Moe Greenbacks

Moe Greenbacks tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1 2006-12-11T21:55:09Z Movable Type 3.33 Diners Club and Carte Blanche - Old School Credit Cards tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.17 2006-12-09T15:31:38Z 2006-12-11T21:55:09Z

Remember back in the 80s, 70s, 60s when truly sophisticated business people would pull out a Diners Club or a Carte Blanche Card. It was mysterious and prestigious because you didn't have one in your wallet. You were lucky to get a crappy Visa or MasterCharge (the old name for MasterCard). Believe it or not these cards are still around. Citibank has bought both brands and issues these cards with a MasterCard logo on them, so you can use them wherever MC's are accepted (virtually everywhere). But, are they worth it in today's competitive credit card market? Do they still have superior perks and benefits that make the elite spenders want them. Not really, but I am tempted to get one anyway. Here's how they stack up ... here So, are they compelling cards with compelling rewards? My vote is NO. For the same $300 you can get an Amex Platinum Card which gives you airport lounge access at Delta, Continental and Northwest Airlines; companion tickets on 17 different airlines (including Continental, Air France and AeroMexico), access to their Membership Rewards program ( which pays oout at roughly $0.01 per $1 spent). That's not to say that they are perfect, but you do get more bang for buck. ]]> uTango - Marriage Cult Rewards Program? tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.16 2006-12-07T19:59:45Z 2006-12-08T19:24:16Z

uTango (sounds alot like uPromise :) has just launched a coalition rewards program where singles, engaged couples and newlyweds can earn points for their online purchases with the eventual goal of cashing out. ... for get this ... $2500 to $1,000,000 ten to thirty years in the future. The way it purports to work is that couples earn six "tango dollars" for every one dollar they spend online at participating merchants. If the couples spend a minimum of $5000, $10,000 or $20,000 per year at these merchants they can earn $2500, $5000 or $10000 after ten years or $250,000, $500,000 or $1,000,000 after thirty years. Let's dig in and see if the math makes sense. ]]> If a couple spent $20,000 per year and earned a 10% kick back (high, but not insane, by today's affiliate marketing standards) and then invested that money and earned 10% (a good but not great return) a year they would earn $361,000 at most over 30 years. And this is using the very generous assumption that the couple spends their yearly $20,000 on Jan 1 and earns interest on the full kickback for the full year. So how are these guys able to offer $1,000,000. Well maybe they are expecting a higher yearly interest rate ... but just how high to get to one 1 million. The answer is 15.1 %. If they can generate 15% returns year over year for 30 years, then more power to them. They are also counting on breakage - namely that you won't remain eligible for the program by staying married (I'll make fun of this later) or that you won't consistently meet your spend threshold. For example you might spend $20,000 per year for 16 years and then miss on the 17th year. So now let's get around to discussing the rather odd program rules. It is only available to singles, engaged couples or couple that have been married for less than three years. And, you have to remain married in order to earn your cash-out 10, 20 or 30 years later. Is this a right-wing conspiracy? I'm surprised they haven;t attached a birth qualification and stipulated that you haven't any abortions along the way. And what about gay and lesbian couples who belong to a legal civil union - do they qualify. My take aways are two fold ... 1) you have to stretch the math almost to the point of breaking for it to make sense and 2) these guys are weirdos with their marriage requirement (maybe it's a nascent marriage cult) ... so therefore I would recommend using ebates, upromise or some other coalition rewards program and investing the money yourself. Google Checkout -- $10 of $30 -- Sweet ! tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.15 2006-12-07T17:19:46Z 2006-12-07T19:59:02Z

Google is trying to buy your attention to alert you to their new payment method. And as far as I am concerned they have made a compelling offer - $10 off of a minimum purchase of at least $30. There are literaly hundreds of online merchants where the offer is valid. You can add a further $5 off (that's 50% off a $30 purchase) if you register your Citibank card as part of the process. The only downside -- you can only enjoy the discount once. Here's where you can find out more -- Google CheckOut Happy Shopping, Moe ]]> Staples Rewards .. Why the Heck Not tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.14 2006-12-05T14:20:45Z 2006-12-05T14:30:06Z

Staples has a fairly decent rewards program. If you don't mind getting a few flyers inthe mail, it's definately in your best interest to sign-up Here are the highlights -- 2% cash back up to $15 per quarter once you spend over $200 in that quarter -- once you reach $1000 in total yearly spend, your reward goes to 5% up to $30 per quarter -- 20% back when you spend more than $50 per quarter at the Staples Copy Center up to $200 per quarter -- AND perhaps the most important --- FREE SHIPPING for Online oders regardless of the amount spent My one complaint ... Staples should get off their lazy ass and offer a rewards-based credit card, now there is no rewards incentive for signing up and using their private label credit card Buy frequent flyer miles if you are a few short tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.13 2006-12-03T05:54:48Z 2006-12-05T14:20:23Z

Many airlines will allow you to buy 5000-15,000 extra miles per year if you are a few short from being able to redeem for a free ticket. The cost ranges from x - y, which may seem expensive but if...

Many airlines will allow you to buy 5000-15,000 extra miles per year if you are a few short from being able to redeem for a free ticket. The cost ranges from x - y, which may seem expensive but if you are just a few short it may be well worth it when compared with actually buying a ticket. Below are links to the various airlines that sell miles .... Alaska Airlines      $0.025 per mile      max: 30,000 miles
American Airlines      $0.0275-$0.025 per mile      max: 40,000 miles
British Airways      0.03-$0.0156 pounds per mile      max: 25,000 miles
Delta      $0.0275 per mile + 7%      max: 30,000 miles
Frontier Airlines      $0.028 - $0.025 per mile      max: 15,000 miles
Midwest Airlines      $0.02938 - $0.022 per mile      max: 15,000 miles
Northwest Airlines      $0.038 - $0.0296 per mile      max: 15,000 miles
US Airways      $0.035 per mileplus $25      max: 50,000 miles
Virgin Atlantic      $0.035 per mileplus $25      max: 50,000 miles
]]> Thanks to PFBlogs.com tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.12 2006-12-01T23:05:55Z 2006-12-01T23:07:15Z

PFBlogs.com is an aggregator of (yes you guessed it) personal finance blogs and they have just started synidcating good ole Moe. Thanks to the folks over there....

PFBlogs.com is an aggregator of (yes you guessed it) personal finance blogs and they have just started synidcating good ole Moe. Thanks to the folks over there. The 3 Best Things about Points.com tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.11 2006-12-01T22:50:41Z 2006-12-01T23:05:15Z

Canada-based Points.com has come along way since its humble beginnings back in the hayday of the internet. Basically points.com is place where you can track, swap, share, give away, (nominally) buy, or redeem points from your airline frequent flyer and hotel frequent stay programs. In my not so humble opinion here are the 3 best things about Points.com (in reverse order ala David Letterman) 3) Gift / Share - I am the greediest bastard on the net, but I am not above giving my mom my ff points so she can come see me (and cook for me and clena my filty house :) ) more .... 2) Buy - Points.com does nothing more than point you to the locales where you can buy points at popular program. This is a huge help if you have 23,914 points (1086 shy of free domestic ticket) ... I may have to steal some of their glory and list the links here on Moe Greenbacks. 1) Swap and Redeem - you belong to a points program where you earn frequent whatever for doing something and you don't care about doing more of the same ... for example you are a consultant and fly every week. You would be happy if you never saw a plane again, but you love to read. No problem swap your American Airlines points for Amazon gift cards and order away. Brilliant. These guys at Points.com are really smart (for Canadians) Happy flying, Moe Bank of America: Keep the Change ... Brilliant tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.10 2006-12-01T03:23:02Z 2006-12-01T03:49:20Z

This is a great contrast to the Chase Freedom Card that I wrote about in the last post. Bank of America truly did something new here. However, the Keep the Change program can be easily gamed to get to the $250 per year maximum reward. Here's how it works ... When you use your Bank of America Debit (Visa) Card, your purchase gets rounded up to the nearest dollar and deposited in a "piggy bank" which is paid out at the end of the year along with a matching % which is put in by BofA (a whopping 100% match for the first 3 months and 5% thereafter). For example if you buy something that is $10.01 your purchase will be rounded up to $11 and $0.99 will be deposited into your piggy bank along with $0.99 from the bank. It is also true that if you purchase something for $10.99 it will be rounded to $11 and $.01 (along with $0.01 from the bank) will be deposited. Here are some tips for how to maximize this program. -- Obviously, the fewer the number of cents on purchase amount the better -- This is particularly good at restaurants when you can engineer the tip so that the purchase amount is $XX.01 -- This is particularly good at gas pumps where you can stop your filling your tank $xx.01 -- I have even heard of some folks filling up their tank in multple increments -- for example ten $1.01 gas purchases to fill up your tank once will earn you a $9.90 ($0.99 times 10) match from BofA (although this may trigger typical fraud software and get your account frozen as this resembles stolen card behavior). -- Shop like hell with your $xx.01 purchases for the first 3 months and then stop The only catch ... you have to wait until the end of the year to get your matching amount. The Freedom Card: What the Hell is Chase Thinking tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.9 2006-12-01T03:07:38Z 2006-12-01T03:22:50Z

This is by far the lamest excuse for innovation in the rewards / loyalty world that I have seen in decades. The claim to fame of the Freedom Card is that you can alternate back and forth between points and cash-back. Seriously, this should be called the Boredom Card. I can't belive that they would spend the big bucks required for primetime TV ads on a such a ho-hum value proposition. Here's what you get ... -- No annual fee -- 3% cash back or points on grocery stores, gas stations, and QSRs (quick service restaurants -- 1% cash ack or points everywhere else You'd be better off getting a Discover card where you can get 5% cash back on everyday purchase and 1% everywhere else. Nice try Chase. Getting claimed in Technorati tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.8 2006-11-29T04:03:06Z 2006-11-29T04:04:16Z

Please ignore ... posting this so Tehcnorati will index MoeGreenbacks.com Technorati Profile...

Technorati Profile]]> Ebates Will (Almost) Always Get You the Best Rebate tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.7 2006-11-27T02:21:02Z 2006-11-27T17:10:59Z

Many of you may have heard of Ebates.com (and hopefully you're smart enough to use it regularly). Ebates almost always gets you the best rebate and frequently allows you to double or even triple dip with other sales, coupons, store credit cards, etc. Here's how it works ... Ebates and similar rebate sites plug into online stores' affiliate marketing systems. Affiliate marketing systems were originally developed to reward webmasters who referred viewers who frequent their websites to webstores that sell related goods. For example ... if you have a site about champion poodles, you might refer your readers to books on Amazon.com or pet food on PetFoodDirect.com by placing special links on your website. Amazon and PetFoodDirect will pay you a 10% commission on any purchases made by people that clicked on your link. Clever rebate-hounds figured out how to game the system early on by signing up as an affiliate and then clicking on their links and earning a rebate for themselves. Some of these folks decided it would be a good idea to systematize the process and created sites like Ebates.com that aggregate all of these affiliate/rebate offers in one spot. As a shopper all you have to do is to remember to log into Ebates before you shop and click on their special link to enter the store. Somewhat suprising, the online stores are willing to play ball as Ebates shoppers are generally more loyal than random internet shoppers. Long story short ... Ebates has almost 800 merchant partners with whom shoppers can earn rebates. Usually these rebates can be combined with coupons and other kick-backs (like rebates for using an Amazon.com credit card), so they are very attractive. It usually takes 30-60 days after the purchase date before you can cash out a given rebate (many online stores will only pay Ebates after your return period has expired) and Ebates typically holds onto the funds until you you ask them to cut you a check. So, is there downside? Only one small one. Ebates will typically keep 1/3 of whatever commission the online store pays. So if PetFoodDirect pays a 9% commission, Ebates will keep 3% and pass the remaining 6% onto to you. This means that, if there are online stores where you buy hundreds or thousands of dollars per year, you should consider signing up for their affiliate program directly so you can get the full 9%. If you infrequently shop at a store, it's probably easier to have Ebates do all of the work and keep their 1/3. Also, Ebates will frequently go out and negotiate a better rate than the average affiliate could get. For online stores where you do a large amount of shopping, the way to compare is to find the link on the store's website to become an affiliate. It may say right there how much affiliates get paid or you may have to "officially" sign up at their third party affiliate provider ( usually either Linkshare and Commission Junction ). Anyway -- it's not worth it unless you spend a ton of money at a given store. Save $200 next year with the Shell Gas Card tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.6 2006-11-22T01:47:55Z 2006-11-22T17:25:30Z

Here's a stellar opportunity to save $200 per year on purchase you need to make anyway. Shell Gas and Citbank have teamed up to offer a Shell co-branded credit card. You get 15% back on all gas and Jiffy Lube purchases for the first sixty days and 3% back on all other purchases if you apply for a card before the end of the year. After the initial 60 day period, you save 5% on all gas and Jiffy Lube purchases and 1% back on all other purchases. ]]> Let's do the math ... First the gas ... Say that you fill up your gas tank which is 12 gallons (that's on the small side of gas tanks) twice a week and that gas stays at $2.50 per gallon for the next year. For the first 60 days, you will put $240 (8*12*$2.50) of gas into you car. At 15% that's $36. During the rest of the year you will put $1200 (40*12*$2.50) into your car. At 5% that's $60. Now the oil changes at Jiffy Lube ... Let's say that you change your oil 6 times a year at $40 a pop. That's $40 at 15% and $200 at 5% - for a total of $16 at Jiffy Lube. Now ... are the rewards on the card generous enough to use them for your other purchase. I would argue that 3% back on all purchases is a better deal than you'll get on most cards, so let's say that you put all of your normal credit card charges for the first two months on this card. That might be $1500 per month, so $3000 at 3% is $90. The long and the short of it is that you would conservatively save $202 by applying for and shifting your your spend for stuff you have to buy. There's no such thing as a free lunch - so what are the catches? -- there appears to no cap on the cumulative rebates that can be earned -- you can only earn rebates on up to $100 in daily purchases at Jiffy Lube -- the APR is 16.24%, but Citibank reserves the right to raise the rate to maximum of 32.24% (usually if you are late on your payments) -- there is a annual fee of $20 that is waived for the first year and will be waived for additional years if the card at Shell at least 9 times Happy Shopping, Moe Best Recurring Coupon tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.5 2006-11-21T15:24:17Z 2006-11-21T19:12:20Z

I am sure many of you receive the weekly or bi-weekly coupons coupns for 20% off of a single item at Bed Bath and Beyond. In my (not so) humble opinion this is the best recurring coupon you're going to get. The dirty little secret about these is that, despite what they say printed on the front, they never really expire. I have used them three months after their supposed expiration date and only on one occassion have I even been asked by the clerk. I said that I must have brought in an old one by mistake. She winked and conspiratorially told me that it would anyway. Of course they are counting on the fact that you will buy more than one thing, so (needless to say) don't. Make your list of things (the more expensive the better) and buy one per week or save them up. I have never actually tried using two at one time, but I have had my wife stand in one aisle and me in another and use two coupons (on one item each) in the same store visit. Happy Shopping, Moe ]]> Store Credit Cards tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.4 2006-11-21T14:52:40Z 2006-11-21T15:21:39Z

I'm sure you have been asked time and time again when you buy something that costs more than a couple of hundred dollars whether you would like to apply for a store credit card. The clerk usually promises you some sweet benefit like 10% off of the purchase or free interest for a year. Here's how it usually works ... Most stores offer two types of a credit cards ... 1) Private Label store cards - These can only be used in the store/chain you are shopping at and you will often receive have deferred interested for anywhere between 3 and 12 months. Usually the APR (annual interest rate) is high and there is no annual fee. What the stores are hoping is that 12 months later you will be one day late paying your bill and then they will charge you the high interest rate and frequently a late payment penalty to boot. Often there is no rewards program associated with these type of cards. They are great for deferring interest, but only if you pay them off on time. I would recommend scheduling and appointment in your date book 11 months after you get one and paying it off a month early just in case. 2) Co-Branded credit cards - These are typically MasterCard or Visa (sometime Amex) cards that also have the branding of the store on them. Since most stores aren't also banks, they will partner with a bank to issue you one of these bad boys. The APR/interest rates are usually OK, but not spectacular, on these cards and they also rarely have a an annual fee (usually with airline co-brand cards). Frequently they will have a loyalty programs attached to them that will reward you with points or cash back for all of the purchase you put on the card with a premium for purchase made at their store - for example 5% back - often in the form of gift certificates that can only be used at their store - that for all of the purchases you make at their store and 1% back for all of the other purchases you make. Obviously what they are hoping is that you value free merchandise at their store enough to shift your payment habits and use their card instead of another card. What I recommend here is getting co-branded cards from your favorite stores, but only use them when you shop in the store, becuase - hey - 5% at the GAP or Macy's ain't bad, especially if you are a regular customer anyway - just don't get sucked into spending more than you otherwise would because you have credit (that's what they're counting on). And, it's probably not in best interest to use them for your other purchases as you can usually get a better rewards deal than 1% towards gift cerificates at the GAP such as 1% cash-back that can be used anywhere. Happy shopping, Moe Moe's Mission tag:www.moegreenbacks.com,2006://1.2 2006-11-18T16:06:22Z 2006-11-18T20:16:35Z

Welcome to the inaugural post on MoeGreenbacks.com. Here at Moe's we are dedicated to sharing the best ways for you to save money by using coupons, rebates, rewards programs, loyalty systems, frequent flying/staying/shopping programs, credit cards and more....