Credit Card Offers

ING Direct has been working hard to promote their checking accounts and their sweet $50 checking account bonus has returned once again.

The promotion is very simple, just go to the Electric Orange information page and click the orange “Apply Now” button. On the next page, click on “Continue” and put in E7NSTND into the reference code box. Complete the rest of the application.

When your account is opened, you’ll receive an Electric Orange Debit MasterCard. You need to use it in “3 signature-based purchases within 45 days of account opening” to qualify for the $50 bonus. On the 50th d

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I’ve written about Everbank in the past because of their high rates and their unique CDs, especially the market-safe CDs. They’ve consistently been among the best rates on any listing of high yield savings accounts and I’ve been using them for quite some time.

As far as I can recall, this is the first time they’ve offered a deposit bonus for as long as I’ve known they existed.

Promotion Details

The promotion is split up into two parts:

• $50 bonus: First, you get $50 for depositing at least $20,000 into a Yield Pledge Money Market Account.
• $25 bonus: Then, you can get an additional $25 for depositing at least $10,000 into a FreeNet Checking Account.

You must maintain that balance for four consecutive statement periods (months) and you will receive the bonus in the 5th statement. All the w

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I’ve been fortunate never to have fallen down the hole of credit card debt. For those that have, it’s a very difficult situation since lenders, of all types, make more money the longer you’re in debt. Credit card debt is especially dangerous because it’s so easy to accumulate and the interest rates are so high. Consider the hoops you need to jump through for a mortgage, which is backed by an actual home, and the requirements of a credit card seem almost comical.

When experts recommend debtors go cash only, I think it’s prudent advice. I think it’s important to recognize your weaknesses and only do things that improve your life. If you can’

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It seems every summer TradeKing runs a promotion where you can get $50 for opening a new account (if you didn’t have one already). Well if you didn’t notice it based on the temperatures outside, it’s summer and TradeKing has brought back their $50 new account promotion this month. If you have $2,500, want a TradeKing account, then this promotion is right up your alley.

The promo is pretty straight-forward. Make a deposit of $2,500 or more within 30 days of opening the account and make one trade within 180 days of opening the account. The $

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If you have a really old cell phone, it has no value on the secondary market. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless. There are ways you can put a smile on someone’s face even though cell phone resellers won’t take your junk back.

I recently started having some minor problems with my Palm Treo 755p, mostly dust particles being trapped behind the screen. I’ve had the phone for several years and while reading the screen wasn’t difficult, it did start to get annoying. Fortunately a friend sent me his Palm Centro (yes, also an old phone) that I’ve been happily using ever since. The dilemma n

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Reader Dan told me a story of his friend who was considering settling an outstanding credit card debt but wasn’t sure of the credit score implications:
(Dan): my friend owes like $1100 on a credit card, and he had the balance for like two years and didn’t pay a dime, because he felt he was being taken advantage of
(Dan): well, he went to lease a car last weekend and found out the importance of credit
(Dan): he had bad credit and his new wife basically had none
(Dan): I told him step one would be to clear his balance
(Dan): he called just now, and he mentioned (in IM) something about them offering to settle for like, $700?
(Dan): does settling affect your credit score?

There are a few things going on here at once but in general, settling a debt will improve your credit score. It

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