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$150 PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Offer – Austin Texas only

January 14th, 2010

Here’s some more free money for all of you out there in Austin who do the bank account deals. PlainsCapital Bank is offering a $150 bonus for opening a free checking account. Just open the account with a minimum of $50 using the offer code FCAU1109 by February 19 and you’ll get $50, and when you have your direct deposit made to the account you’ll get another $100 for a total of $150. You could previously apply online, but they have since restricted the offer to Austin residents and it must be opened in person in one of their Austin branches. The terms of the offer say that you have to keep the account open for 90 days to avoid a fee, although the disclosure documents in the application process say 180 days, so plan on having the account open at least 6 months.

$150 PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Offer

Here’s the details:

To qualify for the $50 bonus, you must open a new PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Account by Feb. 19, 2010, with a minimum deposit of $50 in new funds (e.g., money not currently held at PlainsCapital Bank). The $50 bonus will be automatically deposited into your new account within 10 business days. To qualify for the $100 bonus, you must set up direct deposit into the new account within 60 days of account opening. Once direct deposit is set up and a deposit is made, the $100 bonus will be automatically deposited into your new account within 10 business days.  Bonuses cannot be considered the minimum opening deposit. Limit one offer per customer. Checking account to remain open for 90 days or the account could be subject to an early closing fee. Account is subject to approval. Bonus is considered interest and must be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.

UPDATE 1/14/2010 3:05pm: It looks like they have completely taken down the offer from their website. You may want to call to see if they will still honor this offer in-branch before making the drive over to one of their locations.

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Free Popular Mechanics 1-year Subscription

January 12th, 2010

Here’s an easy freebie to start your day. You can get a free 1-year subscription to Popular Mechanics magazine by signing up at RecycleBank. There is no cost to sign up and when you do you will receive 100 reward points automatically, which can be redeemed for the subscription. If Popular Mechanics isn’t your thing, you can choose one of the other subscriptions listed below instead.

RecycleBank Signup

Popular Mechanics 1-year Subscription — 100 points
Esquire One-year subscription — 80 points
Good Housekeeping One-year subscription — 80 points
Bazaar One-year subscription — 80 points
Marie Claire One-year subscription — 80 points
Redbook One-year subscription — 60 points
Seventeen One-year subscription — 80 points
Town & Country One-year subscription — 100 points

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Lending Club bonus – Get $150 Amazon gift certificate for a new loan (expires TODAY!)

December 31st, 2009

Right now through December 31, 2009 (yup, today) Lending Club is offering borrowers a $150 Amazon gift certificate for a new loan. Here’s the details from the email I received:

Have you considered applying for a low, fixed-rate loan from Lending Club?
As a Lending Club investor you already know that funding loans is confidential, quick & easy. As a holiday bonus to current Lending Club Members, you’ll get a $150 gift card to Amazon if you get a loan in the month of December!*
Whether you are looking to transfer credit card balances or consolidate other debt, a loan from Lending Club can be the perfect solution. Here are just some of the benefits of a Lending Club loan:
Low, fixed interest rates. Unlike credit cards, your interest rate will never change.
No hidden fees. Period.
36 equal monthly payments. Payments automatically deducted from your bank account.
No pre-payment penalties. You can pay off the loan at any time with no penalty.
Private & Confidential. Your personal information and identity is kept completely private and confidential.
Apply in just 3 minutes and get an instant decision >>>
As a Lending Club investor you will need to create a new account, using an alternative email address, to apply for a low, fixed rate loan.
Sincerely,
The Lending Club Team 

There is no prepayment penalty on the loan, however there is a small origination fee based on your credit rating. With what they referred to as an A2 rating, my fee was $12.50 on a $1000 loan. $1000 is the minimum you can borrow. The process was pretty easy and I’ll end up netting $137.50 less whatever interest accrues on the loan in the short time before I pay it off (a few days at 7.4% shouldn’t be much). Slick deal!

Click here to apply and get in on this deal. Enter in the referral code Member_596953 and you’ll earn us a bonus as well and help support this site. If you want to sign up as a lender with that code you’ll get a $40 bonus, but I don’t think we earn anything from the referral.

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Another $125 Chase Checking Bonus (exp. 1/15/2010)

December 22nd, 2009

Everyone is looking for a little extra cash around the holidays, and here is a great opportunity for some easy money. Chase is offering a $125 bonus for opening a free checking account with direct deposit. To get in on the offer you will need to logon to your existing Chase online account and click on this link. There you will get a coupon for a $125 bonus when you open a Chase checking account between now and January 15, 2010. It is best to print the coupon early since Chase often takes down these coupons before the expiration date.

Here are the main points to remember on this offer:
1. Minimum deposit of $100 in new funds not currently held by Chase.
2. The $125 bonus will be deposited into your account within 10 days of your initial direct deposit.
3. Within 60 calendar days of account opening, you must initiate a monthly direct deposit which includes payroll, pension, Social Security, or other government benefits.
4. There is a limit of 1 personal checking account-related reward per customer, per calendar year.
5. Your checking account must remain open for a minimum of 6 months, or the reward will be debited from the account at closing.
6. Chase Checking has no monthly service fee when you have a direct deposit or 5 or more debit card purchases post to your account each statement period.

I have done these bonuses multiple times without issue. You can read about previous Chase bonus offers here.

No direct deposit? No worries! Read about how to fake the direct deposit and get the bonus money on this post.

Want to make another easy $50? Open an ING Direct account! Details here.

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Snuggie: The Blanket that Steals?

July 14th, 2009

We all know and love the Snuggie, that cool blanket with the sleeves sewn in that is a mainstay of the cable TV commercial circuit. We have a Snuggie ourselves and they are as cool as the actors in the commercial make them seem, and yes you do look like a monk when you have it on like the commercial too. But all is not well in Snuggie land, at least according to the folks at MainStreet.com.

According to their story, consumers that bought the Snuggie through the TV offer have been receiving “rebate” checks in the mail for $8.95. However, we you read the fine print you see that by cashing or depositing the check you are enrolled in a program called Great Fun, and if you don’t cancel within 30 days you will be charged for a year’s membership at a rate of $149.99. Unfortunately many Snuggie owners didn’t see that fine print and end up getting charged the membership fee for a service they weren’t even aware they were enrolling in. The practice isn’t illegal (long distance companies did this for years where by cashing a check you were agreeing to switch service, and other programs have used similar tactics), but it certainly qualifies as sneaky and makes a lot of folks irate.

For my longtime readers, you probably recognized the name Great Fun. In fact, Great Fun is a program run by Trilegiant Corporation, who I have posted about in the post Rape and Pillage Trilegiant for Free Gift Cards back in 2007. Yes, you can get tons of free money and gift cards by signing up for their trial offers and cancelling in the trial period. Just work the system in moderation, as they seem to be catching on a lot more quickly to those of us who are gaming the system for free stuff. However, if you do it right you can end up with hundreds of dollars in free gift cards and rebate checks for only the effort of signing up and calling to cancel the service.

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Posted in Customer Service, Deals, Freebies, Rebates, Scams

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Dish Network retention: Saved $15/month for the next year!

June 8th, 2009

In this environment, it is smart to minimize expenses as much as possible, and one place ripe for cuts is the cable TV bill. While the argument could be made that you don’t need cable at all, many of us wish to keep the luxury of cable and would just like to knock a few bucks off the price. This is pretty easy to do; all you have to do is ask the right person the right way.

All you have to do is work your money-saving magic through the Retentions Department. They won’t send you there if you just ask for it by name, so you have to threaten to cancel to get there and get the best deals. I called Dish Network retentions today, and my call went something like this:

BillyOceansEleven: Hi, I would like to cancel my service.

DishNetwork: I’m sorry to hear that and I see you’ve been with us for two years. May I ask why you want to cancel?

BOE: Well, money is tight so I am shopping around my service and I can get a programming package similar to my current one over at DirecTV for $29.99 a month, which is considerable less than the $44.99 before tax I’m paying you guys now.

DN: Give me a second to review your account…Okay, I can offer you a $15.00 bill credit for each of the next 12 months, which will bring your price before tax to $29.99.

BOE: Well, that would put me at the same cost as DirecTV, so let’s do that.

DN: Okay, give me a few minutes to update your account.

DN: Okay, I have added the discount to your account and you should see the first credit on your next statement. Thank you for choosing Dish Network. Goodbye.

Total time spent including navigating the phone tree to get to retentions was 3 minutes 48 seconds and total savings is $180 over the course of a year. Not too shabby!

A few pointers:

  • Be absolute in your comments. Don’t say “I’m thinking about canceling.” Say “I would like to cancel.” This lets them know you mean business.
  • Comparison shop and be prepared to present them will the best deal out there. Give them a reason to adjust the bill. “I think my bill is too high” is less effective than “I can switch to DirecTV and get this service for $29.99″.
  • Give them some idea of what it would take to make you happy. If you simply want to lower your bill, focus on a competitor offer for the same service for less. If you really want more channels at the same price, present them with a competitor’s service offering around your current price.
  • Remember that you have the most leverage when you are no longer contract. If you are under contract you probably won’t get much since they know you’ll have to pay the early termination fee if you really do cancel.

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Posted in Customer Service, Deals, Tips

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$125 bonus for a Chase Checking account TIMES TWO

December 30th, 2008

I posted this as a comment on another blog, and then got to thinking I need to post this on my own blog. I written before about Chase banking bonuses (March 2008, November 2007, September 2007), and I have always been able to get these without issue. If you have never done these before, right now before year end is a great time to start.

If you head down to your local post office, you’ll find the New Movers Pack with the Change of Address form. The pack also includes several coupons, including one for a Chase Checking account bonus of $125. If you read the terms and conditions, you get the bonus for opening a new account and having direct deposit, and you are limited to one bonus per calendar year. As we are about to end one calendar year and start another, you can open one today or tomorrow (while we are in 2008) and one after New Year’s Day (in 2009). Fund both and start the direct deposits (many employers will allow split direct deposits, or you can fake the direct deposit using ING or another online account), and you should get a $125 bonus on each. If you plan to open multiple accounts, get multiple packets because the codes are one-time use.

To reduce the hassle factor even more, you can probably sign up for the account online and enter the coupon code in the application to avoid going into the branch. You just have to print off the signature card, sign and return via mail or fax.

A few notes about the deal:

  • The deal requires a $100 minimum opening deposit. If you open online, you can use a Visa or Mastercard to fund the account up to $2,000. Use a good reward credit card to earn some easy points!
  • If you don’t do an initial direct deposit on the account, you won’t get your bonus. If you don’t maintain the direct deposit, you’ll be charged a service fee unless you use your Chase Check Card five times during the statement period.
  • You have to keep the account open six months or they will deduct the bonus at closing. After six months, you can close it without penalty by going into a branch.
  • Be sure to keep a copy of the confirmation of the coupon being redeemed. If you open in a branch this should be a printed page they give you. If you open online, it should be a new window you can print. I’ve never had an issue with the bonus not being credited, but it is always best to cover your bases.
  • These bonuses are reported on a Form 1099-INT at tax time to the IRS, so you better report the income if you don’t want an audit. If you open one before year end and one after, you’ll get one form in January 2009 reporting the interest income from the first account and another in January 2010 reporting the interest income from the second account.

Have fun!!!

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My continuing love affair with Walgreens

October 24th, 2008

Walgreens deals just keep on coming! They released a new $5 off $20 coupon, and that coupled with the Easy Saver Rebate deals and the Register Rewards deals is making for some very good deals. Compare that to the crappy deals we’ve seen recently from CVS!

Right now through Saturday (10/25), the following items will produce Register Rewards coupons:

  • Oral-B CrossAction manual toothbrush ($4.49 produces $4.50 RR)
  • Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus ($4.99 produces $5.00 RR)
  • St. Ives Elements products ($4.99 produces $5.00 RR)
  • 3 Robitussin 4oz. Cough Syrups (3 x $5.99 = $17.97 less 3 x $3.00 printable coupons = $8.97 produces $10.00 RR plus $5.00 RR)

Also through Saturday, you can purchase items for the Easy Saver Rebates for both October and November (see catalogs here). The following items were also added to the October rebate in response to product shortages for September rebate items:

  • Nivea for Men Body Wash RAINCHECK $4.99 (October Rebate #45; same as Sept. rebate #2)
  • Lypsyl lip moisturizer RAINCHECK $3.99 (October Rebate #46; same as Sept. rebate #6)
  • Loreal Revitalist Anti Wrinkle Concentrate RAINCHECK $16.49 (October Rebate #47; same as Sept. rebate #3)
  • Chemistry Hair products RAINCHECK $7.99 (October Rebate #48; same as Sept. rebate #5)

I went out today and stopped at several stores and spent $45.80 in Walgreens gift cards and increased my roll of Register Reward coupons by $39.00 and should have another $27.98 in rebates coming, meaning I made a profit of $21.18 from today’s run (in addition to all the stuff I got). This also doesn’t include the six electric razor replacement heads I bought at less that $10 each to resell on eBay (usually go between $15 and $25).

You must remember on Register Rewards items that no matter how many items you buy a Register Reward coupon for a promotion will only print once per transaction, and you cannot use a Register Reward coupon from a promotion to get another Register Reward coupon from the same promotion. Keep those things in mind and you’re golden. The nice thing about Walgreens Register Rewards deals is that because they don’t use a card you can do the deal several times over as long as you purchase them on different transactions.

Happy hunting!!!

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Posted in Deals, Walgreens

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Get rainchecks for out of stock CVS deals (YMMV)

October 17th, 2008

Someone recently posted an interesting question on Slickdeals: “May I ask for a raincheck for a free after extra care bucks item at CVS?” For those of you who don’t know, a raincheck is like a coupon that is given to a customer when an advertised item is not in stock allowing the customer to get the item at the sale price once it is back in stock after the sale is over. It is an interesting question to me since one of my biggest frustrations with CVS deals recently (besides the lack of good ones) is that it seems like the stores never have these items in stock, especially the monthly deals. For instance, I have probably been to at least 10 different CVS stores so far this month and have not seen a single one of the heating pads that are free this month.

So what’s the verdict? It looks like it is a big YMMV based on the store manager’s discretion. Here are the results other users at SD have posted:

  • Denial of a raincheck, saying it was policy that they couldn’t write rainchecks on free after ECB items.
  • Success in getting a raincheck, after having to call customer service to explain to the manager how to write the raincheck.
  • Getting a raincheck for the item with “free” written in the price blank.
  • Getting a raincheck for the item where it is rung up at the advertised price and the ECB award amount is provided on a gift card.
  • Substitute for a similar item taking the ECB amount off at time of purchase.
  • Substitute for a similar item but scan the UPC for the advertised item at time of purchase to generate the ECBs.
  • Calling corporate customer service for a raincheck to be mailed to you (reportedly done successfully last month).

So as you can see, there apparently isn’t a standard CVS policy for how to handle these request, or if there is they obviously don’t train their store personnel on what that is. So although it may take a few minutes (and perhaps a few tries), this may be best way to get in on these deals that never seem to be in stock without driving all over town searching.

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Posted in CVS, Deals

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