Personal finance
optionsXpress Platinum Visa Card Offers 12-month 0% Balance Transfer
Nowadays, you won’t find many credit card issuers who are willing to give you 12 months of free loans (0% APR for 12 months) and even if there are card companies can give you 0% APR for 12 months, they usually charge at least 3% if you use the card to make balance transfer (the [...]
Ally Bank Accounts Fully Functional, But …
I just had an argument with the bank that doesn’t make me feel very comfortable.
When I opened Ally Bank accounts last week, I deposited only $1,000 in the 9-month No Penalty CD account. That’s just the initial deposit that I plan to add more to later after the account is set up (it doesn’t make [...]
Ally Bank Online Savings Account Opened
Well, I finally pulled the trigger to open an Ally Bank Online Savings Account and a 9-month No Penalty CD Account, after mulling the idea for weeks but only watching the rates slipping further and further. Had I opened the account when I first discussed Ally Bank’s products at the beginning of the month, I [...]
I Hate IGoBanking
It looks like I made a big mistake about two months ago when I moved all my money from Dollar Savings Direct to IGoBanking.
I have left IGoBanking a long time ago, but moved back in April after seeing their actually increased the rate of their savings account from 1.85% APY to 2.12% APY, the highest [...]
Alternatives to MS Money
Early last week, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Money Plus will no longer be available for purchase after June 30, 2009 and all purchased Money Plus products must be activated before January 31, 2011. The software maker cites the change in the market where banks, brokers, even third parties have started to offer their customers free, [...]
Did TurboTax Mis-calculate My Recovery Rebate Credit?
It never makes me feel good when receiving a letter from the IRS because most of the time, it’s not going to be a good news (luckily I haven’t got into any trouble with the IRS so far). So when I saw the letter from IRS in my mailbox today, I was first kind of [...]
American Express Online Savings Account 2% APY
Here’s another high-yield savings account offer, even though the rate isn’t as good as the rate from Ally Bank I mentioned last week.
The new offer is the High-Yield Savings Account from American Express. The credit card issuer received permission from the Fed to become a bank holding company last November. Right now the savings account [...]
Free Online Money Management Tools That Make Your Life Easier
Are you using any free online personal finance tools such as Mint, Yodlee, Wesabe, or Quicken Online?
I am not really a big fan of online tools as I prefer to store sensitive information on my home computer instead of on a website. For example, I use Quicken Home & Business to track my investments and [...]
Chase Introduces Ultimate Rewards
A couple of days ago, I read an article on the Wall Street Journal about a new credit card rewards program Chase has just launched. The new program is called Ultimate Rewards, similar to Citibank’s ThankYou Network program and American Express’s Membership Rewards program. Basically, cardholders earn rewards points when using participating Chase credit cards [...]
Ally Bank Made Significant Rate Changes
People always say good things will come to an end, but for Ally Bank, the good things lasted too short and the end came a little too fast.
Just two days ago, I praised Ally Bank for offering very attractive rates for its products, including savings account, money market account, and CD, when the trend for [...]
