover Miles. Miles by Discover cardmembers will earn 2 Miles for every $1 in purchases made at Amazon (subject to a cap of $250).

Discover Cards. If you’re looking for a Discover card recommendation, don’t forget Discover More is offering a $150 sign-up bonus! You can stack the Amazon cashback bonus and the sign up bonus.

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UPDATE: This offer has expired.

We’ve had a plethora of Free Money offers lately but this $200 offer from the Citi Diamond Preferred card may be one of the easiest and it’s just in time for the holidays!

Enjoy the $200 from Citi as we continue our month long back-to-back Free Money offers.

How to Get Your $200 Statement Credit

1. Sign up for the Citi Diamond Preferred card.
2. Earn a $200 statement credit after you make $500 online purchases in your first 3 months. (Anybody thinking Amazon?!)

Citi Terms and Conditions

• No annual fee.
• After 0% intro APR, APR will be 11.99%-21.99% based upon your creditworthiness.

More on Citi Diamond Preferred

0% Intro APR. Citi is offering a 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 18 months. That’s great news for those of you trying to get back in the credit card arbitrage game!

Special Access. The Citi Diamond Preferred card offers special access for cardmembers to purchase presale tickets, preferred seating, VIP packages, and other unforgettable live entertainment experiences through Citi Private Pass.

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Time for more Free Money! And since November is notoriously packed full of free money offers, we’ll be featuring back-to-back free money offers each week during November!

Nationwide is offering a $25 bonus for those who open a Buxx Card!

How to Get Your $25

1. Open a Buxx Card by 12/2/2011.
2. Use offer code 02010029 when you load $25 on the card.
3. Your $25 bonus will be available on the Buxx Card within 2 weeks! And, the $5 activation fee is waived!

Nationwide Terms and Conditions

• Bonus is limited to one per card.
• Card is not a credit card & is not connected in any way to any other account.
• Money on the card does not earn interest.
• Card is not FDIC-insured.

More on the Buxx Card

What is a Buxx Card? The Buxx Card is designed for teens and works like a debit card but allows you to add funds online any time. You can even set up a variety of parental controls, such as setting weekly cash limits and receiving email notification detailing where and when your teen used the card. This sounds like a great Christmas gift for a teen or even a teacher or babysitter!

Fees. If you don’t use the card for 6 months, a $1 per month inactive fee will be charged. The ATM withdrawal fee is $1 and there’s a $2 fee for loading money onto the card in the future.

Multiple cards. It appears that you are limited to 5 cards; you need to enter your SSN and your child’s SSN when you register. That’s how the $25 sign up bonus x 5 is possible.

Load Card with a Credit Card. You can load the Buxx card with another credit card to earn cash back on the purchase.

Source: Curvesahead at Fatwallet.

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It’s back! The American Express offer that was popular last spring comes through for us again this week with a great opportunity to score some points worth the equivalent of about $250!

It’s Free Money Friday, but you’ll have to hurry, this offer is only good for four days!

How to Get Your 25,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points

1. Sign up for the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card by October 12, 2010.
2. Enroll in the Membership Rewards program and charge $2,000 of eligible purchases in your first three months of Card membership.
3. Redeem the points for anything offered through the American Express Membership Rewards program, including airfare and gift cards. The 25,000 points easily convert into $250 in gift cards.

American Express Terms and Conditions

• Pay no annual fee the first year but $175 thereafter.
• Eligible purchases do not include cash and cash equivalent transactions (including balance transfers, convenience checks, and cash advances), finance charges, fees, and purchase credit adjustments.
• Offer not available to existing consumer American Express Charge Cardmembers.

More on American Express Membership Rewards

Earning Points. You always earn 3x points on airfare, 2x points on gas and groceries, and 1 point on everything else.

Redeeming Points. You can redeem your points through the American Express Membership Rewards program, which offers a wide selection of travel, shopping and dining rewards and they have no expiration date.

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American Express is offering $100 – $250 gift cards for new cardholders.

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express from American Express is the featured Free Money Friday offer this week!

How to Get Your Gift Card

1. Open a new Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express.
2. Earn 10,000 Starpoints with your first purchase within one year.
3. Earn an additional 15,000 Starpoints if you spend $15,000 in 6 months.
4. Bonus points will be credited to your account 8-12 weeks after your first purchase and after you meet the spending threshold.
5. Redeem 9,500 points for a $100 Amazon gift card; 23,500 points for a $250 Amazon gift card (see below for more options).

Tips and Tricks

Gift Card Choices. While I’m a big fan of Amazon, and it’s always my first choice, there are many other redemption options. You can choose free hotel stays, frequent flier tickets, and various gift cards.

Earning Starpoints. In addition to the bonus Starpoints, you earn one Starpoint for each dollar spent on your guest card.

Annual Fee Waived. The card does have an annual fee of $45. However, with this offer the fee is waived the first year.

For more information on the card, check out the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express information page.

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It’s Free Money Friday! Since we’re busy traveling out of town for the holiday weekend, a free GPS offer seemed like a no brainer!

How to Get Your GPS

1. Open a new qualifying KeyBank account by April 24, 2009.
2. Make one debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by June 26, 2009.
3. Get your Garmin nüvi GPS within 90 days.

Key Bank Accounts

Qualifying Accounts. To get a nüvi 205W GPS, open a Key Express Free Checking account or a Key Advantage Money Market Checking. To get a nüvi 265WT GPS open either a Key Privilege Checking or a Key Privilege Select Checking account. In addition to the personal checking accounts, many of the business checking accounts qualify too. Check the FAQ for full details.

Minimum Balance. The Key Express Free Checking account does not have a minimum balance. The other accounts have minimum balance requirements.

Limited States. While KeyBank offers banking in 37 states, the GPS promotion is limited to Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

1099 Reporting. You’ll get a 1099-INT for the value of the GPS; $266 for the 205W and $240 for the 265WT.

Terms and Conditions

Here are some additional terms and conditions for the GPS offer:

• Limit one Garmin GPS per qualifying account.
• Limit one Garmin GPS per individual.
• Offer available to individuals without an existing checking account at KeyBank as of 3/27/09.
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

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I was flipping through our Costco coupon book this month and noticed a sign up bonus for ShareBuilder.

They are offering a $90 sign up bonus for executive members and a $70 sign up bonus for gold star and business members. Happy Free Money Friday!

How to Get Your Sign Up Bonus

1. Sign up for a new ShareBuilder individual, joint, or custodial account by April 30, 2009 using this link: ShareBuilder Costco.
2. Enter your valid Costco membership number during the account enrollment.
3. Complete one stock purchase by May 31, 2009.
4. Get your bonus 6-8 weeks after your first stock purchase.

ShareBuilder Extras

Quarterly Rebates. In addition to the sign up bonus, you can earn rebates for using the automatic transactions or the standard or advantage investing program. Executive members get a 25% rebate and business and gold members get a 10% rebate.

Double Dip at Costco. If you are a Costco member, you can also get a $25 Sign Up Bonus From Costco and American Express.

Custodial Accounts. I’m really excited that the offer applies to custodial accounts. I figured ShareBuilder was going to be a good place to start some accounts for my kids, since it will link to their ING accounts. With the bonus, it just moved to the top of my to do list!

Terms and Conditions

Here are some additional terms and conditions for the bonus offer:

• Not valid with IRA or Education Savings Accounts.
• Limit one ShareBuilder promotional award per unique customer or custodial beneficiary.
• ShareBuilder and Costco reserve the right to terminate this offer at any time.

For more information, see my ShareBuilder Review.

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Happy first day of spring! The weather is getting nicer and it’s time to get outside. However, it’s also less than a month until taxes are due. Are yours done?

Great news for the procrastinators out there! The Free Money Friday feature is a TurboTax giveaway for two lucky readers. The prize is a TurboTax Premier Online access code.

How to Enter the TurboTax Giveaway

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below answering one of the following questions:

What financial task do you still need to complete before winter is over (besides your taxes)?

or

If you’ve already finished all your winter tasks, what financial task is your top priority for spring?

The TurboTax giveaway will end next Friday, March 27 at 5 pm central time and winners will be announced on Saturday, March 28.

Helpful Tax Information

If you’re still working on your taxes, here are some helpful articles:

• 6 Free E-File Options
• The Ultimate Tax Resource Guide
• 2008 Tax Information

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