MyCardBlog

Today 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

I just mentioned the $50 bonus from ShareBuilder which is a online based brokerage company. Today I’m going to introduce the new credit card product from another broker—Charles Schwab. Charles Schwab is one of the largest discount brokers in the world. It’s generally believed that Schwab offers the same services as traditional brokerages but with lower commissions and fees than many other brokers.

Besides discount brokerage, the company offers a wide range of investment research, mutual funds, annuities, bond trading, and now checking and mortgages through its Charles Schwab Bank. The Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account is one of the best checking accounts online. It was rated at the Best Checking Account by Money Magazine in May 2008. Indeed, the rate offered by the Charles Schwab is really high—1.5% APY without balance requirement! Plus there is no minimum balance requirement for this account, and no monthly service fees associated with this account. Schwab will even reimburse you for any ATM fees charged by other banks. I strongly suggest you open a checking account at Charles Schwab for high interest rate they offered as a checking account. (This APY is also comparable to other savings accounts.)

The most exciting part is the new credit card product launched by Schwab recently. The name of the new card is Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Signature Card. The reason why I want to introduce the new credit card product is the excellent cash back program Charles Schwab Bank offered for this credit card.

You can get unlimited 2% cash back on this card without annual fees and minimum monthly purchase requirement. (The unlimited cash back is really a good choice for many eBayers.) Plus there is no foreign exchange fees associated with this credit card. The unlimited 2% cash back will deposited into your Schwab One brokerage account each month automatically.

If you already have a Schwab One brokerage account , you can apply for this credit card right away.

If you don’t have a Schwab One brokerage account yet, you can apply for the Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Signature Card first. Once you get approved for the credit card, you can open a new brokerage account at Charles Schwab.

You can also open a new credit card account by calling 866-724-9223, and use code FACYR4.

Please remember: to receive your 2% cash back rewards, you must have a Schwab One brokerage account (“Schwab One account”) linked to your Schwab Bank Invest First card.

I just posted on how to save money via Live.com search cash back program on HP, Circuitcity, Target, AT&T and eBay yesterday. According to the post, you can save 25% for shopping at above mentioned websites through Live.com search. It’s a great opportunity to save money during the holiday season. It would be great if you search at live.com first before you place the orders.

The shocking news is Microsoft live.com cash back program will be offering 40% cash back for shopping at hp.com on Black Friday! 40% is huge considering the cash back rate. The highest rate live.com offered is 35% at ebay.com. So how to get the 40% cash back?

Details about the promotion can be found at hp.com via the link.

According to the link, live.com will offer 40% cash back for shopping at hp.com from 7am to 7pm on Black Friday. Please remember the time is on PST, so that’s equal to 10am to 10pm EST.

Many may not know how to qualify for the promotion, here are some points:

1. Cash back excludes all gift cards and transactions that use coupon.
2. You do not need to pay with Paypal (this is for shopping at eBay.com only). Because live cash back works with credit cards or other payments. But you have to click the link at live.com to place the order.
3. There is no cash back limit, unlike eBay’s $200 limit. But you have to pay attention that there is a total of $2,500 total cash back limit per account per year.
4. This is an HP advertised special, so it will work 100% on anything with instant rebate and without EPP/APP/ Additional Coupons.

We all know that Microsoft live.com is offering huge cash back at eBay.com on “But it Now” items. This promotion have been running for a long time. My first report of this huge promotion is very popular in the past three months. Today, I realized that Microsoft is actually offering huge cash back for shopping at other popular electronic producers.

25% cash back for shopping at hp.com (and ebay.com)

This means if you click the link at live.com and then place your orders at hp.com (shopping.hp.com), you can get 25% cash back! This 25% cash back is the highest rate that I have ever seen. If you but a laptop through live.com, you actually get 25% off!

How to get the links at live.com?

It’s very simple. Search “hp” at live.com and you can see the link at the sponsored sites position.

20% cash back for shopping at circuitcity.com and target .com

If you search for “hp” at live.com, you can also see the link which leads you to the circuitcity.com and gives you 20% cash back. Another way to get the 20% cash back link is to search “iPod” and you can see the link at the right. You will be asked to enter your account email address when you are redirected to the circuitcity.com or target.com (if you haven’t logined to your account).

10% cash back at overstock.com

Search for “iPod” and you can get the 10% cash back link at the right (see above screen shot).

25% cash back at AT&T

Search AT&T at MSN.com or live.com and you can find the link which will lead you to a 25% cash back for shopping at AT&T.

Other huge cash back opportunities can be found at live.com/cashback. For example, footlocker.com is offering 20% cash back, and drugstore.com is offering 10% cash back (Currently, it’s offering 25% cash back. Search fish oil at live.com and a link with 25% cash back will appear at the right!).

It would be a good idea to search what you want to buy at live.com before you place your order at other places. Maybe you can get huge cash back for shopping through live.com.

American Express just released a new promotion—“On the Card” which enables American Express card members to get $30 statement credit after committing a series of purchase requirements. This is really nice to all American Express card members since all of the purchase requirements are really easy to fulfill. As an American Express card member, I’m really satisfied with their high-quality customer service. As a matter of fact, in 2008 J. D. Power Credit Card Satisfaction Study, American Express was ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction. If you don’t have an American Express, you should try to get one.

What’s “On the Card”?

On the Card is a program from American Express that provides Cardmembers with an opportunity to get a $30 statement credit. The $30 reward will be in the form of a statement credit on the American Express Card that you will use to register for the program. To receive the $30 credit, you have to go to www.amexnetwork.com/bac30 to register your American Express card.

During the registration process, you have to choose 8 merchants from a list of pre-determined 20 merchants. The 20 merchants are categorized into 4 categories. You have to pick up 2 merchants from each category.

“On the Card” lasts for 8 weeks, beginning on September 23, 2008, and ending on November 16, 2008. Please keep in mind that once you’ve selected your 8 merchants and registered for the program, you can’t change the merchants. Otherwise you can’t receive the $30 bonus.

Both in-store and online purchases will count toward your eight purchases. And there is no minimum amount requirement you should spend at each merchant. You can spend as much or as little as you like on each purchase.

Please note that there are only 12,000 registration slots available. Cardmembers can register for the program on a first-come, first-served basis. This promotion is start today, so you can go ahead and register you American Express card to reserve your slot. Once your registration completes, you will receive a confirmation e-mail.

If you can’t register your American Express at above mentioned website (according to program FAQ):

1. You did not receive an invitation to participate in the “On the Card” program.
2. You did receive an invitation but are trying to enroll a new Card or recent replacement Card which we may not have recorded for the promotion.
3. The program if full. There are only 12,000 registration slots available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once you have successfully shopped at all 8 merchants, you will receive a statement credit from “On the Card” generally within 5 business days.

It really a great chance to get some small money for using American Express credit card. In this way, American Express just wanted to tell Cardmembers about the many places they can use their American Express Cards.

Update: the invitation email is attached. This email is targeted to my Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express.