Saving Made Easy!

Here is an interesting site to help you get back on track with your savings. They call it SmartyPig.com. SmartyPig allows you to create many FDIC insured savings accounts where you set the amount you want to save and the date that you will need access to the money. SmartyPig determines the monthly amount it will need to transfer to satisfy your savings goal and over time makes monthly automatic withdrawals from your current bank account into your SmartyPig account.

When you hit your goal, you can either get the money back via check, SmartyPig MasterCard® debit card or you can redeem for a gift card + a 5% bonus for certain retailers. If you need your money prior to meeting your savings goal, the SmartyPig savings account may be closed at any time without penalty

The accounts pay 4.3% interest, which currently is very competitive with some of the top rates out there. And best of all, this is completely free. Another interesting feature is that friends and family can make contributions to your SmartyPig account. Say for example you are getting married, instead of registering with a retail store, just send them the link to SmartyPig and your email address and they can contribute to your goal.

Some things to note: You must set up regular contributions of at least $25 per month from your external bank account. You also must add a $25 contribution to start, and your goal must be at least $250 for each account that you set up.

This is definitely an interesting concept. What I like about it is that this is a set it and forget it type of service. You obviously could do this manually, but since this is completely free, why not use it.

$100 From Discover Card

Discover Card is giving a $100 bonus when you sign up for the Discover Cash Back Bonus Card. You must be approved for the card by July 20th, 2008 and make $500 in purchases within 3 months of being approved.

The $100 bonus will be credited to your account within 8 weeks from the time you have completed $500 in purchases.

You can apply online at apply.discovercard.com or call 800-210-9022. Use Invitation Code DANV when applying.

For more details, see the Discover Promo Flyer Here

Build a Niche Stores Review

After the overwhelming number of emails in response to my Can You Make Money Online? post, I thought I would show you one of the things I am doing to make a little extra money.

I am creating a few Build A Niche Stores, which are commonly referred to as BANS Stores.

BANS is a software that allows you to instantly create a store composed of eBay items. You then get a commission on any items that someone buys if they got to eBay through your site. It is ridiculous how fast it is to create a store. For example, I created ChristmasPeddler.com this morning which only took 10 minutes. Now if you spend a little more time on it, you can get something like GiftCardTime.com, which is a little more pleasing to the eye.

The software is pretty self explainatory and very easy to get up and running. Before setting up these stores I only knew a little about web hosting and blogs, which is what I needed to know to get BudgetCents.net up and running.

There are a few things you need to get a BANS store running.

• Ebay Affiliate Account - You will need to sign up for a free Ebay Affiliate Account. This is how you get paid. When you create a store you need to add your Ebay Affiliate ID to your store. Ebay then tracks this id when someone purchases something and deposits the commision in your account.
• Build A Niche Stores Software - This will cost you $97. Now don’t buy this if you aren’t going to be dedicated to it. It will take sometime to get your money back once you get started, but if you do this right, the software should pay for itself
• You will need a hosting account. I use and recommend HostGator Shared Web Hosting. The web hosting plan I recommend is the “Baby” Linux Hosting Plan. You can have an unlimited number of sites for $10 per month. So I have this blog as well as my 10 BANS sites all on my HostGator account all for $10 per month.
• And lastly you need to buy a domain name for your store. I get all my domains through GoDaddy.com . A domain name will run you around $10 / year.

Obviously there is a little money that you need to invest in this to get up and going. If you are not planning on spending the time to get your sites up and dress them up a bit, don’t spend your money as this is not a get rich quick scheme. You are creating a ligitimate eBay store and receving commission from them for directing people to their site.

This is a great way to make a little side money, but you have to be dedicated, otherwise you will not succeed.

Thus far I have created 10 BANS stores. And in the 4 weeks I have had the stores up, I have made $133, so about $13 per each store on average. Ok, now you think that isn’t much, but think about creating 100 stores and making $13 a month on each of them. Would you think $1300 per month isn’t that much, for something that you can create don’t have to constantly make updates to?

So if you are interested in trying your hand in the online game, this is probably the best way to start. I have had a little success and my hopes is to scale this and make much more. I will post regularly on this to show my progress. Also, If you decide to try this out and have issues, defineltly send me a comment or question via my contact page and I will do what I can to help you out.

Credit Cards For the Fairer Sex

Ladies, do you need a new credit card but am not sure where to turn? Well a new site as popped up called The Credit Room that is designed especially for you. With eye pleasing colors and an easier way of categorizing the cards, it is definitely worth a look. The site also explains some common credit card dangers to avoid. So it might be helpful to some of you out here.

In my opinion, when dealing with credit cards always remember the following:

• Never get a credit card with an annual fee
• Never pay a credit card sign up fee
• Always beware of the interest rate
• Keep an eye on Balance transfer fees if you choose to do a balance transfer
• Make sure to pay at least the minimum payment amount on time or you risk your interest rate increasing

Getting a credit card is easy these days, just make sure you fully understand the terms and conditions prior to signing up and using the card.

Free $125 From Chase Free Checking Account

Chase has another $125 Promo going on when you open a Chase Free Checking Account with Direct Deposit. The first direct deposit of $100 must be completed within 60 calendar days of account opening. The $100 reward will be deposited into your new account within 6–8 weeks after the initial direct deposit. There is a minimum account opening balance of $100 required.

There are no fees on this account once you have established direct deposit into it.

How do I sign up?
You must open a Chase Free Checking Account online or in a branch by April 30th 2008. If you are going to open an account in the branch, please print out this page and take it in with you to make sure you get the right code on your account to receive your bonus.

Increase That Ameican Express Credit Limit

Want to increase your credit limit on your American Express Cards? I came across the American Express’ Line of Credit Tool. This allows you to increase your credit limit on most of their cards.

So you might be asking, why do I want to do this? Well reasons to increase your credit limit include increasing your total available credit and therefore decreasing utilization which improves your overall credit score. If you were thinking of doing a balance transfer, this would allow you to utilize more money in that transfer. Plus having large credit lines showing on your credit report may induce other issuers into giving you higher lines as well, which may be useful to further lower your utilization.

I was able to increase my limit on my American Express Blue Cash Cardby $20,000 using this tool. Now I am not going to charge $20,000 more on this card, but now that my utilization is lower from the increase, it should move my credit score up. Plus it is cool to brag to my friends that my Amex Limit is $55,000!!!!

If you are going to use this, be cautious, don’t try to double your limit. My advice is to try to increase it by 40%-50% of your current available limit. If that works for you come back in a few months and try it again. Trying to request too much of a credit limit increase could cause your account to be flagged and then you may have to talk to someone in their Customer Service Dept and explain what you were doing, so don’t go nuts!

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