Bank of Internet – 2.02% 12 Month CD

Bank of Internet is having has always had decent rates, and their 2.02% 12 month CD is still pretty competitive considering how much rates have fallen over the past couple of years. Their 12 month CD is actually higher than their 24 month CD which is currently at 2%.

A couple of items to note about the cd:

• There is a minimum of $1000

• There is a grace period of 10 days if you decide that you don’t want to renew it once the 12 months is up
• The early withdrawl penalty is 6 months, so since this being a year CD you would lose half of your interest so be sure you can tie up this money for 12 months
• You have the option to roll the interest back into the CD or have it sent via ACH to another account

I don’t currently have any accounts with Bank of Internet since I am still pretty happy with my high yield checking account, so I can’t comment on service or the opening process, but I have never heard of any major complaints from readers.

Bank of Internet is FDIC insured (FDIC Cert# 35546) and have a sound 4 star rating at Bankrate.com

ING Business Savings Account

ING has recently been offering a Business Savings Account that has the same look and feel as their Personal Online Savings Account.

The rate is currently 1.15% for any balance. There are no minimums or fees. Sure you say 1.15% isn’t that much, but to find a Business Savings Account that has no fees or balance requirements that gives any kind of interest is very difficult.

You can link one business checking account to your business savings and make ACH transfers from and to that account and your ING Business Savings account. You can also have 3 authorized users that have access to the account. Another cool feature is that if you have a ING Orange Savings account, you can quickly access your Business Savings Account by selecting the company name in the “Go To Account” drop down box. This “Go To Account” drop down box will appear once you Business Account is set up. There is also a drop down box in the Bussiness Account screen that lets you quickly go to your Personal Orange Savings account.

If you have a small business and want somewhere to stash your cash and want to make a little return on it, then you should definitely look into opening an ING Business Savings Account. Even if you don’t have a lot of money coming in from your business, with no fees and no minimum balance and easy access to move cash in and out, it is a nice account to have open just in case.

Another Woot Off Going On Now

Woot.com is having another of its Woot Offs right now. It started around midnight central time and will go until they run out of stuff. If you are unfamiliar with Woot.com, they are a site that offers items at a discount. Usually only one item is listed per day starting at 12am Central Time and is listed until it is sold out or 11:59PM Central Time.

A Woot Off, which happens rarely, is a number of products that are for sale on a particular day or successive days. One product follows another as soon as it has been sold out. The number of Woot-Off items, sequence, and quantity will not be announced so an item could take a while to sell out or sell out immediately. Don’t miss a chance to score some items at a steal if you have some money to blow! But remember, that I prefer you really think about saving it.

Save Money When You Rent College Text Books

For any of you that are in or have gone to college, you pretty much know that after paying tuition, books can be another huge expense. Lets face it, the greedy authors rewrite the same book year after year to force you to buy a new edition with little chance getting a fraction of that cost back when you trade in your books at the end of the semester.

Well I came across this interesting company Chegg.com where you can actually rent college textbooks for a fraction of the cost of buying them in the college bookstores.

Here is an example of a chemistry book I had at college. (Taken from Follets.com)

Now take a look at how much it costs to rent that same book at Bookswim:

That is a savings of over $44 for a semester rental. Wow I wish this place was around when I went to college. I think I only got $15 back when I returned my new chemistry book. They also offer longer period rentals if need be, and when you are done with the book, you return it to them vis UPS for FREE. All of this with a 30-Day “Any Reason” guarantee included makes this one a no brainer, especially if you no longer have the need for the book once you are done with the class.

Trying to find cheap college textbooks was always a priority for me. I used to check the prices at all the store and went with the lowest one. This site would have saved me hundreds if not thousands over my 4 years of school. For any of you starving college kids, you should definetly check out Chegg.com. Just think of all the money you can save to spend on more beer!

Ally Bank No Penalty CD

(Note: all rates are as of 03/02/2010)

If you want the easy access to your money like an online savings account but want the high interest yield of a CD, then you may want to take a look at the new Ally Bank No Penalty CD. The No Penalty CD offers a locked interest rate of 1.09% for 9 months, but stills allow you to accesss your money if you need it without any early withdrawl fees.

This is pretty cool in that you get a high rate locked for 9 months, but if you really need the money you can close the CD get all your principal investment back including interest with no fees at all. Most banks can offer high CD rate since they charge high fees when you have to close out a CD early, which is what makes the No Penalty CD such a great savings option.

What else is interesting is that Ally Bank’s Online savings account rate is at 1.39%, so it makes the No Penalty CD a very attractive deal.

Ally bank is the rebranded GMAC bank which is FDIC insured. I have had an account with them for over 2 years and love their services. High yields, no fees and great customer service. I still don’t get why people give their money to banks that don’t pay any interest! Check out my best savings account review of Ally Bank.

Saving Made Easy

A bunch of my friends and I were sitting around talking and the topic of “saving” came up. My friend Mike, who loves to admit that he lives paycheck to paycheck was complaining that he couldn’t save any money since he needed to spend his entire paycheck just to get by. Of course he is saying this as he is downing a $4 beer.

Many people claim the same thing like, “I can’t spare anything”, or “savings is too much of a hassle”. I tend to disagree with this argument as there are always ways to put a little aside. First thing first, take the money out of your check once you are paid. You can’t miss what you never had. Most people can get away with putting aside $20 a month. That essentially is the cost of eating out a few times.

Next, get a savings account that automatically deducts the money out of your account like the Ally Bank Online Savings Account. Along with a great rate, this savings account can automatically pull money out of your checking account without you having to do a thing.

Ok, so now you are saving $20 per month and it is automatically being taken out of your checking account on payday. Fast forward 1 year, guess what you now have $240 (not including interest) saved up. You can then start thinking about adding a little more to your savings each month to increase that balance.

I tend to think that people don’t save much anymore as they were not brought up in a family that set aside money for the future. Once you get a little money saved up, you would be surprised how quickly your focus changes. This little saving cushion can be used for anything like car repairs, doctor bills, etc, without having to put it on a credit card which just puts you deeper in debt.

Saving money is a personal choice, and I think it happens to be a very responsible one. No one is going to save money for you, so it is up to you to make sure you plan for the future. Just use the tools available to make saving money an easy and fun process for you.

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