Darwin's Finance » FREE Stuff

Free FICO Score with 7 Day Trial from Equifax- Why Not?

Darwin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:02:24 +0000

Equifax has a promotion running where you get get a FREE peak at your actual FICO score (this one is the most valuable and utilized routinely in the credit industry compared to any of the individual credit bureau scores). Additionally, you get access to Score Power which tells you where you stand in comparison to others and how various actions will impact your score should you perform certain activities. All you have to do is sign up for the trial and cancel within 7 days.

Your FICO score is critically important so many facets of your financial life ranging from what kind of rates you’ll pay on car and home loans to whether employers will pass during a credit check even if you did well during your interview. Since it’s free and effortless, it’s definitely worth the couple minutes to check it out and see where you stand. Visit the Equifax FREE FICO Score page for access.

The fine print (red bold was added by me):

* To receive your 7-Day free trial, you will be required to provide a credit card when you sign up. If you don’t cancel by the end of the 7-Day free trial period, we will automatically renew your subscription and charge your credit card $14.95 for each month that you continue your subscription. You can cancel your subscription at any time. Cancellation will be effective as of the end of then-current monthly period.

OptionsHouse 100 Free Trades – $2.95 from There

Darwin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:53:44 +0000

OptionsHouse has a pretty crazy signup offer right now, and insane pricing thereafter. If you sign up between now and April 30, 2010, you can get 100 Free Trades by entering the code FREE100 at signup. OptionsHouse was ranked by Barron’s #1 in Trade Experience so they’re no slouch either.

The pricing is really something even after your free 100 trades anyway:

$2.95 Stock Trades
$5 for 5 Options or $8.50 + .15 per contract
$10 for 10 Spreads

Once you sign up, you can also earn $50 each time you refer a friend to them as well. Check out OptionsHouse for more details and enter FREE100 at signup.

Check Out These Interesting Financial Products and Deals

Darwin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:44:08 +0000

There are some neat new sites, services and deals out there that can either boost your bottom line with minimal effort or flat out provide entertainment value with no discernible benefit. Here are a few in no particular order:

Blippy – Blippy is perhaps one of the strangest new services I’ve seen this year. I have yet to figure out what the actual value or utility is to society, but I’ve gotta admit, it’s an interesting concept and rather amusing to watch. Frankly, I’m not sure if I’m more amused by the content of the site or the fact that multiple legitimate venture capital firms are backing this garage experiment. Basically, you create a profile and publicize for the world to see every purchase you make. On one hand, this sort of voyeurism is sure to be a hit for the same population that loves reality TV and blogs that share relatively insipid yet personal details about the author that for some reason draw massive readership. Conversely, from the participant’s point of view, perhaps it’s either narcissism or a last-ditch attempt to force some sort of fiscal restraint by just putting it all out there for all to see. For instance, many studies have shown that people are more likely to lose weight if they face public shame or embarrassment by not meeting their objective once their journey is tracked by a viewing public. i.e. The Biggest Loser, someone posting a before/after body shot on their blog, etc.

Whatever the outcome of this venture, it’s worth at least looking at once to just ask, “Why?”

6-Figure Salaries – If you’re making $75,000 or more and want to at least keep tabs on what your market value is outside your current role, The Ladders is such a cool site. I signed up a while back and I get automated emails based on my preferences for region, the field I’m in, positions I’d consider, etc. I get an update weekly or so with Director of this, Project Manager of that, salaries list, locations, etc. It’s pretty neat – and it’s FREE to sign up and get the initial updates. Since so many job postings out there aren’t aligned with your actual interests or they have lousy salaries, The Ladders is great at screening just what you’re interested in (or finding out what your boss makes!).

A CD You Control? – There’s a pretty interesting new product from Ally Bank that I’ve never seen before. The Rising Rate CD is a certificate of deposit that allows you to actually increase the rate once during the term in case rates rise on the same term CD and you feel you’re missing out. Feel like a sucker locking in a low rate today so it’s just sitting in an even lower yielding savings account indefinitely? This may be the solution. If rates spike as the Fed reacts to inflationary forces, you can jump your rate up at will. Check out the Rising Rate CD details.

No Penalty CD – Ally Bank also has a No Penalty CD that combines a competitive rate with the ability to break the CD and withdraw funds without the downside of a CD penalty. More info on the No Penalty CD.

$100 Signup Bonus – at OptionsXpress. This is a top options trading outfit that of course, allows you to trade stocks as well. Given the $100 signup bonus, even if you already have an online broker you like using, it’s worth setting up this extra account for a free $100. You only need $500 to open the account so it’s a 20% ROI right off!

0% Down Mortgage? In 2010? You’re not seeing things. Under an obscure US government program that isn’t widely publicized, thousands of American families are still getting mortgages with NO money down. It’s called the USDA Farm Loan but most of the people partaking live on anything but a farm.

$100 Signup Bonus at OptionsExpress Now!

Darwin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:40:56 +0000

There’s an impressive campaign going on now at optionsXpress whereby you can get a $100 signup bonus by simply opening a new account with a minimum of $500 by December 31, and make a minimum of 3 trades over the course of the following 12 months.

How’s a 20% ROI over a month or so sound?

Why OptionsExpress?

Barron’s has named them Best online Broker 4 years in a Row!
SmartMoney rated highest stars for trading
Forbes Favorite Best of the Web
and more…
Pricing: Depending on your trade volume, can get stock trades for $9.95 and options for $12.95 per trade
The real draw is the tools for investors that go beyond buy and hold stock trades: Chains, The Dragon, Virtual Trade, Flex Charts, Spreads Book and more (see site for more details)
Here’s the fine print from the site which is summed up above:

*Offer is valid for one new Individual or Joint optionsXpress account opened and funded with at least $500 by US residents on or before December 31, 2011 at 11:59 CST, and having executed 3 trades within twelve months of account opening. To receive $100 bonus, account must be funded with at least $500 cash or securities transferred from a brokerage firm other than optionsXpress. The $100 bonus will be deposited into the new optionsXpress account within one month after meeting the terms and conditions of this offer. optionsXpress may charge the account for the cost of the $100 bonus should account fail to remain open with minimum funding (excluding trading losses) 6 months from the account open date. IRAs, other tax-exempt, linked, or shared accounts are not eligible to receive the $100 bonus offer. Offer is not transferable, is not valid for internal transfers, current optionsXpress accounts or with any other optionsXpress offers. All taxes related to this $100 bonus offer are the responsibility of the account owner. Limit one offer per person meeting the terms of this offer and opening a new optionsXpress account online at http://www.optionsxpress.com/new_account.asp?intcmp=lp100offer111209&promo=207. We reserve the right at our sole discretion to terminate, modify or suspend this offer at any time without notice. This is not an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where we are not authorized to do business.
Online trading has inherent risk due to system response and access times that may vary due to market conditions, system performance, volume and other factors. An investor should understand these and additional risks before trading. optionsXpress, Inc. makes no investment recommendations and does not provide financial, tax or legal advice. Content and tools are provided for educational and informational purposes only. Any stock, options, or futures symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to portray a recommendation to buy or sell a particular security. Products and services intended for U.S. customers and may not be available or offered in other jurisdictions.
Find out for yourself at optionsXpress

Today’s Financial Priority: Get a Free Credit Score from myFICO

Darwin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:35:40 +0000

Routinely checking both your credit score and your credit report is increasingly important these days. Between identify theft and more rigorous credit assessments for everything from AT&T demanding a larger security deposit for high credit risks to what rate you’ll pay for a car loan, if you’re not checking both of these routinely, you’re incurring risk and expense unnecessarily – especially since you can monitor/improve your standing for free. While you can get your credit report from free as mandated by the government at annualcreditreport.com, (don’t fall for the paid sites with similar names, it’s often not actually free when they’re through with you), there is no government mandated free credit score option. But you can get your credit score FREE – see below.

Why is Your FICO Score So Important?

The only widely accepted and utilized credit score in industry is the oft-cited FICO score. This score is compiled and provided to corporations for them to assess credit risk when determining what interest rate they should charge you. In effect, by having a lousy credit score, you’re likely incurring tens of thousands of dollars in additional interest payments over a lifetime regardless of whether you ever default on a loan. The only way to know if this is happening to you and whether you need to take immediate action to improve your credit score is to start by obtaining your score.

Why Prioritize This?

You should act today – This is a process that takes a few minutes but could save you thousands of dollars on your next loan. You never know when you’re going to have to up and move for a job and take on a new mortgage or if you get in a car accident tomorrow and need to buy a new car and finance the amount your insurance company didn’t cover.

How to Quickly and Easily Obtain Your Free FICO Score

You have to go to myFICO.com which is run by Fair Issac, the originator and owner of the FICO score model. Sign up for the Free 30-day trial of Score Watch and you have to provide some simple info like your name, address, DOB, and SS#. While you have to provide your credit card, you won’t actually be billed unless you decide to stay with your 30-Day Free Trial of Score Watch. This is a legit company, so you don’t have to worry about the same tactics some of the “free annual credit report” companies utilize to block you from canceling.

Upon answering a few questions posed by the process, you get immediate access to your score and other key measures you’ll surely find useful like types of new credit, payment history, etc. and how your history is viewed by ratings agencies.
A very cool feature as well is how they’ll tell you where your rate falls on a scale and what that means for a mortgage interest rate scale (great credit scores get the best rates and poor FICO pay much more).
A Very, Very cool feature if you stay with it is that you can have myFICO actually update you in real time each time your credit score changes or hits a range you’re targeting. This could help inform when you should make a large purchase to save thousands in interest payments.
Remember that 30 days of Score Watch are free and if you decide to to stay with the program, the cost will be $89.95 a year. Depending on whether you want just a one month peek at your credit or whether the auto-inform option suits you, you can opt whether the annual fee is worth it. It really depends on your situation.
If you opt to cancel, it’s simple and quick – you can do so right from your account interface. No emails, phone calls, written notification. Simply do so through your account settings.

How my 800+ Credit Score Saved Me Thousands

I view this as one of those “High ROI” Financial activities that’s absolutely worth the couple minutes to complete. Having benefited tremendously from having good credit myself and getting a 4.625% mortgage rate (30 yr fixed conventional, no points!) and 0.9% finance rate from Honda when only the highest credit scores were being offered the best rate (car companies sometimes advertise a very low rate but most credit scores don’t meet the requirement and they get you to buy at a higher rate anyway), I can’t reinforce enough the benefits we’ve realized from having good credit. To find out where you stand and whether you need to take action on this, visit myFICO.com.

FREE $10 per Child for simply Reading to them

Darwin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:39:13 +0000

It’s rare that you come across “something for nothing” that doesn’t have strings attached. Well, if you’re a TDBank (formerly Commerce) member, there’s a little-known summer reading program whereby you get a free $10 in each child’s account every year for simply reading books with or to your children. My wife had been managing this each year with our Commerce accounts and once the TDBank acquisition occurred, the program didn’t seem to be advertised at all, but upon asking, it’s still active. A web search revealed this page with additional details as well: TDBank Summer Reading Program. This is not an affiliate link and I don’t advocate jumping around and switching banks for 10 bucks since you can probably get a better signup bonus elsewhere, but I am certain that there are several readers that are current customers that are unaware of this program since you have to ask about it to even know there’s a form.

We all know one of the best things you can do for a child is to read with them. And now, you can get paid for it for simply filling out a form and dropping it off! We have 3 children, so that’s $30 per year toward college for doing something every parent should do anyway.

It’s simple:

Read 10 books
Print out the form
Fill in the books
Drop off the form