Archive for August, 2009

August 16th, 2009

Free Magazine subscriptions for life…!

My Bonus Center has many magazines like Discover, Elle, Maxim, Real Simple and others for free trial of three months.

You can select up to three magazines at a time and must have a valid credit card number.

I have selected Real Simple as am I trying to simplify my life and would like to read more on it.

If you do not wish to continue the subscription then you will have to get your subscription canceled. To be on the safer side you can use a virtual credit card number with a set limit (I use a Citi credit card which lets you do this).

Makes me wonder if you can just keep on re-doing this and get free magazines for life…! But before you jump on that, spare a thought for the environment as if you do not read these magazines it would just be a waste of high quality paper.

August 13th, 2009

Dump your savings account…!

My checking account pays me 4% interest and as of this writing HSBC Direct pays 1.45% (which by the way is one of the top online savings account), which brings me the conclusion, DUMP YOU SAVINGS ACCOUNT…!

If you notice the interest rate is more than double, it used to be 5% when the rate HSBC was offering was around 2-3%.

The checking account is not a regular checking account it is High Yield Checking Account (HYCA).  There are some difference in a high yield checking account (HYCA) and a checking/savings account and to earn the high interest rate you have to meet certain requirements which are generally easy to meet.

My account requires:

  1. One direct deposit or auto-pay per month.
  2. Ten signature based purchase using DPS.
  3. Online Statements.

I have looked at many other HYCA’s  and the requirements are pretty similar to the one I have (but please read and understand the requirements). Some accounts are available nationwide

But I anyways do these with my regular checking account, so with no added hassle I am getting much higher interest rate then what I would have got.

I still use my Credit Card for big ticket items but for regular daily purchases < $10 I use the debit card (for ~10-12 transactions). If you are addicted to tea/coffee and you pay by CC for them then this debit card can your Tea?Coffee-Time-Credit-Card…!

Now if are wondering how to get a checking account that pays high interest you have obviously not read my post on Checking accounts.

How to do it.

1. After you have found your High yield Checking Account, make sure you understand the requirements.

2. Link your checking and Savings account both ways (always good to do).

3. Transfer money to your checking account.

4. Make sure you meet the requirements.

Don’t make any excuses here, these requirements are really simple to fulfill, if you do not have Direct Deposit, set up auto pay for your Credit card or utilities bill. If you do not make ten CC purchases, buy some thing small on CC to cover up, like 99cents chips from a store that accepts CC for it (many do). There are many ways these were some that I could just think of the top of my head.

Now, whoever thought checking account could pay more interest than an online savings account…!

Let the savings account pig turn blue…here

736952_piggy_bank_1

PS: That was fun to do…