Also be sure to check out the Chase $100 Sign Up Bonus and the Discover $50 bonus!

I spent some time last week chatting with a Discover rep about the Discover 25,000 Bonus Miles offer to clarify the math. When I explained to him what I was doing, he suggested an even better card for readers! Talk about great customer service!

So this week, for Free Money Friday, we’ll feature the (even better) Discover Miles card.

Discover is offering 12,000 bonus miles, which you can convert to a statement credit, for using the Discover Miles Card.

How to Get Your $50 Bonus

  1. Open a new Discover Miles Card.
  2. Earn 10,000 bonus miles by making one purchase each month for the first 10 months (1,000 bonus miles each month).
  3. Promotional miles will be applied within 8 weeks.
  4. Redeem 10,000 miles for a $50 account credit or have it electronically deposited into your bank account.

How to Get Your $100 Bonus

  1. Earn the miles in the same manner above.
  2. Use your card to purchase any travel on any airline, cruise, vacation package, hotel or car rental.
  3. Redeem 10,000 miles for a $100 travel credit to your account within 90 days after the purchase posts to your account.

More About the Miles

Annual Fee. There is no annual fee.

Extra Bonus Miles. You can actually earn 12,000 bonus miles if you use the card each month for the first 12 months. I used 10,000 in my example, because you can redeem them in 5,000 increments.

Miles for Purchases. In addition, to the bonus miles, you earn 2 miles for each dollar you spend on your first $3,000 in combined travel and restaurant purchases each year and 1 mile for each dollar above that and all other purchases.

Miles Never Expire.

Flexible Redemption. Because you don’t actually have to use the miles to book a flight, you can easily use your card for a business trip, or take the kids to a hotel overnight to get your $100!

Apply for the Discover Miles Card




College Advantage 529 Plan

It’s back! The extremely popular $25 sign up bonuses for the Ohio 529 College Advantage plan have returned.

When they ran the program last fall, it was one of the most popular Free Money Friday offers. For those of you that missed out, here’s your chance!

How to Earn Your $25 Referral Bonus

  1. Open a new Ohio 529 College Advantage account with $25.
  2. Enter the following referral code: 2323158
  3. You will receive a $25 credit to your account within 7-10 business days after your account is established.
  4. You must establish an account on or before May 31, 2009 in order to be eligible to receive the referral bonus.

Ohio 529 Plan Highlights

The Ohio plan is one of my favorites. We have nine accounts with them (but I’m sure I’ll open some more with the new promotion!) Here’s why:

  • Low fees and investment options. You can invest in the Vanguard 500 index fund with a 0.19% expense ratio.
  • No enrollment fee or maintenance fee.
  • Low initial investment ($25), which means it’s easy for me to open accounts for my niece and other young children in our lives.
  • You don’t have to live in Ohio to take advantage of it, although Ohio residents can take a tax deduction.
  • If you don’t have kids, you can just use yourself as the beneficiary.

Sweeten the Deal

Once you sign up, you can earn even more by referring your family members. If you open an account for one child, you can refer yourself to open a second account for another child to earn an extra $25 in each account. ($25 referral + 2 x $25 sign up bonus = $75).

In addition, you can have multiple accounts for the same children, using different owners. Scott and I each have an account for ourselves, each other, and each of the kids (8 total in our family alone).

If you don’t have plans for college, you can withdraw your deposit and referral bonus five business days after it is deposited. (Just remember, earnings are subject to income tax when withdrawn, plus 10% additional federal tax.)

I get 20 referral bonuses, so I’ll monitor them closely. If you subscribe by email or feed, be sure to check back at Ohio 529 College Advantage $25 Sign Up Bonus, as I’ll update the code once it looks like I’m getting close to 20.

Sign up for a College Advantage Account




UPDATE: This offer has expired but check out the $250 bonus offer on the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card.

It’s Friday! So let’s get right to our Free Money offer for the week!

American Express is offering a $100 gift card for using the American Express Gold Card.

How to Get Your Gift Card

  1. Open a new American Express Gold Card and enroll in the Membership Rewards program.
  2. Spend $500 in 3 months to get 10,000 Membership Rewards bonus points.
  3. The bonus points will be credited to your account 6-8 weeks after your first purchase.
  4. Redeem points for a $100 Gift Card.

Tips and Tricks

Gift Card Choices. I took a look at all the gift cards available. There are too many to list, but they had lots of hotels, restaurants, shopping, and various other choices. We have a new Ruth’s Chris Steak House, so I think that’s what we’d redeem it for!

Annual Fee Waived. The card does have an annual fee of $125 (plus $35 for additional cards). However, with this offer the fee is waived the first year for the basic card and for up to five additional cards.

For more information on the card, check out the American Express Gold Card information page.





Amboy Direct is offering a $25 sign up bonus. You know the deal, Free Money Friday is all about bonus money!

How to Get Your Sign up Bonus

  1. Open a new Amboy Direct savings account and use the Reference Code: 102417 on the application.
  2. Keep a minimum balance of $3,000 or more for 90 days.
  3. Get your bonus about 90 days after account opening.
  4. Offer valid until February 28, 2009.

Amboy Direct

Here is more information about the Premium online savings account at Amboy Direct:

  • FDIC Insured.
  • Minimum initial deposit is $1.
  • No minimum balance requirement; a zero balance in your account will result in immediate closure, so keep $1 in it if you want to keep it open.

Do The Math

The account currently has an interest rate of 2.79% APY. Add your bonus, and you should be able to just clear 6% over the 90 days.

Refer Your Friends

There is only one Amboy Direct promotional account per household. After you sign up you can refer your friends (but not people in your household). They’ll get the $25 signup bonus and you’ll get $10 for referring them.

You know what that means… I can’t refer Scott… so the first person that signs up and sends me a referral email, I’ll use to open an account for him!

Help Each Other Out

Here’s the glitch. I can only refer 25 friends. And I won’t know how many people signed up until after the 90 days. So please do everyone a favor, if you sign up, leave a comment so people can try to determine how many are left.

Let’s all work together so everyone can benefit; I won’t have any control if we run out. But if people leave comments, as soon as it looks like 25 people have signed up, I’ll get a new code.