WT Direct Savings: $75 Bonus For Direct Deposit

WT Direct is running a new “Stay Financially Fit!” promotion for their savings account. Ostensibly it’s to help you build your emergency fund with regular savings deposits, but of course you have to do it with WT Direct. 😉 To participate, you must open a new account first or log into your existing account and look for this banner on the Account Summary page.

Now WTDirect can help you stick to your savings plan and bulk up your savings account. Simply take a few minutes to set up Direct Deposit from your earnings to your WTDirect account.

Act now and receive a $75 BONUS*. All you have to do is maintain a balance of at least $10,000 on July 31 and make direct deposits of at least $300 each month between 7/1/09 – 9/30/09.

Equivalent APY?
Finding out exactly how good this promotion is tricky, but I’ll make some simple assumptions. Let’s say you put $10,000 in on 7/31, the interest rate stays at the current 1.76% APY, and take everything out on 10/15. Then you take out everything including the three $300 direct deposits. This roughly equates to 4% APY during that 3.5 month period. Not bad if you can change or split your direct deposits. It seems questionable if other electronic transfers will count as direct deposit:

Bonus will be credited to your account on or about October 15, 2009. A direct deposit is defined as a recurring and automatic electronic deposit transaction of at least $300 per month initiated by a third party source of income, such as employment, pension or social security income. Direct deposit must be from a source not already being direct deposited into any existing account with Wilmington Trust or its affiliates.

Free Krispy Kreme Doughnut on June 5th

Get a free yeasty donut from Krispy Kreme on Friday, June 5th. Apparently it’s National Doughnut Day… who knew? I love how my friends always know where the nearest KK is, even if its an hour or more away.

No purchase is necessary to receive a free doughnut on National Doughnut Day, June 5. The offer is good for one doughnut per customer.

Here is the official press release and a store locator.

Update: Dunkin’ Donuts will also give every customer a free donut of their choice on June 5th, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer. Confirmed on their website, thanks to reader RK.

Ally Bank Review: Online Savings, 9-month, and 12-month CDs

You may have been seeing a bunch of purple ads for something called Ally Bank recently. Actually, this “new” bank used to be GMAC Bank. But besides a cosmetic name change, they have revamped the website and tweaked their product offerings. Their pitch: “No minimum deposits. No monthly fees. No minimum balance. No sneaky disclaimers.”

Here are the products that are most compelling, with interest rates:

12-month CDAn Ally Bank 12-month CD has a top rate available for a 12-month CD with no minimum deposit restrictions. Interest is compounded daily.

No-Penalty 11-month CD – No early withdrawal penalty, daily compounded interest. With an uncertain future rate outlook, this seems like a good compromise between a savings account and a CD. If rates stay low (or get lower?!) you can stay in the CD and get a great return. If rates start rising, you can keep earning the higher rate up until you withdraw without penalty.

APY Online Savings Account – A competitive rate for an online savings account, a la Capital One 360 and such. No minimum balance, no fees, as you’d expect. Daily compounded interest. A differentiating factor to this account is their fast and easy transfers between Ally and your other banks.

FDIC Coverage & More
I noticed that they now also offer 24/7 telephone customer service and even share the current wait time online. Neat idea, I wish more sites did this:

Ally Bank is FDIC-insured, which means accounts are insured at least to $250,000. The new $250,000 limit was recently extended to at least the end of 2013, after which it is still $100,000.

CollegeAdvantage Refer a Friend Program Expires Soon

A quick reminder that the deadline for getting $25 for each of your kids from the Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 program is May 31st, 2009. I contacted them about the referral program, and they said that just the application must be submitted by Sunday, May 31st. The opening deposits don’t have to post by then, but they will have to post eventually in order to get the bonus. This agrees with the fine print below. When you fill out your application, you immediately get an account number.

A new account with a valid referral code provided in the application must be established by May 31, 2009 in order for both the referring Account Owner and new Account Owner to be eligible for the $25 bonus.

Transfer Between Delta and Northwest Frequent Flier Miles

Delta and Northwest Airlines are merging, and right now you can go ahead and transfer frequent flier miles between the Northwest WorldPerks and Delta SkyMiles programs with no fees. You can even move them back and forth as you like. This is nice if you don’t have enough of either individually to get an award, but after combining you do. Also, if you link your Northwest and Delta accounts by May 31st, you’ll get 500 bonus miles.

According to this timeline, they will eventually all be merged into SkyMiles anyway in December 2009.

5/25 Only: Old Navy Flag T-Shirts 2 for $5

As you celebrate and observe this Memorial Day, here is a quick deal. Old Navy’s popular Flag t-shirts are Buy 1 Get 1 Free today, May 25th, making then 2 for $5. Only in stores. All colors, all sizes. Outfit the family for cheap? More Old Navy coupons here.

Chase Checking Account $100 Bonus Coupon Code

Chase Bank is offering a $100 bonus if you open a new Chase Checking(sm) account with $100 and either set up direct deposit or make five debit card purchases. Through the link, they will e-mail you a coupon with a unique code that you must print out and physically bring into a local Chase branch. Selected fine print:

Bonus/Account Information — To qualify for the cash bonus you must open a new Chase CheckingSM account with a $100 minimum opening deposit of new money (money not currently held by Chase or its affiliates). Also, within 60 calendar days of account opening, you must initiate a monthly direct deposit such as payroll, pension or Social Security, or have at least five debit card purchases using your PIN or signature posted to your account. The cash bonus will be deposited into your new account within 10 business days after the initial direct deposit or the five debit card purchases have posted to your account. Limit one personal checking account-related cash bonus/premium per customer, per calendar year.

Offer available only at Chase branded branches, excluding branches in California. Expires 6/23/09. One thing I noticed is that the “Chase Checking” account requires either direct deposit or 5+ debit card purchases each month to waive the monthly fee, something not required by the similar WaMu Free Checking bonus.

WaMu (not Chase yet) Free Checking $100 Bonus

WaMu is offering a $100 bonus (Update 2: Found new link, thanks to reader Matt) if you open a WaMu Free Checking account and set up direct deposit or make five debit card purchases. Selected fine print:

Bonus/Account Information — To qualify for the reward, you must open a new checking account with a $100 minimum opening deposit of new money (money not currently held by this bank). Also, within 60 calendar days of account opening, you must initiate a monthly direct deposit such as payroll, pension or Social Security, or have at least five debit card purchases (using your PIN or signature) posted to your account. The reward will be deposited into your new account within 2 weeks after the initial direct deposit or the five debit card purchases have posted to your account. Limit one personal checking account-related reward/premium per customer, per calendar year.

Based on this text, it would appear that this promotion would be available to existing customers opening an additional new checking account, as long as you haven’t had a bonus within this calendar year. Offer expires 6/16/09.

Although WaMu is to become Chase, these “WaMu branded products are only available at WaMu branded branches. In CA only, WaMu branded products available at Chase branded branches.” Sooner or later, your account will be converted to the Chase Free Extra Checking account.

Costco Membership Certificates – Free Chicken, Coffee, Photo Prints, & More

Update: Costco is no longer allowing me to sell these certificates. Sorry!

See Is Costco Executive Membership worth it?

Free Chocolate Bar Fridays From Mars

Every Friday until 9/25/09 starting at 9am ET, Mars is giving out 250,000 coupons for a free candy bar at RealChocolate.com. Also, an additional 250,000 coupons will be made available tomorrow, May 15th. Includes M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Dove Bar, 3 Musketeers, and Milky Way. Limit one (1) Coupon per email address per Friday and four (4) Coupons per household during the Offer Period.

Unlike the KFC fiasco, there are no printer coupons which can be replicated. However, you’ll have to wait about six weeks for your snail mail coupon. I’m getting kind of bored of these promotions… but at least this one seems reasonable simple.

FedEx Shipping Discount Code: Up to 30% Off Overnight + Permanent Discount

I received a snail-mail postcard that advertised up to 30% off certain FedEx Express shipping services, and 10% off FedEx Ground until May 31st, 2009. After that, you’ll still get either 16% or 8% off eligible services. Seems like a potentially useful offer for those with eBay businesses, online shops, or other shipping needs.

The card actually directs me to chinese.fedex.com, but the English enrollment link ends up here with code cs10578709. Available to both existing and new FedEx account holders. The fine print:

Apply now to enjoy up to a 30% discount on select FedEx Express services and a 10% discount on select FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery services, when you ship with FedEx now through May 31, 2009.

After May 31, 2009, your account’s previous discount structure, if any, in place immediately prior to joining the Choose FedEx program, will be reinstated, subject to the terms and conditions of such discount structure; if no previous discount structure existed on your account prior to enrollment in this promotion, discounts of up to 16% on eligible FedEx Express services and up to 8% on eligible FedEx Ground and eligible FedEx Home Delivery services will go into effect, subject to applicable terms and conditions.

Eligible FedEx Express services for the 30% discount: FedEx Priority Overnight®, FedEx Standard Overnight®, FedEx 2Day®, FedEx Express Saver®, FedEx International Priority®, FedEx International Economy®, FedEx 1Day® Freight, FedEx 2Day® Freight, FedEx 3Day® Freight, FedEx International Priority® Freight, FedEx International Economy®Freight

Eligible FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery services for the 10% discount: All FedEx Ground, and FedEx Home Delivery, single piece shipments.

How To Redeem ThankYou Points For Student Loan Checks, Mortgage Payments, or Expedia Travel Credit

Thank You Image

Since I can now get 5x ThankYou points on restaurants and Amazon.com purchases from my Citi Forward® Card, I have been looking into the best way to maximize my redemption value.

The goal is to get as close to making the 5x points equate to 5% cash back by making 100 points = $1. My standard option is to redeem 10,000 points for $100 gift cards to Target and Home Depot, but since the retailer list is getting a bit thinner here are some good alternatives.

Student Loan Rebate Check
Here we can achieve 100 points = $1, but in the form of a check written towards a student loan. From their website:

With the student loan program redemption, Customers can apply their points towards any student loan program -financial institution. Please call 1-800-THANKYOU for details.

You can redeem in increments as small as 2,500 points for a $25 check. You have to call them up, no online redemption. The CSR will ask you for your lender’s name, and they’ll mail you a check written out to your lender (i.e. Citi Student Loans). You are then supposed to add in your account number or whatever else is necessary, and then send it on to your lender. Reader Chris shared that he has a workaround if you lender doesn’t take third-party checks:

I just have the check written out to my bank, Chase, and then write my checking account number in the memo space. I drop it in an ATM and they have always deposited it into my checking account just fine. I’ve been doing this for years with no problem. I would just apply the money myself to my auto-payments and keep my 0.25% rate reduction.

Mortgage Payments
Here we can get up to about 100 points = $0.80. (5x = 4% cash back.) The increments are as low as $25 for 3,300 points, and the ratio gets slightly better with larger check amounts. From the website:

ThankYou Members who redeem will receive a letter with a check issued on behalf of ThankYou Network made out to the financial lending institution to be used towards their monthly mortgage payment. To redeem, members must contact our ThankYou Service Center (1-800-THANKYOU) and must provide the Agent with the name and correct spelling of your mortgage financial lending institution.

Again, you must confirm with your mortgage servicer that they will accept checks from a third-party. I would still prefer to just cash the check and apply it to the mortgage myself.

Expedia Travel Credit
This is another method that we can achieve 100 points = $1 by booking travel directly through the ThankYou/Expedia website. It’s basically Expedia.com, except that the flight costs are shown in ThankYou points. So instead of a $200 flight, it will ask for 20,000 points*.

Expedia Travel Points Screenshot

One benefit of this system is that there are no blackout dates or seat availability issues. If you can find the flight on Expedia.com, you can book it with points. Also, all taxes, fees, and surcharges are included in the point total. In this way, the variable redemption is actually better than the old fixed point option, where the points only covered the base cost of the tickets and you had to pay the taxes and fees separately.

* I just checked this by testing out a SFO-LAS flight on both sites. It was either 12,700 points or $119, which is a little bit off. However, this is because Expedia.com is currently running a promotion until 5/31/09 which waives their booking fees. Otherwise, it should match up almost exactly.