Credit Card Deals
How To Get Discover’s 5% Rebate In 2010
Discover Card has promoted its 5% Cashback Bonus on “rotating items” for quite some time.
But never knowing what might be eligible for that hefty rebate a few months down the road aggravated more than a few Discover More cardholders.
Now Discover is publishing a calendar of future offers on the Web page where you must sign-up in advance to qualify for each bonus.
Here’s where and when you can earn the 5% rebate on purchases at grocery stores, hotels, movie theaters and lots of other places during the first nine months of 2010.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Credit Cards Rates, Fees Keep Going Up
Well, you can’t say they didn’t warn us.
The banks threatened to go on a rate-raising, fee-hiking, rule-writing rampage if Congress approved the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2009.
It did and the result has been an unending stream of letters from my credit cards making good on that threat.
But I still find it ironic that the most recent arrived the day after the first few provisions of the law intended to protect me from the credit card industry’s worst abuses took effect.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Our Favorite Cards For College Students
If you’re heading back to campus this month, you need a credit card with the lowest possible interest rate and minimal fees.
With lots of expenses and not much income, you want to spend as little as possible to get the credit you need.
In a perfect world you’d pay off your balance every month and the interest rate wouldn’t matter all that much.
But a whopping 82% of college students don’t do that, and by the time they graduate they’re carrying $4,100 in credit card debt.
READ THE ENTIRE POST.
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Miss a payment, lose your points
Not paying your credit card bill on time can cost more than a late fee.
You could also lose all of the reward points or miles you earned that month — and every month until you catch up.
Most cards also forbid customers from redeeming any of the points or miles they’ve previously earned until they’re current with their payments.
Capital One seems to have the most stringent policy. Citi the most lenient. MORE.
Related Posts:Gold Delta SkyMiles or FlexMiles Visa?Earn 2% Rebates With Fidelity Rewards0% Interest on Capital One CardMake $400 on American Express BonusesFREE Airline Ticket from American Express
Out of the Inbox: Credit Karma’s Monthly Email is Hard to Ignore
I get dozens of newsletters and marketing pitches from my various financial accounts every month. While they are interesting to me as an analyst, for the average consumer there’s rarely any actionable information.
However, one financial company consistently drives users to its site month over month with their email missives. And they don’t even have to change the creative.
Free-credit-score provider Credit Karma simply reminds users that it’s been more than two weeks since they last checked their credit score. The company goes on to encourage users to check in every month to to make sure no adverse changes have occurred (see first screenshot below). It’s a simple yet powerful message that drives traffic to the company’s ad-supported site (see second and third screenshots).
I’ve received this message on the 16th of each month this year, except May, when I must have already visited Credit Karma in the two weeks prior. A large yellow button invites the reader to click through to see the latest score (see first screenshot).
And the technique seems to be working. Traffic, measured in unique visitors by Compete, is up six-fold in the past 12 months, to 310,000 visitors in July (see chart below).
Credit Karma email (received 16 July 2009; 10:05 AM Pacific)
Subject: Credit Karma update
Current landing page after clicking “update” button in email (13 Aug 2009)
Note: Virgin Money’s friends-and-family mortgage offering is the lead product placement while The Easy Loan Site has the top banner. Lending Club is also running a banner across the top.
Landing page two months ago (16 June 2009)
Note: Virgin Money’s friends and family was also the lead product placement, while ING Direct’s Sharebuilder had the banner. Virgin Money also has a product offer in the middle of the page.
PayPal Launches Drop-Dead Simple Teen Prepaid Card & PayPal Account
Sometimes, banks forget the importance of simplicity, especially when it comes to less-than-crucial ancillary services such as a prepaid teen account. Sure, I’d love to have a reloadable card that my son could stow in his backpack for emergencies. But I’m not going to spend a half-hour looking for one, applying for a new account, and then trying remember where and how to access it (see note 1).
But if it was a painless process that was integrated with my online banking, I’d buy a half-dozen prepaid cards, one for each child, one to toss in the glove box of each car, and another for my briefcase (note 2).
It looks like PayPal is the first to step up to this challenge with it’s new student account (company blog post) which has been in beta testing since last November (beta site; note 3). Not only is the account free of charge (note 4), it took just 51 seconds to signup.
Signup & funding
Current PayPal customers can sign up their kids for an account in under a minute. That includes clicking on the <paypal.com/StudentAccounts> URL, completing the six-field app (see first screenshot), all the way to the approval screen confirmation (screenshot #2). And, half that time was simply logging in to my PayPal account. If I’d already been logged in, the total time to complete the application, process it, and receive approval was just 23 seconds! That’s the fastest financial services application I’ve ever completed by a factor of 10 (note 5).
The account, which shows up as a link at the top of the parent’s PayPal account (screenshot #3) includes parental controls for all transaction types and comes with both an online account and a PayPal prepaid MasterCard debit card. Both will come in handy for today’s teen, who cannot easily shop online without a credit or debit card of their own.
Transferring funds to the account takes just seconds and parents can choose from one-time loads or periodic transfers so the card can be used to accumulate an allowance (screenshot #4). Transfers show up in real-time, with a green color coding, after hitting enter (screenshot #5).
Overall grade: I give it an A+ for ease of use and an A+ for value, a winning combination. Nice work.
1. PayPal teen card application for current PayPal customers (12 Aug 2009)
2. Congratulations screen
3. Student account, and prepaid balance, shows up on the parent’s main account overview page
4. Funds transfer screen
5. The funds transfer is immediately displayed within the student account area
Notes:
1. The final item is why the Visa Buxx card never worked for me. I bought one but could never remember how to access it or add more money.
2. Verient is doing some very cool things to help in this regard, we’ll profile them here soon.
3. Hat tip to Payments News for the link.
4. ING Direct’s system for creating a new savings sub-account is similar speedwise, but it’s not technically a new account.
5. The only major fees, besides PayPal merchant fees, are the $1 ATM withdrawal fee and a 2.5% foreign currency fee.
6. For more info on online account opening, refer to the latest issue of Online Banking Report:
Links from My Presentation at the National Credit Union Directors’ Convention
Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation: Ecommerce Opportunities for Credit Unions yesterday at the CU National Directors’ Convention in Las Vegas.
Here are the links to the examples cited:
Mobile banking
- Walt Mossberg’s Mar. 25, 2009 article about iPhone apps
- Apple’s “Apps for Managing Money” page
- MasterCard ATM Hunter iPhone app (iTunes link)
- Mobile remote deposit from WV United FCU (previous post)
- Chase text banking page
- Evangeline Credit Union (Canada) text/mobile banking demo
- Bank of America’s SafePass mobile security page
- Mobile payments integrated with prepaid cards at Obopay
- iPhone app on homepage at Meriwest Credit Union
Second-generation online banking (online banking 2.0)
- Startups demoing new financial apps (link to videos) at FinovateStartup 2009
- Quicken Online’s “what’s left until payday” tool
- Online personal financial management at Mint
- Long-term financial planning at SimpliFi
- Wesabe’s co-branded site at UK’s Telegraph and coming soon to Delta Community Credit Union and Addison Avenue Credit Union (also mentioned Jwaala)
- Property tax savings at LowerMyAssessment.com
- Home-Account’s fee-based mortgage management
- Free credit grades at KnowBeforeYouApply.com (also mentioned Credit Karma)
- BillShrink’s wireless savings tool and credit card tool
- Social savings at SmartyPig
Connecting with people
- Social networking tools showcased on Michigan State University Federal Credit Union’s (MSUFCU) homepage
- MSUFCU twitter page
- BakerTweet, the UK bakery using Twitter
- University of Wisconsin Credit Union’s blog, Source Code
- Blog feed on homepage of Piedmont Credit Union (no longer on homepage…blog has gone dormant)
- Subscription options at Piedmont CU’s blog site
- Facebook page at Fairwinds Credit Union
- FreeAllATMs campaign from Amplify Credit Union carried out on its Facebook page and YouTube page
- Video usage at Generations Federal Credit Union
- Our newsletter, Online Banking Report and next financial innovations conference Finovate 2009 in NYC, Sep. 29, 2009
VISA Launches Black Card
Step aside AMEX Centurion, VISA is entering the exclusive high net worth credit card business with their Black Card.
The perks?
The card is constructed of CARBON GRAPHITE (compared to titanium alloy for the AMEX Centurion)
24 hour concierge
Luxury gifts?
Annual fee is $495, compared to $2500 for AMEX
Only the top 1% of Americans will qualify for a card (fairly exclusive)
Leave a comment if you are approved for the card.
10% Off BP Gas With Chase Visa Card
Chase bank has a BP gas credit card that gives 10% off gas at BP pump locations.
-10% rebates on all BP location purchases
-4% rebates on all eligible travel and dining purchases
-2% rebates on all other eligible purchases
-5% rebates on all BP location purchases
-2% rebates on all eligible travel and dining purchases
-1% rebates on all other eligible purchases
Looks like a good credit card deal to me.
