Sharebuilder New Account $50 Bonus

I just noticed that discount stock brokerage Sharebuilder is offering a $50 cash bonus as long as you open a new account with $50 by December 31st with promotion code 50WS10. (The code is also mentioned on the promo page.) It doesn’t appear that you even need to make a trade. Fine print:

** You must open a new account with ShareBuilder and deposit $50 or more to be eligible for this promotion. Initial deposit must be completed by 12/31/2010. ShareBuilder will deposit a $50 bonus approximately 4-6 weeks after your first $50 deposit. The $50 bonus offer is available for Individual, Joint and Custodial accounts only. Offer not valid for IRAs or ESAs. The $50 bonus from ShareBuilder is not available for withdrawal for 90 days after it is awarded to your account. This offer is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferrable. Limit one ShareBuilder account bonus per unique customer or custodial beneficiary. […] Offer expires 12/31/2010.

If you open it quickly, you should be able to take combine this with these several promotional codes worth over a hundred dollars in free trades, both real-time and automatic. Automatic trades differ from the real-time market/limit trades that most brokerages offer, as they are market orders that only execute in batches once a week on Tuesdays. In most cases, this is best suited for people regularly investing a constant amount (i.e. $50 a month) into ETFs or widely-traded stocks. The commissions start at $4 for each automatic trade, and $9.95 for a real-time trade.

Coinstar Promotion: $50 in Gift Cards for $40 in Coins (No Mail-in-Rebate Required)

Coin-changing machine operator CoinStar is repeating a promotion where if you change $40 in coins into a gift card, you can receive an additional $10 gift card by mail at certain retailers. It’s actually better this year because it is no longer run as an annoying mail-in rebate. This time, after you exchange $40 in coins for a gift certificate, they provide a promotional code on the receipt that you redeem online. The $10 bonus certificate is still sent via snail mail, but this time “within 1-2 weeks” and without wasting time with mailing forms and postage.

The participating retailers include iTunes Store, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Borders Bookstores, and Regal-affiliated Movie Theaters. However, the page also says that Amazon.com will join the promotion on 12/9/2010. (Update: Amazon.com is officially added. Redemption is via e-mail code, so no waiting. It mentions toys and games, but appears to be valid for anything else as well.) The page seems to hint that Gap and Starbucks will also join in eventually, but who knows. Personally, I like the idea of getting rid of my coins and getting a 20% 25% bonus since I shop regularly at Amazon anyway.

By the way, if you convert your $40 into a gift certificate instead of cash, you’ll avoid their normal exorbitant 9.8% processing fee. Here is their kiosk locator.

I wrote about Coinstar and other things to do with loose coinage before and people shared some nice tips in the comments.

AmEx $25 Small Business Promo Extended to 12/31

The American Express Small Business Saturday promotion that was initially for Saturday, 11/27 has been extended all the way to the end of the year, 12/31/2010. Sign up at their special Facebook page if you haven’t already. Basically, enroll on their site, and spend $25 or more at any local small business that accept American Express and you’ll get a $25 credit back on your statement. Registration is now open to the first 300,000.

To be eligible for this offer, you must register your eligible American Express Card between November 8, 2010 and December 31, 2010. You may only register one Card for this offer. Using your registered American Express Card, you must spend $25 or more at one or more participating small business merchants between 11/27/2010 and 12/31/2010 to receive the $25 statement credit.

Eligible merchants include any independently owned small businesses that accept the American Express Card. Purchases made online, at large, national chains, at franchised business locations and at government agencies are not eligible.

Chase Freedom Black Friday: 8% Cash Back Promo

I know a lot of folks have some version of the Chase Freedom Visa or Mastercard, whether from farther back or recently for their $100 cash promo offer or their rotating 5% rewards.

Just got a note that they are offering 8% cashback on select stores from 11/26 to 11/30. The Apple store usually only discounts prices on Black Friday, so in combination this could be a good deal if you were planning a Mac purchase anyway. Some other big names on their list as well. (Insert warning about not spending too much during holidays here.)

We are excited to announce a special, limited-time promotion for existing Chase Freedom cardholders!

For 5 days only, Chase Freedom cardholders can earn 8% bonus cash back for every dollar spent when shopping at the following select merchants: Apple Online Store, Gap, Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sears and Macy’s. This promotion is valid from November 26th through November 30th.

Priceline.com Savings: $20 for $40 Bid, $40 for $80 Bid

Time for another Groupon nationwide deal for 11/24, this time to save money on bidding on hotels on Priceline.com. You have two options:

  • For $20, you get $40 toward a bid on any three-star or better hotel on Priceline.com
  • For $40, you get $80 toward a bid on any three-star or better hotel on Priceline.com

So if you bought the $80 bid and won a 2 night stay for $100 total, you’d only end up paying $60 for it. More fine print:

Expires Mar 25, 2011. Limit 1 per person. Valid only for option purchased. Valid only for 3-star or better hotels on Name Your Own Price. Exact hotel shown only after purchase. $1 minimum bid/night req’d. Taxes and fees not incl’d. Not valid w/ other offers.

Here is the Groupon deal link from Ft. Lauderdale, but anyone can buy and use it. If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link first. It’s free for you, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for future deals. Groupon is a popular group-buying site where in major metro areas you get one deal per day from a local retailer as long as enough people sign up for it, along with occasional nationwide offers.

You can also get up to another 2% back on your Priceline purchase through cashback shopping portals such as eBates ($5 bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Finally, a while back I wrote about some tips on using Priceline here. By using databases that include actual winning bids, you can see what is available and optimize your bidding. Good luck!

Free $3 in Amazon MP3 Downloads

Amazon.com is offering $3 in free MP3 downloads with the code GET3MP3S. No purchase required. See directions and details at this link. It should increase your gift card balance by $3 for music purchases only. You must redeem the code by November 29, 2010 11:59 PM PST. Promotional offer limited to one Amazon MP3 promotional credit per customer.

It may ask you to install the AmazonMP3 Downloader software, but you can go to “skip” this for individual songs. Entire album purchases may require installation. Get some nice holiday songs!

Nordstrom Rack: $50 Gift Card For Just $25

Here’s another Groupon national deal, this time for $50 gift card for $25 at Nordstrom Rack, which seems like a nice name for Nordstrom Outlet. I think I’ve been to one before, it’s like a fancier Ross’s or TJ Maxx. Shoes, clothes, accessories, etc. List of store locations. This one is good until midnight 11/22.

Limit 1/person. Valid at all Nordstrom Rack locations. In-store only. Not valid for gift cards. Not valid with other offers or discounts. EXPIRES ON 12/31/10.

If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link first. It’s free for you, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for future deals. Groupon is a popular group-buying site where in major metro areas you get one deal per day from a local retailer as long as enough people sign up for it, along with occasional nationwide offers.

American Apparel: $50 Gift Card For Just $25

This is Groupon’s national deal today (update: extended through Sunday 11/20), and seeing that 1,000 has already been bought, I guess people like it. $25 for $50 of stuff at American Apparel. I’ve never bought anything from them before – what would make a good gift value?

$50 minimum purchase. In-store only. Not valid on Multi-Packs, California Select Vintage, Multibrand products, or shoes. Not valid at outlet locations. Not valid with other offers or sale items.

If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link first. It’s free for you, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for future deals. Groupon is a popular group-buying site where in major metro areas you get one deal per day from a local retailer as long as enough people sign up for it, along with occasional nationwide offers.

Easy Cancellations = Free FICO Score from myFICO.com

There are plenty of “FAKE-O” credit scores out there, but the only place to get your real FICO score is myFICO.com. Problem is, usually these cost money and even if they are free due to some promotion, it’s during some random time of the year. If you want a free FICO Score on demand, you’ll have to agree to a free 10-day trial at MyFICO.com:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: When you order your free FICO Score here, you will begin your 10-day trial membership in Score Watch®. If you don’t cancel your membership within the 10-day trial period, you will be billed $12.95 for each month that you continue your membership. You may cancel your trial membership anytime within the trial period without charge.

Pain in the rear, right? Well, not really. Two things make this a 5-minute operation:

  1. If you do not want the monitoring that ScoreWatch provides, then you can cancel immediately after you get your free credit score. Don’t wait a day. Don’t even wait an hour. This way you won’t give yourself a chance to forget.
  2. You can cancel with just a few clicks. 100% online, no phone calls, with no hassle. You don’t have be subject to a hard sell or argue with anyone.

Here’s how I did last week. First, when you go through the process to buy your free score with trial, you will have to provide your credit card information but nothing should be charged.

After that, you should receive your credit score and the related Equifax credit report. Print it out. You’re going to cancel right afterward so you won’t have access to the information anymore. Print – or at least print/save to PDF – anything you want to keep. This was the first time I’ve ever seen a score above 800!

Now, don’t go anywhere. To cancel, click on Support on the top right of the page, then Contact Us by email. Choose “I would like to cancel my product subscription” and for the product mark “Score Watch® – Free Trial”. Here is a screenshot of what it should look like. Finally, type in your personal information and submit. There is a blank for the order number, but it is not required. I didn’t bother to fill in anything optional, and my cancellation still worked fine.

myFICO should e-mail you back in about 24 hours. It took 25 hours for me. Here is the response you should get. The title of the e-mail was “Score Watch(R) Cancellation”:

Your order for Score Watch® (monthly payment option) has been cancelled. You will not be charged in the future for this product.

If you have any questions, please call myFICO Customer Support at 1-800-319-4433, Monday – Friday 6:00 AM – 6:00PM (Pacific Time) or Saturday 7:00AM – 4:00PM (Pacific Time).

Thank you,

myFICO Customer Support

That’s it, a free credit report and score with minimal hassle direct from MyFICO.com. Remember, when you request your own report, it doesn’t affect your credit score at all.

Cheap Cell Phone Plan With Unlimited Data: Virgin Mobile $35 w/ Android Phone

Update: As of 7/20, the plan is now $35 per month.

If you’re looking to trim your cell phone bill, but still love the idea of smartphone antics with unlimited data, this post is for you. While best known for their prepaid phones, Virgin Mobile also has a set of monthly recurring plans called Beyond Talk that starts at just $35 for 300 minutes and includes unlimited data.

Here are some more details of the plans:

  • No contract, no credit check, no activation fees.
  • Price includes all taxes and fees.
  • Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint, and uses Sprint’s 3G network.
  • Unlimited text messaging and data (email, web browsing)
  • Additional minutes are 10¢ each. Sales tax and fees may apply.

Now, other brands like StraightTalk offer unlimited data with a very limited set of phones. But with Virgin Mobile, you can get Android OS phones like the LG Optimus V for $150 or the fancier Motorola Triumph for $300.

Price Comparison

Local taxes and fees add up to about $5 per line in my area, which makes the $35 basic plan comparable to a $30 plan from a conventional contract carrier. As long as you don’t need that many talk minutes, I would say this is a very flexible and affordable plan.

If you include the cost of the smartphone ($150) and 300 minutes service for a year, that comes up to 150 + 25×24 = $750 over two years. Extra minutes cost 10¢ each.

You can buy the LS Optimus S (for Sprint) from Sprint for only $20, but the cheapest plan with 500 minutes + unlimited data is at least $60 a month (not including taxes). That’s a total cost of 20 + 60×24 = $1,460 over two years + taxes. That a difference of over $700, or $350 a year, although you do get more minutes this way. Extra minutes cost 45¢ each. (*Excludes any employee or student discounts.)

Hat tip to Lazy Man for bringing it to my consciousness. For way too much information about Virgin Mobile plans and the Intercept in general, visit Howard Forums.

Free 60-Day Trial Membership to BJ’s Wholesale Club

Here is a coupon for a free 60-day trial membership to BJ’s Wholesale Club (similar to Costco and Sam’s Club). I’ve never been to one before, but here is a store locator. Expires 12/31/10.

Citibank American Airlines Card: 75,000 Bonus Miles

Citi and American Airlines is offering 75,000 AAdvantage miles if you apply for a new Visa or American Express card (and have never had any Citi/AA co-branded card before) and make $4,000 in purchases within 6 months of becoming a cardmember. The annual fee for the consumer cards is $85 but is waived for the first year. Offer expires 2/28/2011. A nice deal if you like to travel and are serviced by American.

This Citi® / AAdvantage® card offer is valid only for first-time Citi® / AAdvantage® cardmembers who apply pursuant to this offer for an account by February 28, 2011. The American Airlines AAdvantage® miles will appear as a bonus in your AAdvantage® account 8-10 weeks after you have met the purchase requirements.