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February 26, 2008
If you like lying awake in your bed at night wondering why you can’t sleep, then this deal is for you!
Dunkin’ Donuts has $.99 Small Lattes today from 1pm - 10pm.
Find a Store near you!
Update: This is interesting, Apparently Dunkin’ Donuts is doing this is because Starbuck’s is closing all their stores this evening from from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30pm for employee retraining. Now if this isn’t a good marketing scheme, I don’t know what is!!!
Capital One Auto Finance Review
February 26, 2008
Due to the baby coming in the near future, we decided that a 5 year old Kia Spectra wasn’t going to cut it in terms of safe transportation. So we decided to look around at new cars. Since neither of us have had a car payment in a while we have had some time to save up for a down payment on a new one.
We ended up deciding on the Honda Pilot. I have gone through 2 Honda civics and have driven them into the ground. (one of them literally!). I really had no major issues with either of them so the Pilot was an easy choice in terms of reliability and safety. We decided on buying new since I didn’t want to deal with any hassles of a used car since taking cars in for service is not convenient for us since I work so far from home and the dealer.
Being Honda, they really don’t ever give good financing rates. So I was on my own for this one. My father turned me on to Capital One Auto Finance. He had used them prior to Capital One buying them when their name was People First.
Basically everything is done online. You apply they mail you a blank check that is approved up to a certain amount, you go to the dealer and buy the car.
Here is how it worked for me.
- 2/3 Applied Online for a loan
- 2/4 Received approval email
- 2/8 Received Blank Check in the mail
- 2/9 Purchased Car
Once the check clears Capital One Auto Finance the loan payment process will begin. This process was amazingly simple and had no issues at all during the process. This also saved me the time and mess of financing through the dealer. That process becomes complicated as they try to tell you how much you are gonna pay a month with the interest baked in the payment rather than giving you actual price you are paying on the car since there are too many numbers involved. Using Capital One Auto Finance I knew exactly the price of the car I was buying, so I could bargain with the sales guy on price alone.
I was able to lock in a 5.7% interest rate on a 60 month loan. This obviously isn’t as good as the 0% that the American Card Dealers are thowing at you, but it is worth it for us since we love Honda’s. So I definitely recommend these guys to you. It was almost too easy and that is evident with the car payment I know have for 60 months!!
6 Free Nights from Hilton Honors Amex
February 25, 2008
American Express has a very nice promo going on its Hilton Honors Credit Card. They are giving you a total of 50,000 bonus points. This can turn into upto 6 free nights at any Hilton owned property based on the category of the hotel.
You will get 10,000 Hilton HHonors bonus points with your first purchase.
Then there is a little work involved to get the other 40,000 points. Here is what you need to do:
- Get 2,500 additional points for each stay at any Hilton Family Hotel for each of your first four stays. (10,000 total points)
- Earn 30,000 HHonors bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 5 months of Cardmembership –that’s 15,000 bonus points in addition to the 15,000 points you would earn for your Card spending.
Additional Points can be earned by the following:
- Get 5 Hilton HHonors® bonus points for each eligible dollar spent on stays at over 2,800 Hilton Family hotels worldwide and for eligible purchases at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, dining establishments, the U.S. Postal Service, and for wireless phone bills
- Get 3 HHonors bonus points for every eligible dollar you spend on purchases.
I have this card myself. After traveling for 9 years and pretty much staying in every hotel brand you can think of, I am stuck with Hilton. I have really never had any issues regarding service. Now ask me about Marriott, whom I used to be loyal to. This card is great if you travel since lets face it, the only perks of traveling for work are the points and miles you earn. Even better there is no annual fee on this card, unlike other hotel reawards cards that do have annual fees. The 6 free nights is defineltly worth putting this card in your wallet.
Link to Bonus Detail and Application Page
Dental Insurance - Do You Have It?
February 23, 2008
Dental Insurance seems to be more of a luxury these days as more and more employers don’t offer it. My current place of work only offers health insurance to keep costs low, so I finally decided to start looking around of some Dental Insurance on my own as we have been too lucky with no dental issues and I expect the other shoe to drop soon.
Geez, where to start? There has to be over 10,000 ads and scams out there regarding Dental Insurance. I stumbled upon DentalPlans.com. They seemed to be legit enough from the look of their website so I thought I would see what they had to offer. It was comforting to see that they had some bigger name plans from GE and Aetna, rather than fly by night shops I have never heard of that would disappear the day before your root canal.
Since I am married with a baby on the way I needed to look for Family Dental Plans. Now don’t forget that since you are getting the insurance your self it is gonna cost you a bit more, especially if you are needing family coverage. There is still going to be out of pocket costs, but the idea is to minimize them as much as possible. My main goal was to find a plan that picks up 6 month checkups. Since we both get 2 a year I wanted to make sure that we weren’t paying more out of pocket just for the simple exams.
After going through pretty much all the plans, we decided on GE Wellness Plan (Dental Only). This plan costs $159.95 per year for a family. It covers 6 month checkups up to $43 per visit. So for two people twice a year, the plan will already pay for itself. We will just need to pay for the cleanings which run about $60 per adult which are discounted from $83 per the plan. So there is still some cost involved, but at least it isn’t full price and is managable. Like with health insurance, the real savings come in when you need major dental work done, which thankfully neither of us have needed, knock on wood.
The whole process using DentalPlans.com was pretty painless. You don’t need to sign up for register to see pricing. You just sign up when you are ready to enroll in a plan. I did call their 800 number since I had a few questions and they were very helpful and courteous ( a rarity these days when dealing with health-care folks!!!).
I did notice that they currently are having a promotion that if you use the coupon code: SELECT you will get 10% off of any plan. Unfortunately I signed up before this promo, but just having the security of dental insurance is good enough for me. Now all I need to do is get all my teeth knocked out! 
$50 Off At Buy.com When Using RevolutionCard
February 22, 2008
Buy.com is giving you $50 off a purchase of $51 or greater when you use the new Revolution Card (This promo is no longer valid)
RevolutionCard is a new way to purchase things online. It is a pin based credit card that promises greater security and ease of use then other payment methods. There is no annual fee for the card and they boast “Low Interest Rates”.
RevolutionCard is from the same guys that brought you the PayPal competitor RevolutionMoneyExchange.com (See my Free $25 Bonus Post)
I signed up for the RevolutionMoneyExchange.com for the free $25. I may give the RevolutionCard a whirl too. Seems like a good idea and I definetly can use the $50 Buy.com bonus!
Here are a few details on the card from their site:
What makes RevolutionCard different?
+ Greater security because it’s a PIN-based credit card.
+ Non-embossed card helps protect your identity.
+ No annual fee. No gimmicks.
+ Low APRs with no teaser rates.
RevolutionCard is currently accepted at nearly 150,000 online and retail merchant locations across the United States, including some of America’s largest retailers.
Here is a list of retailers that currently take the RevolutionCard.
T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Talk Forever Review
February 22, 2008
I wanted to do a quick review on T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home Talk Forever due to the fact that they have changed the name, pricing and also introduced new functionality. So I thought since it took me a while to figure out all the confusion, I would share it with you.
So basically the T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Talk Forever is now comprised of two services:
Lets start with HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile. This was the original Hotspot @Home service T-Mobile released last year. Basically it allows you to use a WiFi enabled phone to make free calls when you originate those calls from a WiFi router, be it your home router, T-Mobile HotSpot, or any place you can jump on WiFi. The calls could jump seamlessly from WiFi to the towers as you left a WiFi area and back. There are certain phones that can be used with this. (Do a filter on HotSpot @Home Phones)
You must also add on the Hotspot @Home Add-on plan (now called HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile Add-on) to your current plan to be able to get unlimited WiFi calls. The plan used to be $9.99 for a single user and $19.99 for a family plan. It was then raised to $19.99 for a single user and $29.99 for a family, now it is $9.99 for a single user and a family. So that means when you add on the $9.99 HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile plan anyone on your family plan with a Hotspot @Home enabled phone can make unlimited wifi calls. I think this is a pretty good deal, especially if you have teenagers. I currently have this service and love it. The calls are very clear and I hardly ever use minutes anymore since most of my calls are wifi calls. (See my original Hotspot @Home Review Post for more detail)
Ok, now lets discuss T-Mobile’s new HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Service. You can think of this as more like Vonage or Comcast VoiP. This service does not use your cell phone but rather a router which a regular telephone plugs into. 
This new router (Linksys WRTU54G-TM) , which will cost $50 with a 2 year contract extension, basically replaces any current router that you have. It has wireless as well so you shouldn’t miss anything from your current setup. What makes this router unique is that you can plug in regular telephones into the back of it and make calls. The router supports up to two phone lines. These phone lines each have their own number. You do however need to add the $9.99 per line HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Add-on plan to your wireless plan for each line that you want. So you must have T-Mobile wireless service to be able to get this feature. This is basically giving you an additional phone line with unlimited calling for $9.99. The service also comes with Domestic long distance, Call forwarding, 3-way conference calling, Voicemail, Call Holding and Call Waiting. This obviously beats Vonage’s $24.99 unlimited plan. This service is currently in Beta in Seattle and Dallas with a planned national roll-out soon. One thing I am anxious to see is if these lines can handle faxing as faxing has been as issue when I had Vonage.
One thing to note, to be able to add either of the 2 plans you must have a current individual wireless plan that is 39.99 or higher, or any FamilyTime mobile plan $49.99 or higher.
The HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Service is more for people that would want to replace their land-line phone with a cheaper alternative. Since I have the HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Mobile family plan I don’t think I would get this since we never use a land line phone anymore. So it is really up to you to determine how you use your phones. I also like the HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile plan since I only have one phone number. However if you have a small business at home adding a HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home line might be an option for you. This is also a good alternative to Vonage if you are not happy with their service.
I hope this kind of cleared up the confusion with all the changes to these plans. Please let me know if you have any questions!
