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Posts Tagged ‘cash back’

Fidelity Rewards American Express Cards – 2% Cash Back!

October 30th, 2009 David 2 comments

A lot of readers send me email regarding the “Best Cash Back Credit Card”. Most credit cards offer 1% cash back but only a few credit cards are still offering 2% cash back without any restrictions. But the Fidelity Rewards American Express Cards are the only credit card that I will recommend to you. (Yes, I know that Orchard Bank credit card or Household Bank credit card are offering 2% cash back but their credit limits are too low!) There are three versions of this credit card. Most people will go to the Fidelity® Investment Rewards American Express® Card. If you are a college student, then you can also consider the Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards® American Express® Card. Others might want the Fidelity® Retirement Rewards American Express® Card.

Main features of this credit card:

  • Turn 2% of purchases into a deposit in your Fidelity account
  • No limits on cash rewards
  • No annual fee
Fidelity Rewards American express cardDifferent versions of this credit card need to be linked to different Fidelity accounts to be eligible to get the 2% cash back.
Fidelity® Investment Rewards American Express® Card ~~~~ a mySmart Cash Account ® or brokerage account.
Fidelity® Retirement Rewards American Express® Card ~~~~ your Fidelity IRA.
Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards® American Express® Card ~~~~ Fidelity 529 account.
Fineprint:
Customers earn 2 points for each $1 in net retail purchases. Once you reach 5,000 points, they can be redeemed automatically or on demand for cash at a 1% exchange rate into an eligible Fidelity account (i.e. 5,000 points = $50 deposit). The ability to contribute to an IRA or 529 college savings plan account is subject to IRS rules and specific program policies, including those on eligibility and annual and maximum contribution limits.
Get more details at here.

Bank of America Add It Up Program Promotions

October 29th, 2009 David No comments

I introduced the Add It Up program from Bank of America early this year. It seems that not many of my readers are interested in this program including myself. I usually us ebates.com or mrrebates.com to earn cash back. Now I found that actually Add It Up will offer huge cash back for certain merchants when they run promotions. So I think it is necessary to point it out and let all of you guys know this.

Enroll in Add It Up is very simple. Login your online account at Bank of America and then at the Customer Service section you can find the link to Add It Up program. All you have to do is to provide email address to let BOA to contact you regarding cash back and choose the accounts (some or all) to enroll in this program (banking accounts or credit cards accounts are qualified). Finally, you want to choose the account that the cash back will be deposited to either credit card or checking account will be OK). Now you are ready to earn cash back by shopping online through Add It Up!

add it up

The Key is how much they will reward you for shopping through Add It Up. Now I have some popular merchants for your reference.

  • Sears.com 6%
  • BestBuy.com 3%
  • Staples.com 4%
  • Target.com 8%
  • WalMart.com 4%
  • Apple Store 4%

They can be found at the Limited Time Offer section in the program page.

After you click the merchant to shop, Add It Up will once again to confirm that you are going to enter the merchant’s page. SO the cash back will not be lost because you are always asked to get the permission to go to the merchant’s website.

The limited time offers change all the time. So before you place the order via other cash back websites, it is a good habit to check current rate at Add It Up to earn more cash back.

Some of you may ask “How long does it take to get my cash back rewards?”

Answer: It can take up to 90-120 days for cash back awards to be credited to your account. Why? Participating retailers must first confirm your purchase and typically they have up to 90 days from the purchase date to reverse a transaction for return purposes. During this time, your award will have a Pending status on the My Awards page.

But please note that Washington and Idaho BOA customers are not eligible for this program :( .

Ebates.com Introduces Fast Cash

October 21st, 2009 David No comments

Ebates.com is the only cashback rewards program that I am using now for shopping online. If you do not know what is Ebates.com and how it works, please refer to my post about ebates.com. If you join ebates.com now, you can get free $5 bonus for signing up and making a purchase (you have to make a purchase to make the $5 bonus eligible). Ebates.com used to provide check or paypal to pay your cashback (you need to earn >$5 to get paid). But now Ebates.com is offering FAST CASH which allows you to easily use your cashback rewards at Ebates.com without getting checks or paypal payments.

To me FAST CASH is really functional, you can use your FAST CASH to make online purchase, or transfer money to your bank account, or even order a real plastic visa prepaid card with your balance at Ebates.com and use it at checkout!

When you choose to use FAST CASH, you will be issued a free VISA virtual account. It has a credit card/debit card-like card number, expiration date, security code and your billing address. This VISA virtual account has all the payment information you need to shop online. Your Visa virtual debit card is used just like a credit card – but it is not a credit card and carries no interest charges or annual fee.

Since you can not exceed the amount in your account, you can add a credit card to relate your VISA virtual account and make a payment just like a credit card. But this feature will add more security for your online shopping! You can also transfer your balance to your bank account or request a real plastic visa credit to use. I really like ebates. The cashback is really fast and they are very reliable.

Start shopping with Ebates.com and earning cashback now! Read more…

Categories: Misc Stuff Tags: ,

Bank of America New Add It Up Program offers Cash Back for Online Shopping

March 11th, 2009 David No comments

Bank of America just announced the launch of a new online shopping site-Add It Up, which is said to allows enrolled customers to earn up to 20% cash back on their purchases at more than 270 online retailers, including top names such as Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Barnes & Noble.com. This seems to be a new cash back website for Bank of America’s online banking customers.

It looks like a new cash back website for me. Many credit card issuers also offer similar reward website. For example, Chase has the Chase Rewards Plus, Discover Card has the ShopDiscover, and Citi has the Citi Cash Bonus Center. But from this move, we can see that Bank of America is dedicated to serve its customers. “With Add It Up, Bank of America is giving customers a new way to stretch their money by getting cash back on purchases from hundreds of retailers they do business with regularly, and letting them do it online at their convenience.” as indicated by David Owen, Checking and Debit executive for Bank of America.

The merchants listed at Add It Up look really great. Add It Up has included essentially all major US online merchants and covered all categories. You can get up to 20% cash back from more than 270 participating online retailers (such as iTunes, Macys.com, BestBuy.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Walmart.com, Homedepot.com, Sephora.com, Staples.com, Gap.com, PETCO.com, Overstock.com, REI.com and LandsEnd.com). Plus you can combine Add It Up cash back with existing deals and discounts from retailers and other Bank of America programs such as Keep The Change and BankAmericard Rewards. It indeed is a great cash back deal for Bank of America customers!

Bank of America customers with a current Bank of America credit or check card who are enrolled in online banking can register for free through the Add It Up site at http://www.bankofamerica.com/additup.

add-it-up-bank-of-america

Get Rewarded for Shopping through Ebates.com

March 4th, 2009 David No comments

125x125_800storesToday I received the new check from ebates.com. The amount is only $24.39 including $10 sign up bonus. Usually ebates.com offer $5 sign up bonus for shopping at through ebates.com. But I got $10 bonus because they were running a special promotion at that time. Right now ebates.com is offering $5 bonus for signing up and make at least one purchase through ebates.com.

Whenever I place an order online, I will check ebates.com to see whether they offer additional cash back for purchasing stuffs through them. I know some of you might be not aware that you can save additional money for shopping through ebates.com. Ebates.com is the pioneer and leader in online cash back shopping. Nearly 1,000 of the largest online retailers have partnership with ebates.com. Ebates.com has about 6 million registered users now. Since 1999 ebate.com’s members have spent nearly 1 billion with participating retailers. The average cash back from ebates.com is about 5%. Ebates.com membership is always free and provides shoppers with actual cash back on purchases — there are no rebate forms to submit and no points to redeem. They will send a check to you very quarter.

Ebates.com also collect official coupons or promotion codes from their participating retailers which will save you a lot of time for shopping cheaper stuffs online.

ebatescom_banner

Sing up and get $5!

If you sign up an account at ebates.com today, you can get $5 bonus which will show up in your account immediately. Of course, you have to make at least one purchase to cash out the $5 bonus. You can also refer your friends to sign up at ebates.com and then you can get $5 bonus too!

There are also other shopping sites out there. Overall, I like ebates.com best and use it all the time!

I also received another bonus check from surveysavvy.com which offers small money for doing a survey online. The payout usually is around $1 to $20. I got $20 bonus for doing a survey about HP printer. Details about surveysavvy is here.

Categories: Misc Stuff Tags: ,

25% Cash Back from AT&T and T-Mobile

February 21st, 2009 David No comments

For people who are still looking for discount from T-Mobile and AT&T, this is a great news! Live Cash Back actually is still offering 25% cash back for T-Mobile and AT&T. If you want to buy a new phone, you should try to use the 25% cash back.

It is pretty easy to get the link work. Go to Live.com and type in “T-Mobile” or “ATT, ATT phone, ATT plan” and the link for the 25% will appear on the screen.

I know some may do not know how to do it. Here is the link for T-mobile, and this is the link for AT&T.

Combined with my previous posts on how to save money on monthly bills from mobile carriers. I believe you can save a lot of money on your cell phone bill.

Categories: Misc Stuff Tags: , ,

New Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card

December 9th, 2008 David 1 comment

Fidelity Investments, the No. 1 provider of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), partnered with Bank of America to launch a new credit card product—the Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card. Fidelity currently has two credit cards: Fidelity 529 College Rewards American Express Card and Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa Signature Card with WorldPoints Rewards. The new credit card is a great choice in the credit card market.

The Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card is claimed to “give investors an innovative way to save for retirement while purchasing everyday necessities”. This new credit card product is offering a 2 percent earn rate on everyday purchases when Cardmembers redeem their cash rewards as a current year contribution into their Fidelity IRA.

Features of this credit card:

  • Turn 2% of purchases into a contribution for your Fidelity IRA
  • No limits on cash rewards
  • No annual fee

Here is how the Fidelity Rewards Card works:

  • You’ll earn 2 points for each $1 you spend on purchases.
  • Reach 5,000 points after you make $2,500 in purchases and $50 can be automatically swept into your Fidelity IRA as a current year contribution or other Fidelity account.
  • Enjoy more flexibility with additional WorldPoints rewards options, including travel, merchandise, travel, and other rewards.

This is a really great credit card if you have a Fidelity IRA account. Combine the Fidelity Retirement Rewards Card with the tax-advantaged benefits of the Fidelity IRA, you can really save a lot of money. The Fidelity 529 College Rewards American Express Card and Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa Signature Card with WorldPoints Rewards are rated as the top 5 credit cards by SmartMoney.com in 2006. Thus this new credit card is really promising.

This new credit card is accepting applications now via www.fidelity.com/retirementrewards. Or you can call 866-598-4971 and mention priority code FAC5D2.

Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of nearly $2.7 trillion, including managed assets of over $1.2 trillion as of October 31, 2008. Fidelity offers all kinds of financial services to American people. Fidelity is the largest mutual fund company in the United States.

Best Credit Card Offers from Kiplinger.com

December 5th, 2008 David No comments

We are talking about the best credit cards all the time. Actually, there is no definitive answer to which is the best credit card. Different people have different spending styles. One might be interested in playing games, one might be interested in buying books, movies or even musics, and some might want to save money on gas. The key to get the best credit card is to choose the card that fits your spending styles.

Following is a list of best credit card offers from Kiplinger.com. Let’s see what they pick as the best credit cards.

BEST FOR CASH REBATES

American Express Blue Cash

I have a review of this card. The blue cash card from American Express is a really good cash back credit card. It’s one of the top rated cash back credit cards by me. Kiplinger.com rated this credit card as the “Best Cash Rebate Card” in 2006. “Everyday Purchases” made at drugstores, gas stations, and U.S. supermarkets earn up to a 5% rebate, and all other purchases earn up to a 1.5% rebate ($6,500 threshold). You will see how much you can save by using this card.

BEST GAS CARD

Chase BP Visa

This Chase BP Visa Card is an excellent gas card in terms of the rate it offers. 5% cash back at BP stores anywhere in the United States at any time. At the fist 60 days, you can double your cash back. Plus you can earn cash back for dinning and traveling. There are other great gas rebate cards out there. For example, Discover Open Road Card is a good substitute. For more tips on choosing a gas card, you can read the 5 Top Rated Gas Rebate Cards.

BEST TRAVEL REWARDS

Simmons First Visa Platinum Travel Rewards

This is a little surprise to me. I didn’t hear anything about the Simmons First Bank and the credit card products offered by Simmons First. Anyway, it looks like a great travel card but without any sign up bonus. Usually, travel credit cards offer some sign up bonus. Like the Citi PremierPass Card Elite Level is offering 20,000 bonus points. But you need only 22,000 points for a coach ticket, worth up to $325, to any destination within the 48 contiguous states. You earn one point per dollar spent with this no-fee credit card.

BEST LOW RATES

Wells Fargo Prime Rate

Wells Fargo is a not a big credit card issuer in US. But this credit card product is indeed a great offer to American people. As Kiplinger.com describes: “Cardholders who carry a monthly balance will appreciate this card for its 5% interest rate and $19 annual fee. The rate will never exceed prime, the rate at which banks lend to their best customers. Free alerts remind you when your bill is due and notify you if you’re approaching your credit limit.”

Everyone will have different opinions on which credit card is the best one. Will you share your opinion with us?