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I mentioned the TD Ameritrade $100 bonus about one year ago. This promotion is offered by TD Ameritrade via Suze Orman’s Save Yourself Promotion. The $100 bonus will be awarded after one year after fulfill the requirements.

Following is how to get the $100 bonus:

Open a new Save Yourself account at TD Ameritrade

Set up monthly automatic electronic deposits of $100 or more for 12 months

$100 bonus will be awarded after account review passed

Suze Orman is an American Financial advisor. She is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. For more information about Suze Orman, you can visit at http://www.suzeorman.com/.

Posts about Overdraft Fees at MyCardBlog.com are very popular. It is really disappointing that you use the services from banks, put your money there and charged for some trial mistakes. Now, some major banks are considering changing overdraft fees policies. Bank of America and Chase are the first banks to revise overdraft fees policies. Let’s see what will be changed?

Bank of America

Bank of America announced changes to be implemented on October 19, 2009 including not charging overdraft fees (1) when a customer’s account is overdrawn by a total amount less than $10 for one day, (2) not charging overdraft fees on more than four items per day.

In June 2010, Bank of America plans additional changes including providing customers a choice to opt in or out of overdraft capability.

Chase

Chase is also planning changes in the first quarter of 2010 including not charging a fee when the overdraft is less than $5 and not sorting items in descending amounts prior to posting (banks maximize their income using this kind of tricks!). Chase also plans to allow its customers to opt out of overdraft protection.

If you are continued to be charged overdraft fees, you can refer to my posts about how to get back overdraft fees back.

Sorry, I made a mistake again on my checking and savings accounts at National City Bank (PNC Bank) several days ago. This time, I was charged $105 overdraft fees by National City Bank. I’d like to share my experience with you on how to get the money back.

My popular posts on getting overdraft fees back from Chase and Bank of America might be also helpful to you if you have similar problems with your bank.

• Get Overdraft Fees Back from Bank of America by Writing to Their CEO
• Get Insufficient Funds Fees Back from Chase Bank

Well, the story is very simple, I wrote a big check ($1000) to my friend using the check from National City Bank. And I also scheduled several small payments using National City checking account without knowing  that there is not much money left in this account (Now, the direct deposit goes to Chase for the $100 bonus.). Then the disaster happened. 3 overdraft fees with $30 each and a $15 savings protection fees.

Then I went to my local National City Branch and asked to talk to the branch manger directly. He was very helpful. After review my account, he offered to refund $75 to me. I accepted at the moment. It seems that National City Bank will also offer overdraft fees back. See attached banking activities for your reference:

I mentioned the $100 bonus from Sovereign Bank back in this April. And to my surprise, I found that my promotion link to the $100 is still alive! In other words, Sovereign Bank is offering $100 sign up bonus for opening a new checking account and making required banking activities. This is a great chance for Sovereign Bank new customers who want to make this easy $100 bonus.

Here is how to get the $100 bonus:

• Open a Premier or Interest Checking Account along with a minimum $100 deposit by 10/30/2009
• Open a Sovereign savings or money market savings account with a minimum $100 deposit
• Enroll in Online Banking at account opening
• Use the checkcard issued by Sovereign Bank and make 2 qualified purchases within 60 days of account opening

Fine print:

In order to qualify for this cash bonus, you need to: (1) open a new Sovereign Premier Checking, Business Owner Premier Checking, Interest Checking or Partnership Checking account by October 30, 2009, with a minimum opening deposit of $100; (2) request a Sovereign CheckCard (“CheckCard”) and make 2 CheckCard purchases within 60 days after you open your account; (3) open any Sovereign savings or money market savings account with a minimum opening deposit of $100 or already have a savings or money market savings account; and (4) enroll in Online Banking at account opening. When you qualify, you will receive a credit of $100 to your new checking account within 75 days after you open your checking account. One $100 credit per customer.

Although there is no direct deposit required to get the $100 bonus, direct deposit is needed to avoid the $10 monthly fee for the interest checking account.

Promotion link to the Sovereign Bank $100 bonus is here.

PNC Bank is offering $150 sing up bonus for celebrating its first branch entering the New York City. (WE has seen similar promotion from WaMu before.) Usually, PNC bank (and National City Bank) is offering $75 bonus. This $150 bonus is twice of what we typically can get. Since this promotion is available at the new branch only, there is no online account opening options. This address of this new PNC branch is located at 340 Madison Street between 43rd and 44th Street. Of course, direct deposit is required to get the bonus.

There are 3 checking accounts that are eligible to get the bonus: Free Checking, Performance Checking and Performance Select Checking.

Branch Location and Hours:
PNC Bank Madison Branch
340 Madison Avenue
Telephone: 212-661-1064
Hours: Monday – Friday: 7am-7pm

Attached is a scanned flyer of this promotion.

Chase is the only bank that consistently offers $100 sign up bonus for its new customers all year round. Like I mentioned in other posts, you can always get a $100 chase coupon for opening a new checking account with direct deposit at USPS stores (moving kit). Today Izzi told me that, actually, we can get a $100 coupon online from Chase. This coupon is also offering debit card purchases as the requirement to get the $100 bonus.

Here is how to get a $100 Chase coupon:

• Go to https://coupon.chaseinformation.com/
• Enter your email address and click “GET YOUR COUPON”
• The coupon will be delivered to your email instantly

This offer expired on October 16, 2009.

How to get the $100 bonus?

1. Print out the coupon that we e-mail you.
2. Take it to a Chase branch near you.
3. Open your new Chase Checking^SM account and set up direct deposit or make five debit card purchases.

California residents can also get $100 bonus from WaMu through this link: http://reward.wamu.com/AspxFiles/D_Offer.aspx?Offer=3596790

For those who do not like Chase, Bank of America is also offering $100 bonus. Read more…

Today I received an email from Mint.com which I have been using for more than 2 years now that Mint.com to be acquired by Intuit, maker of Quicken. This email was sent out by the CEO of Mint.com, Aron Patzer, tilted as “Ready for the next Evolution”.

This is the content:

Thank you for being a part of what’s becoming a revolution in active personal financial management. I’m excited to say that Mint.com and Intuit are coming together to take personal finance to the next level. Mint.com has entered into an agreement to be purchased by Intuit. Once the acquisition closes, Mint.com will have the opportunity to spread that revolution to more people, more quickly, together with one of the world’s strongest software brands. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2009.

What’s not going to change

Mint.com will stay the way you like it: free, easy-to-use and constantly improving.

What will change

As outlined in today’s press release and my blog post, after the acquisition closes, the Mint.com team will contribute to improving the financial lives of tens of millions of consumers and small businesses. I’ll personally be taking on the role of GM of Intuit’s Personal Finance group responsible for online, desktop and mobile consumer personal finance offerings. Joining Intuit enables us to bring our vision of helping consumers understand and do more with their money to millions of Intuit customers.  This is a compelling combination of our innovative product, technology, and industry leading user interface design with one of the most trusted brands in software.
I look forward to executing on that vision — for you.<
Thanks for your support,
Aaron Patzer
Founder and CEO

As far as I know Intuit paid Mint.com for $170 million! Intuit is the NO. 1 maker of personal finance softwares like Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax. As more and more customers are switching their service from desktop to internet, this move will also make the Intuit to take the NO. 1 place in the internet-based personal finance provider. Mint.com claims to have ~1.5 million users tracking nearly $50 billion in assets and $200 billion in transactions.

Bank of America is offering $100 bonus to new customers for opening a new MyAccess Checking Account. This is the latest checking account bonus from Bank of America which is $25 more than I posted two months ago. The promotion page can be found at the bank of america website.

How to get the $100 bonus?

• This offer is available only to new customers who open a qualifying personal checking account with a minimum balance of $500
• The new checking account must be open for at least 30 days
• You must make a minimum of one transaction with the newly assigned check card

The MyAccess Checking Account features no monthly maintenance fee (when opened online). You must use the code: AOU260909 when you open the new account.

Fine print:

To take advantage of this offer, you must use the Offer Code provided to open your qualifying new Bank of America personal checking account by 11/30/09. Bank of America may terminate the offer before this date. This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account. The new customer will receive the incentive upon verification of qualification in the incentive programs. We will deposit the $100 incentive directly into your new checking account within 90 days of its opening; if unable to do so, a check will be issued. The new customer is not eligible for this offer if they were a signer on a Bank of America checking account that was closed within the last three months.