Google Chrome is sponsoring free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every domestic flight from the following airlines:
from November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011. So don’t forget to bring your laptop or other mobile device along. Unfortunately, they aren’t covering free WiFi inside the airport like last year.
Chase Bank has a promotion that can get you up to 25,000 Continental Airlines miles for the following actions:
Unfortunately, this is only for new Chase checking account holders, so I am not eligible. You must print out the coupon and bring it into a Chase branch to redeem. Continental is merging with United, but that probably won’t be completed until later next year. Offer ends December 31st, 2010.
If you are a new customer, live near a Chase branch, and fly on Continental or United, this is a relatively cheap way to earn a some frequent flier miles. Finally, I note on this other Chase page that you can also get 2,500 bonus miles for getting an additional debit card for a joint account holder (up to 3).
Selected fine print:
[Read more…]
Today 11/2 only: Groupon is offering 6 movie tickets on Fandango.com for $30. Valid for any movie up to $10, including first-run movies but not IMAX. Must redeem Groupon at WeeklyCinema.com by 12/18/10. Tickets must be redeemed via Fandango within 90 days of Groupon redemption.
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. 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.
The offer is by WeeklyCinema, which usually offers 6 tickets for $29.99 but requires signing up for a subscription. This Groupon does not require a subscription. The six tickets can be split up for different movies or used all at once. The deal is for Seattle, but anyone can buy it and you redeem online. I already purchased mine from a previous Groupon, it should last us for the holiday movie season.
Discover is running a 2010 holiday promotion where you can get double CashBack on online purchases from November 15th to December 31st. Applies to up to $1,000 in purchases on the Discover More, Open Road, and Motiva cards. You must sign-up online.
Discover cashback rebates are usually tiered, but from the fine print it looks like a straight-up 2% cashback or 2 miles per dollars spent, depending on your card. The purchases earning 2% back don’t even count towards your tier level.
* Sign up to earn 2% Cashback Bonus on Internet purchases from 11/15/10 (or the date on which you sign up, whichever is later) through 12/31/10, subject to a cap of $1,000 in purchases. These purchases must post to your account by 12/31/10. If a purchase is not classified as an Internet purchase, it will not qualify. Purchases earning 2% Cashback Bonus will not count toward your total annual purchases to determine your tier level. Allow up to 5 weeks for this reward to be added to your Cashback Bonus account. Only Discover More, Open Road and Motiva Cardmembers are eligible to participate in this program. See Cashback Bonus Program Terms and Conditions for further details.
The Discover® More® Card also has their quarterly promotion of 5% cash back from now until March 31st on:
* Gas
* Entertainment
With their new commision-free ETF list, there might be a renewed interest for a TD Ameritrade account (though not from me). Here are the current promotions available. They have different opening balance requirements, different expiration dates, and some are valid for IRAs and some are not, so I’ll leave it to you to see which one fits best.
Trade Free for 60 Days + Up to $500 Cash Bonus
Open a new account with at least $2,000. Only the free trades are valid for IRAs. Technically you can get up to 500 free trades for the first 60 days after account funding. The cash bonus depends on your funding amount, from $100 to $500. Selected fine print:
Offer valid for one new Individual or Joint TD Ameritrade account opened by 12/31/11 and funded within 30 days of account opening with $2,000 or more. Funding with minimum of $25,000 – $99,999 receives $100 cash, funding with minimum of $100,000 – $249,999 receives $250 cash, funding with minimum of $250,000 or more receives $500 cash. IRAs and other tax-exempt accounts are not eligible to receive the cash bonus. Offer is not transferable and not valid with internal transfers, accounts using the Amerivest service, TD Ameritrade Institutional accounts, current TD Ameritrade accounts or with other offers. Commission-free trades will be limited to a maximum of 500 Internet equity, ETF or options trades. Qualified orders must execute within 60 days of account funding. Contract, exercise, and assignment fees still apply. Limit one offer per client. Account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 9 months, or TD Ameritrade may charge the account for the cost of the cash awarded to the account. TD Ameritrade reserves the right to restrict or revoke this offer at any time. This is not an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where we are not authorized to do business. (Offer Code: 201)
$5 trades for 12 months
New accounts opened with at least $2,000 can get $5 market/limit trades for 12 months. Valid for IRAs. Selected fine print:
Offer valid for new TD Ameritrade IRAs, Individual and Joint accounts that are opened by 11/30/10 and funded within 30 days of account opening with a minimum deposit of $2,000 or more. Internet equity or option trades are $5 for market or limit orders during the 12-month introductory period. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) trades will be $5 for market or limit orders. Broker-assisted trades will be $24.99 for a market order or $29.99 for a limit order during this period. Contract, exercise, and assignment fees still apply. Commission rates are valid 12 months from qualifying deposit of $2,000 or more. At the conclusion of the 12-month introductory period, Internet equity or option trades will be $9.99 for market or limit orders, IVR trades will be $34.99 for market or limit orders, and broker-assisted trades will be $44.99 for market or limit orders. Your new account must remain open and funded with the minimum required funding for 12 months or the account will be reverted back to the standard commission schedule.
Up to 25,000 Delta Skymiles
Open with $2,500 and get 5,000 Delta miles, $10,000 for 10,000 miles, and $50,000 for 25,000 miles. Selected fine print:
Offer valid for one new Individual or Joint TD Ameritrade account opened and funded by U.S. residents with $2,500 or more by 12/31/2010. Not transferable and not valid for IRA or other tax-exempt accounts, internal transfers, current TD Ameritrade clients or with other offers. Limit one offer per client. […] Account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 9 months, or TD Ameritrade may charge the account for the cost of the SkyMiles. Allow 6-8 weeks from account funding for the first half of the miles to appear in your SkyMiles account. To qualify for the second half, TD Ameritrade account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 6 months from the first mileage posting date.
Up to 25,000 United Mileage Plus miles
Same idea as with Delta above, except for United miles. Selected fine print:
Offer valid for new Individual or Joint accounts opened and funded by U.S. residents with $2,500 or more by 12/31/2010. Not transferable and not valid for IRA or other tax-exempt accounts, internal transfers, current TD Ameritrade clients, or with other offers. Limit one offer per client. […] Account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 9 months, or TD Ameritrade may charge the account for the cost of the miles. Allow 6 weeks from account funding for the first half of miles to appear in the Mileage Plus account. To qualify for the second half, TD Ameritrade account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 6 months from the first posting date.
30 days free trades + $100, $250, or $500 Cash
If you fund with $25,000 minimum, you can get $100 cash. 100,000 minimum gets you $250 cash. Whopping $250k minimum gets you $500 cash. You also get 30 days of commission-free trades. Here’s basically the same offer valid for 401k rollovers. Selected fine print:
Offer valid for one new Individual or Joint TD Ameritrade account opened by 06/30/2011 and funded within 30 days of account opening with $2,000 or more. Funding with minimum of $25,000 – $99,999 receives $100 cash, funding with minimum of $100,000 – $249,999 receives $250 cash, funding with minimum of $250,000 or more receives $500 cash. IRA and other tax-exempt accounts are not eligible to receive the $100 cash bonus. […] Qualified commission-free Internet equity, ETF or options orders must execute within 30 days of account funding. Contract, exercise, and assignment fees still apply. Limit one offer per client. Account must remain open with minimum funding required for participating in the offer for 9 months, or TD Ameritrade may charge the account for the cost of the cash awarded to the account.
When you charge something on your credit card, the merchant usually pays about 2-3% in transaction fees for the convenience and benefit of accepting these cards. To get your business, issuers often rebate part of these fees in the form of % cashback rewards or frequent flier miles. Since credit cards offer handy conveniences like easily tracking spending, fraud charge back protection, and extended warranties, I figure you might as well earn some of this back as well. I previously wrote about the new trend of rotating rewards categories as a carrot. (Stop reading now if you carry a balance and are paying double-digit interest every month.)
Here’s an update for the offers during Q1 2012. It seems like they are getting ready for holiday shopping. Too bad my goal is to not set foot in a department store this year!
Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back
Reward categories change quarterly. From January 1 to March 31, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:
You must enroll at ChaseBonus.com. All other purchases do earn a standard 1%, with no tiers or expiration of rewards. Currently, the Chase Freedom Visa card has a promotion offering a $100 check if you sign up and make $500 in purchases in your first three months.
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From October 1st to December 31st, you can earn 5% cash back from Citi on:
After you get your card, you must enroll by logging into your account or calling 1-800-231-0891. There is no cap on the 5% back, except for the $300 overall cap on all dividend rewards annually. All other purchases do earn a standard 1% with no tiers, and rewards do not expire as long as you have activity once every 12 months. Also, 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months with 3% fee and on purchases for 12 months.
Discover More Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From October 1 to December 31, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $300 spent in the following categories:
You must enroll online to activate the rewards each quarter. Discover card has a tiered cashback rate (1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3000; purchases that are part of your first $3000 earn .25%.).
PenFed Platinum Cashback Rewards Card
Bonus categories appear and change regularly for this card, but not on a set schedule. Currently through December 31st, cardholders can earn 3% cashback in the following categories:
You can view all the eligible merchants here. You don’t need to enroll. This is in addition to the year-round rewards structure of 5% cash back on gas purchases (must pay at pump), 2% cash back on supermarket purchases, and 1% cash back on everything else. Rewards are credited monthly on your next statement.
Note: To get this card, you must also have membership to the Pentagon Federal Credit Union (you can apply for both at the same time). In general, membership is open to the military, US government employees, or the family or household of existing members. However, anyone can become eligible by joining the National Military Family Association (NMFA) for a $20 one-time fee. PenFed also offers other competitive financial products, including low-rate mortgages and long-term CD rates.
Here’s a quick update for the readers out there who joined the super-cheap Sprint SERO plan with me back in 2007. We got 500 minutes, 7pm nights, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $30 a month. But then Sprint started restricting the types of smartphones we could upgrade to.
As of October 1st, Sprint officially released the details of their SERO Premium plan for existing SERO customers only.
What are the plan details of the new SERO Premium rate plans?
As of 10/1/10, there will be two SERO Premium plans available, SERO Premium 500 at $40/month and SERO Premium 1250 at $59.99/month. SERO Premium plans will match current SERO rate plans with two added features, Any Mobile Anytime and Unlimited GPS Navigation. SERO Premium rate plans will be compatible with all devices offered by Sprint. Only customers on a current SERO rate plan as of 10/1/10 will be able to swap to a SERO Premium rate plan. SERO Premium rate plans will not be discountable – customers on current SERO plans receiving discounts above and beyond the already discounted SERO rate will lose those discounts when moving to a SERO premium plan. 4G handsets such as HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Epic 4G will also require the $10 Premium Data add-on.
So for $10 a month more, you can choose any non-4G phone including Android and WebOS phones, plus you get GPS and free minutes to any mobile phone (not just Sprint customers). 4G phones cost an additional $10/month. However, you’ll probably lose any additional corporate/special member discounts.
Everyone can still get in on the newer Sprint Everything Plus Referral Program. Designed for friends of employees, you can use the following information to gain access:
Sprint employee e-mail address: Russ.S.McGuire@Sprint.com
Last 3 digits of employee ID (CID): 383
Monthly plans start at $59.99 for 500 minutes with unlimited text and data, which is $10 cheaper than their regular plans. In addition, check if you are eligible for a student or employee discount, or 10-15% savings for being a credit union member.
I’m personally not planning on switching. If I was going to change plans, I would use my available corporate discounts to get an iPhone from AT&T with enough data/text for my needs and tethering at $45 a month.
Restaurant.com is a website that offers promotional gift certificates to participating restaurants. The regular price is $10 for at $25 certificate, with certain restrictions. However, there are very often coupon codes that allow you to save even more. Currently, you can get 80% off (final price: $2) with coupon code TOUCHDOWN. Offer valid through 10/16 at 11:59PM PST.
Despite my initial skepticism about these things, many readers responded that they indeed found these certificates very useful for saving money. See comments below. Always note the restrictions (dine-in only, not valid Friday night, etc.) which can vary for each place.
Here’s an example of how the savings math might work out. You find a restaurant on the list that you like that usually runs around $20 + tip per person (~$48 for a couple). You buy a $25 certificate for $2, which usually comes with a $35 minimum purchase + 18% required gratuity on full price.
These days, that’s pretty good if you can find a worthy restaurant. Any stigma attached to using coupons is probably a lot less as well. Share your favorite restaurants if you got ’em. Mine is the Austin Steakhouse in Las Vegas. If you haven’t searched in a while, they’ve been adding more restaurants to the list. I’ll update this post with the current codes as they come out.
Update: You can save even more with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs. Currently, Mr. Rebates is the highest, offering 30% cashback.
(Alive again for 10/5)
Today 9/30 only: Groupon is offering 4 movie tickets on Fandango.com or MovieTickets.com for $20. Valid for any movie up to $14, including iMax movies! Must redeem by 12/31/10. If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link. It’s free for you, and I’ll get some Groupon credit. Then visit the deal link.
The offer is by WeeklyCinema, which usually offers 4 tickets for $19.99 but requires signing up for a subscription. This Groupon does not require a subscription. No strings attached. The four tickets can be split up for different movies or used all at once. The deal is for Pittsburgh, but anyone can buy it and you redeem online. I already purchased mine. Deal ends today (6 hours left as of this writing.)
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.
Update: The same deal is available at similar site BuyWithMe.com under Boston, plus use coupon code SEPT10 for 10% off! Thanks to reader Cindy!
American Express has temporarily brought back their 25,000 Membership Rewards point offer for their Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express®, which is one of their upscale-oriented charge cards where you must pay off the balance each month. Offer expires October 12th.
For those that charge a lot, especially with reimbursed airfare, that’s enough for 70,000 frequent flier miles (possibly two flights to Hawaii) or $700 in gift cards. If you don’t, there’s still that $250 upfront bonus with only $1,000 minimum spending. Terms and Restrictions Apply.
Online broker ChoiceTrade recently announced that they are now offering equity and ETF options trades for zero commission during options expiration week. Expiration week is the week ending with expiration Friday — the week before the third Saturday of each month. Summary of details:
* Zero-commission option trading, once a month, for one week during options expiration week
* A maximum of 500 option contracts can be traded, per household, at the zero-commission rate each month.
* Program includes single-leg and multi-leg trades (spreads).
* Only equity and ETF options qualify.
* Index option trades do not qualify for zero commission option trades. Index option trades will be charged at the normal options commission of $5 per trade, plus $0.55 per contract.
* An account is eligible if the account holder has been qualified to trade options.
I’m not an expert on options trading, but I do know that some folks try to avoid trading as the expiration time nears. Here’s a post from TraderMike about why he doesn’t trade the last two days before expiration (Jim Cramer avoids Fridays). That still leaves Monday through Wednesday, though.
Regular price for options trades is $5 per trade, plus $0.55 per contract. ChoiceTrade recently revamped their website in August with a better web-based trading system, in addition to a platform-based system as well. Rated 4-stars by Barron’s. I’ve mentioned them before as they offer competitive $5 stock/ETF trades including unlimited shares and penny stocks (many brokers don’t).
Chase Bank has some potentially helpful offers for users of public transportation and taxi cabs in New York City and the California San Francisco Bay Area – a potential savings of 7-10% cash back, up to $50 total. You must enroll your Chase debit or credit card beforehand, and only signed “credit” transactions apply. See the applicable link and details below:
Chase Commuter Cash – New York City Metro Area
Qualifying purchases made with your enrolled Chase debit or credit card (personal or business) include transactions made without using your PIN from 9/1 – 10/31/10 at MetroCard® Vending Machines, for EasyPayXpress™ MetroCard refills, LIRR, Metro-North, PATH and NJ TRANSIT fare purchases, and payments made at New York City yellow cabs. You must enroll your Chase card between 9/1/10 and 10/31/10 in this promotion. Chase reserves the sole right to make determinations of qualifying purchases for the fulfillment of the cash award for this promotion.
Chase Commuter Cash – California San Francisco Bay Area
Qualifying purchases made with your enrolled Chase Debit or Credit Card (personal or business) include transactions made without using your PIN from 9/13 – 11/30/10 through transit agency ticket vending machines, transit agency ticket offices, Clipper Add Value Machines, and the Clipper Customer Service Center for passes, fares and value used on Muni, BART, AC Transit, Caltrain, and Golden Gate Transit and Ferry. Also includes payments made at San Francisco Bay Area taxi cabs. Chase reserves the sole right to make determinations of qualifying purchases for the fulfillment of the cash award for this promotion.
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