Here’s some free stuff for existing Verizon Wireless customers. Visit vzw.com/thanksgetting and Verizon will give you 1 GB of free data this billing cycle, and another 1 GB your next billing cycle. Starting on Wednesday 11/25, they’ll start giving out other stuff like $5 iTunes gift cards, free Amazon media credits, and free in-flight WiFi. The bonus data should show up in your online account almost immediately after enrollment.

*Limit one data promotional per account. The 1GB Data offer (“Promotional Data”) can only be redeemed one time per account by VZW customers on a qualifying plan. Must have a valid VZW Mobile Telephone Number. Promotional Data will be added to your existing monthly data allowance, and applies to data usage after Promotional Data redemption date. Promotional Data will be shared by all lines on an account. Data usage applies for app downloads/use.

Added separate free data offer: I’m still waiting to verify for myself, but Verizon is giving away 2 GB of data per month for 3 months to those people who download their Go90 app according to this link (log in and scroll down to see offer).

Promo offer only applicable to The More Everything Plan and The Verizon Plan customers with accounts in good standing. Extra data applied to account and is for any data usage. One promotional offer per account. This promotional data can be combined with other Verizon promotional offers. Limited time offer.

Straight Talk is a prepaid MVNO that offers the ability to buy SIM cards that you can pop into any AT&T-compatible, T-Mobile-compatible, or unlocked GSM phone. This includes many Samsung Galaxys and iPhones that you can buy refurbished or on the used market. For $45 a month you get unlimited minutes, unlimited text, and 5 GB of high-speed data with no contracts and no credit checks. You also avoid the usual cell phone taxes that can add $5 to $10 per line. Unlimited data means 3G/4G data speeds for 5 GB per month (recently improved from 2.5 GB) and then 2G data speeds after that.

$45 a month is the everyday price. Last year, there was a nice promo that let you buy 4 months of the Straight Talk unlimited plan for $26 a month, a significant 42% savings off the regular price. I’m actually just updating that old post here and pruning stale comments.

Right now, you can buy 8 months of the Straight Talk unlimited plan for $22.50 a month. To access this promo, either try clicking on this promo deep link or entering your info at this promo intro page. You should see the following offer text in red:

For Limited Time only get a FREE SIM + FREE Service Plan Card with the Purchase of a 30 Day Service Plan Card

• Each package includes 2 monthly plan cards, and you can buy 4 packages for a total of 8 months for $180 + taxes and shipping where applicable.
• While the link only let you buy a T-Mobile SIM card as part of the package, the actual monthly plan cards can be activated with any provider SIM. They also sell AT&T SIM cards on the same website, if you prefer that.
• You can also try to stack with cashback shopping portal. For example, BeFrugal.com normally offers $30 cashback for airtime + SIM purchase. BeFrugal also has $10 bonus for new customers that earn $25 in cashback. See reader Shoe’s comment.
• If your desired SIM size is sold out, know that you can buy a simple $4 SIM cutter which can cut any SIM card into a micro SIM or nano SIM. (Or a $4 SIM adapter will make a nano into micro or regular SIM.) You may have to use a bit of sandpaper as well for the nano SIM as they are a little thinner than regular SIMs. Read the reviews, they work.
• You can also check back later to see if they restock, but I’d rather just lock in the savings with whatever SIM is in stock.
• Finally, the $60 international cards are also buy 1 get 1 free, making them $30 and still cheaper than the $45 plan. The $60 plan has the features of the $45 plan plus unlimited calling to Mobile in Mexico, China, India and Canada and some other features. So it’s still a pretty good discount (33% off) if the rest are out of stock.

It’s back! Wow, haven’t posted a Groupon deal in a while. I really should have shorted the stock when even I unsubscribed from their daily newsletter, but I didn’t have the guts. Now I’m just mad because they deleted my account after not using it for a while, even though I still had unused credit (and I’ll have to open a new one for this deal).

Anyway! Groupon is selling a $15 Starbucks Gift Card for $10. Limited quantities, ends in a week or so otherwise . Why is free coffee so appealing? Over 100,000 sold already. Limit 1 per person.

Remember that you can save even more on your Groupon with cashback shopping sites:

• TopCashBack ($10 bonus after $10 earned in cashback rewards, expires 11/16).
• eBates ($10 new user bonus after any $25+ purchase, $5 mininum cash-out)
• Mr. Rebates ($5 new user bonus, $10 minimum cash-out)
• BeFrugal.com ($5 new user bonus)

There was previous promo with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but now there is a another separate promo with the Chase Freedom. Earn a $15 statement credit after you spend $15 or more with your Chase Freedom® card using Visa Checkout. Valid for new or existing Visa Checkout accountholders. Read on, it’s an easy $15 if you have this card.

More people out there probably have the Chase Freedom card. No annual fee and 5% cash back in rotating categories every quarter.

Visa Checkout is a way to pay for things online without have to give a merchant your credit card number. You use a login and password instead. Think Paypal, but Visa-branded. Participating merchants include Pizzahut.com, Shutterfly, Newegg, Staples, Fandango, Orbitz, Gap, and more.

Since these are all online websites, you can also use a cashback shopping portal for many merchants and get a little bit extra back. Some suggestions for a small online purchase:

• Order a pizza from PizzaHut.com. You must get it delivered, not carry out. I can usually get 2 pizzas for around $20, so a $15 credit would cover most of dinner that day.
• Buy some movie tickets from Fandango.
• Go to NewEgg.com and buy a $15 to $20 gift card to a place you like.
• Buy a gift card from Staples.com

Selected fine print:

This offer is valid from 11/2/2015 through 12/31/2015. To qualify for this offer, you must make a single purchase of $15 or more using your Chase Freedom Visa credit card with your Visa Checkout account during checkout. Limit (1) $15 statement credit per customer or card account. Allow 1 to 2 billing cycles from Visa Checkout purchase for delivery of the statement credit to the Chase Freedom account added to the Visa Checkout account; your card account must remain open and not be in default to receive the statement credit.

Promo extended. To celebrate their 10th anniversary, stock brokerage TradeKing is offering a $200 cash bonus for new accounts opened by 12/31/2015, funded with $3,000 or more within 30 days of account opening, and with at least 3 executed trades within 90 days of account opening. You must keep the $3,000 in account equity (minus any trading losses) for at least 6 months.

This is probably the biggest bonus I’ve seen for this account, the standard offer is $50. TradeKing charges a flat $4.95 for online stock trades; so $200 would cover 40 trades. Option trades are also $4.95 + 65 cents per option contract.

Updated October 2015. I’ll try to keep this post updated with any current discount on Consumer Reports subscriptions. Send me a message if you have a tip.

• Groupon has Consumer Reports digital edition for $15 a year (50% off). You can also pay $29.50 for 1-year of print + online. Not valid for current online or print members or renewal memberships. Limit 1 per person, may buy 3 additional as gifts. If you see this by 10/27/15 you can try code SCREAM3 for an additional 20% off. Otherwise just look for a banner with any current promo code and try to stack them.
• Reader Ryan comments that you should also check you local library to see if you can get free online access to Consumer Reports articles.

 
I seem to always go in waves with Consumer Reports. I don’t use them for a year, and then I find myself constantly checking out stroller reviews, appliances, used cars for a friend, etc.

If you like to listen to podcasts, or are thinking of starting, the full version of the Overcast app (iOS only) is now completely free while remaining ad-free. (There is a patronage option and much accompanying drama that I’ll ignore here.) All of the premium features that used to cost $5 to unlock are now free. Here are the best bits:

• Smart Speed – skips the silences, saving time.
• Variable Speed – can play back podcasts a little faster, also potentially saving time if you don’t find it annoying.
• Voice Boost – adjust the sound so that you don’t have to keep adjusting your volume, saving annoyance.
• Cellular Downloads – the free version previously only allowed you to download on WiFi.
• Fast, timely downloads – this app always seems to download new podcasts right after they are available, unlike the default app. It does this using their own servers to help you use less data and battery life.
• Sync – the app synchronizes across multiple devices.

The bottom line is that the Overcast app is significantly better than the default Apple Podcasts app, and now it’s free both to try and to keep. All upside. You can then decide whether it is worth supporting via the “tip jar” after considering its time-savings benefits. If you previously downloaded the stripped-down version, you may not have noticed that an update will unlock all the features. I do not consider myself a podcast enthusiast, but this app makes listening to them easy enough that now I do it.

I’m afraid I don’t listen to any financial podcasts at this time and thus have no personal recommendations to make. I’m sure there are plenty of good ones out there. For me, podcasts are for the lighter stuff like food and sports. My mainstay is the sports talk show Pardon The Interruption, and that one thing may allow me to drop ESPN TV completely (although I haven’t).

Related: Successful iPhone App Developer Actual Income Numbers

Here’s another class action settlement involving a popular food which may affect you. Kashi and Kelloggs settled a lawsuit claiming that they mislabeled products as “all natural” or “nothing artificial”. As usual, they don’t admit wrongdoing but they are removing “all natural” claims from their products that contain GMO ingredients.

• You qualify if you purchased any one of the Kashi products listed here [pdf] between May 3, 2008 and Sept. 4, 2015 (for personal or household use). Kashi makes a lot of stuff besides cereal (GoLean bars, TLC bars, Kashi pizza, Heart to Heart).
• You must be a resident of the United States, but you can’t be from California (separate lawsuit).
• If you DO NOT have receipts proving your purchase, you can still file a claim for 55 cents per item, for up to 50 items ($27.50 max total).
• If you DO have store receipts, you can get back your purchase price with no limit. If you bought Kashi online, definitely search your e-mails or Amazon/store accounts.
• You must certify under oath that your claim is truthful.

Here is the online claim form, which you must submit by January 19, 2016.

Ting.com has a limited-time promotion offering AT&T customers a free cup of coffee (in the form of a free $5 Starbuck gift card) if they check their phone compatibility with Ting. You’ll need your AT&T phone’s IMEI and your phone number. Limit of one $5 coffee gift card per email address and per active AT&T device checked. Says you should enter by 10/22 but it could end earlier.

Ting mobile service is a simple idea that is saving people a lot of money on their monthly cell phone bills. Check your AT&T phone to see if it will work on Ting and we’ll give you a $5 Starbucks gift card,
no strings attached.

I’ve reviewed Ting before, so you may know they are an MVNO for both Sprint and T-Mobile that works on a pay-only-for-what-you-use basis. With a referral link (that’s my parents phone), new customers can get free $25 in Ting credit towards your phone bill.

But hey, if you have an AT&T phone, why not pick up that cup of coffee? Smartphone users can usually find their IMEI under phone settings very quickly.

$10 refer-a-friend bonus is back. BeFrugal.com is yet another cashback shopping portal that gives a percentage back on online shopping purchases made through their links. Right now it’s also offering a $10 sign-up bonus for a limited-time to get you started. You’ll need to accrue $25 total in cash back within 90 days to withdraw your rewards. This is more restrictive than previous promos, but if you have enough purchases coming up (holidays?) it might be worth a shot. Promotion expires 11/30/15.

To qualify for a $10 Refer-a-Friend bonus, a) new referrals must click on your unique Refer-a-Friend link and sign up as a BeFrugal.com member through that click-through; b) new members must also confirm their BeFrugal.com account and earn $25 or more in Cash Back (not including bonuses and earnings from non-purchase activity) within 90 days of account creation.

Other sites that I have successfully cashed out from are eBates ($10 new user bonus after any purchase of $25+), Mr. Rebates ($5 new user bonus – minimum cash-out balance is $10), and Chase Ultimate Rewards (no bonus, but can be good value if you use these points).