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December 21, 2006

Cash bonuses and free iPods from FOREX.com?

This offer at first looks like an easy way to check out currency trading while earning some cash and an iPod Shuffle for your time and effort. When you open a FOREX.com account, you get an iPod plus various amounts of cash, based on your deposit:

The details say you'll get the cash within 30 days of your deposit. This offer looked so good I was thinking of applying for it. Then I saw this minor detail:

Bonus will be added as equity to your trading account within 30 days of initial account funding. Withdrawal of bonus funds is contingent upon the completion of round trip standard lots (or the mini equivalent) according to the following schedule: $50 equals 5 trades, $100 equals 10 trades, $175 equals 20 trades, $250 equals 30 trades, $500 equals 50 trades and $1000 equals 75 trades.

So that means you have to put some money at risk and trade currencies to earn the bonus money. With currency trading, you can lose a lot of money, often within a few seconds. I'm going to pass. If you're up for it, though, apply quickly - the offer expires Dec 31, 2006.

Posted by brian at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2006

Canceling your credit cards can hurt you

The exact calculation to determine your FICO score, that all-important number that supposedly measures your credit worthiness, is a mystery. That's because the company that derives your FICO score, the Fair Isaac Corporation, wants it that way so that no one can copy it exactly.

However, even though we don't know the specifics, we know enough about how the score is calculated in general to say that canceling you credit cards can actually hurt you credit score.

The reason? When you cancel a card, your "credit-utilization ratio" changes. For example, let's say you have two credit cards, where one is your favorite card that has a $2,500 balance and a $5,000 limit, and the other one (the one that you never use and are thinking about canceling) has a $0 balance and also a $5000 limit. So your credit-utilization ratio, your total balance divided by your total limit, is 25% ($2,500/$10,000 x 100%).

If you cancel that card, this ratio jumps to 50% ($2,500/$5,000 x 100%). Since this ratio affects about 30% of your total FICO score, that could lower your score by quite a bit.

Another 15% of your FICO score is affected by credit history. So again, let's say you just have two cards, the one you like to use but you've only had a year, and the one you're thinking about canceling but you've had for five years. By canceling that card, the average age of your credit cards drops from three years to one years, which in this case would lower your FICO score.

Finally, if you don't use your card for a while, the credit card company may offer you an incentive to use it again. For example, Discover Card offered me $20 to start using my Discover card again.

Posted by brian at 01:45 PM | Comments (1)

December 12, 2006

$20 in your jeans. Or other places.

My brother sent me this email:

"I put on an old pair of jeans the other day and found $20 in the pocket. No sales pitch, no forms to fill out, no “rinse and repeat”, no canceling the account. Put THAT on this website."

So if you know my brother, put your hands down his pants - you might find some money there.

Actually, there are a couple of other places to check besides couch cushions and car ashtrays for money you might have misplaced. The IRS has a nice website where you enter your name to see if you're owed any tax refunds. Go here - it takes less than 10 seconds to fill out the form and see if the IRS owes you money.

Most states have databases that keep track of money owed - a common thing people forget about are utility deposits that go unclaimed when they move. My girlfriend's brother didn't realize he had one more paycheck when he quit his waitering job a few years ago and the state of California was holding onto his $105. Go here to look for lost property in California. For other states, look here - it's free and takes about 30 seconds to search for yourself or family members.

Posted by brian at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2006

$20 gift card from Discover

Discover just keeps giving and giving this time of year. If you take receipts for a total of $200 or more bought with your Discover Card to the Customer Service counter at various malls around the country, you can get a $20 Discover gift card. You can get up to five cards per account. You could even return stuff after you get the card. No wait, that wouldn't be honest, so don't do that. Here is a list of participating malls.

I'm doing all my shopping the traditional way: Internet, the week before, looking for coupon codes. One of the best codes I've found is for 20% off everything at Restoration Hardware. It just so happens that we have been trying to buy a new couch for a few months but keep balking at the price. With the 20% off code (enter "HFOR2006" when you checkout online) plus another 3% rebate when I use the Upromise.com website to link to Restoration Hardware, now I feel like I'm only getting ripped off by $1000 when we buy that $2500 couch for just under $2000.

(Oh crap, shipping is 10%? And CA state tax is 8%? Well, make that ripped off by $1500).

Posted by brian at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2006

Free $20 Borders gift card

For those "White Elephant" gift exchanges, it seems like I'm either giving or receiving a gift card. If you do the same thing, you can get a free one from Borders, courtesy of Chase.

Go here to apply for the Borders Visa (no annual fee). You'll get a $20 Borders gift card and 1000 bonus points after your first purchase. If you're a bookworm like my girlfriend and use the card, you earn 3 points for every dollar spent on books at Borders, Borders.com, and Waldenbooks; 2 points for every dollar spent on gas, groceries, and restaurants; and 1 point for every dollar spent on everything else. You can then redeem points for cash and merchandise.

Posted by brian at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)

Free credit score (not just a report) from Experian

I already posted about how to get your credit report for free. Here's how to get your Experian credit score for free, without signing up for anything. But first, a little background:

We rent a two bedroom house for under $2000/month. Similar homes in our neighborhood are selling for $800,000 - $850,000. The property tax alone would be more than $800/month (about 1.25% of the purchase price here in the California Bay Area). For kicks, I wanted to see what the mortgage payment would be on a $700,000 loan.

I filled out a short form at LendingTree, "accidentally" transposing a few digits of my social security number, phone number, and birth date, but used my real name and address. Surprisingly, it worked.

I was then able to see my Experian credit score - I guess all they need is a name and address, even with a bum social security number and birthdate. The score was pretty close to a score I saw last year and the reasons it wasn't higher - "too many accounts opened in the last 12 months" and "too many inquiries" - seemed valid, so I believe it's the right score. (I applied for two credit cards recently to get the free sign up bonus money, so I'll have to remember to stop doing that 12 months before I want a home loan).

So there you go - you can get your Experian credit score for free thanks to LendingTree and you don't have to sign up for anything.

Posted by brian at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2006

$150 credit on a Sony card

Here's an easy way to earn rewards for buying electronics. When you get a Sony Card, you earn a $150 statement credit after your first purchase (must be made by June 30, 2007).

As an added bonus, you get 0% APR for 12 months and 10 points/dollar spent at SonyStyle.com through January 4th (regular rate is 5 points/dollar).

If you sign up with a wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/trusted pet, you could earn a quick $300 in credits and give all your family members DVDs for the holidays.

Actually, in the fine print it says the credit might not show up on your statement for 8-12 weeks. Well, everyone gets free DVDs and CDs for Valentine's Day, then.

Posted by brian at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)