Best Checking Account With Unlimited ATM Rebates

Are you sick of paying fees at ATMs? Most people don’t realize, but with most bank accounts if you go to an ATM not owned by your bank you will end up paying 2 separate fees, one by your bank and one by the owner of the ATM.

Some banks waive their fee when you use ATM’s that aren’t theirs up to a certain amount, others increase the fees the more you use them.

If you are like me, you probably think, I don’t really want to count anything. I want a bank account that rebates ALL fees each month no matter what ATM I use. Well you are in luck. Ally Bank has an online checking account that does just that. Any fees that are incurred from an ATM withdrawal are credited back to your account when the statement for that month closed no matter how many times you do it.

What makes this account even better is that there are no minimum balances, no fees, 0$ to open, Free Online banking and Bill Pay and no direct deposit requirements. They actually pay you interest as well depending on the amount you have in the account. They have an ACH transfer system where you can transfer money in and out of the account to any other bank account that you have.

If you are being choked by your current bank where you get no interest on your money, ridiculous ATM fees and crazy direct deposit requirements, then you should check out there Ally Bank Checking Account . It literally costs you nothing to open and use, but can save you a fortune in fees and hassle!

Originally posted at Budgetcents.net

Free Flight from Chase Southwest Airlines Visa

If you are looking to get a way this winter, you can get a free flight from Southwest Airlines when you sign up for their branded Chase Visa card.

Once you make your first purchase with the card, you will receive 16 credits added to your account. And guess how many credits it takes for a free flight? Yup you guessed it, 16, which is not bad considering how much other airlines require to to use for a free flight.

Like any other frequent flier card, you also earn 1 reward dollar for every dollar you spend using the card. You will also earn 2 reward dollars for every dollar spent on Southwest airfare using the card. 1,200 Reward Dollars = 1 Rapid Rewards credit.

Details on the offer are below. (if you don’t have JavaScript enabled, then Click Here)

5% Back At ExxonMobil Gas Stations When Using Your American Express Card

American Express and ExxonMobil have a promotion going on where you can earn 5 cents back on every dollar you spend when you use your registered American Express Card from December 20, 2010 and January 20, 2011.

All you need to do is to register your American Express card at the American Express Promo site. Then start buying gas through January 20th.

I was able to register my Fidelity American Express Rewards card, even though it is not an American Express “issued” card, so we will see how this works. It also appears that this will work on non gas purchases as well, but I will need to try that first to verify.

Since most credit cards have dropped their rewards percentage, this 5% is pretty attractive offer even if it is only for 30 days.

Envaulted.com Beta 1% Additional Cash Back on Purchases

There is a new cash back site on the scene now that adds 1% cash back to all your credit card purchases. This is in addition to your current credit card rewards program. The site is called Envaulted.com

Basically you sign up, add up to 3 credit cards and you will earn additional 1% cash back on all your credit card purchases made with those cards. They hook up to your account in a similar manner that Quicken or Mint.com does. They read your transaction data to determine the % of cash back to reward. In addition to that, like a traditional cash back site, Envaulted.com also has weekly bonus offers where you get an additional amount of cash back at certain merchants just by using that registered credit card there.

For example, the bonus offers last week were the following:
5% cash back at CVS
15% cash back at McDonalds
4% cash back and free shipping at Buy.com
4% cash back at Exxon Mobil

I just signed up on the site, so I can’t give anymore details than what I have read, but this is an interesting business model and I am curious to learn more. I already have a 2% cash back card, so if I can add an additional 1% to that, then I will take it. I will write a more detailed review once I start using it, but I wanted to get this out as currently as I am writing this, there are only 61 beta invitations left, so get in now before it closes if this kind of program sounds interesting to you!

Originally posted at Budgetcents.net

2010 & 2011 Social Security Limits

If you are one of the lucky ones to make over $106,800 per year in 2010, you may have noticed a little extra money in your paycheck. That is because you hit the earnings limit to have to pay into Social Security. The nice thing is that once you hit the limit, all that extra money goes right back to you.

Since the economy is still a bit sluggish, the earnings limit for 2011 is the same as 2010. If you make under $106,800 then none of this really matters to you unfortunately, but it is nice to dream isnt it?

The table below gives you a little history as to how the limites have increased over the years, mainly due to a strong economy.

Year	Wages	% Increase
2011	$106,800	NA
2010	$106,800	NA
2009	$106,800	4.7%
2008	$102,000	4.6%
2007	$97,500	3.5%
2006	$94,200	4.7%
2005	$90,000	2.4%

 

You should also keep in mind that if you made over the $106,800 at more than 1 job, you will most likely receive the excess money back at tax time. Since each employer keeps track of their payroll liabilites seperatly, if you made more than the limit chances are you have some money coming back to you in April. If you use a program such as TurboTax it will notify you of the excess amount as you enter your W-2′s.

Original post from Budgetcents.net

Free Turbo Tax Online For 2010 Tax Season From State Farm Bank

For the third year in a row, State Farm Bank is offering free Turbo Tax online if you have a State Farm banking product. Remember that the first year, State Farm gave this offer to those that just had State Farm Insurance. That has since switched to their Bank division, so you need to have a banking product such as a Savings, Checking or Credit Card account open.

When you log into your State Farm Account you will see the following link on the left side of the page:
 

Clicking on the link will take you directly to TurboTax’s homepage, however you will notice that the prices are either free or discounted based on the State Farm Promotion. Here is the breakdown of the prices for the Federal Tax Return preparation and filing:

• Basic – FREE
• Deluxe – FREE
• Premier – $20
• Home & Business – $30

All state preparation and filing is FREE with any of the above services. So if you are a typical person like me that owns a home and is married, you are probably going to be a Deluxe user which in that case everything is free. For state and federal, that is over a $66 savings on your taxes. Not too shabby!

I definitely think that State Farm offering something like this to their customers is a great idea. It probably only costs them 60-70 per person, but if it gets a bunch of people to open new accounts, then it is probably worth it, since attracting new customers is always an expensive process.

If you are not a State Farm Bank customer, you can still check out those same services at TurboTax.com

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