PayPal Promotion: $15 Off Any $30 Purchase

PayPal is offering a $15 rebate on any single purchase of $30 or more between February 8 and March 31. Valid anywhere PayPal is accepted in the U.S. and Canada, including eBay. You must register your primary e-mail here first.

I always buy my dog’s flea medication from eBay anyways (cheapest price I could find), so it works out great for me. Thanks Tom for the tip.

Added: The page has changed since I first posted this. It appears now to be only open for certain people. For a while, it was available to everyone and even on the front page of PayPal. Bummer.

Free 24 Minutes of Skype for Chinese New Year

Right now Skype is giving out 24 free minutes of calling in celebration of Chinese New Year. Yes, it’s only worth 50 cents. But I’d pick up two quarters off the street any day. Kung Hei Fat Choi!

4 More Ways To Get A Free Credit Report

Logos for 3 Major Credit Bureaus

I think the media in general has been pretty successful about promoting AnnualCreditReport.com, the official government-mandated source of free credit reports. I checked all mine last March. But what happens when it hasn’t been 12 months yet but you need to check again? Do you try one of those free trial gimmicks and remember to cancel in time?

Not so fast! There are several more ways to get a free credit report without having to use up all your freebies:

  1. You were denied credit, insurance, or a job due to information on your credit report. A notice stating which credit bureau supplied the report should be included in your letter of denial. You then have 60 days to request a free copy of your report from them.
  2. You are unemployed. You’re also entitled to one free report a year if you?re unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days.
  3. You are on welfare.
  4. Your believe yourself to be a victim of identity theft. Perhaps you recently found a suspicious transaction, or lost your wallet. Have you shopped at TJ Maxx or Marshall’s since 2003? Place a fraud alert on your file, and then ask for a free copy of your credit report.

Here are the numbers you’ll need:

* Equifax: 800-685-1111; Fraud Dept. 800-525-6285
* Experian: 888-397-3742 (same for Fraud Dept.)
* Trans Union: 800-916-8800; Fraud Dept. 800-680-7289

This is all taken from the Federal Trade Commission, so you can reference that if they try to argue with you.

Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Update – December Payouts

Bonuses for my Emigrant Direct Signup Promotion went out today for those that sent me their final form in December. Emigrant Direct offers a savings account paying 5.05% APY with no minimum balance. If you’re interested, be sure to get another $10-$20 out of it.

Wachovia Bank $50 Bonus For Free Checking Account

Wachovia Bank is offering a $50 sign-up bonus for opening one of their Free Checking accounts. The account looks pretty good, with no monthly service fee, no minimum balance, and no direct deposit requirement. However you will get a hard credit pull and you need to open with at least $100. You also have to be a little patient:

Account must be opened in good faith and remain in good standing through 04/30/2007 in order to be eligible for the offer. Account must be funded with a minimum opening deposit of $100. Offer expires on 04/01/2007. […] The $50 bonus will appear in the form of a credit to the account within 60 days of the offer expiration date.

Overall, it looks good if you have a lot of Wachovia’s around and need a low-maintenance local bank account. The interest rates on their savings accounts are awful, so link it up to an online savings account paying 5% APY. Thanks to JP for the tip.

Free iPod Shuffle From Hedgestreet Arrived

For everyone that joined me in the Hedgestreet iPod promotion, your patience should be rewarded shortly. In fact, I’d check your inbox for an e-mail titled “HedgeStreet iPod Shuffle Promotion” if you haven’t gotten it already.

I think I should be getting two more of these puppies later for the referrals I gave out (thanks!), as I got multiple iPod e-mails. I decided that one of these will be given away as a prize for my Make A Goal Experiment. The other one, we’ll have to see…

If you did it right, the $79 Shuffle should have cost under $3 – or maybe you even made money! This is another one of my little activities that nets me an extra few thousand dollars a year. Here’s to free stuff!

Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Update – November Payouts

Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in November for my Emigrant Direct Signup Bonus Promotion was paid this week. If you’re interested in opening an account with Emigrant Direct’s 5.05% APY with no minimums, why not get yourself an extra $20 out of it?

Free 8-Week Membership At Bally’s Gym

As I sign of my psychic genius, I will predict your New Year’s Resolutions. They are:

1. I will save or earn more money.
2. I will become more healthy.
3. I will be less cluttered and more organized.

Hopefully I can help with the first one (subscribe to updates!). And here’s something for the second – Discovery Health is offering a free 8-week membership at Bally’s for registering for their Body Challenge:

All registered National Body Challenge participants will receive FREE access to our online customized meal plan, a personalized weight tracker, extensive information from doctors and health & fitness experts, a free 8-week membership to Bally Total Fitness?, online recipes, special savings from Discovery Channel Stores and more. The 8-week Bally Total Fitness? pass is only available until January 16, 2007 at 11:59 PM (ET) and is effective from January 13, 2007 through March 10, 2007.

You must register, print out the pass, and bring it to Bally’s starting on the the 13th. I just read somewhere that out of the huge amount of gym sign-ups in January, the majority are canceled by April. This is a great way to try using a gym (if you have a Bally’s nearby) without any commitment.

Oh, you’re on your own for the third one. Getting organizational advice from me is like asking Britney Spears how to be a good mom.

Update: I still think this is potentially a great deal, although you may need to endure a sales pitch. Some Bally’s may use lame sales tactics, but all gyms in a nationwide chain are not created equal. They should give you the passes without requiring your credit card information. If not, fight back!

Free 1 Year Membership to Entertainment Book Online

SBC is currently offering free access to the Entertainment Book online. If you don’t know, this is basically a big coupon book that people usually buy for $20-$40. I’m not a big Entertainment Book fan, as I rarely frequent the restaurants on their list. I also dislike how they advertise “Save 50% at Chili’s! and 2-for-1 at Baja Fresh!”, but it turns out to be good only at one specific location 20 miles away.

But hey, if it’s free why not take a look. I didn’t find anything special for my area, except maybe some slightly discounted movie tickets. Link via KR via SlickDeals.

$250 Bonus for American Express Business Card

The American Express Platinum Business Premium Cash Rebate Card is again offering a $250 statement credit (update: removed) after your first purchase, with no annual fee. If you got in on this last time like I did, you may not be able to get it again unless you have a 2nd business – “You may be permitted to have more than one American Express? Business Card account; however, you are eligible to receive only one promotional $250 statement credit per unique business.”

See other similar $100+ bonuses here.

Added: I just saw this if you click on “Special Offer” in the upper-left – “Note: Only business owners who received this offer via Inc. Magazine qualify to apply for a Card through this website.” I don’t remember seeing that last time, so watch out.

Free iPod Shuffle For Trading At HedgeStreet.com

(This offer expired at the end of 2006.)

Hedgestreet Logoaltext

Is it just me or are iPods quickly taking over the world? A new trading site, Hedgestreet.com, is offering a free 1 GB iPod Shuffle for opening an account, funding with at least $100, and making one trade. No trading fees for the first 30 days. You can start trading immediately when you open the account. However, this is because you cannot take out your money for 30 days after deposit.
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Get Your Free Credit and Insurance Reports Before Year’s End

Before we get really close to the end of the year and things start getting frantic, I just wanted to remind everyone to get all the free stuff that the government promised you via the FACT Act:

Free Credit Reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. I’ve already gotten all of mine. I put in a request to fix a minor error my address, but I don’t think I ever got a reply. Grrr. I’ll have to try again.

Free CLUE Insurance Report at ChoiceTrust. This shows your previous auto and home insurance claim history. More details here. Mine was thankfully mistake-free.