Best 2% Cash Back Rewards Card

If you are one of the holdouts still not earning cash back on your credit card purchases, you make want to take a look at the HSBC Platinum Cash Back Card.

In my opinion this is the best cash back card and here is why….

• This card does not have a pre-spending limit before you can reach earn the 2%. For example like the American Express Blue Cash Card, you first need to spend 6500 on the card before you even qualify for the 5% everyday purchases. In the case of most people, in the long run, they will earn more cash back using the HSBC card from day one. Plus Amex is not accepted everywhere, so you have a better chance of acceptance with this card.
• This card pays 2% cash back on everything! No more having to decide what card to use when getting gas, groceries, etc. All purchases made will get you 2% back.
• Unlike the Fidelity 2% cash back card, the HSBC Platinum card does not require a brokerage account to be opened. So one less thing to do here.
• There is no annual fee with this card, so you pay nothing to have the option to earn 2% cash back.
• You can receive a cash back check as soon as your account reaches $25. This limit is a lot lower than other cards that won’t let you access your rewards until the $50 or $75 limit.

I have this card, and it is the only one my wife and I use. We have received over $475 cash back over the two years I have had it. Many people prefer receiving travel rewards, but we have found that there is no substitute to getting a check in the mail. It’s a little something extra that you can use to spend.

The application page for this card had disappeared shortly after I applied for it a few years ago. My thought is that they limit this card to so many people at a time. It is great news that it is now back again. My advice would be to get in on this one right away before they shut it down again. If you currently don’t have a cash back card, or a tiered one you really should take a look at this. For an easy comparison, take the amount of cash back you received on your current card last year, then divide it by the total amount you spend using the card last year. If that number is better than 2%, then you probably won’t need to switch, but I bet in most of your cases, it will be less!

You can find more details and how to aplpy on the HSBC Platinum 2% Cash Back Card Promo page.

Free Trading Friday In Your Tradeking Account

If you currently have a Tradeking account, they are having a customer appreciation promotion where any trade you make on Friday August 12 will be free. Per the small print in the email I was just sent…

No commissions will be charged for trades executed on 8/12/2011. Includes stock trades, option trades, fixed income and no-load mutual fund trades. Index option fees and option contracts fees will not be charged. Regulatory fees and Foreign settlement fees will still apply.

The email also goes on to mention that you will see the trade as normal (with commission added) on Friday, but on Saturday you will see that trade with the commission waived. So don’t worry until Saturday if you still don’t see the commissions waived.

This is obviously in response to the market volatility in the past few days, unfortunately if you are like me, all your money is tied up in stocks that have lost about 20% of their value. But if you are one of the lucky ones with some money to buy and an active Tradeking account, Friday could be a great day for you!

Unfortunately this is only available for current Tradeking account holders, but if you are interested in their $100 bonus promotion for new accounts, take a look at the Tradeking Promotion page for more details.

Tradeking $100 Bonus Promotion

NOTE: This bonus has expired. Please see the Tradeking Promotions page for the latest information.

If you were holding out for that $100 Tradeking Promo, you don’t have to wait any longer it is back. All you need to do is the following:

• Open a new account using the following link:
• Fund the account with at least $2500 within 30 days of opening the account
• Execute three trades within 180 days of account opening

For those of you that are not familiar with Tradeking, they offer a flat $4.95 commission on stocks and options. Tradeking was founded in 2005 by the founders of Suretrade.com which was eventually sold to TDAmeritrade. All accounts are SIPC protected, so you can be sure that your money is safe.

I’ve had a Tradeking account since 2006 and use it as my primary trading account. Why spend $10 or more for a stock commission with the other guys when Tradeking offers the same service for half as much! There are no account minimums or inactivity fees. (note that in this special case to qualify for the Tradeking Promotion there is a $2500 minimum to get the free $100 but once the 6 months is up, there is no minimum balance). Check out my Tradeking Review for an indepth review of their service.

Some other cool features they offer is an ACH feature where you can move money in and out of your linked checking account. There is also a money market sweep that invests your uninvested money in a money market account that earns interest. They also offer loads of educational material to help you understand the basics of investing with stocks and options in case you are just starting out. I learned how to trade options with Tradeking very quickly using their helpful training tools. You can also send them any paper stock certificates you have to them and they will add them to your account for free. I had to use this feature once with a stock purchase plan I had for a company I worked at. It was a very simple process and I was able to trade those stocks electronically in less than 2 weeks.

You can also take a look at out Tradeking Promotions page to see all the active Tradeking Bonus items that are going on now.