Twitter brought my attention to an article on SmartMoney (link no long working). It’s another “banks are out there to get you” article. It alleges that some banks are exploiting a loophole in the “CARD Act” for double-cycle billing. I’m sorry to say that the journalist was misled by her sources. Whoever fed her the story […]
Alliant Credit Union: Bumpy Ride to High Yield
I wanted to have my money earn more interest than what it does in a money market account. So I joined Alliant Credit Union. Alliant Credit Union is the 7th largest U.S. credit union based on asset size, with more than 250,000 members. It was originally United Airlines Employees’ Credit Union. Now anybody can join […]
If It’s Too Expensive, Don’t Buy
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, after reading so many reports in the media about evil banks, this nugget of wisdom dawned on me: If it’s too expensive, don’t buy. You must be saying “Duh!” but let me explain. No, I’m not referring to people buying homes they can’t afford, although that would apply […]
Treasure Hunting in Secondary CDs
I mentioned in a previous post Short-Term Fixed Income: CDs vs Bond Funds that I would buy CDs as short-term fixed income investment for my solo 401(k) account. Because Fidelity administers my solo 401(k) plan, I can buy only what’s available through Fidelity. I looked at new-issue brokered CDs. The yields are lower than the […]
Chase Blueprint: Suggested Payment Calculator
By way of a post on the Payments Views blog, The Era of Responsible Credit Card Borrowing Begins Today, I heard that Chase recently launched a new Blueprint service for their credit cards. In a nutshell, Blueprint is a fancy suggested payment calculator. For customers who carry a balance, Blueprint lets them set up some […]
Will Reward Checking Last In the Long Run?
You have probably heard of these checking accounts offered by smaller (“community”) banks and credit unions. They are branded different names but they work very similarly. The concept is called reward checking. A typical reward checking account offers no minimum balance no monthly fee high yield up to a point (4% up to $25,000 is […]
Personal Line of Credit vs Credit Card
My personal line of credit is all set up. I tested it by making a transfer from it in the morning and transferring the money back in the afternoon. I don’t think I will owe any interest that way. It worked as advertised. A personal line of credit and a credit card are both unsecured […]
Emergency-Proof Your Emergency Fund
Everybody knows they should have an emergency fund. There are many articles and discussions about how much one should have in the emergency fund and where to keep the emergency fund in order to earn the most interest. This post is not about either of those topics. Having an emergency fund is one thing. Having […]
Credit Card Cash Advance Saved the Day
I took a cash advance from a credit card last week. I had never done that before. I’m very happy I was able to do it. I’m also very happy with the cost and the efficiency of how it was done, even though I borrowed at 39,608% APR. I had been in the process of […]
BBG Communications: $27 for a 1-Minute Phone Call
I survived driving on the left in Ireleand, its narrow, winding, and bumpy roads, and what must be more than 300 roundabouts. The GPS maps for Europe I bought for $110 turned out to be a good investment. My vacation would have been much more stressful without the GPS. As far as money is concerned, […]
Quit Obsessing with the Credit Score
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: dear media, please quit obsessing with the credit score. Last week’s episode of the NPR program Marketplace Money was about credit and credit scores. One of the stories was The power of FICO. It featured Pete Deibel of Winter Park, FL (emphasis added by me): […]
One-Time Credit Card Numbers for More Security
The sixth largest payment processor in the country Heartland Payment Systems disclosed recently their system was compromised by hackers with a piece of data sniffing software watching credit card data pass by between Heartland and credit card networks. That system processes 100 million transactions a month. This had gone on for months until Visa and […]