MyCardBlog

I just mentioned the free iPod banking bonus from Bank of North Georgia yesterday. I received an email from my friend about another banking bonus from Guaranty Bank today. This banking bonus opportunity can give you up to $75 bonus without direct deposit requirement. Following are some requirements to get the $75 bonus:

1. Open a Free & Easy Checking account before July 31, 2008
2. The account opening balance must be equal to full face value of the Economic Stimulus payment
3. You have to present paper stimulus check or valid bank statement showing the IRS direct deposit at account opening
4. Account must remain open and active (at least 1 deposit per month but not direct deposit!) through 12/31/08

After you meet all of the above mentioned requirements, the $75 bonus will be credited to your checking account at Guaranty Bank in January 2009. You have to present Stimulus Checks or related proofs (if you use direct deposit) to get the bonus.

The Free & Easy account features:

• Free checks all life
• One FREE overdraft per yea
• FREE Preferred BillPay
• FREE of minimum balance requirement
• Free Grocery Rewards Visa® Check Card: earn 1% cash back when you shop at Guaranty Bank grocery store partners, use your Check Card and hit “credit”

If you open a savings account together with checking account, you have the chance to get $100 per year from Guaranty Bank from their Savings PayBack Program! It’s very easy: When you make 11 consecutive monthly transfers, Guaranty Bank will reward you by matching your average Savings PayBack monthly transfer amount, up to $100, in the 12th month. You can choose to automatic transfer $25 from your checking account to savings account and enjoy $100 bonus in the 12th month. Plus the automatic transfer service is free!

This promotion is in branch only which means only residents at Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Georgia are available to open an account in branches. Details of this promotion can be found at Guanranty Bank branches.

I think this is a great find for most of mycardblog.com readers! Bank of North Georgia is offering a free iPod Nano now for opening a new personal checking account and make some required activities.

Here are three easy steps to get a free iPod Nano:

• Open a Bank of North Georgia Personal Signature Free Checking Account between May 8 and June 20, 2008
• Enroll in the online banking service
• Make 3 Bill Payments by July 31, 2008

Then Bank of North Georgia will send a new iPod Nano to you by October 1, 2008. Note: This offer is available to new Bank of North Georgia customers only. Limit one free iPod nano per qualifying household.

The Signature Free Account Features:

1. Regardless of the account balance, there is no monthly service fee with our Signature Free Checking account

2. Free Visa Check Card

3. Free Online Banking Service

4. Free Online Bill Pay

In order to open an account at Bank of North Georgia, you have to go to local branches (Branches are located in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Fayetteville, Marietta, Roswell and several other Georgia cities.) or call them at (770) 576-4471. If you are out of Georgia, you can still open an account with Bank of North Georgia and earn a free iPod Nano. For more information, you can contact them at info@bankofnorthgeorgia.com. The promotion page can be found here.

Today I received an email from American Express for my Blue from American Express Card. According to the email, I can earn double points for virtually everything I charge on my Blue from American Express Card from June 1 to August 31, 2008. As indicated on the website, if I charge $250 on my American Express card, I can get 500 membership rewards points. To be eligible to receive double points from American Express, you have to enroll your American Express card before July 15, 2008.

It seems this is a targeted offer. Although two of my friends have the Preferred Rewards Gold Card (offer 10,000 bonus points now), only one of them have received the similar offer. The total bonus points earned each calendar month are subject to maximum monthly limits of 5,000 points.

Fine print about this promotion:

Offer valid from 6/1/2008 through 8/31/2008. To be eligible to earn Membership Rewards^® bonus points, you must register by 7/15/2008. Only Cardmembers invited to participate may enroll. You must have a Membership Rewards account with a personal or small business American Express Card linked to it at the time of enrollment to participate and at the time of purchase to earn bonus points. To be eligible to earn bonus points, Card account(s) must be active and not in default at the time of bonus fulfillment.

There are many ways to enroll your American Express Cards: 1. go to americanexpress.com/bonuspoints124 and enter 14-digit RSVP code or loginyour account to see whether you are eligile to receive this offer; 2. Call Ameircan Express at 1-800-794-1308 and mention promotion code 116780044. You have to enter your account number as well.

Once you successfully enroll in the promotion, a thankyou page will appear.

I have a post about the new CitiBank Promotion which will give you $200 bonus if you can meet their requirements. Jim Semple made excellent comments on my previous post. The promotion code is CEMX. The promotion can be found at offer.citibank.com.

Today I found a new promotion code: CSVL. This new promotion coed gives you different promotion bonus: 16,000 ThankYou Points and triple thankyou points rewards for every dollar spent on your citi debit card in the first 12 months. The 16,000 ThankYou Points can be redeemed as a $150 gift card at thankyou network. Plus you can also get triple bonus points for your everyday banking activities linked to your checking account. The application  page can be found here.

Fine Print:

How to get 16,000 bonus thankyou points?

To qualify for the 16,000 bonus ThankYou Points offer, you must open a new qualifying regular checking account in the Citibank® Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package by 7/31/08 and deposit at least $1,000 in account between account opening date and 7/31/08. Accounts opened through Citibank Financial Centers must be funded by 7/31/08. Accounts opened remotely via CitiPhone Banking® or Citibank® Online must be funded by 8/30/08. Within 60 days of account opening, you must (1) enroll your new checking account in ThankYou® Network and (2) complete one direct deposit per month, two electronic bill payments or five signature debit card transactions and continue for three consecutive months.

How to get triple bonus points?

To qualify for the triple ThankYou Points offer, you must open a new qualifying regular checking account in the Citibank® Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package and enroll account in ThankYou Network. Your points from both qualifying debit card purchases and your checking relationship will be tripled for twelve (12) checking statement cycles commencing with the second full statement cycle after the statement period in which you enroll the new checking account in ThankYou Network. Monthly points for checking relationship require customer to maintain an active checking account with customer initiating minimum of one credit or debit transaction to the account per statement cycle. You can refer to this page to figure out how to use your citibank account to earn thankyou points.

As I pointed out at the beginning of this post, you can read Jim’s comment here to get better understanding of monthly fees. If you use CitiBank a lot and don’t like cash bonus, you can choose this promotion!

I received an email from Victor about the new promotion from Chase Amazon.Com Visa Card. As I attached in this post, you can get $10 statement credit from Chase if you spend more than $100 from May 23 to June 19, 2008. This seems a new promotion from Chase Amazon Visa Card which has just terminated the previous promotion.

This is a great offer for Amazon.com card members. You can spend $100 not just at Amazon.Com but anywhere. So it’s equal to 10% off everything for $100 charged on this card. The $10 statement credit will be deposited to your account in about 8~10 weeks after the promotion period. Please note that the $100  doesn’t include balance transfers, cash advances, checks used to access to your account, interest and other fees that are not defined as purchases.

I haven’t received the postcard from Chase about this promotion. But, according to Victor who has already got the postcard about this promotion, there should be another version of this promotion—$25 statement credit for $100 charged on Chase Amazon.Com Visa Card. He told me that his roommate got the “$25 offer”.

Please keep an eye out for the postcard from Chase if you have the Chase Amazon.Com Visa Card.  I believe all of the Chase Amazon.Com Card membes will receive the promotion sooner or later.

This is a guest post from Tisha A. Kulak.

In today’s volatile economy, many people may find themselves struggling financially. If you have fallen on hard times and your credit is damaged because of it, you may have an uphill battle re-establishing good credit. If your credit worthiness has been compromised it is imperative to take steps to get it back on track for a successful financial future. That may be difficult as creditors and lenders will be less inclined to extend credit to you. What do you do to re-establish your credit? You can start by getting a secured credit card.

What is a secured credit card?

An unsecured credit card means that you are on record as the individual responsible for the debt incurred on that card. With a secured credit card you are required to make a deposit into a bank account that acts as a guarantor in the event you are unable to repay the debt. Your credit limit on a secured credit card is normally 50%-100% of the deposit you make. The minimum deposit is generally from $250-$500.

What are the advantages of secured credit?

• Poor payment habits are often the cause of damaged credit. By using this card responsibly and making timely payments you are taking steps to show future lenders that you are not a credit risk. Make sure your secured card reports to all three major credit bureaus so your payment history is available for future creditors to review.
• Since your credit limit is based on money you have deposited into an account, you will have a preset limit that cannot be exceeded. This is a good way to control your spending and keep it in check.
• Having a credit card is a necessary for some transactions. You need a credit card for hotels and car rentals. Although you may not qualify for an unsecured credit card, you are still able to make these transactions with your secured credit.

What are the fees associated with secured credit?

While there are usually fees incurred with all credit cards, be on the lookout for specific fees when applying for secured credit. These fees include application fees, processing fee, and annual fees. These sometimes “hidden” fees will be deducted from your available credit so be sure to read the fine print. You will want to shop around for interest rates as well. Just because you have poor credit shouldn’t mean you have to settle for the highest interest rate.

When can I transition to an unsecured card?
Although it doesn’t take very long to ruin your credit, re-establishing it can take a much longer time. The minimum amount of time before you see changes to your credit score will be a few months, but it may take up to two years before you are eligible for unsecured credit.

In the interim, use your secured credit card to develop good spending habits, set a budget you can afford and live with, and as a tool to show future lenders that you are indeed worthy of credit. It is indeed an uphill battle, but one you can not afford to lose.

Tisha Kulak is a writer for CreditorWeb.com, where she writes about secured credit cards, rewards programs and personal finance.

Today one of my friends asked me a very good question: How do I know that the url as described in the credit card application invitations are legitimate and not a scam? After a while, I responded: check my blog tomorrow.

Then I started to sort out the credit card websites from major credit card issuers. I think this it’s important to make sure you search on the internet for a while to make sure the websites that you are going to fill in your personal information is legitimate. You have to be extremely careful to prevent every possibility of identity theft.

Another point here is: you can’t believe the invitations except for those from household bank and orchard bank. Invitation letters are a kind of advertisement. The credit card companies buy your personal information (address) from credit report agencies. (You will see “soft inquiries” from many credit card companies in your credit report.) Most of invitations are trash. They are not targeted to your personal credit profiles, although all of them will say “you’re pre-approved!”. Actually, if you read carefully, you will see “In some instances,we may not be able to open account/approve your application for you.” on the letter (small print).

• Chase Personal and Business Card: www.chase.com
• Capital One Personal and Business Card: www.mycapitalonecard.com, www.getmycard.com
• WaMu Visa Platinum Credit Card (personal and business card) : www.getmyvisa.com
• Household Bank Master/Visa Card: www.hbaccpet.com
• Orchard Bank Master/Via Card: www.acceptourcard.com/visa, www.acceptourcard.com/mc
• Bank of America Credit Card: www.mynewcard.com
• HSBC BestBuy RewardZone MasterCard: www.getmyRZmastercard.com
• Advanta Business Card: www.bestcardoffer.com
• US Bank Visa Platinum Card (usually comes with 0% APR on balance transfer) : www.usbank.com/myoffer
• Citi CashReturns or Other Credit Cards: applyonline.citicards.com
• Citi Home Depot Consumer Credit Card: www.homedepot.com/preapproved
• American Express SimplyCash Business Card: www.open.com/applysimplycash
• American Express Gold SkyMiles Card: www.americanexpress.com/applydeltagold
• American Express Gold Rewards Card: www.open.com/applyBGR
• Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard: www.miles1.citicards.com or www.fly9.citicards.com (They change the miles1 or fly9 frequently, it’s highly YMMV for you.)
• Discover Card (including all of discover cards issued by discover bank): www.mydiscovercard.com. There is another website for special invitation code: www.apply.discovercard.com.

If you know some websites that I haven’t included in this list, please leave a comment.

Free 100 ThankYou Points: Go to https://www.thankyou.com/promotionalCodePage.jspx and login to your account. Then enter the code CITICCI508IN.

If you choose a right plastic and put it in your wallet, you might save hundreds of dollars a years at the pump. Following are my top-rated gas rebate cards.

Do you want to save 20 cents or 40 cents per gallon at the pump (Yes, current gas price is $4!)? Do you want to enjoy rewards other than at the pump?

Some gas-rebate cards can help you save money at everywhere. If you are still doubting the power of cash rewards that gas-rebate cards can bring to you, we can do the simple math. I assume you are driving a 20-mpg car with annual mileage at 15,000 and the gas price is fixed at $4/gallon. A 5% gas rewards card can save you $150 a year. If you are driving a SUV, truck or other cars, then a right gas-rebate card can save you even more money. Of course, the prerequisite is you are not carrying balance on your credit cards. If you carry balance every month, you top choices would be those with low interest rates.

How to pick a gas rebate card?

I think you should consider you driving habits and credit habits before you pull the trigger. If you drive the same route daily or weekly and fill your tank at the same pump, you can choose a gas store card issued by gasoline company and a credit card company. If you want to carry balance and pay off part of your monthly bills, you should consider a card with low interest rate as well as gas rewards. You might also think about how you like the cash rewards paid to you. Some rewards are credited to your account monthly (AMEX SimplyCash Card). And some rewards are issued to you at the end of the year. Following are some cards for your reference:

1. Ameircan Express SimplyCash Card: This card definitely should be on the top of this ranking although is a business card. (For tips on how to apply for a business card without a business, you can read this post.) Because it also gives you 5% cash back at wireless services and office supplies. You can get 5% cash back at pumps without limit! The cash rewards will be credited to your monthly statement (nice!). Another feature I want to point out here is this card is a business card and the usage of this card will not appear on your personal credit report. NO matter how much you spend on this card, it just won’t affect your credit score.

2. Discover Open Road Card: This card offers 5% cash back on gas and auto-maintenance purchases. This card is especially designed to drivers who want to save money on auto maintenance by using a credit card. The trick of this card is you can only get 5% from the first $100 spent on gas and auto maintenance purchases every month. However, Discover offers great rewards program. If you choose to redeem you cash as a gift card, your rewards might be doubled! Yes, this is why I like Discover card! If you like online shopping, you might also take advantage of the ShopDiscover program.

3. TrueEarnings Business Card from American Express and Costco: This card offers 5% cash back on gasoline purchases. (Note: Exclude gas purchased at warehouse clubs other than Costco, superstores or supermarkets. For example, if you fill your tank at Wal-Mart gas stations, you can’t get 5% cash back. But you can get 5% cash back at BP or Shell gas stations.) You can get 3% cash back at restaurants and 2% cash back for traveling. You can get 1% cash back for everything else. If you‘re a Costco member, you might try this card. This card has non-business version which only offers 3% cash back on gasoline purchases.

Start saving at the pumps now!