For those just out of college or starting fresh, a break in the form of traveling to another state or country is usually near the top of wish lists. Finding ways to fund traveling however, can be a significant barrier to actually realizing this. If you’re good with credit cards, though, a new promotion from Capitol One may be able to help you with your travel ticket.

Traveling in reach?

Capital One has rolled out a new Venture Rewards credit card promotion with a “Match My Miles” promotion that will match the number of miles you have accumulated on another airline credit card up to 100,000 miles.

You earn the additional 100,000 miles–the equivalent of $1,000–if you put at least $1,000 on the card in the first three months.

The offer is good for new Venture and Venture for Business primary account holders. Current Capital One cardholders who want to upgrade to the Venture Rewards card or swap their existing Capital One card will get the mile match if they get approved, said Sukhi Sahni, a senior communications manager with Capital One.

The company will continue the offer this until they’ve given away a billion miles or until May 13, 2011, whichever comes first–it’s a first-come, first-served proposition.

Miles on top of miles: How does it work?

If you have airline miles on one of 13 airline credit cards currently on the market, Capital One will match those miles for free if you sign up for their new card and use it. What’s more, you get another 10,000 bonus miles just for signing up.

Here are some other appealing features of the Venture Rewards credit card:

• There is no annual fee the first year, and $59 a year after that.
• You earn two miles for every $1 you spend on all purchases
• There is no limit to the number of miles you can acquire and the miles never expire.
• There is no foreign currency fee. That means you can use the card to make purchases abroad or online in another currency without having to fork over the 3 percent charge many card companies add on.

“But what’s neat about this card is how we’ve made the redemption process so much easier than other cards,” Sahni said. “You just book your flight, buy your ticket and call us and say, ‘Hey, swap this out.’ It’s hassle-free.”

What you can buy with your matched miles

The best way to calculate how much your miles are worth with this card is to drop the last two zeros on your miles–that’s the monetary value. For instance, if you’ve accumulated 53,000 miles, you’ve earned a $530 flight.

In addition to airfare, miles can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise and charitable donations, as well as for any travel-related expense, such as hotels, rental cars and cruises. You can redeem your miles for vacation packages, too, and you can book a flight with any airline. There are no blackout dates and no requirement for advanced booking. You simply redeem your miles online or by phone and you get reimbursed for the money you spent. Cardholders can redeem within 90 days of the purchase posting to their account.

While you’re on the road, you’ll earn $250,000 in travel accident insurance for death of dismemberment if you pay for your tickets with your card. You can also get 24-hour help with passports, visas and immunizations when you’re planning your trip, and if your card gets lost or stolen, you can get an emergency replacement. You can even get medical assistance and legal referrals.

What’s the interest rate?

Your interest rate with the Venture Rewards credit card will depend on your credit score, but the rate will range from 11.9 percent for those with excellent credit scores to 19.9 percent. Of course you only pay interest if you’re carrying a balance on the card.

Although the Venture Rewards card doesn’t offer zero percent APR on balance transfers, it also has no balance transfer fee. So if the Capital One card is giving you a better interest rate than your other cards, that no balance transfer fee feature might look appealing. It’s not the best of the balance transfer offers out there but it might be worth taking a look at if you like the rest of its features.

Another advantage of the card is its free extended warranty and its free purchase protection. If you purchase something that comes with a warranty of three years or less, this feature will double the original warranty up to 12 months. The purchase protection feature, meanwhile, will pay you up to $500 each time an item purchased with the card is stolen or accidentally damaged within the first 90 days of the day you bought it.

The card will even reimburse you up to $3,000 for lost luggage when you pay the full costs of your travel with your card. You’re also covered against accidental damage or theft if you rent a vehicle for less than 15 consecutive days in the U.S. or less than 31 days outside the country–except in a few countries such as Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The fine print

Despite the annual fee and despite the interest rate charges on balances, critics have praised the fast 2-for-$1 mileage return offered. They also like that you can use this card to get special seating at special events, such as games, concerts, films and the like.

Capital One acknowledges that in some cases it’s difficult to separate miles earned by credit card purchases from miles earned from flying; in those cases, Capital One will accept general airline rewards statements for those programs that accrue the card miles into the airline’s general rewards account, Sahni said.

So when is your trip scheduled? With a Venture Rewards credit card, it may be sooner than you think.

Jim Sloan is a freelance writer in Reno, Nev.

Photo: Capital One Financial Corporation

Source URL: Looking to travel? Capital One’s Venture Rewards card might be your ticket

Copyright Protected © 2011 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Zero balance transfer credit cards make sense if you have one or more high-interest credit cards that you’re having trouble whittling down. One of the best offers for balance transfer credit cards is coming from Discover – what makes this offer so special?

Setting the industry standard

Discover’s offers are so good, in fact, that some analysts credit the company with helping bring down average balance fees for the entire credit card industry. The average balance fee dropped from 3.5 percent in December, 2010 to 3.36 percent in January 2011, and balance transfer fees are now 0.5 percent less than they were six months ago. What’s more, the length of most balance transfers is increasing.

Discover Card’s no balance transfer fee offer

The Discover More card with no balance transfer fee allows you to transfer up to four balances into one account, and for a limited time is offering a zero percent rate on balance transfers for 12 months, plus no balance transfer fee. According to the Baltimore Sun, there is also a zero percent interest rate on purchases in the first six months.

For a limited amount of time, Discover is also offering an additional Discover More card with a 24 month promotional balance transfer which carries a 5 percent balance transfer fee for those who might need more than a year to pay down their credit card debt.

Discover’s offer is the first online-marketed, no balance transfer fee offer in two years. And since the offer won’t last much longer, there may never be a better time to consolidate your credit card debt and start putting a dent in it. A zero percent interest rate means all of your payments are going into your principal.

According to the company, the annual percentage rate on your balance transfer card will be 11.99 to 19.99 percent after the first year. Your actual interest rate will be determined by your “creditworthiness,” and the APR will vary with the market according to the Prime Rate. Penalty APRs will be between 16.99 and 24.99 percent.

How does the Discover Card zero interest balance transfer work?

Discover tries to make the zero percent balance transfer as seamless as possible. Your job is to collect the account names, account numbers and the amounts you want transferred and send them to Discover. Discover Card pays your creditors, and the balance transfer is posted to your new Discover account within two weeks.

It’s important, however, to keep making payments to your old creditors until their balances have all been paid off so you don’t incur any late fees or interest charges. You should also contact your old credit card company to make sure they have received the balance transfer.

After that, it’s just a matter of logging in to your Discover Account Center and clicking on “view activity since last statement,” to see how much your balance is and what your payment will be.

Balance transfer offers coming as a surprise

According to the Sun, the deals from Discover and other credit card companies on their balance transfer cards is a bit of a surprise. Citibank and Capital One Platinum Prestige also offer attractive zero percent rates on balance transfer credit cards. Experts expected credit card companies to pull back on rewards, special offers and lower interest rates in the wake of new federal regulations that prevent credit card companies from raising the annual percentage rate during the first year.

Instead, credit card companies have ramped up their offers and marketing efforts. Discover CEO David Nelms told the Sun that marketing efforts at his company have returned to what levels were before the recession and the financial crisis that wreaked havoc on Americans’ personal finances.

For example, there has been a 62 percent increase in the number of credit card solicitations appearing in people’s mailboxes, with more than 2.25 billion being mailed out, the Sun reported. In addition to the zero interest balance transfer offers, there have been a stream of special offers for travel cards, low-interest cards, cash-back cards and rewards cards. However, finding the best credit card rates is easier by comparing them online.

Jim Sloan is a freelance writer in Reno, Nev.

Source URL: Act quickly to take advantage of Discover’s zero percent balance transfer card

Copyright Protected © 2011 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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By Peter Andrew

I’m not expecting any sympathy, but it’s not easy writing product reviews. That’s because it’s rarely possible to rank different features in a way that’s meaningful to everyone.

Take televisions as an example. I badly need a new one, and recently started reading TV reviews. All I’ve discovered so far is that there isn’t a perfect model, or certainly not one in my price range. One has a brilliant picture, but slightly lower sound quality, or vice versa. Another is great except for occasional motion blur during action sequences. Yet more are good, but ugly, and don’t fit in with my living room decor. When I eventually come to make a choice, I’ll have to decide which of these factors are most important to me personally.

And it’s the same with credit cards. I can tell you all about the Chase Sapphire? credit card, but whether it’s the best for you will depend on your individual needs and wants. What I can say for sure is that it is a good all-rounder, and that you should almost certainly include it on your list of potential cards.

Not for everyone

But let’s begin by identifying those who should think carefully first before including it on their list of possibilities. If your credit score’s going through a down patch, the chances of your application for a Chase Sapphire card being accepted are remote. This is a premium product that’s reserved for those with great credit.

In fact, it’s a good idea to check your score before you apply for any card–or any other sort of credit. Just submitting an application can drive down that score, so you don’t want to make ones that are bound to fail. You’re entitled to a free copy of your credit report once a year, but there are other ways of obtaining a free FICO credit score.

Rewards that really reward

One of the things that makes Chase Sapphire so attractive is its credit card rewards program. To start with, there’s an introductory offer that awards you 10,000 bonus points (worth $100) just for spending $500 on the card during the first three months after your account’s opened.

But this program keeps giving, especially when it comes to travel. Perhaps most importantly, when you book through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards? travel agency there are no restrictions or blackout dates. And you get double rewards points when you use that service.

But you’re free to make your reservations using the card elsewhere, and then use the Pay Yourself Back service to receive a credit on your statement. And you’re not restricted to travel. You can also redeem your points for cash back, merchandise, gift cards or anything else you want.

Two more things: your points should never expire, and there’s no cap on the number of points you can earn.

Attractive APR

Cards with good rewards programs tend to charge higher APRs. But if you compare Chase Sapphire with other big-name rewards cards, its standard APR is very competitive. At the time of writing (check Chase’s web site for current rates, terms and conditions), it’s 12.24 percent. And the card charges no annual fee.

You should bear in mind two caveats. First, that APR is tied to the prime rate, and is likely to rise if that goes up. Secondly, you must make at least the minimum payment in full and on time each month. If you’re late, the APR is likely to rocket up to 29.99 percent on new purchases and stay there. If you’re unlucky enough to go past 60 days overdue, that high rate could apply to pre-existing balances, though it should return to normal (only on that old debt) if you make on-time payments for six months in a row. These penalties are pretty standard across the industry.

No balance transfer fee offers

Some credit cards offer an introductory zero percent balance transfer APR and/or no balance transfer fee. Chase Sapphire isn’t one of them.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should rule it out if you have a balance that you want to transfer. You’re going to have to pay a three percent fee (or $5, whichever is the greater), but the rate from day one should be the card’s standard 12.24 percent APR. So if you’re currently on, say, 19.99 percent, you still stand to save money.

Decisions, decisions

So is the Chase Sapphire card right for you? Only you can say. But it’s well worth thinking about.

Peter Andrew has been writing about–and for–business for more than two decades. For the last couple of years, he has found himself increasingly specializing in the U.S. financial sector.

Source URL: Chase Sapphire credit card — what’s not to like?

Copyright Protected © 2011 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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I never really paid much attention to the rewards programs offered by different credit card companies. I was raised to use credit cards only for emergencies and not for everyday use, so my sole criteria for getting a card was that the interest rate be as low as possible.

But then a friend of mine told me he was planning a trip to China, and was going to pay for his plane ticket through the rewards he was earning on his credit card.

“I’m paying for everything with my card,” he said. “All my monthly bills – the rent, the groceries, the phone bill, everything. Then at the end of the month, I just write a check to the credit card company instead of eight or 10 checks to all these other places.”

And it worked. After several months, my friend and his wife were able to get the tickets for next to nothing–all thanks to the judicious use of their credit card.

The fine print of rewards cards

Even if you’re not planning a trip to China, this approach can work for anyone, provided you keep a few things in mind as you decide which rewards credit card programs works best for you:

• Rewards cards usually carry higher interest rates than non-rewards cards. That means if you’re not paying off the balance every month, your interest payments will quickly exceed your rewards.
• Look for rewards that you’ll use. The points you earn aren’t as valuable if you have to buy stuff you don’t use, or can’t get cash rewards.
• Consider getting a card that offers cash back instead of points; according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, cash-back cards tend to be more generous with rewards.
• Check to see if the card you’re considering has an annual fee. Will you earn enough points to just the annual cost of the card? According to the FDIC, some credit cards with rewards don’t carry annual fees but some do.
• Avoid unnecessary spending. You might be tempted to buy something you don’t really need just because you’re on this mission to earn points. Don’t let points accumulation cloud your good judgment and convince you to buy something you don’t need.
• Read the requirements closely. Find out if there is an expiration date for your points, and check to see if you will be charged transaction fees that could wipe out your savings from rewards.

Rewards cards: options and hazards

There are a dizzying variety of cards available out there, increasing the chances that you’ll find a card that fits your needs or spending habits. For instance, some cards will put money into a retirement account every time you accumulate a certain number of points. Another provides discounts on travel when it’s booked on the website Travelocity. You can also get tickets to Disney attractions or passes to the NFL Draft event.

It also pays to assess just how much you have to spend to achieve your rewards goals. For instance, with one card that rewards two miles of travel for every dollar you spend, you might have to charge $30,000 to get a $400 ticket. You can do it, but it might take more time than you have.

While shopping for rewards cards, it’s important to realize that you can also damage your credit rating by applying for too many lines of credit, so try not to get more than two. And keep in mind that some offers are only introductory, lasting over for the first six months you have the card.

How to find a rewards card that fits your lifestyle

There are a number of card-comparison websites, that can help you pick which reward card is right for you. For example on CardRatings.com, they typically ask what kind of rewards you are interested in, how much you spend each month and whether you pay off your balance each month. Then they provide a listing of cards, displaying what kind of credit score you’ll need, a brief description of the perks you could qualify for, and a link to help you apply for the card.

Also, check out our own list of the best rewards credit cards if you’re looking for great cards to start out with.

Jim Sloan is a free-lance writer and a higher-education communications specialist. He previously worked as an editor and writer for newspapers and magazines. He is the author of two books, and his stories have been selected for a number of anthologies. He has a degree in journalism and environmental science from the University of Maine.

Source URL: How to use rewards credit cards

Copyright Protected © 2010 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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The tech revolution encourages us to perform many of life’s tasks on the Internet–and banking is no exception. So rather than fight upstream, I decided a few years ago to try online banking. I was with one of the major players in the industry, so naturally I went with the Internet banking interface that they offered–which turned out to be a major mistake. Here’s why.

First, opting to bank online meant that they expected me to no longer need the assistance of branch tellers and charged me hefty fees if I did. Next, getting online help was a purely stressful process–the FAQs were hardly any help and the toll-free number was frequently busy. And, finally, they imposed a monthly fee to download my own banking records to the financial management software I used on my local machine. Long story made short–my foray into online banking was frustrating to say the least.

However, there is a golden lining to this story. And that lining is choice.

Online banks have sprung up all over the World Wide Web, giving you and me the option of comparing institutions to choose from the online banks that actually want our business. So I compiled a quick list of the 5 features that the best online banks possess in hopes you’ll follow me to financial bliss.

1. The best online banks take your privacy seriously.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has published a set of guidelines that all banks must follow to ensure your personal information stays private and secure. These include high-level site encryption, passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs), and general security tools such as virus protection and physical access controls.

The best online banks offer all of these protections and more to reduce fraud and hacking risk. If the online bank you’re considering doesn’t incorporate these must-have tools in its interface, take your business elsewhere.

2. The best online banks offer high yield savings accounts in addition to traditional checking options.

Oftentimes, giving your business to a new bank or one with a name not so recognizable has its advantages. Namely, they do more to earn your business such as offer higher interest rates or enhanced customer service. But make sure the online bank you consider offers both checking and high yield savings accounts. If a newbie bank only offers limited services, they may be too new to take seriously.

3. The best online banks publish return rates on all investment options openly.

Beware the online bank that hides their cd rates on some random page hidden deep within their site. This might be because they want to hide low return possibilities while satisfying FDIC requirements for full disclosure. You might find out well into the future that the money you’ve been pouring into that cd hasn’t been working as hard for you as you envisioned.

4. The best online banks offer several customer service options and don’t charge extra to help you.

Look for banks that offer customer service portals in branches, over the phone and online. After all, just because you’re choosing to bank online doesn’t mean that you should forfeit the traditional services you’ve grown to expect. Also, the best online banks provide a live chat feature that puts you in touch with a warm body without having to go into the branch. Also, they assemble an online catalogue of FAQs and video tutorials that guide you through very basic operations.

5. The best online banks will negotiate fees, rates and terms to match competing offers.

This one catches many online bankers off-guard. While the big players tend to shy away from doing so, it’s a little known fact that many up-and-coming banks will negotiate terms to earn your business. If you get a better offer from another provider, give your online bank a call and see if they can match or beat it. All they can say is no, and you might just get a great deal. But beware the bank that refuses to discuss making a change.

Needless to say, I learned a great deal as I ventured into the world of online banking. But the biggest lesson of all is that with so many options out there, it pays to do some comparison shopping.

Source URL: 5 Features to look for in the best online banks

Copyright Protected © 2010 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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As a business writer and editor, I spend a large part of my day keeping up with economic news (these days that usually involves watching helplessly as financial poop hits the proverbial fan) and working up a lot of indignation over the country’s economic state. So it’s been a very long time since I spared a thought for credit unions, but they’re worth paying attention to.

Credit unions: the historical prospective

Credit unions were a natural outgrowth of the medieval guild system in Europe, which provided business services to their members. The first modern credit union was formed in Germany during the Industrial Revolution in 1864, and the first credit union in the U.S. was started in Massachusetts in 1909. However, credit unions were slow to win acceptance here, probably because Americans like that whole rugged individualism thing and co-ops are for sissies…

Credit unions: yawn

Traditional, yes — but credit unions are not sexy or hip. They don’t have mascots and they don’t own football stadiums. You won’t find a lot of bells and whistles and gee-whiz at your local credit union. But you also won’t find a CEO making gazillions of dollars while amassing a worthless subprime portfolio and begging for a bailout.

What makes credit unions different?

Credit unions are run for the benefit of their members. Here is a list of the characteristics that define credit unions:

• Non-profit cooperatives
• Owned by members
• Run mostly by volunteer board members

On the other hand, most depository institutions are:

• Profit-driven
• Owned by outside shareholders
• Run by paid board of directors

The idea is that credit unions can pay high interest on savings accounts and charge less for loans because they don’t have to turn a profit, and as non-profit organizations they don’t have to pay taxes. They also don’t require huge marketing budgets and they don’t run around Wall Street looking for other banks to take over.

Credit unions are typically created for the benefit of specific communities, such as employees of a company, members of an organization, or residents of a neighborhood. Membership is limited to those who are part of that group.

Disadvantages of credit unions

Okay, so credit unions are warm fuzzy money clubs, but it’s not all roses and puppies. You won’t find jillions of ATMs all over the country for your banking convenience. They don’t have branches on every other corner. Deposits at credit unions are usually insured, but not always. And even those that are may not be to the extent that deposits at FDIC-insured banks are.

They don’t usually offer the range of services that big banks do — you might be treated to a blank stare if you ask about direct deposit or getting your canceled checks returned to you. Credit unions are known for being very conservative in their loan underwriting. Membership may have its privileges, but it won’t get you a mortgage or car loan if your credit is skuzzy.

Advantages of credit unions

Credit unions can be sort of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Their service is often better than banks — if you ask your regular bank for recommendations or advice, you might not be told everything you should know, as that’s not always in the bank’s best interest.

Banks’ raison d’etre is to make money for their shareholders and they are supposed to do that in every legal way possible. But credit unions have no reason not to help you as much as they can, because they answer to you! You can open a savings or checking account at many credit unions with a single dollar.

Finally, I have heard but have not verified that credit unions serve better cookies.

How do you choose the best credit union?

If you want to check out a credit union, your first task is discovering which ones you qualify to join. Go to CreditUnionCoop.com to see which ones might accept you and then compare their offerings.

If your money’s safety is a primary concern, pick a credit union insured by the federal government through the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Most of them are. Look for an NCUA blue sticker on the window or just ask the nice people who work there. The NCUA is to credit unions what the FDIC is to banks. If you’ve got big bucks, find out what the coverage limits are for each type of account.

Investigate the range of services provided. Note: a limited range of services is not necessarily a bad thing. Some credit unions, tired of being the maiden aunts of the financial world, have revved up their profiles and their advertizing and stepping up the fees to pay for it all. The more provincial organizations often serve up the best deals on plain vanilla products like savings accounts and car loans.

The bottom line is that the services offered should mesh with your needs. Remember, too, that you can always take advantage of your credit union’s best CD rates and high-yield savings while maintaining a convenient checking account at Behemoth Bank.

Finally, visit the branch you are most likely to use (not everyone prefers to bank online, I’m just sayin’) and check out the cookies.

Gina Pogol has been writing about mortgage and finance since 1994. In addition to a decade in mortgage lending, she has worked as a business credit systems consultant for Experian and as an accountant for Deloitte. She graduated with High Distinction from the University of Nevada with a BS in Financial Management.

Source URL: Credit unions – better than you might think

Copyright Protected © 2010 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Whether you’re a buy and hold investor or a savvy trader of penny stocks, I’m pretty sure commissions and fees are a few of those brokerage conditions that you pay particular attention to. If you aren’t too concerned with them, then perhaps you ought to be. After all, high fees and hidden trading costs have a nasty way of surreptitiously consuming huge chunks of your potential stock gains and profits. Nowadays, there really is no reason why any investor ought to pay full price for his or her stock investing needs. There are a broad range of heavily discounted brokerage firms to choose from, each offering its own unique online trading experience and each touting its own unique mix of low fees and hassle free conditions.

If you’re not completely new to the world of investing, I recommend checking out OptionsHouse, a fairly intriguing newish entrant to the discount broker foray. While the name OptionsHouse may be unfamiliar to those not intimately plugged into investment circles, the company is a fairly established company, associated and backed by PEAK6 Investments, one of the biggest options trading brokerage companies around. Despite the “options” moniker in its name, the firm is not an exclusive options trading firm as it provides a large wealth of resources for stock trading as well.  While options trading is its primary expertise and specialty, the company still caters to the stock and fund investors out there – touting trading rates that are some of the cheapest, if not the absolute cheapest rates in the market today. At a mere flat $2.95 for each stock and exchange traded fund (ETF) trade, you would be hard pressed to find another reputable discount broker capable of matching such low commission fees for equity transactions. In the cost arena, OptionsHouse is a standout, even amongst all of the other top recommended names in my online discount broker review list.

Like most legitimately established online broker firms, OptionsHouse is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), the non profit federal government entity tasked with protecting investors from financial harm in the event of a catastrophic brokerage failure. As such, OptionsHouse customer accounts are insured against loss and protected by SIPC insurance up to $500,000 with a variety of other protection measures in place as well. In terms of its target customer, OptionsHouse’s primary account base consists of active individual stock and options traders with some semblance of investing savviness. While OptionsHouse may also appeal to true beginners to investing, its advanced trading tools and technical analytical option analyzers may slightly intimate newbies. If you are a first time stock market investor, I’d recommend going with a more down to earth, more accessible discount brokerage firm like Scottrade, TradeKing, or even E-Trade. But if you are an active stock or options investor, Options House’s incredibly cheap stock trading commissions and low cost fees for options trades will certainly offer you immense appeal. Stock and options investors who trade frequently or execute larger than average trade sizes will have the most to gain from what this discount brokerage firm has to offer.

OptionsHouse Is An Up and Coming Award Winning Discount Brokerage Firm

While I personally don’t think one should judge or make a decision on which is the best discount broker based on the number of accolades and rewards received alone, these type of editorial recognitions do go a long way in helping investors and traders weed out the winners from the losers. Despite its fairly recent entry into the market, OptionsHouse has already earned a reasonable amount of attention from the professional reviewers – including a 4 star rating in Barron’s 2008 Best Online Broker Survey, along with a #1 ranking in the category of “Usability”. In its 2009 Online Broker Survey, Barron’s awarded OptionsHouse a 4.5 star overall, tagging the brokerage firm the “Best For Options Traders”, as well as rating it #1 in “Trade Experience”, beating out other notable brokerages like thinkorswim, optionsXpress, Etrade, and Charles Schwab. However, it will probably take a few years of such consistent performance before OptionsHouse will truly be able to unseat the current reigning champs like E-trade Financial or TradeKing – firms which have consistently ranked at the top on multiple review listings like SmartMoney’s Best Broker Survey, and Kiplinger’s annual review of the top online brokers.

Cheap $2.95 Flat Commissions Rate For Stock Trades, and Low Flexible Rates For Options

As I indicated above, OptionsHouse offers some of the lowest commission fees in the market today – adopting a primarily flat pricing model that is very popular among those account holders who want to avoid the hassles of tier based or volume influenced pricing. Currently, Options House touts a remarkably cheap $2.95 flat rate for all stock trades, regardless of the number of shares purchased, and regardless of whether the trade was executed online or with the assistance of a broker agent. I have yet to see many other legitimate brokers that can even come close in terms of pricing. The only cheap discount broker firms that can even remotely compare are perhaps the ones that offer conditional free stock trades such as Zecco. While Zecco does indeed offer an allotment of monthly stock trades for its customers free of charge, there are certain pre-qualifying conditions that must be regularly met (either the maintenance of a certain account balance or satisfaction of a certain volume of trading activity).

For option trades (the firm’s bread and butter), OptionsHouse offers its customers the flexibility to pick the rate that works best for them. Those that trade less than 10 contracts can pick the “Up to 5 for $5 rate” where their  first five option contracts are only $5. Trade over 10 contracts? You can select OptionsHouse’s low $8.50 +.15/contract rate for maximum value. You are free to change your options commission rate as your trading behavior changes to help you maximize your savings. In a comparative analysis of OptionsHouse’s option contract savings to its competitors for anywhere from 5 to 100 contracts, OptionsHouse easily beats out other top performers such as TradeKing, TradeMonster, thinkorswim, E-Trade, optionsXpress, and Fidelity Investments. Contrast that with what some of the other top name brokerages charge and you’ll understand why OptionsHouse’s prices are so remarkably cheap. For example, top brokers like TradeKing may charge just $4.95 per option trade, but they also tack on an extra $0.65 fee per options contract. Those that trade large quantities of option contracts will benefit the most from OptionsHouse’s efficient pricing structure.

When it comes to investing in stocks, ETF’s, and options – OptionsHouse is an extremely affordable brokerage choice. However, if you’re looking to trade other financial products beyond just those three such as mutual funds or bonds, you may want to be mindful of the fact that while OptionsHouse’s commission fees for stocks and options are super cheap, it’s prices for other products beyond its core base are higher. My advice is to open an account and use OptionsHouse for stock, ETF, and option trades, but go directly to the mutual fund sources for all of your other investment needs. For example, Fidelity and Vanguard are the two most popular providers of mutual funds and index funds today. If you want to invest in either a Fidelity or Vanguard labeled fund, you should open accounts with both of them directly to avoid the extra transactional fees associated with mutual fund investing.

Overview Of OptionsHouse’s Online Brokerage Account Features

Along with its extremely low cost commission fee structure for both stocks and options, OptionsHouse also offers its customers the conveniences of no maintenance fees, no minimum trade requirements, and no extra charges for broker-assisted trades (a rarity among discount brokers). Those traders and investors who trade frequently or trade large volumes of equity in one sitting will benefit strongly from OptionsHouse’s flat pricing for stocks and very competitive flexible pricing for options.

In terms of its basic account offerings, OptionHouse provides all of the usual assortment of cash and margin account types that most customers have come to expect from their online discount brokers. OptionsHouse account holders have the ability to conduct purchases and sales in transactions involving stocks, options, ETF’s, mutual funds, Roth IRA’s, Traditional IRA’s, Education IRA’s, and many more. To assist account holders, the firm provides its customers a broad range of educational resources including books, guides, webinars, calculators, simulators, and various screeners to help them take maximum control of their financial lives – and they’re not just all for options trading either. Those that want to test out OptionsHouse’s investment functions and tools but don’t wish to commit to using real funds can opt instead to take a trial run using OptionsHouse’s Virtual Trading tool, which allows an individual to execute mock transactions using what’s essentially play money. It’s a good way to get familiarized with all of the widgets and trading features that the company has to offer.

After having used my OptionsHouse investment account for some time now, I have to say that the trading platform is generally pretty intuitive and similar to what I’ve come to expect from my online brokerages. While account holders are given some limited ability to customize, such as the ability to change colors here and there, and offered the ability to tweak how various charts and graphics display information, most of the online account features are intuitively preset. The firm keeps its award winning (rated highly by online reviewers for “trade experience”) interface simple and offers an online trading platform that ought to satisfy and beat the needs of most active stock and options investors. You are of course welcome to take a video tour of the brokerage firm’s online interface for more information.

Bottom line, I would recommend OptionsHouse as a deep discount brokerage choice for stock and options trades. If you believe you will invest primarily in mutual funds on the other hand, I’d recommend opening an account with the appropriate mutual fund provider directly (example: Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Schwab) to avoid the extra mutual fund transaction costs. Also, if you’re a relatively new investor who is still getting the hang of investing, I would recommend going with a brokerage firm that caters more to beginner investors – firms like Scottrade and TradeKing. But if you already have some background or basic experience with investing, then OptionsHouse’s incredibly low rates and transactional costs will suit you very well. At a flat $2.95 for stock trades, it’s almost impossible to beat that with any other discount online broker.

In case you still need a further incentive, for a limited time during the firm’s special promo period, OptionsHouse is offering new customers a special promotional 100 free trades during the first 60 days after a new account is funded with a minimum of $3,000.

Source URL: OptionsHouse Review: Discount Broker For Stock and Options Trades

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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If you’re searching for a list of the best online banks to deposit your savings in, then you’ve arrived at the right place. One of the most common, if not the most often asked question I get as a personal finance blogger, is which bank I would recommend to those looking to get the best interest rate of return for their money.

While some of us plow our personal savings into home mortgage payments or invest them into stocks, most of us invariably keep a certain stash into more accessible bank accounts for emergency fund purposes. Others like myself use high interest savings accounts to save up money for specific targeted purposes – in my case, I’m saving up for my future down payment for a house. So, if you’re keeping money in a bank account anyway, why not try to get the highest interest rate possible? To address this need – below, I’ve compiled a list of what I believe to be the best online banks available today – banks that offer the best deals for high interest savings and high yield savings accounts. Many of the recommended firms are also very competitive in the area of certificate of deposits (CD’s) and checking account rates as well.

Unfortunately, with interest rates at historical lows across the board given the current ongoing economic climate, the term “high yield savings account” is more of a comparative delineation than a descriptively absolute one. Just a few years ago during the glory days, one could easily rake in a hefty 5% to 6% APY rate with popular online savings accounts and high yield CD rates. But those days are long gone and today, the top online banks only offer anywhere from 2% to 3% tops. But despite the overall lower rates at the present time, the yields found at these Internet based banks still greatly exceed the nearly zero percent interest rates found at most local brick and mortar banking institutions. Think the best bank accounts are found at places like Citibank, Bank of America, Chase Bank, or  Wells Fargo? Think again. The APY rates offered by Internet based online banks almost always greatly exceed the paltry interest rate offerings of the brand name banks, while offering the same FDIC insurance limit guarantees and transactional security protections that are equal to, if not better than that offered by the big boys.

Benefits Of Online Savings Accounts: Impressive Rates With FDIC Insurance

Because of much lower overhead costs, online banks generally pay much better rates on savings accounts, checking accounts, and CD’s. Online bank accounts are also much less likely to have minimum balance requirements than ordinary retail banks. They also offer many conveniences and advantages over accounts at traditional neighborhood banks and credit unions. So long as the customer has access to an Internet connection, online bank account transactions can be performed, balances can be checked, and funds can be transferred in and out anywhere and anytime. The ability to keep 24 hour tabs on your account funds, pull up account history data on demand, and eliminate the need to conduct transactions in cumbersome paper form are some of the clear advantages of web based banking. To compete with the traditional big name banks, a large majority of online banks have eliminated their monthly fees and account minimums, and now offer a wealth of free financial services that include free bill pay, free budgeting tools, free fund transfers, and free out of network ATM usage.

Below is comprehensive review of what I’ve found to be the top online banks for high interest checking and high yield savings accounts. Each offer, except for the first one – provides for full FDIC insurance limit protection for account holders – guaranteeing the safety and security of account funds from unexpected loss.

List Of The Best Online Bank Accounts For Savings, Checking, and CD Rates

1) Lending Club - While not an online bank in the traditional sense, Lending Club offers a comparable peer to peer lending (P2P) program that matches prospective consumer lenders with prospective borrowers, all with a variety of disclosure safeguards to ensure a generally low default rate. While the program has gone mainstream and garnered quite a bit of positive feedback from the press and new members, it’s been able to stick to the fundamental basics and continue to offer its lending account holders the ability to reap a consistent 9.60% average interest rate of return. For those seeking an impressive high yield savings account alternative to online banks, Lending Club is worth a look. If you wish to know more, please take a look at my review of Lending Club where I explore in depth how the online program works and evaluate it to see if it truly is a legitimate non-scam way to earn a higher APY rate on your savings.

2) Everbank – I highly recommend Everbank if you’re looking for a top tier online bank that offers great rates for savings accounts and checking. EverBank’s product offerings are diverse and includes features like money market accounts, CD’s, credit cards, and even currency investments options. You may not be as familiar with Ever Bank as you might be with a few of the other banking names on this short list, but they’ve been around for some time. Since the beginning, EverBank has always earned awards and praise for its banking features and online services. Money Magazine rates EverBank as one of its “Best Of Breed Online Banks”, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks the firm’s Everbank FreeNet checking account very highly, and even Forbes Magazine has ranked the bank among the “Best of the Web” for numerous years.

Everbank’s most popular account feature – the highly regarded Yield Pledge Money Market Account – requires a minimum initial deposit of $1,500 and starts out at an extremely high introductory rate that overwhelming tops most high yield savings rates in the market. After a 3 month introductory period, the rate automatically adjusts to a slightly lower rate, but one that is still competitively higher than that offered by other online banks. Thereafter, there is no monthly fee so long as a balance of $5,000 is maintained. For more details and commentary, see my Everbank review.

3) Ally Bank – Formerly known as GMAC Bank, the new Ally Bank markets itself as a new age approach to online banking – one that offers transparency and a reformed way of doing business with its flexible array of unlimited sub accounts, daily interest compounding, no minimum deposits, no monthly fees, no minimum balances, and no sneaky disclaimers. I personally have deposited quite a bit of cash with Ally Bank and have found their online banking services to be very straight forward and reliably clean cut. Ally’s banking rates are very high and there are no confusing tiered interest rates to contend with. What you see is basically what you get – with the usual assortment of high yield savings accounts, money markets, and high yield CD’s. However, what’s uniquely appealing about Ally Bank is its offering of no-penalty CD deposits that allow account holders to avoid paying any fees to transfer money out prior to the CD maturity date. For more info about Ally’s banking features, please read my Ally Bank review.

4) E-trade Bank – Known more for its online brokerage arm, ETrade is what I call a one stop shopping all-in-one banking/discount brokerage firm. They offer pretty much the full package in the way of banking and brokerage services – including high interest savings accounts, checking, credit cards, mortgage services, CD’s, Roth IRAs, and investment gudiance. Best of all, Etrade does not impose any minimum balance requirements to open a new account. While E trade’s Complete Savings Account is not currently the best online bank in terms of offering the highest interest rate for deposits, it makes up for this mild shortfall by offering an extremely broad array of services from one source. Those that want the ability to instantly transfer money back and forth freely between their banking and broker accounts will find Etrade to be extremely appealing as the company seamlessly integrates the two services into one. If you want to know more, see my Etrade bank review and my Etrade broker review for my opinionated take.

5) FNBO Direct Bank – FNBO Direct is the online banking division of the First National Bank of Omaha – a bank with a great reputation that has largely escaped the credit crisis that has plagued most of the other banks in some shape or another. FNBO Direct offers competitive rates for its account holders and imposes no fees or minimum balance requirements. Fund transfers are quick and links to other bank accounts are easy to set up via a series of test trial deposits. ATM card options are available for those that wish to access their account funds from traditional live automated tellers. The bank’s high yield savings account was one the first to start offering super high rates during the heyday of Internet based banks, and continues to be one of the most popular choices for its consistently high interest rate offerings. As with all of the recommended banks on this list, FNBO offers full FDIC insurance limit coverage for account deposits. Please check out my FNBO Direct review if you wish to learn more about the online bank.

6) HSBC Advance – Named as the best cyber bank and having the best online savings account by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in years past, HSBC Advance is a top tier bank in terms of reliability and name recognition. While its interest rate yields for its no-minimum-balance high interest savings accounts have fluctuated along with all of the other online banking names out there, HSBC’s rates remain very competitive. Along with its bank account offerings, the firm also offers a convenient array of banking features such as ATM debit cards and free online bill payments. Highly regarded for its commendable customer service reputation, HSBC also provides its banking customers amazing access to its growing network of convenient bank branches and ATM’s located all over the world (with new locations being constantly added).

7) Capital One Direct Bank – While probably much more famous for its lineup of “What’s In Your Wallet” Capital One credit cards and its popular build-your-own credit card Card Lab feature, Capital One provides its savings account customers with pretty competitive rates through its online direct banking program. With Capital One Direct Banking, members get access to InterestPlus Savings, high yield money markets, certificate of deposits, and even business money market accounts. While there are no mandatory account minimum requirements and no sneaky service fees, a balance of $10,000 or more is required to get the highest APY rate that Capital One has to offer. Online bank transfers are always free, and linking your Capital One savings account to existing external bank accounts for quick and easy transfers is very easy to do.

8) ING Direct Bank – As the grand daddy of them all, ING Direct has been around the longest since its emergence during the early dot com era of 2000. Since then, ING Direct has solidified itself as one of the best online banks with some measure of streamlined improvements to its online interface over the years. While the firm’s bank rates have fluttered around of late, its yields are still competitive and exceed the rates offered by most neighborhood banks. Overall, ING Direct banking products are easy to open, easy to use, and ideally suited for those new to online banking. One thing that most reviewers of financial products generally agree on – is how simple and straight forward ING products are to manage. ING offers a wide array of banking and investment products with its seamless union of ING Direct savings, checking, and investing features via ING ShareBuilder. The firm’s very popular Orange Savings Account offers a competitive interest rate with no monthly fees and no account balance minimums. Its Electric Orange Checking account also enjoys similar praise and positive reviews from the online critics. Another greatly appreciated feature of the bank is also the ability to utilize ING Direct referrals to refer friends and family members, allowing them to enjoy special first time member bonuses as new account sign ups.

9) Dollar Savings Direct – As a newly acquired online bank by much larger parent Emigrant Bank, Dollar Savings Direct continues the tradition of offering great high yield savings rates for its flagship product. New savings accounts are easy to open hassle free with no account maintenance requirements, no maintenance fees, and no hidden charges. New accounts do require an initial minimum deposit of $1,000, however thereafter, there is no stated obligation that account holders must actually maintain that balance. If you are an aggressive bank rate chaser like myself and desire the safety and security of full FDIC insurance coverage for your liquid cash assets with the added benefit of high rates, you should definitely click through and check out what Dollar Savings Direct Bank has to offer. For more details, take a look at my Dollar Savings Direct review.

10) WT Direct Bank – Chances are, you’ve probably never heard of WTDirect bank before as they are a relative unknown compared to some of the bigger names above. However, as the online arm of Wilmington Trust FSB, the parent bank has been around for quite some time since the early 1990’s.  Currently, WT Direct offers a pretty attractive high yield online savings account that features a pretty top tier interest rate. Best of all, there are no minimum deposit requirements, no account maintenance fees, no limits on the number of linkages to external accounts, and all deposits earn interest regardless of balance amounts. One caveat however, is that the highest tiered interest rate for the savings accounts require balances of at least $10,000. If all other savings account alternatives above don’t suit your fancy, savings account holders with at least $10,000 to store away will find WT Direct to be a solid high yield savings option.

Searching For Other Alternative Sources Of High Interest Rates

Generally if you want the perfect mix of cash liquidity, account accessibility, and competitively high interest rate yields for your bank account funds – you ought to stock with high yield savings accounts. But if you’re willing to exchange a little bit of liquidity and lock up your monetary funds for anywhere between periods as short as a month to periods of 5 years or longer, you might be able to get a better interest rate yield via certificates of deposit. Check out my list of the best CD rates for what some of the top online banks are offering in that department.

Speaking of rates, those of you who are disappointed with the pitifully low interest rates on checking account funds might be surprised to know that there are high yield reward checking accounts out there that offer extremely high interest rates on checking balances. The rates offered are frequently the same or even better than the best online savings accounts and top level CD rates. The catch with these high interest reward checking accounts is that they often have stringent maximum balance limits and frequently require account holders to execute a certain number of debit card transactions a month to qualify. But if you’re up to the task, they may be able to provide you an impressively excellent rate of return for your money.

Source URL: Best Online Bank: Savings and Checking Accounts

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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If you are searching for a genuinely legitimate paid online survey, you’re at the right place. The following is a recommended list of popular online marketing firms that are offering free paid surveys and is a nice resource for people looking to make some money online from home or earn a little bit of extra cash on the side by filling out short survey questionnaires. After much research with a lot of trial and error, I’ve compiled a list of what I’ve found to be the top paid online survey programs that compensate participants with either cash or gift card rewards for completed surveys.

If you’ve already conducted an online search via Google.com or Bing.com for the best paid surveys, then you’ve probably already noticed that the vast majority (95%) of those search results invariably lead to some rather scammy looking links or to websites that try to convince you to fork over a membership fee for exclusive access to some secret list of paid surveys. It’s a sad and rather sobering sight to see, but the Internet is littered to the brim with such misleading resources and self interested clutter. Don’t buy the marketing hype or misleading online promotions that suggest that you must actually pay money to gain access to some super secret list. If a survey company starts asking you to pay an upfront charge, run away as fast as you can – lest you unwittingly succumb to the online scam. There is absolutely no reason that you ought to ever pay for such services as they can be legitimately and freely obtained online without cost.

Is It Really Possible To Make Money Online By Taking Paid Internet Surveys?

For starters and particularly for those of you easily misled or swayed by delusions of dancing dollar signs in your head, let me be very clear – the paid online survey websites listed below are not scams, gimmicks, or get rich quick schemes. No one is going to become a millionaire or earn enough money with these surveys to retire. Paid surveys can help you supplement your full time day job with some extra spending cash to pay the bills (up to anywhere from as little as $25 to as much as $200 or more per month), but that’s the extent of their financial usefulness. If you’re a stay at home mom, a full time student, a retiree, or even a working professional who wants to kill some time on a regular basis by knocking out a few quick surveys for some free money, these compensated surveys will definitely appeal to you. But those of you looking to turn online survey taking into some type of part time job are much better off working as a blogger and directing your efforts towards blogging to make money. At the very least, part time blogging has a greater potential to turn a simple hobby into a full time and sustainable online job than survey taking ever could.

However, in terms of earning a little bit of honest cash on the side, free paid survey offers are verifiably legitimate sources of income. Paid survey websites work by referring to their members survey inquiries provided by real companies. Most of the referring retailers are owners of consumer brands that you and I are probably already familiar with – brands that range from popular grocery food products and recognizable household goods, to manufacturers of popular electronic devices and automobiles. The retail companies rely on these regular survey samples to design and market their products, and are very willing to pay a small amount of money to compensate individuals for their survey taking time. Along with the usual assortment of survey inquiries based on your previous history of consumer usage and experiences, occasionally you also get lucky with a specific request to try out new and untested products. I enjoy it immensely when survey companies send out actual consumer products for me to review in person – items that include everything from experimental trial shampoos to shaving razors, to snack crackers and ear phones. After examining and trying out the products, you are expected to rate your experience on a sliding scale based on a variety of determinative factors.

The pay out rate for each online survey varies depending on the subject matter and the length of time that each is expected to take. The easy $1.00 surveys can take as little as 1-10 minutes to complete, while the more difficult but more lucrative $20 – $25 health care and fitness related paid surveys may take as long as an hour or longer. Depending on your personal demographics, you may or may not qualify for a large number of the potential paid online surveys out there – as it all depends on what the marketing companies are looking for at any given time. But if you want to fully maximize your online survey income potential, I highly recommend that you sign up and register for as many legitimate survey sites as you can. The more survey programs you have a relationship with, the more likely you will be able to maintain a steady flow of survey taking opportunities to make money from. As always, be sure to use a spare email account, lest you get overrun by survey emails (although you can always shut the survey messages down at any time by request).

Reviews Of Recommended Paid Online Survey Sites (All Are Free To Join):

1) NFO My Survey – The MySurvey Consumer Panel website is one of the very best free online survey providers out there and one that I highly recommend for aspiring paid online survey takers. Not only is their website very accessible and easy to navigate, their online surveys pay quite well. Since I joined as a panel survey taker years ago, they’ve provided me a consistent stream of paid survey opportunities on a wide array of interesting topics, including numerous fun product review solicitations that were mailed to my home for me to try out and opine on. Though the company utilizes a point system for dishing out reward incentives, the points are fully redeemable for cash checks and gift cards. The company also allows participants to earn additional money through referrals of their own.

2) Synovate – The Synovate Global Opinion Panel pays cash for completed online surveys and offers actively engaged participants the opportunity to receive a fairly steady burst of paid online survey chances on a regular basis. The Synovate survey company’s payout rate is quite competitive but dependent on the survey’s subject matter. Keep an eye out for those lucrative health care related surveys as they pay $10 and up. Synovate does provide product review opportunities as well and I’ve received my fair share of fun experimental bathroom products to review.

3) Ipsos I Say – Ipsos is a pretty big name in the marketing research world. While they focus primarily on in home product reviews and consumer product surveys, they still generally provide a reasonably balanced mix of of survey opportunities for their participating members. If you are interested in receiving freebies and getting free survey test products in the mail to review, you might want to give Ipsos a try. In regards to these in-home freebie products, you are generally free to keep the products regardless of whether you actually fill out the accompanied survey or not.

4) Survey Savvy – I really like Survey Savvy as the company is one of the best paid Internet survey sites in the market today and offers its participants a pretty lucrative referral program for their friends and family members. The company pays its members money for both personally completed surveys as well as completed surveys made by referrals. Payouts are dependent on the length of time and subject matter involved, but for friend and family referrals, you can earn $2.00 for every survey your direct referral takes and yet another $1.00 for every survey taken by their referrals. Based on the way Survey Savvy has things set up, online participants have multiple tiered opportunities to rack up income pretty quickly.

5) Global Test Market – I’ve been using Global Test Market to supplement my part time survey income for some time now. The company offers a fairly consistent number of survey taking opportunities for both American and international survey registrants looking to maintain a consistent stream of paid survey jobs. Even if you don’t qualify for a survey offer that is sent to you, you still get to accrue reward points simply by looking over it. Participants earn Global Test Market Points for completing surveys, redeemable for a variety of reward incentives. Like all of the survey companies reviewed on this list, Global Test Market is completely free and not contractually compulsory (you’re not forced to answer all surveys if you don’t want to).

6) Greenfield Online – If you are trying to find a legitimate paid online survey company that will provide you a significant number of survey gigs at a consistent pace, Greenfield Online is definitely for you. Greenfield has access to a lot of offers and provides payment in a variety of forms, including cash checks and free entries into their regularly renewed prize drawing. Here’s my little advice for registrants of Greenfield Online – stick to the cash payment only surveys and consider skipping the ones that only offer prize drawing entries. Cold hard cash beats raffle drawings any day. Sure you, might get lucky, beat the odds, and win the lottery, but your chances are slim to none that you will.

7) My Points – Want to get paid for reading spam emails? Then give MyPoints a try. The company is legitimate and at any time you want the emails to permanently stop, simply unsubscribe. MyPoints is not really a paid online survey provider per se, but they do offer survey opportunities as part of their reward earning system. The company offers a very large variety of ways to earn bonus points for future prize and merchandise redemption. If you are determined to make money online, I recommend trying out MyPoints as a resource. You can earn points by completing surveys (SurveyMail), reading e-mail advertisements (BonusMail), or even by signing up for online trial offers. If you don’t want to sign up for any unnecessary services, I recommend that you simply stick with the Survey Mail and Bonus Mail opportunities to earn reward points.

8) American Consumer Opinion Panel – The American Consumer Opinion Panel, or ACOP as it’s commonly called, is a personal favorite of mine due to the speed at which the company issues out compensation checks for completed paid surveys. Depending on the type of survey completed, ACOP participants can expect to be paid anywhere from $4 to $20 depending on the length, qualification requirements, and subject matter of the survey. If you desire to be paid more and reap anywhere between $25-$50 for each opportunity, you might want to consider signing up for ACOP sponsored online focus group reviews whenever those rare offers present themselves.

9) Lightspeed Consumer Panel – If volume of surveys is the most important factor to you, then definitely consider signing up with Lightspeed. The consumer survey company offers a tremendous number of paid online survey opportunities, paying out reward points for each completed survey. Reward points are fully redeemable for cash payments, gift cards, and other merchandise based prizes. For the professional survey takers out there who can speed read and crank through a large number of surveys in one sitting, Lightspeed has the potential to be quite a lucrative part time income cash cow for super active participants.

Source URL: Get Paid To Take Free Online Paid Surveys

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Back when I first started getting serious about investing during college, E-Trade was one of the very first online brokerage firms that I opened a trading account with. My inaugural entry into the world of investing occurred around the time of the dot com bubble in 1999 – when E-Trade wasn’t exactly known for its cheap commissions or discounted fees. At the time, one couldn’t really consider E-Trade a true discount broker – as back then, the firm catered more to the savvier advanced traders who were willing to pay substantially more for exclusive access to premium research and stock tracking tools. But over the years, with the rise in the popularity of Internet based discount brokers offering supremely low cost options for cheap stock trades, E-Trade’s fee commission structure has gradually fallen to where it is now today. Fortunately, despite the fall in pricing over time, the firm has not sacrificed any of its premium account features but rather has continued to grow and steadily outpace its competition in terms of building a better online product for typical do-it-yourself investors like you and I.

Today, while ETrade isn’t the cheapest discount brokerage around, it’s one of the top online investment solutions for those looking to reap the maximum product offerings available without having to fork over the rip off fees and hefty commissions levied down by most of those big name full service brokerages on Wall Street. If you’re primarily a self directed, do-it-yourself investor who wants all of the beginner and advanced trading tools from a single console without having to turn to multiple online sources for all of your financial needs – E-Trade Financial might be exactly what you need.

While there are other broker options that offer much cheaper rates, ETrade does provide its account holders a tremendous amount of value for their money. The company’s services are very ideal for those looking for a complete, one stop shopping source for all of their investing and banking needs. Other popular and recognizable discount brokers like TradeKing, Scottrade, and even Zecco offer perhaps cheaper rates for stock and option trades, but they are somewhat outmatched by E-Trade’s completeness and comprehensiveness in the account tools and resources department. Unlike many of its financial peers and rivals that focus squarely on either investment or banking services exclusively, E-Trade’s primary allure stems from its ability to offer a mass appeal of products from a singular inter linked and centrally managed financial platform. With features for both long term passive investors and active day traders alike, E-Trade touts everything from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IPO’s, foreign currencies, foreign stocks, and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) – to its bank based products like high yield savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, certificate of deposits (CD’s), and even Etrade branded credit cards.

Best Discount Broker Overall According To Online Brokerage Reviews

I’m just a regular guy who has some amateur experience with stock market investing and who also currently trades with an E-trade account. I really like E-Trade a lot, primarily for its all-in-one packages – but then again, you certainly don’t have to read my discount brokerage reviews and just take my word for it. Take a look around at what others are saying about the online broker. Even objectively speaking, ETrade is one of the most highly touted “Best of Breed” financial firms in the market today and has received numerous awards and accolades for its features and highly regarded customer service reputation. Out of numerous highly ranked brokers, and for the third straight year since 2007 and 2008 – the publishers at SmartMoney (A Wall Street Journal magazine) again picked Etrade as the overall top discount broker for year 2009. E-trade ranked high in almost every category including customer service, trading tools, research tools, banking services, and selection of mutual fund & investment products. Even Barron’s Magazine, in its 2008 online broker survey – rated Etrade in its top 10 best online brokers, awarding it 4 out of 5 stars – for categories such as trade experience, trade technology, usability, range of offerings, research amenities, portfolio analysis & reports, customer service & access, and costs.

E-Trade Pricing: Low Cost Commissions and Investment Brokerage Fees

Like I mentioned earlier, although it’s not the absolute cheapest of all of the discount brokerages, E-trade’s rate fees and commissions are pretty competitive considering all of the account features and tools the company provides to you at your disposal. Etrade’s commissions for stocks and option trades are dependent on how frequently you trade and the balance amount invested in your account. As evidenced by the pricing chart above, the standard base pricing rate is $12.99 per stock trade trade and $0.75 per options trade. Those with balances of $50,000 or more in their linked Etrade brokerage and banks accounts, or engage in more than 30 equity trades per quarter enjoy a lower commissions rate via enhanced Power E-trade promotions at $9.99 per trade. Those who trade even more frequently at 1,500 trades or more per quarter (such as by day traders of penny stocks for example) and those with substantial assets – may qualify for super cheap pricing of $6.99 per trade or lower.

All-In-One Brokerage: Etrade Complete Banking and Power Etrade Investing

Voted as “Best In Breed” by Money Magazine for its popular banking services, E-Trade is not only a big time brokerage, but also a popular provider of FDIC insurance protected savings and CD options such as the following:

• High interest Max Rate Checking Account
• High yield Complete Savings Account

While APY interest rate offerings by Etrade’s checking and savings accounts could use a boost of late, they do provide brokerage account holders additional choices beyond just leaving their un-invested cash sitting idly in their accounts. Because the Etrade bank and brokerage services are so interconnected and linked, many account holders utilize the higher APY rates offered by their Etrade online savings accounts as primary cash sweep solutions for their idle brokerage cash. This compatibility between the brokerage and banking platforms make monetary transfers between the two quick and easy via free instant transfers and affords a tremendous degree of FDIC insured flexibility for optimizing your cash investments. In terms of maintaining real life access to your Etrade banking funds, although the firm’s banking arm only offers a tiny handful of actual brick and mortar based retail locations across the United States, it does offer customers the convenience of unlimited ATM fee reimbursements and refunds from any machine, any bank, nationwide.

Premium Online Tools For All Individual Investment and Retirement Accounts

When aspiring investors sign up for an online brokerage account with Etrade, they are buying into Etrade’s Complete Investment Account program which provides what the firm calls – an integrated investment and cash management system, with its unity of investment, banking, loan, and even credit based services at once source. Those retirement minded investors out there looking for the best IRA broker might want to give an Etrade-managed account a try. The firm is a popular fit for those seeking the necessary resources to help them in achieving their long term individual retirement account planning objectives.

• Open an Etrade IRA or Roth IRA account - Retirement accounts offer excellent tax deferred benefits and tax deductions for maximum compound interest rate growth. Don’t miss out on building your financial future today.

In terms of looks and appearances, Etrade’s online website layout is not only professionally designed and intuitively simple to use, the online platform that it provides is easy to navigate and tinker with. Compared to some of the other discounted brokerages out there such as Scottrade, Etrade ranks much higher in aesthetic appeal and graphical design in my opinion. But it’s not just the surface features either as Etrade’s inner workings boast a pretty powerful array of real time trading tools and sophisticated market research material. Along with all of the stocks and bond investments available, Etrade also provides a variety of automatic investment plans, exclusive alerts to initial public offerings that other brokerages don’t offer, as well as superior access to more than 7,000 leading mutual funds, including 100’s of Morningstar top-rated funds, and every ETF sold. Among the fund choices, there are also more than a 1,000 no load, no transaction fee mutual funds to invest in. To help beginners and advanced experts alike wade through the pile of investment options available, Etrade provides plenty of online explanatory help with all types of stock screeners, customizable charts, and download-able software applications for your iPhone or Blackberry handheld devices – that you would need to pick out the winners.

If you’re an active trader, you might be able to qualify for lower trading costs, get better prices, and gain access to more advanced research tools through an Etrade program for advanced traders. E-Trade Complete Investment Accounts are automatically upgraded and qualified for an enhanced Power E-Trade Account when an account holder makes at least a minimum of 30 stock or option trades a calendar quarter. The enhanced Power Etrade tools offer frequent investors more advanced charting features and more in depth technical stock screeners for better viewing of complete marketing activity.

As for the universally dreaded account maintenance and inactivity fees that many brokerages impose, Etrade imposes none for retirement accounts such as IRA and Roths, and levies no monthly maintenance fees for new individual investment accounts for the first 12 months. Thereafter, so long as you maintain a brokerage balance of at least $2,000, maintain a linked Etrade bank and broker balance of at least $20,000, or execute at least one or more stock, option, or mutual fund trades per quarter – then you will avoid having to pay the quarterly assessed account service fee of $40. Etrade has apparently dropped the minimum balance required to avoid the quarterly assessed inactivity maintenance fee from the previous $10,000 in years past to the present, more manageable minimum balance of $2,000. As such, if you are a new investor with very little money to invest (less than $2,000 to play with), I’d recommend going with another brokerage firm like TradeKing or Scottrade. None of those two broker alternatives impose any maintenance or inactivity fees whatsoever. While Etrade’s account features and premium resources are much better than that provided by most other heavily discounted brokers, the fees and account maintenance terms and conditions of Etrade are much better paired up with those self directed investors who attend to trade more regularly or have more than minimal assets.

Source URL: ETrade Online Broker: Discount Brokerage Account Review

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