4.05% Money Market Account at Indy Mac Bank

Indy Mack Bank has a 4.05% APY on their E-Money Market Account. You must have a minimum balance of at least $1000 to open the account and must leave $1000 in there to receive interest. If your balance falls below $1000 at any time you will be charged a $7 monthly fee.

This is a basic Money Market account with no ATM Card or checkwriting privileges, but there is ACH functionality to move money in and out of the account to your local bank.

Link to Account Details and Signup Page

As interest rates keep falling this is a pretty good deal if you are looking for a place to stash your cash. However, don’t get your hopes up too high as I am sure they will adjust the rate down as soon as they get a flood of people opening accounts. So get in now if you want the high rate!

 Thanks to reader Mike who emailed me about this offer. 

3.9% Moneymarket at Nationwide Bank

Nationwide bank is currently offering a 3.9% APY on their Online Money Market Account. On their site they have it broken down into interest rate tiers but all tiers from $1 – $100,000+ will receive the 3.9% APY.

Even though the account pays 3.9% on a one dollar balance, you need to keep a $1000 minimum balance to avoid the $8 monthly fee. As this is a Money Market, standard Money Market Account rules apply and you can only make up to 6 pre-authorized withdrawals per monthly statement cycle, otherwise there will be a $5 fee for each withdrawal thereafter.

Nationwide’s Money Market Accounts offer the following features:

Attractive rates
Free online banking
Free online statements detailing monthly activity
Free ATM card upon request
Access to more than 32,000 Allpoint surcharge-free ATMs and 400,000 Visa®/PLUS ATMs across the country
Two free non-Nationwide Bank ATM transactions per month
Free money transfer between your Nationwide Bank accounts and from your accounts with other banks
Complete transactions online, over the phone, at an ATM, by mail
May be linked to a checking account for overdraft protection
$1,000 minimum deposit to open an account
FDIC insured

Account Details Page

Not a bad rate considering the other banks’ rates are in a downward spiral!

100 Free Trades a Year With Wells Fargo Investments

Here is a promotion that has been out there for a while, but I thought I would mention it since I haven’t yet. Wells Fargo Investments will give you 100 Commission Free Equity Trades per year if you have $25,000 in brokerage, loan balances or deposits with them. You need to open a Wells Fargo PMA Package which includes a checking account and brokerage account. As long as you keep your checking account linked to your brokerage account, there are no checking fees. And assuming you meet the $25,000 balance requirement there are no fees for the brokerage account either.

Wells Fargo accounts used for balance qualification include checking, savings, time accounts (CDs), retirement (IRAs), brokerage, trust (excluding irrevocable trusts), loans, outstanding credit cards and line of credit balances, and 10% of an outstanding mortgage balance .

This promo works great if you have a mortgage with Wells Fargo. Say for example your outstanding mortgage loan is $275,000. So 10% of $275,000 is $27,000. You have just satisfied the $25,000 requirement for the free trades.

 The checking account comes with free checks, debit card and pays tiered interest on your balance. There is also an electronic transfer feature that allows you to transfer money between the checking account and brokerage account.

Link To Details and Sign Up Page

 If you have $25,000 in deposits or a mortgage, or a combination that gets you to $25,000, this is a totally free investing solution. You figure with 100 free trades per year you get 8 free trades per month. This is pretty good for someone investing over time as you are buying stock at cost. If you are a day trader, this probably isn’t a good fit for you.

Best Buy Gives $50 Gift Cards Because of HD-DVD Death

If you read any technology news you probably heard that HD-DVD is now done and Blue Ray is the winner of the new HD DVD format. What is interesting is that Best Buy has decided to give anyone that bought an HD-DVD player from them prior to Febuary 23 a $50 best buy gift card. Apparently they are gonna do this on their own and based on its Reward Zone program, performance service plans and through online purchases. They will mail out the gift cards to those individuals by May 1.

 If you don’t think they will know you purchasesd a HD-DVD player from them or you paid cash, call or go to your local Best Buy and provide a Best Buy receipt or credit card information for proof of purchase.

 I almost purchased an HD-DVD player back when they were giving away 10 free movies if you bought one. I guess I am glad I didn’t. At least they are showing some sort of sympathy towards the ones who did. This goes to show you that being at the forefront of technology is not always the wise thing to do. Sometimes you need to sit back and let it all play out!

2008 Tax Rebate For Social Security Recipients

Update: See my latest posts on the Tax Rebate Payout Details in the 2008 Tax Rebate Category!

I have been getting a lot of questions from people asking if they will receive rebates if they are retired and receiving Social Security Benefits. The answer is yes. as long as the following items are true:

1. Individuals or families must have at least $3,000 in qualifying income, which can be income from or in combination with Social Security benefits, Veterans Affairs benefits, Railroad Retirement benefits and earned income
2. People must have valid Social Security Numbers.
3. People cannot be claimed as dependents or eligible to be claimed as dependents on another’s tax return.
4. People must file a 2007 tax form, i.e. Form 1040A.

If you have already filed a 2007 tax returns showing $3000 or greater in income then you are all set and will receive the rebate starting in May according to the recently posted Rebate Payout Schedule.

If you have already filed a 2007 return but did not include your Social Security benefits as income, you will need to file an amended return using the Form 1040X to qualify for the rebate.

If you are receiving Social Security but don’t usually file, check out this Resoruce Guide from the IRS on the easiest way for you to file to receive your rebate.

And remember, the quickest way to get your rebate will be to file that 2007 tax return with direct deposit, otherwise you will get a paper check paid out sometime between May and July based on your SSN number.

Interest Earnings Being Flushed Away?

It’s amazing that when the Fed raises interest rates banks are pretty slow to follow, but when the LOWER interest rates, Banks drop their rates so fast, you think they were foaming at the bit for a rate cut. Well that happened again on Tueday and more banks followed suite like Emigrant Direct and ING Direct.

So what to do now? Make some free money to make up for the low interest rates!!!! Here are some deals that will pay you a little something for minimal effort:

$25 from ING Direct when opening an Orange Savings or Electric Checking account with $250( see post)

$25 when opening a RevolutionMoneyExchange account (No money needed to open account!)( see post)

$25 from LendingClub.com when you become a lender or borrower (see post)

$25 from Prosper.com when you become a lender (see post)

Free Money from SurveySavvy for completing surveys online (see post)

This is just a sampling of the free money deals out there. Banks are giving this money out to anyone that wants it, so why not take it? Check out the Free Money category for more!

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