SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE LATEST POSTS VIA EMAIL!Minimum Wage Increases 70 Cents
July 31, 2008
Last year’s Fair Minimum Wage Act was passed which included three scheduled wage increases. Last week the second of the three increases took effect. The current minimum wage is currently at $6.55 an hour. The thrid and final increase of the Wage Act will bring the minimum wage up to $7.25 an hour in July of next year.
At $6.55 per hour, you can translate that into an annual salary of $13,624 based on 2080 hours per year. This is still below poverty level. However with minimum wage increases you tend to see a rise in unemployment as employers try to offset the rise in pay to all their employees by reducing the total employee count.
The Federal minimum wage is a base line and fall back for any states that do not have a minimum wage reqiurement. Many states do have a minimum wage law which is higher than the federal government’s wage. Check out your state here
It will be interesting to see how the current slowing economy will respond to the rise in wages. Paying people more when everything else is costing more may be a tough pill to swallow for companies that are experiencing the cash crunch today. However on the flip side, this increase is needed for everyone trying to deal with the skyrocketing gas and food prices. Hopefully this is a quick correction and we will be back to a rising dollar!
HSBC Extends Rate For Online Savings Account
July 30, 2008
HSBC is extending the interest rate of their Online Savings account until September 15th. The current rate 3.5% was supposed to expire in August, but from the lack of interest rate cutting by the Fed’s recently, HSBC has decided to keep the rate for another month. Hopefully we will see a trend in rising savings account rates again.
This account has one of the highest interest rates out there for a $1 minimum balance savings account. HSBC’s Online Savings account is free to open and requires only $1 for a minimum balance. There are no fees with this account. There is also an ACH transfer system that allows you to move money to and from your current checking account for free.
I currently have this account and having my emergency fund in it. Since I want my emergency fund in cash for easy access to it if I need it, I want it earning the highest rate possible, and currently this is it.
Another Tax Stimulus Rebate?
July 24, 2008
There are rumblings that there will be another tax rebate offered to Americans in 2009. I have heard the rumors but didn’t hear anything concrete until now. I am going to refer to this as the 2009 tax stimulus rebate as to not confuse this with the current rebate that is currently is progress.
This week, Congress will be reviewing a proposal that would inject $50 billion into the US economy. This proposal would mainly benefit middle class citizens similiar to the last rebate. According to the bill on the table, there will also be funds available for an increase in food stamps benefits, infrastructure funding, increased unemployment benefits as well as home heating old assistance for lower income familes.
As this bill is purely undergoing review there are no details on how much indivuidals and families will receive. The early rumbling that I hear is that the rebate will occur sometime in early 2009 if approved. I will be updating this site regularly with more information on the 2009 tax rebate as it comes available, so keep checking back.
High Yield Checking Account Website
July 21, 2008
In the past I have written about High Yield Checking Accounts. They are checking accounts that offer a high interest rate if you do certain things in a months time.
Most of the high yeild checking accounts I have seen offer between 4%-7% APY on money in the account if you perform 10 debit card transactions, set up direct desposit and recevie statements electronically each month. The thought behind the high interest rate is that it is cheaper for the bank if you use your debit card rather then processing checks.
These checking accounts are popping up all over the country. I just discovered this site that trys to list them all. The site is called High Yield Checking Deals. Be sure to check it out if your checking account is earning little to no interest.
I have had my high yield checking account for almost a year now and have made over $1500 in interest. Had I kept my Chase Checking account, that number would have been a big fat zero!
Free $75 From Bank of America Checking
July 11, 2008
Bank of America has a promo going on their MyAccess Checking Account where you can get $75 when signing up. The MyAccess Checking account is BofA’s free checking account. The nice thing about this account is that there are no direct deposit or minimum balance requirements.
To get the bonus do the following:
- complete the Application Page and open an MyAccess Checking Account
- enter the bonus code CH75TAD
- deposit at least $25 into the account within 30 days of account opening
The $75 bonus will be paid out within 90 days of openening the checking account. This offer expires on 11/30/2008.
$100 From PNC Bank Checking
July 9, 2008
PNC Bank is having a promotion where you can receive $100 when signing up for one of their Personal Checking Accounts. To get the $100 you must open one of their Personal Checking Accounts and establish direct deposit.
The $100 bonus will be paid within 7 days of your first direct deposit that totals $500 or more. There is no expiration date on this offer, but the small print does read that it can be withdrawn at any time.
PNC’s Free Checking account actually pays ATM owner fees if you keep an average monthly balance of $2000, this is a great deal if you tend to use non bank owned ATM’s and rack up those crazy ATM fees. Personally I don’t not have an account with them, but my parents do and they have had no complaints with PNC as a bank.
Link to Offer Page and Details.
