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For those who still don’t have a checking account at Chase or WaMu, there is good news. Chase and WaMu branches will have a new checking account bonus for those who open a new checking account on President’s Day. The bonus is $100 and there is no coupon or promotional code needed. You have to go to your local branches to get the bonus and open a new checking account.

Here’s what you should do to get the bonus:

1. Call your local Chase/Wamu branches and confirm there is a checking account promotion on President’s Day with $100 bonus.

2. Go to your local Chase/WaMu branches and open a new checking account with $100 new money.

3. In order to qualify for the bonus, you have to set up direct deposit from your payroll/PayPal/ING etc and to waive monthly fees.

4. Wait for the $100 bonus show up in your new account.

Also for those who still don’t have a OLD Version Chase Freedom Card which offers 3% cash back on 5 different categories, you can still get one at local Chase Branch. Of course, this offer comes with $50 sign up bonus. The new Chase Freedom Card obviously is not as good as the old one.

Sterling Savings Bank is running a banking promotion from which you can get $101 bonus for completing required banking activities. This is a first report of banking promotion from Sterling Savings Bank here at MyCardBlog.com. It seems this $101 is easy to get for people living in West Coast where most Sterling Savings Bank branches located.

The promotion is listed on its website at www.sterlingsavingsbank.com. The promotion page can be found through this link. This promotion requires you to open a new checking account and complete 3 of 4 banking activities. The 4 banking activities are: bill pay, direct deposit, check card and online statement. If you don’t want to bother your payroll office, you can simply use bill pay, check card and online statement to qualify for the promotion.

Fine print:

To be eligible for the $101 incentive, you must enroll in three of the four following products within 90 days of account opening: Bill Pay, Online Statements, Check Card and/or Direct Deposit and meet specific usage requirements in conjunction with opening a new personal checking account.

Following is how to get the bonus:

You must meet 3 of the following 4 requirements: be enrolled in Free Bill Pay, enrolled in Online Statements, have a minimum of one (1) incoming Direct Deposit or ACH credit on your checking account within 90 days of account opening or use your Check Card a minimum of three (3) times within the first 90 days of account opening. Check Card transactions can be ATM, point-of-sale (POS) with PIN or signature based transactions. According to the usage requirements, ING direct or paypal transfer should be counted as the direct deposit.

You account will be reviewed after 3 months. The $101 will be credited to your checking account within four calendar months of account opening upon meeting usage requirements.

This $101 seems pretty easy to get. But Sterling Savings Bank only has branches at AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, OR, NV, UT and WA.

Sterling Savings Bank has the BucksBack Platinum Edition Visa Card which offers $50 sign up bonus after first use of this credit card. With this credit card, you can get 1% cash back on all qualifying purchases without annual fee. Another feature is you can actually design the card design by uploading your own photos. It’s a cool credit card to own!

Today I received a mail from Discover Card. It seems that Discover Card is going to launch a new card-Current by Discover Card. This Current by Discover Card is actually a debit card. It is not a credit card. According to the introduction, this card is designed for parents to teach teens to manage money. This card is a new debit card which allows parents to set daily spending limit.

What is Current by Discover Card?

Unofficially, this Current by Discover Card is a new kind of debit card which allows parents and their teens to control and introduce smart spending habits. With this new debit card, children can learn how to manage their money and develop spending habits. This card can be used at everywhere that Discover Card is accepted. You can even get cash from ATMs.

What’s new with Current by Discover Card?

The only feature that catchs my eyes is it allows parents to set daily/weekly/monthly spending caps and also the ability to block certain kinds of merchant categories like liquor stores, tobacco stores, bars and ATM withdrawals. This Current by Discover Card also features e-mail, tet message and online statement to let parents monitor and track their chilren’s useage of money.

It’s easy to load money to this Current by Discover Card. Parents can set up their account to automatically add money to the Current by Discover Card from their Discover Card or another major credit card or debit card, from a bank account or by direct deposit. Teens can also set up free direct deposit and have their paycheck deposited into the account. There is a $2,500 per card limit on this card.

Parents can customerize daily, weekly or monthly spending limit for each Current by Discover Card. The limit can be adjusted easily. Since this is a debit card, this card will not affect parents or teens’ credit report.

AS I mentioned at the very beginning, this card allows parents restrict certain merchant categories. This can be done easily in the account center by clicking “Manage This Card” tab.

There are different card designs to choose from. The only downside of this card is there is a $5 membership fee for each month. So the annual fee would be $60. More details can be found at CurrentbyDiscover.com or 1-866-99-CURRENT (1-866-992-8773).

Discover just launched a new credit card-the Escape by Discover Card which is offering 25,000 bonus miles for new customers. This is an upgraded version of the Miles by Discover Card which is offering 12,000 bonus miles without annual fee. But this Escape by Discover Card has a $60 annual fee. This new travel rewards card is designed for those don’t travel a lot but want to accumulate miles for future use.

About the 25,000 bonus miles:

Escape by Discover Card offers 1,000 miles for each month you make a purchase with this card for the first 25 months. The total bonus miles you can get are 25,000 miles.

About the rewards program:

With this new upgraded miles credit card, you can earn 2 miles for every dollar you spend on this card. You will earn 2 additional miles for each $1 you spend through ShopDiscover, Discover’s exclusive online shopping network. To make the rewards even sweeter, there’s no limit on how many miles you can earn and the miles you accumulated never expire. The most attractive part is the miles can be redeemed for unrestricted travel credits to your credit card or even gift card or cash rewards.

For every 10,000 miles you can get $100 travel credit to your credit card account. For every 5,000 miles you can get $25 deposited to your bank account. Personally I like the travel credit method.  Of course, it’s up to you on how to redeem the bonus miles. There is no restrict on how to redeem the miles.

There is a $60 annual fee associated with this credit card. It can not be waived. The information about the Escape by Discover Card can be found at http://www.discovercard.com/escape/. However, the official Discovercard website only offers 12,000 bonus miles. If you want to take advantage of the 25,000 bonus miles, you have to follow this link.

If you really like to accumulate miles, you should consider the Escape by Discover Card which is an upgraded version of the Miles by Discover Card.

There are many great rewards credit card offers out there. If you ask me which credit cards are great for daily use, I would pick the American Express Blue Cash Card, Discover More Card and the new Pentagon Federal Credit Union Visa Platinum Rewards Card. Actually, this Pentagon Federal Credit Union Visa Platinum Credit Card is a great rewards credit card for most people with low interest rate.

There are two different types of rewards credit card to choose from: Visa Platinum Gas Cash Reward and Visa Platinum for Travel and Merchandise Rewards.

The Visa Platinum Gas Cash Rewards Card features (strongly suggested):

• Earn 2% cash back on supermarket purchases
• Earn 5.00% cash back from gas purchases paid at the pump
• Earn 1.25% cash back from all purchases you make with the card during each billing cycle
• Up to $50,000 limit
• No Annual Fee
• Cash Rewards credited each month
• No special restrictions to earn your cash rewards
• 5.99% fixed APR for the life of the transferred balance!

Visa Platinum for Travel and Merchandise Rewards features:

• No Annual Fee
• Up to $50,000 limit
• Earn one point for every dollar in purchases you make with the card
• Redeem points for travel and premium merchandise
• 1,000 free points just for opening the Visa Platinum Travel Rewards card.
• 5.99% fixed APR for the life of the transferred balance!

For both credit cards, you can get a low 13.00% APR for standard purchases.

There is also a student card available for college students with a pre-determined $500 limit. This student card features:

• Low 13.99% APR — compare this low rate to the higher, variable rates offered at other institutions
• Earn 5.00% cash back from gas purchases paid at the pump
• Earn 1.25% cash back from all purchases* you make with the card during each billing cycle
• Credit card in student’s name — student actually builds credit in his or her name while in school

Of course, if you want to apply for one of above mentioned credit cards, you have to be the member of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union first. Pentagon Federal is a financial services company which specializes in serving the military. It defines who can be a member of the credit union.

• Active or Retired from the U.S. Army,Air Force, Coast Guard, Reserves, National Guard, ROTC (Advanced Cadets)
• Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW)
• Civilians employed by, or retired, Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Army, Air Force
• Pentagon Building employees
• Employees of the Transpotomac Plaza or Canal Center in Alexandria, VA
• Individuals who are assigned to, work at, or receive benefits from, any defense or military-based institution
• Family members of those in the Field of Membership, including: grandparents, parents, spouse, siblings, children (including adopted, foster and stepchildren), grandchildren, and household members.
• Family members and employees of Pentagon Federal Credit Union itself
• National Military Family Association members

My post on “How to get a discount from T-Mobile” is very popular. I believe that this post has helped a lot of people to save money on their T-Mobile cellular service. I personally use the Freelancersunion.org
discount. The reason why I use this discount is you don’t have to call T-Mobile and give them the promo code. All you have to do is finish the form online and the discount will automatically shown on your bill. This is the easiest method to get a discount from T-Mobile.

Right now we have another great method to get huge discount (usually 15%) from T-Mobile by using University discount. This is a new discount provided by T-mobile by corporation with major US universities. This has been confirmed to work and it’s very simple to complete the discount request over the phone with T-Mobile customer service.

Let’s see a typical announcement from Penn State University.

Following information is listed on its website:

INCREASED T-MOBILE DISCOUNTS!

T-Mobile has increased discounts from 10% to 15% for Penn State students, faculty and staff, effective January 12, 2009. If already enrolled in the T-Mobile/Penn State discount program, accounts will automatically receive the new discount. Existing T-Mobile customers can call 1-877-453-8824 to have the Penn State discount added to their account.

Clemson University also has a similar notice listed on its website:

• As a current Clemson University Student, Faculty, Staff or Alumnus, you and your immediate family can take advantage of this outstanding discount from T-Mobile!
• To Open a T-Mobile Account and Receive the 12% Discount — plus waived
  activation fees and discounted phones — just call 866-464-8662, select option 3, and provide this promotional code: 11303TMOFAV
  OR
  Visit T-Mobile Premiere for more details.
• To Receive the 12% Discount If You’re Already a T-Mobile Customer just call
  877-453-8824 and provide this promotional code: 11303TMOFAV

It seems that Clemson University needs a promotional code to get the discount. It seems that even alumnus (Everyone can be an alumnus of Clemson University, T-Mobile can’t check this. Employee’s family members can also qualify for this discount.)can use the discount to save money.

University of Kentucky

Welcome University of Kentucky Employees! Great News!  You are eligible to receive corporate benefits when you activate new service through this T-Mobile Premier site or by calling 1-866-464-8662 referencing promotional code 866TMOFAV and identifying yourself as a University of Kentucky employee.  Keep in mind that you may now transfer your current number to T-Mobile when signing up for T-Mobile service.  Simply call 1-866-464-8662 and reference promotional code 866TMOFAV.

University of Louisville

U of L Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Family Members qualify for 15% off their monthly bills and huge equipment discounts with T-Mobile when they purchase new equipment or upgrade equipment through Tom Tollefson @ www.tomst-mobilesales.com/uofl, login: uoflcardinals, password: uofl09tmo.

Drexel University

University Procurement announces that Drexel students, faculty and staff are now eligable for a 15 percent discount on any T-Mobile rate plan, plus discounts on the latest handsets.

Information about T-Mobile service and the Drexel program can be accessed through the T-Mobile Drexel discount portal http://www.t-mobile.com/Drexeldiscounts or by calling 1-866-464-8662 and mentioning promo code 4946TMOFAV.

Existing T-Mobile customers can call 1-877-453-8824 to have the Drexel discount added to your account.

There are more universities that can get discount from T-Mobile. When you call in, the customer support may ask for my University ID, email address with .edu. If you are not a university student you can use the promotional code I listed above.

Attached is a list of confirmed schools:
Princeton University
Fordham University
New York City Publics Schools (teachers and employees only)
NYU (Teachers and Employees only)
The Ohio State University (15%)
UKY
Rutgers
UC Berkeley
UC Irvine
Auburn University (15%)
Johns Hopkins University (15%)
University of Southern California (15%)
University of Texas (15%)
Colorado State University (15%)
San Fransisco State University (15%)
Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ (8-15%)
St.Cloud State University, MN (15%)
University of Minnesota (10%)
University of Illinois (15%)
Arizona State University (15%)
Brigham Young University – Provo (15%)
Indiana University (15%)
University of South Florida (15%)
University of Georgia (15%)
George Mason University (15%)
Old Dominion University (15%)
UVA (15%)
San Jose State University (15%)
Sacramento State University (15%)
Loyola University of Chicago (10%)
Valencia Community College (8%)
Kennesaw State University (15%)
Californis State University, Los Angeles (15%)
University of Rochester, (15%)
San Diego State University (15%)
CUNY Baruch College, New York (15%)

Recently, there are a lot of banking promotions. But this 8 GB Ipod Touch promotion from Bryn Mawr Trust Company is the best one that I have seen so far this year. We all know that a 8 GB Ipod Touch is equal to $200 which is a pretty sweet deal under current financial situation. This promotion is comparable to the $225 Citi Promotion. The only limitation of this promotion is the bonus is only available to PA residents at selected locations.

The promotion was advertised on Philadelphia Inquirer (reported in slickdeals.net). It was ont mentioned on its website www.bmtc.com. Here is the detail of this promotion:

• Open a new checking account with minimum $250 initial deposit
• Direct deposits from payroll or government
• Offer expires on Feb 28, 2009
• Two direct deposits must be received by BMTC by May 15, 2009
• Account must remain open for 1 year or else you’ll be charged $250 by BMTC

This promotion is available at all BMTC locations. You have to pick up the new iPod Touch at local branches by yourself.

If you are lucky enough to live near one of their branches, I strongly suggest you take this chance to get a free iPod Touch by transferring you payroll to BMTC. Or you can split you payroll to two or more different banks to earn more bonuses.

There are many banking promotions recently. Provident Bank is also offering sign up bonus for opening a checking account with direct deposit. This promotion is comparable to the $125 bonus from Chase Bank with direct deposit. If your payroll can split to different bank accounts, you can take the chance to earn $123! If you don’t have a Chase Bank account, you can earn $125! If you open a checking account from Chase and Provident together, you can earn $248 easy money!

The promotion page is listed on its website. The direct link is here.

Here is the promotion detail:

Provident Bank will award $123 to personal checking customers that open a new Totally Free, Regular, Interest or Platinum checking account between February 2 and March 31, 2009 that have direct deposit and an active Provident MasterMoney™ debit card by April 30, 2009. Customers that enroll in Provident Bank’s Power Points debit card rewards program by April 30, 2009 will receive 500 bonus points by May 31, 2009.

Minimum opening deposit of $25 is required for all personal checking accounts. The cash award will be deposited into qualifying personal checking accounts in good standing on or about May 31, 2009. The maximum award for this promotion is $123.

My last mention of the banking promotion from Provident Bank is here.

In summary, the steps to get the $123 bonus are:

Step 1:
Choose and open your checking account, plus order your FREE MasterMoney™ debit card.

Step 2:
Sign up for Direct Deposit.

Step 3:
Start using your new account and get $123.

There is no “HARD PULL” reported during the account opening process.