Fusioncash is a portal that offers you cash incentives for signing up for various offers. I joined a couple weeks ago and today I finally got around to signing up for a couple of offers today.

To start off, I let someone else refer me and started with a $3 bonus.

I signed up for the free trial of Stamps.com for $20. Stamps.com also offered $5 in free postage. I have some stuff on eBay I sold so the postage is a plus.

I also signed up for these offers:

30-day trial of Entertainment Rewards, $12 from FusionCash. You can also earn an extra $10 from them by printing out 3 coupons.

14-day Real Superpass, $14.40 from FusionCash. There’s also a free $10 credit for use in the music store. $9.99 will net you most albums. Each song is $0.99.

When you request cashouts they will be paid on or before the 20th of the next month. So i’ll update then on if they really pay out or not (by June 20th)

If you’re interested on checking it out, use my referral link and I’ll earn a whole dollar.

http://www.fusioncash.net/?ref=hejustlaughs Thanks.

I was talking to the online CSR at Bank of America and asked about any bonuses for opening up accounts. The CSR told me there is a $60 bonus for opening up a student savings and student checking account and a $125 bonus for non-student accounts. The student accounts have a lot less fees and minimum initial opening balances so I went with the student accounts although it is a smaller bonus. Initial funding minimum was $125, which you can charge to your credit card. The charges count as purchases, not cash advances. So I was thinking about funding the maximum, whatever that might be to get the 1% cashback reward but my credit limit is only $800 for the Citi Dividend Card and I might need it for gas and supermarket purchases (5% cashback). I funded $125 from my credit card and 4 days later they e-mailed telling I was approved. According to the CSR it takes up to 45 business days for my account to be credited.

I also signed up for the Keep the Change program from BoA. Check it out here: http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/ktc/

Oh yeah, the promo code is B60, not sure when the expiration is so verify with the CSR.

In response to the comment: The student checking is free for 5 years and the savings account is free for 6 months and then an average balance of $300 is required or monthly transfer of $25 from checking to savings. So the fees are virtually nonexistent for this offer.

I was found a sweet deal today on the Jets site. Sign up for a New York Jets Extra Points Mastercard and receive a free iPod Nano 1GB with Jets engraving.

Link to deal: http://www.newyorkjets.com/fan_zone/jetsextrapoints
Discussion on Fatwallet: http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/610503/

Here are the terms of the offer:
* You have to make combinations of purchases and cash transactions totaling at least $100 within 90 days of the date the account is opened.
* Allow 8-12 weeks for delivery after qualifying.

Here’s to quote the page:
To qualify for this offer, your new account must be used to make any combination of purchase or cash advance transactions (including balance transfers) totaling at least $100 within 90 days of the date the account is opened by MBNA (exclusive of transaction fees, if any). Limit one (1) item per new account. Supplies are limited. Allow 8-12 weeks for delivery after qualifying. Offer sponsored by MBNA: we may substitute an item of equal or greater value and we are not responsible for lost, stolen or undelivered merchandise. “

I figure this is a great deal for me because:

1. I am a Jets fan(yes I know they suck right now), an iPod nano couldn’t hurt either, especially one with Jets engraving on it.
2. I am going to spend $100 in general credit card purchases anyway. Normally I would get 1% cashback totalling $1. The iPod nano is definitely worth it.
3. I will still use my Citi Dividend card for gas, supermarket, pharmacy purchases to get 5% cashback in those areas. I’ll just use this card outside of those locations to qualify for the $100 within 90 days.
4. My old 3rd generation 20 gb iPod is outdated and malfunctioning. The thing freezes constantly and battery life is short. I could use a new iPod, especially one that is practically free.

I’ll edit later on how the deal goes.

I didn’t get instant approval! I have a feeling a rejection letter will be sent in the mail.

edit: As of August 1st, 2006, this deal is dead. I already recieved my free iPod and congrats to everyone else who also did.

Transactions posted way earlier than I thought. Sigh. Three overdrawn transactions. NSF fee per transaction is $35. 3 x $35 = $105. OUCH. This is definitely not the way to build wealth. OUCH. $105 is a lot of money for me at this point in my life. OUCH.

I just got off the phone. I called up Wachovia and just simply asked for the fees to be waived, can’t hurt right? The CSR offered to refund 2 of the 3 NSF fees so I would be paying for only one fee of $35. Maybe I’ll try calling again later. $35 isn’t as bad as $105.

Moral of the story, don’t play with checks. You’re probably better off playing with fire.

The reasons I chose to compare ING Direct, Emigrant Direct, and HSBC Direct is that they are usually regarded as the major players in this area. The accounts they offer are not money market accounts and generally transfers are not restricted in and out of the account. Citi does offer an online savings account but it requires you have a Citi checking account, so they will be excluded from this comparison.

Interest Rates
As of 8/31/06, the interest rates for the three banks are as follows:

• ING Direct: 4.35% apy
• Emigrant Direct: 5.15% apy
• HSBC Direct: 5.05% apy

Emigrant Direct leads the pack in interest rates. ING is no longer competitive. HSBC lags slighty behind Emigrant but 0.1% on $100 is only 10 cents. Historically, Emigrant Direct has been competitive with their rates so if you’re a rate chaser, stashing your money at Emigrant Direct is probably a good idea.

ING International Rates

ING Direct caters to many different countries and rates vary from country to country. You can check out the rates that are offered in other countries other than the United States.

Australia – http://www.ingdirect.com.au/
Austria – http://www.ing-diba.at/
Canada – http://www.ingdirect.ca/
France – http://www.ingdirect.fr/
Germany – http://www.ing-diba.de/
Italy – http://www.ingdirect.it/
Spain – http://www.ingdirect.es/
United Kingdom – http://www.ingdirect.co.uk/

User Interface

All three have simple and easy to use interfaces. Although the ING Direct one seems the most user friendly. HSBC and Emigrant Direct’s interfaces don’t match up to ING Direct. However, it is essentially a bank afterall and user interfaces shouldn’t be at the top of your list for reasons to bank somewhere. All three have user interfaces that are easily usable and navigate.

Transferring Money

To access your funds, you generally have to link your online account to a checking or savings account and transfer money in/out as you please.

I am using the experiment done on MyMoneyBlog as basis for comparing transfer times between banks. The article can be found here.

Basically HSBC has the slowest transfer time while Emigrant Direct surprisingly had the fastest. This should be a factor in considering you want these accounts to be as liquid as possible.

HSBC, however, does offer an ATM or Debit card to go with your account so you can withdraw money instantly. I don’t have any HSBC branches around me so this feature isn’t too useful.

Bonuses

ING Direct offers a sign-up bonus of $25 if you deposit $250. E-Mail me at hejustlaughs@gmail.com if you need a referral.

HSBC Direct no longer offers any bonuses as of date.

Emigrant Direct does not offer any bonuses.

Overall
HSBC offers you the fastest access to your money with their ATM card. This is highly convenient if you live by a HSBC branch or atm.

Emigrant Direct offers the fastest transfer times out of all the three listed above. Emigrant also offers the highest rate for my money. I would have to go with Emigrant Direct because of their fast transfer times and high yielding rates.

However, if you do not have an ING Direct account, you should simple open one up for the $25 bonus. That’s an easy 10% on your money.

Emigrant Direct
HSBC Direct
ING Direct

Finally got that Virtual Bank $20 sign-up bonus posted to me account. If anyone wants a referral e-mail me at hejustlaughs@gmail.com with your first and last name.

I thinkt he As Seen On TV Smart Spin deal is dead, glad I got in on it before it died. Maybe it’ll come back in the future.

In other news I just got out of a 3 hour exam so I’m gonna relax a bit.

I bought two things today that I thought are really great deals:

Altec Lansing Speakers
This Altec Lansing 121 3-Piece 10 Watt Speaker System is on sale for $9.99 w/ free shipping from buy.com. I just bought one for my laptop since the speakers on this thing are sub-par. (It’s a Dell Inspiron 710m I got for $764 shipped a couple weeks back). I don’t think you can go wrong with the $9.99 shipped price. Also check the box for Free $10 ProFlowers GC before adding to cart.

Smart Spin Storage System as Mother’s Day Gift
Also I got for mother’s day a As Seen on TV Smart Spin Storage System. List price $16.99, use coupon code 955400000009 at checkout for 20% off. Free shipping included. State sales tax vary.

$16.99 – 20% coupon = $13.59 shipped + applicable taxes

My sales tax came out to $0.82 cents and total was $14.41 shipped.

I really don’t know what else to get my mom for mother’s day as she has all the back massagers, foot spas, bath salts, bathtub pillows, etc. She saves EVERYTHING that can be leftover from dinner so I hope this helps her make things more efficient. The reviews on these things were great and they’re microwave and dishwasher safe.

I was reading a article titled “Personal Loans Made Easy” on PFBlog.com about Prosper.com. In a gist Prosper lets you make personal loans out to people. You accept a little risk and get a higher rate of return. Read more about it on the Prosper page or on the article page.

I applied and they couldn’t approve me for lending because they couldn’t verify my identity through my credit history. This has been happen to me quite a few times. I’m a young college student with no credit history. I had to jump through a lot of hassles to get my Citi Dividend card. I’ve only had the card for two months so I don’t expect to have much of a credit history. I know for sure I don’t have a credit history because I requested for one and it came back empty. Dead empty. Hopefully in 6-months to a year I’ll have some sort of credit history.

I just created an account on www.networthiq.com. That’s the badge you’ll see on the right from now on. My net worth is actually positive because of $300 I invested in Bank of America through Sharebuilder 9 months ago which has grown to $340 (with dividends reinvested).

I have about $243 in cash and $479 in credit card debt. My credit card has 0% apr until October so I should be good for now. Summer should be a good cash flow season and I should be able to pay down my debts then.

My NetWorthIQ page is located here.

edit: I no longer update my networthiq page as of 2/5/07

Guess it had to start somewhere, this is my first post. Hopefully this will be the start of many, not another project where I simply lose interest.