The Sun's Financial Diary » Bonus

Chase Business Checking Account $100 Bonus

Sun — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:08:38 +0000

Are you looking for a business checking account?

If you are, then here’s a bonus offer from Chase.

From now till April 15, 2010, if you open a Chase Business Account and make a deposit of at least $1,000 within 30 days of opening the account, you can receive $100 bonus. It’s a pretty good deal since it is effectively a 10% return. However, there’s one little problem of this offer: You can’t open the account online. To get the bonus, you will need to use this link to request a coupon code, then bring the code to a Chase branch office to open the account. If there are Chase branches near you, then you can take advantage of the bonus offer by opening a qualifying business account, including Chase BusinessClassic Checking, BusinessClassic Checking with Interest, Chase Advanced BusinessChecking, Advanced Business Checking with Interest, Commercial Checking, Commercial Checking with Interest, or Chase BusinessPlus Extra Checking account.

Even though some eligible checking accounts do bear interest, the interest rate is rather low (and the product is not available every where). If you are interested in a checking account with a good yield, check out those mentioned in my best interest checking accounts post. For a business account that pays interest for the money you have in the account, a better option may be an ING Business Savings Account, which also had a $100 bonus offer last month. The offer has expired, but you can still get a $25 sign up bonus for a new account and $250 deposit.

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Chase Business Checking Account $100 Bonus

ING Direct Business Savings Account $100 Bonus Promotion

Sun — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:38:03 +0000

I opened an ING Direct Business Savings Account last September when they had a promotion for $50 bonus. As I have explained in the post, the reason that I wanted to have an interest-bearing savings account for my business is, of course, to earn interest for the money that I had in a business checking account at PNC Bank that earns me nothing. While like all the regular online savings accounts, ING Business Savings Account has also been cutting rate, the 1.05% APY is pretty good for a business account.

If you are interested in opening a business savings account for your business, there’s one good reason to get it from ING Direct: A $100 bonus when you open the account before February 28, 2010. That’s better than the deal I had. To get the bonus, open an ING Direct Business Savings Account using promotion code BSA298. There’s no account minimum, nor monthly fee. Opening an account is quite straightforward, especially if you already have a regular savings or checking account with ING. All you need during the account opening process is a business checking account at another institution that you will need to link to the ING Business Savings Account. After the account is opened, you will need to mail or fax some business related documents to ING before the account is activated. For the $100 bonus, I’d say it’s worth the time

Update (02/28/2010):

If you want to have a ING Business Savings Account and can make at least $250 initial deposit, then you can use any of the following referral link to open account and get $25 sign up bonus. That’s 10% instant return. Remember, you have to have a minimum of $250 in order to get the bonus. If you can’t meet the minimum initial deposit requirement, use this link to open an account instead.

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ING Direct Business Savings Account $100 Bonus Promotion

TradeKing $50 Referral Bonus

Sun — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:56:27 +0000

Do you want to have a TradeKing brokerage account?

If you do, then here’s a chance for you to receive $50 to get started.

Discount online broker TradeKing is celebrating Ben Franklin’s birthday this year by offer a $100 bonus for existing users for every new customer they refer to TradeKing. Since I am already using TradeKing, I am eligible to receive the bonus if someone I refer

Open a TradeKing account using my referral link before February 11, 2010;
Fund the account with at least $1,000;
Execute a trade.

$100 is a big bonus money. Big enough that I want to share. So here’s what I plan to do. If you want get a TradeKing account, use this Contact form to request a referral link. Once you meet all the requirements listed above, I will get a $100 bonus from TradeKing and when I receive the bonus, I will share $50 with you, in the form of a $50 Amazon.com gift card.

Interested? Contact me to request a TradeKing referral link and make sure you read my TradeKing review to learn more about the broker.

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TradeKing $50 Referral Bonus

UPromise World MasterCard $25 Bonus for New Account

Sun — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:56:01 +0000

UPromise World MasterCard from Bank of America (used to be with Citibank) is one of those credit cards that let you invest cash backs earned from using the card for your everyday shopping. It’s also one of the credit cards that I use regularly because, with the UPromise card, I can put the rewards into my daughter’s 529 plan (the UPromise 529 Plan managed by Vanguard) that is linked to the card and invest the money. To me, investing the money is better than getting the rewards as cash or points can spend them.

The UPromise card has two rewards programs. One of them is Gas & Grocery Rewards, which is also the rewards program I am using. With the Gas & Grocery Rewards, you will

Earn 10% extra college savings on thousands of Upromise participating grocery and drug store items
Earn 2% extra college savings on eligible gasoline purchases at Exxon or Mobil gas stations
Earn 1% college savings on all other purchases

The UPromise card has no annual membership fee and there’s no limit on cash back rewards you can earn. If you are interested in getting the UPromise card for yourself, there’s currently a $25 bonus offer for every approved new account after making a qualified purchase.

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UPromise World MasterCard $25 Bonus for New Account

ChoiceTrade $75 New Account Promotion

Sun — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:47:31 +0000

ChoiceTrade is an online discount broker which I first discussed in April when I compared commissions charged by discount brokers. Currently at $5 per stock trade with no limit on the size of the order, ChoiceTrade’s commission is almost at the same level as what TradeKing charges at $4.95 for stock trades, but significantly higher than the commission at OptionsHous and SogoTrade, which is now at $2.95 and $3.00, respectively. Trading options with ChoiceTrade also seems a little expensive at $0.99 per contract, compared to $0.65/contract at TradeKing.

I am using ChoiceTrade, so I don’t know what other features the broker offers. If you are interested in getting an account with ChoiceTrade, you can take advantage of a promotional offer which will give you $75 bonus if you open an account with $2,000 deposit and make a trade before January 5, 2010. The promotion code for this bonus offer is YE75CT. IRA account is not eligible for the promotion (ChoiceTrade charges $30 annual custodial fee for IRA accounts) and you must maintain a minimum account value of $75 in the account for 6 months.

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ChoiceTrade $75 New Account Promotion

MyPoints Promotions: ShareBuilder $50 Bonus and myFICO 30% Off

Sun — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:34:21 +0000

Just received these promotional offers from MyPoints.

Open a ShareBuilder account before December 31st, 2009 with promotion code 50WCFA (the code should be entered already if you use that link) and receive $50 bonus after making $50 deposit before the deadline. Bonus will be credited 4 – 6 weeks after the deposit is made.
Get 30% off FICO Standard from myFICO before December 30, 2009. The regular price of FICO Standard is $15.95. Now $11. Apparently, this offer is better than the 26% off deal that I reported earlier.

Basically, it’s an online shopping portal that rewards its members with points for shopping with them, just like other online shopping sites such as Ebates or UPromise. In addition to earning points from shopping with MyPoints, they also offer the so-called BonusMail to help members accumulate points if they don’t feel like shopping with them. In the BonusMail, advertisers put their ads and if I shop through the link in the email, I will receive additional bonus points. Otherwise, I can still get some points by just clicking the ads.

In addition to products and services (check out their website for details about they are offering. There are a lots, but I don’t use any of them), BonusMail also delivers surveys which pay anywhere from 30 to 100 points per qualified and completed survey. To me, though some product promotions promise a large number of points, I never bought anything through MyPoints because I am really not a big fan of rewards points. I prefer to receive rebates in cash and generally avoid using credit card that only rewards points, though in most cases the points can be redeemed for products, gift cards, or even cash. Nonetheless, whenever the BonusMail hits my mailbox, I still click the Get Points button and collect 5 points (sometime 10 points). Since I joined the program in early 2006, I have accumulated nearly 4,900 points by just clicking the ads (not all of them obviously) and delete the mail immediately. Since they usually send out multiple BonusMails every day, it’s not that hard to add up points and redeem them for a gift card. And what I feel the best of it is it doesn’t need much effort either. Just click and delete!

BTW, I mentioned a few days ago that the $50 CollegedAdvantage promotion was supposed to end on the 15th. Yesterday, I was told that the promotion has been extended 3 days to the 18th. Thus, you still have a couple of days to take advantage of it.

Update: More myFICO Coupon Codes and Promotional Codes

myFICO May Sale – Save 20% on FICO scores & credit reports (Expiration date: N/A)
myFICO Score Watch Free Trail (Expiration date: N/A)
20% off Suze Orman FICO Kit; use promo: SUZEFKP (Expiration date: N/A)
Free FICO® Credit Score Estimator (Expiration date: N/A)

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MyPoints Promotions: ShareBuilder $50 Bonus and myFICO 30% Off

CollegeAdvantage Promotion: One More Day to Get $50 Bonus

Sun — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:45:55 +0000

This is just a quick reminder that Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan $50 bonus promotion , which started in September, will end tomorrow, December 15th. If you still want to take advantage of this promotion and receive $50 free money to jump start your college savings, follow these steps to open an account and set up a systematic savings program (SSP):

Go to CollegeAdvantage and open an account with reference code 2331122 and receive the first $25 bonus;
Once the account is opened, set up a SSP to invest in the plan automatically before January 31, 2010;
Receive another $25 bonus 90 days after the SSP begins.

CollegeAdvantage is one of the best 529 college savings programs based on Morningstar survey. The program is a direct-sold savings plan (i.e., you can purchase and invest in the plan without going through a broker) with low costs. The total expenses of different investment portfolios in the plan range from 0.23% to 0.47% for age-based portfolios (for these portfolios, asset allocation will be determined and adjusted as the plan approaches the target date). Portfolios in the plan are managed by such much fund giants as Vanguard and PIMCO. In addition to mutual funds, the plan also offers CDs for the absolute safety of the investments.

As I mentioned early, I use CollegeAdvantage to save for our younger daughter’s future education. In the past two and a half months, the account got big boost from those who have used my reference code to open their accounts because I also received the same amount of bonus. Thank you

photo credit: DeaPeaJay

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CollegeAdvantage Promotion: One More Day to Get $50 Bonus

Lending Club $64.62 Referral Bonus

Sun — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:05:46 +0000

Why $64.62? Why not a round number like $25, $50 or $100?

According to Lending Club, the peer-to-peer lending operator, banks in U.S. made $6.462 billion last quarter. Apparently, that’s where the number is coming from. Of course, you can not getting that much as bonus. Still, $64.62 is quite a decent number.

From December 3 to December 31, 2009, Lending Club is giving $64.62 to everybody who becomes a member referred by an existing member. If you are interested in starting P2P lending and using the service as an alternative to bank accounts, you can open a Lending Club account and get the bonus. Originally, Lending Club requires sending the referral link by manually entering the email address of the person who is interested. However, I feel that it may be easier to use just a link. So I sent multiple invitations to myself and the links in the emails are all the same. For this special offer, Lending Club has some rules for you to receive the bonus:

The referral must complete registration as a Lending Club investor and link a bank account in order to receive the bonus funds. Bonus funds may not be withdrawn and must be invested in Lending Club notes.

I started to use Lending Club in February. So far, I have bought a total of 134 notes. There are some good news and bad news for my investments (I will give an update of the status shortly). The following is a list of discussions of investing with Lending Club from my own experience:

Read them to learn more about Lending Club before deciding whether you want to join or not.

BTW, I do not receive any benefit from this Lending Club referral link.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Lending Club $64.62 Referral Bonus

Try Coinstar and Get $10 Amazon.com Gift Card

Sun — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:23:03 +0000

Do you have a lot of coins? If you do, what do you do with them? Throw them away, or put them in your bank account?

Right now Coinstar is running a promotion for this coin counting machines with a free $10 Amazon.com gift card. If you cash in $40 or more in coins onto an Amazon.com eCertificate, you’ll get the full value of your coins, plus Coinstar will send you a bonus $10 Amazon.com Gift Card. Details of the promotion are:

Cash in $40 or more of coins onto an Amazon.com eCertificate at a participating Coinstar Machine.
Mail in the bottom portion of your receipt to receive your bonus $10 Amazon.com Gift Card.
You will receive your $10 Amazon.com bonus gift card by mail in 6-8 weeks.

The free gift card offer will end on December 6, 2009. Click here to locate a Coinstar machine near you.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

Try Coinstar and Get $10 Amazon.com Gift Card

ING Direct $121 Electric Orange Account Opening Bonus

Sun — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:37:16 +0000

In a rare promotional event, ING Direct is offering $121 account opening bonus for it Electric Orange Checking Account on Black Friday, November 27, 2009.

The reason for setting the bonus at $121, which seems to be a generous but odd amount, is that the bank says that consumers pay $121 overdraft fee every year on average. With ING Electric Orange, you get a lot of features from the paperless checking account for free, including free MasterCard Debit Card, free online bill pay, free access at over 35,000 ATMs through the Allpoint network, and free postage to mail your paper checks for you.

The promotion is good for today only. To get the bonus, follow these simple steps to open an account today:

Open an Electric Orange Checking Account on with Reference Code EOSAVE.
Use your Debit Card to make 3 signature transactions (you know, the ones you have to actually sign) within the first 45 days.
On day 50, we’ll put $121 in your account. You have to open today to get the $121 bonus.

Though Electric Orange is an interest-bearing checking account, the interest rate is rather low. For balance up to $50,000, the yield is only at 0.25% APY. Of course, when you get a checking account, earning interests isn’t never the main goal.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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ING Direct $121 Electric Orange Account Opening Bonus

optionsXpress Promotion: Get $100 When Opening a New Account

Sun — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:58:51 +0000

The reason I got my optionsXpress account two years ago was that the broker had a promotion at that time that gave every new customer $100 bonus with a minimum of $500 deposit. That’s 20% return without much work. So I opened the account, made the deposit and received the bonus. Unlike other free money I got from broker promotions, I didn’t make any trade with the optionsXpress bonus. Instead I withdrew the bonus and my deposit after the holding period ended because of the high cost of trading stocks with optionsXpress ($14.95 per trade). In fact, I didn’t use my optionsXpress account to make any trade until early this month (I will write about my trading experience later).

Now, optionsXpress is running the $100 bonus promotion again with requirements similar to the previous promotion with an addition that 3 trades must be executed in 12 months in order to qualify for the bonus offer:

Offer is valid for one new Individual or Joint optionsXpress account opened and funded with at least $500 by US residents on or before December 31, 2011 at 11:59 CST, and having executed 3 trades within twelve months of account opening. To receive $100 bonus, account must be funded with at least $500 cash or securities transferred from a brokerage firm other than optionsXpress. The $100 bonus will be deposited into the new optionsXpress account within one month after meeting the terms and conditions of this offer. optionsXpress may charge the account for the cost of the $100 bonus should account fail to remain open with minimum funding (excluding trading losses) 6 months from the account open date. IRAs, other tax-exempt, linked, or shared accounts are not eligible to receive the $100 bonus offer.

The requirements are stricter than last time which also make the deal less profitable because, to get the bonus, you are required to make three trades which will cost you nearly $45, a big chunk of the bonus you will receive.

Get More than $100

However, there is a way to make the offer work better. I just mentioned that I didn’t use my account until only a couple of weeks ago. The commission is still $14.95 which is very expensive by my standard, but I didn’t pay that much commission for my trades. Here’s what I did.

optionsXpress also has a referral program, the one that I have been running for quite a while. If you refer somebody to optionsXpress, you both can get some rewards, such as $100, 10 free trades, or books, and you can choose which one you want to receive. So to make it work better, all you need to do, after opening your own account, is refer somebody else, maybe someone in your family if it’s difficult to find others, and choose either $100 or 10 free trades when making the reference. There are also requirements to receive the referral bonus, but they are relatively easier to meet:

Offer limited to one $100 bonus per referrer and referred friend, for each unique referral resulting in a newly activated, funded optionsXpress account meeting the terms and conditions of the refer a friend program. To qualify for the $100 bonus, the referred account must maintain a per account average balance of $500 for 6 months, and the account must trade at least once. The $100 bonus will be deposited into the referrer and referred accounts within 45 days after the referred friend meets the terms and conditions of the offer. To qualify, the referrer must enter the referred friend’s email address through this page, and the referred friend must enter the promo code “FRIEND” through the new account application form when opening the new account.

As you can see, to get the referral bonus, only one trade is required (not you, but the people being referred) and after six months, the bonus will be ready in your account for use. That’s how I traded for free with optionsXpress, with the free money I received

Interested? Open an optionsXpress account and get $100 free money for yourself.

BTW, there are a few other broker promotions going on right now:

TradeKing $50 bonus (ends November 30, 2009)
OptionsHouse 100 free trades (ends December 31, 2009)
Firstrade triple bonus (ends December 31, 2009)

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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optionsXpress Promotion: Get $100 When Opening a New Account

Reminder: TradeKing $50 Bonus Still Available

Sun — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:26:32 +0000

Last month, online discount broker TradeKing launched the $50 new account bonus promotion as part of their annual fall campaign to sign up new customers. The offer was first supposed to end on October 31st, but the broker decided to extend the promotion by one month to the end of November.

I have been a TradeKing customer for more than two years. My experience is that it’s a decent broker despite that the commission it charges for stock trading isn’t the cheapest among online discount brokers. I talk about TradeKing quite often because it’s one of brokers I use quite often. If you are interested in getting the bonus, you can open an account before November 30 with a minimum $2,500 initial deposit and keep the month in the account for at least six months, plus a trade must be made within 180 days.

Besides, there are also other bonus offers from banks and brokers for opening a new account. Maybe you can find something you need

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Reminder: TradeKing $50 Bonus Still Available

Firstrade Triple-Bonus Promotion

Sun — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:03:14 +0000

Online discount stock brokers Firstrade is having a triple sign-up bonus promotion. Open an account with Firstrade between now and December 31, 2009, and fund the new account, individual, joint, or IRA account, within 30 days after the account is opened to

Receive 100 commission-free trades for funds of $2,000 or more
Receive 100 commission-free trades and up to $100 ACAT rebate for funds of $25,000 or more
Receive 100 commission-free trades and up to $100 ACAT rebate as well as a $100 cash bonus credited to the account for funds of $50,000 or more

Firstrade charges $6.95 per stock trade (see Discount Broker Comparison for details about commissions charged by brokers). So the value of the free trades is at $695. The terms and conditions to receive the bonuses are:

To receive up to a maximum of 100 commission free internet stock trades (equivalent to $695 in free trade commissions at a value of $6.95 per trade), account must be funded with equity valued at $2,000 or more within 30 days of account open date. Eligible non-retirement accounts will pay the commission on all trades at the time of trades ($6.95 for stock and options trades plus an additional $0.75 per options contract), and the account will be credited with up to $6.95 per trade within eight weeks of qualifying (excludes option contract fees). Eligible retirement accounts will receive commission-free online equity trades at the time of execution for 30 days after account funding. Qualified commission-free internet stock trades must execute within 30 days of account funding. You will not receive cash compensation for any unused free trade commissions.

To receive up to $100 account transfer rebate in additions to 100 free trades, account must have transferred equity valued at $25,000 or more within 30 days of account open date. You must apply for the transfer fee reimbursement offer by completing and submitting a Firstrade Account Transfer Rebate Form and an account statement providing proof of imposed transfer fees. Account Transfer Reimbursement Request forms and proof of transfer fees can be mailed or faxed to Firstrade. Submission must be postmarked within 90 days of account opening. Reimbursement will be made to your account via a credit approximately 6 – 8 weeks after receipt of the Account Transfer Rebate Form and proof of transfer fees.

To receive a $100 cash bonus in addition to 100 free trades & $100 account transfer rebate, account must be funded with $50,000 or more in equity within 30 days of account open date. Cash back bonus will be credited to your account approximately 6-8 weeks after funding date.

IRA accounts are not eligible to receive the $100 transfer rebate or $100 cash back bonus.

The 100 commission free trades seem to be a lot for most investors. However, since the free trades must be used in 30 days, I doubt how much investors can benefit from the promotion, especially those who take the buy-and-hold approach when it comes investing. As for the $100 account transfer fee reimbursement, it is pretty standard (see How Much Does It Cost to Transfer A Brokerage Account?). As far as I know, many brokers, including Scottrade, TradeKing, and OptionsHouse, all offer at least the same amount of fee reimbursement.

Interested? Use any of the following promotional codes to open a Firstrade account and get the bonus:

Firstrade 100 commission free trades ($2,000 or more)
Firstrade $100 account transfer rebate ($25,000 or more)
Firstrade $100 bonus ($50,000 or more)

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Firstrade Triple-Bonus Promotion

Chase Freedom Card $50 Bonus after First Purchase

Sun — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:05:41 +0000

The deal isn’t as good as what the card used to offer, but is still quite decent, if you are shopping for a new credit card that can actually becomes your everyday card.

Chase Freedom Card is having a promotion which will give new cardholder $50 bonus after the first purchase. I got the card back in early 2007 and since then, it has become the card for shopping at grocery stores and gas stations since I can earn 3% cash back in these categories. However, the card has recently undergone a lot of changes, mainly downgrades in rewards. For example, the card on longer gives 3% rebate on fixed categories, replacing it with rotating categories. And in the past, every $200 bonus can be redeemed for a $250 check. That is gone as well (I got my $250 check when the offer was still available early this year). Nonetheless, the card is still better than many other rewards credit cards which have scaled back their rebates recently due to the change of credit card regulations.

The fine print for the $50 bonus offer says that existing cardmembers are not eligible for the bonus:

You will receive $50 in bonus rebates with this bonus offer, which can be redeemed for a $50 check. You will qualify for and receive your bonus after your first purchase/first use of the card. First purchase/first use includes purchases, balance transfers, or any checks that are used to access your account, and excludes cash advances. After qualifying, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus rebates to post to your account. This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first-time cardmembers with new accounts. Existing cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer.

In addition to the bonus, Chase Freedom cardholders can earn 1% cashback on every purchase with no limit on how much cashback you can accumulate. Plus, you can get 3% cashback in rotating categories like gas, home improvement and department stores. If you shop through Chase shopping network, the rebate can be as high as 20% at selected merchants. The card doesn’t charge an annual fee.

Interested? Get a Chase Freedom Card and enjoy the $50 free money

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Chase Freedom Card $50 Bonus after First Purchase

Current Bank & Broker Promotion Bonuses

Sun — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:36:10 +0000

If you are looking for a little incentive to open a bank or brokerage account, there are a few promotions currently running which will give you as much as $50 bonus for a single new account. Check them out. Maybe there’s something you need

TradeKing $50 bonus for a new account: Open an account before November 30, 2009, deposit at least $2,500 and make a trade, and collect $50 bonus.
CollegeAdvantage $50 bonus: If you open a 529 college savings plan with Ohio CollegeAdvantage, one of the best 529 plans, before December 15, 2009, you can receive $50 free money to jump start your college savings.
ING Direct Business Savings Account $50 bonus: Looking for a business savings account that pays a decent rate? Try ING Direct Business Savings Account and get $5o. No account minimum required.
Capital One Online Savings Account $50 bonus: A new reference code will give $50 if you open an account before November 25, 2009. Make an initial deposit of $10,000 and you can enjoy an annual yield of 1.60%.
ING Direct Orange Savings Account $25 bonus: This deal has been around for a long time and it’s still quite attractive to many savers, despite ING’s 1.30% APY. Make $250 deposit and get $25 bonus.
Prosper $50 bonus to start lending: Prosper, the peer-to-peer lending provider, is offering a $50 bonus if you open an account which no other requirement. That’s some easy money to get you started.
PerkStreet Checking Account $50 bonus: Open a PerkStreet checking account and receive $50 bonus, plus get 1% cash back using the debit card.
Lending Club $25 bonus to become a lender: If you are interested in becoming a lender, you can get $25 when opening a new account and start to lend ($25 is the minimum amount to invest in a loan). But remember investing in P2P lending involves risk.
Zecco Forex 20% deposit bonus: I don’t trade forex, but if you do, then you can receive up to 20% of the deposit you make to your account with this promotion.
OptionsHouse up to $100 account transfer reimbursement: OptionsHouse has a much lower commission for stock trading. At $2.95/trade, it beats many other popular online discount brokers. Transfer your account to OptionsHouse and get reimbursed for up to $100 account transfer fee.
OptionsHouse 100 commission free trades: And you can also get 100 commission free trades from OptionsHouse if you open a new account is November and December and deposit $3,000. That’s $295 value for your.
OptionsXpress $100 bonus: OptionsXpress isn’t cheap if you want to trade stocks or options with it, but its $100 bonus for just opening an account does look attractive if you want to have an account with the broker. Use the Contact form to request a referral link.
Firstrade triple-bonus promotion: Get 100 commission free trades, $100 account transfer fee reimbursement, and $100 cash back when you open a Firstrade account, depending on your account balance.
Zecco $30 bonus: I stopped the referral program some time ago because of problems tracking my references. Now I want to give it another try. Use the Contact form to request a referral link and get $30 Amazon.com gift card when you open an account and meet all the requirements.
Scottrade 3 commission free trades: At $7 per trade, the value of the free trades is $21, not very much compared with other bonuses listed above. However, I have had very good experience with Scottrade so far, despite the no-so-low commission.

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Current Bank & Broker Promotion Bonuses

Capital One Online Savings Account $50 Bonus

Sun — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:01:07 +0000

Capital One Direct is offering $25 bonus for its Online Savings Account and Money Market Account.

I opened a Capital One Savings Account last year when the rate was much higher and much attractive than the current rate of 1.60% APY. To give you an idea of where Capital One is in terms of rate, take a look at how it compares with other popular online banks:

Ever Bank: 2.25% APY (3-month bonus rate)
SmartyPig: 2.01% APY
Ally Bank: 1.39% APY
Sallie Mae: 1.35% APY
WTDirect: 1.26% APY
FNBO Direct: 1.25% APY
HSBC Direct: 1.15% APY
ING Direct: 1.15%APY

As you can see, Capital One is right in the middle. Actually, good rate for savings account is hard to find these days. Many banks are still lowering their rates (see Online Bank Interest Rate History for latest rates) while the benchmark rate has remained stable for a very long time. Among the bank listed above, one exception is Ally Bank, which recently raised its online savings account rate from 1.75% to 1.80% APY. This is the second rate increase for the bank in two months. Hope the move signals that savings account rates have already reached the bottom. We can all use a good rate for our money

Anyway, for this Capital One offer, it is valid for first-time customers only. If you are an existing customer of Capital One Direct Banking or had an account with them before, then you are not eligible for the bonus offer. To get the $25 bonus, you must open an account with promotion code SAVER25DF before November 25, 2009 and make at least $10,000 deposit (Online Savings account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 to earn the 1.60% APY; balance below the minimum will earn 0.60% APY instead).

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

Capital One Online Savings Account $50 Bonus

TradeKing $50 Bonus for New Account Is Back

Sun — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:14:01 +0000

It was only a month ago when TradeKing celebrated the National Friendship Day with a promotion that gave a $50 bonus to people who opened a new account through a reference from an existing customer. Now the online discount broker is bringing back the popular promotion for the month of October and November.

If you want to take advantage of this offer, all you need to do is following these steps:

Open a TradeKing brokerage account before November 30, 2009;
Fund the account with at least $2,500 within 30 days after the account is opened;
Make a trade 180 days of the account opening;
And collect $50 bonus.

Unlike the previous promotion, no reference is necessary this time to get the bonus. You can simply use this link to open an account and meet the requirements. However, you do have to keep the initial fund ($2,500) in the account for at least 6 months; otherwise, the bonus will be forfeited.

TradeKing is one of the stock brokers I am actively using. The broker charges $4.95 for online stock trading and $0.50 more for each contract in options trading. I have discussed TradeKing quite often here. To learn more about the broker, check out my TradeKing review for stock and options trading. The promotion ends November 30, 2009.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

TradeKing $50 Bonus for New Account Is Back

College Advantage $25 Referral Bonus Is Back

Sun — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:47:13 +0000

If you missed CollegeAdvantage’s bonus offer early this year, you can get it now.

Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan, which was named by Morningstar one of the best college savings plans in April, is running the promotion program again. If you are interested in opening a 529 account with CollegeAdvantage and receiving the bonus (and make some money yourself), simply follow these steps:

Go to Ohio CollegeAdvantage and open an account;
During the application, use reference code 2331122 in order to receive the bonus;
Fund the account with at least $25 to qualify for the bonus;
Receive the bonus in 7 t0 10 business days;
Use the $25 bonus you just earned to start saving right away;
Refer your colleagues and friends to CollegeAdvantage plan and earn more bonuses (up to $500).

I am using the plan myself and you can read my discussion of CollegeAdvantage and find more information about the plan. This offer ends on December 15, 2009.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

College Advantage $25 Referral Bonus Is Back

TradeKing National Friendship Day Promotion: Get $50 Bonus When Opening a New Account

Sun — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:27:47 +0000

TradeKing, one of the brokers that I am actively using, is celebrating the National Friendship Day in August with a promotion!

When the broker ran the program last year, I think it was quite successful from what I can see. Now the program is back with the same promotional bonus of $50. Here’s what you need to do in order to get the bonus:

Open a new, non-IRA account with TradeKing by August 27th with at least $1,000 deposit within 30 days of opening the account and make at least one trade within 180 days. TradeKing will then credit you $50.

If you are interested in getting the bonus, use the Contact page to send me an email to request a referral link with TradeKing referral in the subject. Also, be sure to check out my TradeKing review to get a better idea of the broker and see how it compare with other brokers.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

TradeKing National Friendship Day Promotion: Get $50 Bonus When Opening a New Account

ING Electric Orange $25 Bonus Promotion Code

Sun — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:05:45 +0000

Just got this email from ING Direct.

The online bank is currently running a promotion for its Electric Orange Checking Account. The promotion will give $25 bonus to each new customer when the following conditions are met:

Open an Electric Orange with promotion code EM298 by August 22, 2009;
Activate the Electric Orange MasterCard Debit Card;
Use the Electric Orange Card to make at least 3 signature-based purchases in the first 45 days after the account has been opened;
$25 bonus will be automatically deposited into the Electric Orange 50 days after the account has been opened.

Electric Orange is ING’s interest bearing checking account, but the interests paid on small account balance is close to nothing. Currently, an account with balance up to $50,000 only earns 0.25% APY. I don’t know if you like this account or not, but I am definitely not interested. If I have that amount of money, I will put it in a savings account instead to earn a much better yield.

BTW, if you are looking for $25 bonus to open an ING Direct Orange Savings Account, you can a lot of referral links here.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

ING Electric Orange $25 Bonus Promotion Code

Zecco Forex Promotion Code for $200 Bonus When Opening a Forex Account

Sun — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:38:20 +0000

Update: I was informed by Zecco that the promotion code is not transferable. Therefore, the bonus will only be rewarded to those who received the promotional email from Zecco and meet all the requirements. If you didn’t receive the original email, then you are not eligible for the bonus.

I got this email from Zecco some time ago, but since I don’t trade Forex, I somehow forgot about it until now.

Early this year, Zecco, an online discount broker known for its zero-commission stock trading, launched Zecco Forex trading platform for currency traders. Now it’s giving up to $200 bonus for each new forex trading account that is opened and funded and at least one trade is made before July 31, 2009. The exact amount of bonus depends on the account deposit:

< $1,000: $50 bonus
$1,001 – $2,500: $75 bonus
$2,501 – $10,000: $100 bonus
> $10,001: $200 bonus

To get the bonus, simply open a Zecco Forex trading account using promotion code CashAd04, make a deposit and place one trade before the end of this month.

Once the conditions are met, the bonus will be credited within 3 – 5 business days. However, the cash bonus can’t be withdrawn from the account within 90 days of initial funding.

One the other hand, if you are interested in opening a brokerage account instead, use the following links to get 10 commission free trades every month:

	Description
Buy Stocks Online for $0	Trade stocks for free on Zecco.com when making 25 trades or more every month.
Trade Stocks for Free	100% free stock trade. Open an account with $25,000 minimum and get 10 trades per month commission free.
Free Blogs, Forums & Trade	Why Invest in stocks? Find out at Zecco for free blogs, forums and trade.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

Zecco Forex Promotion Code for $200 Bonus When Opening a Forex Account

WT Direct $150 Bonus Promotion

Sun — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:30:25 +0000

WTDirect, one of the popular online banks, is running a promotion again that, for a limited time, will give up to $150 bonus for every new account.

The bank had run a few similar promotions in the past and from what I can see, the promotions were quite successful in generating interests. The yield of WTDirect savings account is currently at 1.76% APY, which hasn’t changed for more than three months (therefore, the rate is much more stable than rates of other banks). The rate isn’t the highest for sure, but it beats easily rates of other banks such as FNBO Direct, ING Direct, and HSBC Direct. The only drawbacks is that WTDirect requires a minimum balance of $10,000 in order to earn that interest rate. The yield is 0.15% APY for balance below $10,000. If like promotions the bank had before, then at least $10K is required to earn the bonus.

Right now, there isn’t much details on exactly how much bonus you can earn from the promotion, but it will depend on the amount of initial deposit, as in previous promotions. To earn the bonus, you must open and fund your account before July 31 and the money must remain in the account for at least three months (until October 30, 2009). If all the conditions are met, the bonus will be credited into your account by November 20, 2009.

Update: Here’s how much you can get from the promotion, depending on your initial deposit:

Deposit and balance of $10,000: $25 bonus
Deposit and balance of $20,000: $50 bonus
Deposit and balance of $30,000: $75 bonus
Deposit and balance of $40,000: $100 bonus
Deposit and balance of $50,000 or more: $150 bonus

There’s no promo code for this offer. To get up to $150 free money from WTDirect, simply use this link to open an account.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

WT Direct $150 Bonus Promotion

Bank of America $25 Bonus for Using Online Bill Pay

Sun — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:24:22 +0000

Even though I am a Bank of America customer, I don’t think I got this offer myself directly from the bank. But apparently the bank is giving $25 bonus for using their online bill pay functions twice.

To get the bonus, you will need to register with the bank first. Information needed for the registration include last name, last 4 digits of checking account number, Zip code, and email address. Once the registration is done, you will get a confirmation with what to do next:

Remember, to receive your $25, simply pay 2 bills within 30 days with Online Banking.

I just registered myself and will pay 2 bills very soon (I have been using BofA online bill pay for a long time). Let see when the bonus will come.

Update: On the registration page, it says

This is a special limited time offer available to existing consumer and small business customers who have not made a bill payment with Bank of America Online Banking within the last 6 months.

So it looks like I won’t get that $25 bonus after all

Don’t have a BofA checking account? Then this is your lucky day. If you take advantage of this special offer to open checking account with $250 minimum, you can get another $75 bonus. With the $25 offer above, you can get as much as $100.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

Bank of America $25 Bonus for Using Online Bill Pay

ShareBuilder $25 Bonus Promotion Code

Sun — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:30:55 +0000

ShareBuilder isn’t the online discount broker that I would recommend.

Even though $4 per investment is quite low, the planned investment scheme itself lacks the flexibility if you want to invest at your own time, instead of a fixed day every month. In addition, the actual cost of each investment can be rather high if only a very small amount of money (for example, $100, which is quite typical for investors who do dollar-cost-averaging) is invested each month. If I want to invest in stocks, I’d rather pay $4.50 per trade to buy shares with Zecco, for instance, at any time I want than paying $4 to invest with ShareBuilder on the first Tuesday of the month.

Anyway, that’s just what I would do. If you like ShareBuilder’s scheduled investment scheme, you can use promo code SBMP25 to open a ShareBuilder account and get $25 bonus (valid for first-time ShareBuilder account holders only). To qualify for the bonus, you must open the account with the promotion code and make at least one trade. One these requirements are met, the bonus will be credited within 4 weeks.

BTW, this offer is from ShareBuilder via MyPoints. As I mentioned early, MyPoints let you earn reward points for free by simply clicking the ads they send to you every day. Each click can earn you 5 points and there are multiple bonus offers every day. If you want to accumulate points faster, you can actually take up the offers (if you like them of course). For example, for the ShareBuilder offer, in addition to the $25 bonus, you can also receive 550 points from MyPoints if you open the account through MyPoints. Points earned can be redeemed for gift cards (3,75 points for a $25 Amazon.com gift card). Check it out if the program interests you.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

ShareBuilder $25 Bonus Promotion Code

Reminder: CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan $25 Bonus Ends Soon

Sun — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:16:28 +0000

Just a quick reminder that the $25 bonus from Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan will end at the end of this month.

If you are considering open a college savings account for your child’s future education, Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan makes a nice choice. The nationally available program was selected by Morningstar last month as one of the best college savings plans in the nation for its low cost, broad investment selections, and solid performance.

The CollegeAdvantage plan is running a spring promotion that will give $25 bonus to each new program participant if the account is opened before May 31st December 31, 2009. If you are interested, you can simply go to Ohio CollegeAdvantage and use reference code 2331122 open your account. The bonus will be credited 7 to 10 business days after the account opening.

Update: The referral bonus is back. You can follow the above instructions to open an account and get $50 bonus. Offer ends December 31, 2009.

photo credit: Marcus Mo

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

Special bonus offers

Reminder: CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan $25 Bonus Ends Soon