When the yield on a CD with a lower early withdrawal penalty is meaningfully lower, go for the CD with a higher yield even though the early withdrawal penalty is larger.
Ally Bank Now Requires Consent Before Allowing Early Withdrawal From a CD
Hat tip to Bogleheads investment forum participant B’Falls_JT, I learned that Ally Bank now requires its consent before it will allow early withdrawal from a CD. The early withdrawal penalty doesn’t even come into play if the bank doesn’t agree to the early withdrawal in the first place. Many people advocated buying a 5-year CD […]
Is Gas From Grocery Store Considered Gas Or Grocery For Credit Card Rewards?
Do you buy gas at a grocery store? Many grocery chains found that gas is a major attraction to get people into their stores because people are irrational about minor differences in gas prices. Grocery stores usually sell gas at prices slightly lower than the competition. When people go there for gas, many will get […]
A Basic Checking Account That Pays More Than A High Yield Savings Account
The Fed’s keeping interest rate low with QE3 will change a lot of things. I thought of one more habit change after I finished the previous post 3 Good Money Habits Going Obsolete In a Low Interest Rate World. Old Habit: Earn Interest From Money On Deposit New Habit: Get Paid For the Banking Relationship […]
3 Good Money Habits Going Obsolete In a Low Interest Rate World
People form money habits over many years. Many of these habits are passed down from generation to generation as good ways to manage one’s money. Sadly some of these habits are going obsolete in the current low interest rate world. They made more sense when interest rates were high. They matter very little when interest […]
How To Deposit Cash To Online Bank Account
Do you use an online checking account such as Ally, Capital One 360, USAA, Fidelity, or Schwab? If you do, here’s a challenge: How do you deposit cash to it? It would be cheating if you first deposit the cash to a local, brick-and-mortar bank and then transfer it to your online bank. In that […]
Not Necessary to Tell Banks About International Travel
Urban legend says you must notify your credit card or debit card banks before you travel internationally so that they won’t block your cards. I used to believe it. Every time before I left, I would religiously call the banks and tell them the dates and the countries I was going. This last time when […]
American Express Prepaid Card Promotion: $25 Gift Card for Loading $200
Among the stack of mail the Post Office delivered to me after my long vacation were three $25 American Express Gift Cards. Back in February I ordered three American Express Prepaid Cards with a targeted promo code publicized on deal site FatWallet. See $75 Bonus From American Express Prepaid Cards. Because too many people not […]
$75 Bonus From American Express Prepaid Cards
American Express is running a promotion for its prepaid cards. If you order an American Express Prepaid card and you load it with $25 before April 30, 2012, you will get another $25 gift card some time later. Each person can order up to 3 cards. So you can potentially get $75. Shipping by first […]
Why You Can’t Upgrade Your Credit Card In the First Year
After reading my previous post on best rewards card for groceries and gas, reader Tom wanted to upgrade his American Express card to the AmEx Blue Cash Preferred card which pays 6% rewards on purchases at supermarkets and 3% rewards on gas but charges a $75 annual fee. The higher rewards make the annual fee […]
Who Use Prepaid Debit Cards
Suze Orman got into some hot water for her exchanges with bloggers on Twitter. Suze Orman launched a prepaid debit card. Bloggers correctly pointed out it’s not good. Suze defended herself by calling a blogger idiot. She later had to apologize. I think bloggers are too worried about the success of Suze Orman’s The Approved […]
Virtual Banks: SmartyPig, PerkStreet, Simple
Ken at DepositAccounts.com reported that SmartyPig cut its interest rate from 1.1% to 0.7%. SmartyPig is this online service that lets you stash money in accounts designated for specific goals. Instead of identifying your account by a number, you label the account by a goal: vacation, Christmas, wedding, etc. When you reach a goal, you […]