Another approval...

Today we received our new Bank of America card. I wasn't sure if we had been approved, but it turns out we received another 5K in credit. This account has a great promotional balance transfer offer - 0% for 12 months with BT fee capped at $30. Within 15 minutes we had activated the card and brought over $62,000 in credit from another card, and began the process of transfering $60,000 into our checking account. It couldn't have been easier.

To date, we have taken advantage of $162,000 in 0% BT offers, with one more possibly on the way for $30K. Almost $200,000 earning 5% interest is over $800 a month. I may not earn $800 every month because of balances shifting around and having to pay the minimums on each credit card, but my plan is to put a third of this money to paying down debt, a third to saving for the summer, and a third to our Roths.

My employer's W2 came today as well. I'll get my wife's this week directly from her work, and I can get this return done. Refund by mid-March would be great!

And I decided to go with Countrywide. The accounts already being linked was a huge plus for me...

Who wants my cash?

With interest rates falling like prospective presidential candidates, I've been in a quandary about what to do with my 0% money. Since early in the summer I've had it parked at FNBO Savings, where a long 6% promotion got me in the door. They've kept my business with a competitive 5% rate even when other banks like Emigrant, GMAC, and HSBC were falling. Well, FNBO sent me an email yesterday notifying me that they too were following the trend, all the way down to 4.3%. That can't be the best I can do.

I spent most of last night rate hunting, and I've found some candidates: OneUnited Bank, the country's first black-owned internet bank, is still offering a 5.3% rate for accounts greater thatn $1,000 and a $50 bonus for making a couple months worth of direct deposits. I'd like to see if they hold onto this rate before I jump, although they have held steady since May.

Another option is Countrywide Savings, holding firm at 5%. I know all the negative issues surrounding this company, but it's FDIC insured and I already have an account with them. I even have FNBO already linked so an account transfer initiated today can be earning 5% in 2-3 business days. Hard to pass this up.

Interest Income for 2007

Lately I have been getting a bunch of tax statements from banks notifying me of how much I made in interest with their company this year. It's a double-edged sword in a way to see these statements - I'm happily reminded of how much money I made with other people's money, and I'm also sadly reminded that this will cut into my tax refund in a couple weeks.

Tallying up all the statements I've received so far (and I'm fairly certain I've gotten them all), I have $8585 in interest income for 2007. Not as much as some who play the game a little more seriously, but still pretty impressive. I have to double check, but I'm pretty sure I made more than last year in this category. Remember, this money is the result of taking out 0% loans from credit cards, socking the cash into an interest bearing account, and paying back the minimum each month until the whole amount is due.

The banks I used were a combination of high interest accounts and those that offered a bonus to open an or maintain an account. I'll give a list of each bank and the corresponding interest or bonus money (which still is considered interest) my wife and I earned. Some of these are individual accounts and others we opened two separate accounts:

Apple Bank (2 accounts, $50 total)
Citibank (2 accounts, $75)
Capital One (1 account, $25)
Affinity Bank (1, $26)
Amboy National (1, $29)
Sovereign Bank (1, $100)
GMAC (1, $38)
HSBC (2, $1000) - Remember the 6% promotion earlier this year? - cool!
Bank of America (2, $1350) - I took advantage of a great NEA Money Market rate for 90days in the middle of the year.
ING Direct (1, $100)
E*Trade (2, $100)
Heartland Bank Direct (1, $200)
Chase Bank (1, $600) - This primarily includes bonus money from opening personal and
business accounts
GCF Bank (1, $218)
Emigrant Direct (1, $440)
FNBO Savings (1, $4386) - The bulk of my money is still in this bank because it's currently offering 5%, but a lot of money was made with its extended 6% promotion.

There may be other banks, but I don't think any big ones. This year I am trying to be better organized so I can document when I receive any interest, rebate or award money. I want to have a clearer idea of how much money the time spent on this stuff
really pays off.

Two more approvals...

I just received two emails from Citi regarding the two applications I sent in earlier in the weekend, and both were approved. That's cool. Both will be quite lucrative. The first was the Citi CashReturns card, which means another 3 months of 5% cash back on all purchases. I place my parents as authorized users of this card, and between the two households putting all purchases on this card for 90 days, I'll make $150-200 per month. After that, I'll sock drawer it since there are no BT offers associated with the card and it is only 1% cash back after the first 3 months.

The second approval was for the Citi Professional card with Thank You points. 15,000 points after the first purchase means $150 in gift cards which I can sell or use. The real money maker, though, is the 0% BT offer with no fee. I only got a credit line for 1K, but I'll pull over around 25K from another card and get some good cash flow for the next 12 months.

This weekend we applied for eight credit cards and so far have been approved for both Citi Professionals, Orchard Bank, Discover, SonyCard, and the Citi CashReturns. We're still waiting to hear about the AMEX Business Gold Rewards and the Bank of America cards, but 6 out of 8 so far is better than expected.

The Elusive Orchard Bank Credit Card

As part of our mini-AOR this weekend, we applied for the Orchard Bank Credit Card put out by HSBC. If you haven't heard about this card, check out Fatwallet's thread about the curious issues surrounding it - . To make a long story short, this card offers 2% cash back on all purchases without a cap throughout the year. Sounds good, don't it? Well, the problems then begin. The application process begins with you filling out a regular online form, , and then they give you a couple options of cards you have qualified for. Some of the options are insulting - annual fees, no rewards, high rates, garbage cards. If you get the golden goose option (2% cash back, 0% BT rate for 6 months with no fee), then you feel good and apply. At this point you can check your application status pretty much right away if you didn't get instant approval, but many people report getting credit lines on the wrong side of $1000, with some on the wrong side of $500! Pretty much worthless if you want to take advantage of the 2% cash back option. They will allow you to increase your credit line after 6 months of use, however. Yay.

Well, we've applied before for this card and got turned down (I think twice over the past 2-3 years.) We applied again last night and got instant approval with $1,500 credit line. So we're pretty happy, although it will probably grace the sock drawer for a couple months since we're taking advantage of better options (5%) for the time being. I'll keep it active with occasional purchases (they've been known to close it on you!) and then it may enter my regular rotation by the middle of the year. It does come with a 0% BT offer with no fee, but that is pretty much worthless because of the amount.

Bonus updates and other stuff...

Several bonuses I've mentioned earlier have come through finally. The final gift of $125 from Chase has already been transferred to my checking account and on to our debt pay off account and Summer Savings. Two Sharebuilder $50 bonuses also posted and they are sitting in the girls' accounts. I have taken a bath on Citigroup lately, but I'll keep buying shares as it spirals down. I don't see Citigroup going anywhere and I'm in it for the long haul with those two accounts.

With a bunch of 0% debt being paid off over the last couple months, I have been getting itchy to take advantage of some pretty nice offers out there. I know I should let our FICO scores get a chance to max out first, but I've already missed out on a juicy Bank of America credit card offer ($100) for delaying. Why would I take on additional debt when I am trying so hard to pay it down? Well, there are both short and long term benefits which I've discussed before.

In the past couple weeks, I've gotten a SonyCard ($100 bonus and 12 month o% balance transfer offer with $75 fee), two CitiProfessional Cards ($150 gift card bonus each and 12 month 0% BTs with no fee), Discover ($100 bonus), American Express Business Gold Rewards Card ($200 statement credit when spending $1K), and Bank of America (no bonus but 12 month 0% BT with max $30 fee). I also applied for another Citi CashReturns Card (5% cash back on all purchases for 3 months which I've discussed earlier).

As of today, we've gotten approved for the SonyCard, one CitiProfessional Card, and the Discover Card. That's $200 in bonus cash and another $150 in gift cards which can be spent or sold for ~90% of their value. But what is more valuable is the BT offers which are already being taken advantage of. The SonyCard's credit limit was raised by bringing over the credit limits from two of my other Chase Cards for a total of $40,000. This amount, which requires 2% to be paid back each month, will generate over $150 in interest income each month over the next year (assuming 5%). The CitiProfessional Card just today provided me with $27,000 into my bank account with no fee. That's another $100 each month. Hopefully the others come through; I'll post when I know.

So I look at the total take so far as almost $3500 by the end of 2008. Not bad for using something that we all have access to - your credit.

Starting to save for the summer too!

Being teachers, summers are outstanding. The problem with all that freedom, however, is that we become poor pretty quickly. I usually teach summer school, but the amount I receive is barely more than two regular paychecks and it never seems to be enough. Over the last few years, we begin saving for the summer with our tax refund and try to add to it over the next several months.

This year I am trying to get a head start on preparing for the summer since I also have this additional debt to pay off, and I don't want to add to it in late August when we are looking around the house thinking what we could sell. I have set a goal of $7,000, which seems like a lot considering that it's not all that far off and we have additional debt goals to worry about.

I've mentioned earlier, though, that we get back a significant refund from the government, and a pretty big chunk will go to Summer Savings, with a little left over for our debt and investments. Also, I receive a stipend of about $900 right at the end of the school year for completing some professional development classes throughout the year and the wife gets around the same amount for opting out of her health care, and those checks go right into our savings.

As an added bonus this year, we've just found out, the government is contemplating jump-starting the economy with tax rebates around June or July, with individuals receiving along the lines of $500-$800, married couples twice as much, and families with kids some additional money. If this passes (and it looks like its getting bipartisan support), it would come at the perfect time as we start our summer.

Citi CashReturns Card

I may or may not have mentioned it before, but I'm a big fan of the credit card. I know numerous studies have been done that people tend to spend more with plastic than with cash because it's so easy, and I agree, it certainly is. But I'd like to think that if I'm buying something, it's because I needed to or want to, and not because it's easy to do with a credit card.

One thing cash can't give me, however, is an automatic rebate every time I use it. Over the past 5-10 years credit cards have been shelling out gifts, perks, and cash to its customers, and the more you use their product, the more they give you. Cash Back credit cards are nothing new, but they have been getting more stingy. The days of 5% rebate are dwindling, so much so that it's difficult sometimes to get 5% even on Everyday Purchases like shopping and gas.

Back in August or September, Citi came out with a new product - Citi CashReturns card. In a nutshell, it offers 5% cash back on everything for 3 months from account opening. It kind of sucks that by the time they send it to you, 10 days have already passed from what they consider "account opening". Anyway, this very generous rebate gets tallied up when the statement generates, and if you have accumulated at least $50, they send the check to you automatically. Pretty nice feature, although I wouldn't mind still having the ability to decide for myself when I want the check mailed. One huge additional feature, though, is that they don't place a cap on how much you can earn in rebates once the account is opened. Previously, $300 has been the standard cap. Checking out Fatwallet.com and this credit card's thread there, you can read about people earning thousands of dollars in rebates because they are paying for their tuition, cars, taxes - all with this card. The card reverts back to 1% on all purchases after 3 months.

I am on my second card - I opened it a week or two before the other one's 3 month window was about to close, and I'm considering trying for a third in my wife's name. Total amount of rebates over the last 5 months - $850, averaging out to $170 per month. Not bad for spending money I'd like to think I would have been spending anyway...

Beginning to payoff debt!

This morning I made my first debt transfer - $300 into my EmigrantDirect Savings Account. $200 came from a bonus I mentioned in an earlier post from a Chase Business Savings Account. I transferred the $200 immediately to my local checking account and then to Emigrant. Why am I putting $300 into Emigrant instead of paying the debt directly?

Since I have the roof and other bills sitting in a 0% credit card for the next 12 months, I figured why make unnecessary payments early? Instead, my Emigrant account will remain untouched throughout the year, receiving transfers from me hopefully several times a month, and accumulate interest as well (right now 4.65%).

The other $100 was from Friday's payday. A little more cash should be freed up over the next month since our daycare provider is ill and we've had family members watching the kids (bonus - free daycare!) Also, February is a three paycheck month for us - usually the bulk of one payday goes to the mortgage, the bulk of the other goes to our Citi CashReturns Card (more on this later). With the extra payday in February, it gives us an opportunity to catch up on some other expenses or make a purchase we have been putting off. I think this year, most of that third payday will go to our debt, with a little set aside for our Summer Savings Account.

So $300 paid, much more to go.

Chase been very, very good to me...

Our mortgage is with Chase, so with the amount I have been and will continue paying them in interest each month, there is a certain joy I feel when I can take money back from them. Last year, with the credit card account opening bonuses, rebates, and bank promotions I took advantage of, I estimate a total 2007 haul of $1,200. That number doesn't include the money I made depositing their 0% balance transfer offers in my high interest savings accounts...

Earlier this year, I opened up a business checking account to utilize a free $250 offer. The fact I don't own a business is irrelevant, and they don't verify it anyway. While I was there, I happened to open a business savings as well, gaining an additional $25 bonus. About 3 months after zeroing out the accounts when the bonuses posted a couple days later, I received another offer in the mail. This one was for a $200 bonus if I deposited $50,000 into the business savings account. I normally don't have that much cash sitting around, but Chase just happened to give my wife and I about $60K as part of an AOR earlier this year. The $200 posted today and I feel pretty good about the 20 minutes total it took me to do it.

The way I see it, Chase loaned me $60K at 0% for a year which has been sitting in accounts earning 5-6% interest. Also with this money I was able to open up accounts at Chase, which then paid me almost $500 in bonuses for doing so. In addition, I have taken advantage of their very generous $100 account opening bonuses for regular checking accounts, and more recently, a $125 bonus which hasn't yet posted.

Thank you, Chase.

Gift of Stock at Sharebuilder

My wife and I have been blacklisted at Sharebuilder for a couple years now, having taken advantage of multiple $40 and $50 bonuses (probably 5 or 6 each). Neither of us can open up new accounts, even without opening incentives.

Sharebuilder is an inexpensive stock purchasing site ($4/trade) which offers promotions ranging from $25-50 throughout the year. Many organizations (including my bank here in upstate NY) affiliate themselves with Sharebuilder, and give incentives for signing up and placing a trade. Bonuses appear within a month of your first stock purchase. It's so easy to do transfer $5 from my checking and purchase $1 worth of Google ($4 trade fee), that I guess I did too many.

Well, lately I've been thinking about taking some of my children's birthday and gift money and buying stock in Citigroup, which recently dropped below $30/share. They combined have $4000 sitting in separate accounts at Ing, where rates keep dropping. Citigroup pays a dividend that is higher than 7%, so even if the stock doesn't go back up, they should accumulate a modest chunk of shares over the next few years.

Sharebuilder allowed my wife and I to open linked accounts with each of our children, so they both get a $50 boost when purchasing their shares. The Gift of Stock for Sharebuilder has the promotion code CHILDGIFT for $50 after your first trade, and the account must be opened by January 15. Give it a try - you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make $50 on this.

Hand Caught in the Cookie Jar

As mentioned earlier in the year, I'm a fan of App-O-Ramas (AORs) for the income they generate using other people's money. However, you must have self-control, and this year I had to dip into this money. The money the credit cards give you is at 0%, which means no interest accrues while it's in your possession, as long as you make the minimum payments every month. That's why it's not a good idea to lock up this money in CDs or any other investment that isn't quite as liquid as cash savings.

Using just a rough estimate, since I won't know exactly how much interest income I generated with my AOR until the banks start sending their tax forms, I don't think $9,000 is too much of a stretch. That's serious cash, at least for my family. I'll be hit with a pretty fair size tax bill on this money, too.

Back on point, however. I stated I used some AOR money to fully fund my Roth for '06 in the Spring. That wasn't a smart move, and I won't repeat it for '07. But besides the Roth, with two kids in daycare and the stretch of the summer months when there aren't two paychecks, I had to use this 0% money to pay normal bills. I have $27,750 at 0% on two credit cards until they're paid off, and I am paying the minimum 1.5% on that every month. My balances on these cards got so high because our two car loans are on this account (~$8,000 left), many house repairs in the last two years, funding part of a Roth for '06, and just needing extra cash to make ends meet.

So, right now we owe $27,750 in 0% credit card debt. We owe another $13,000 for the roof and other bills that is also sitting at 0%, but has to be paid off by January '09.

The plan of attack is obvious. Stop reaching into the 0% money to pay bills. Keep paying the minimum on the 0% for Life cards. Pay every extra dollar to getting the $13K down by the end of the year. To help myself keep track, I will mark my progress to the right, and update it every month. Hopefully, I can get this debt down to 30K by the end of the year.

Children are worth it - almost all the time

With my wife going back to work in early February after our second child, a rather large expense began. We were paying $55 / month for one child 3 times a week, which worked out to $660 for a full month. The nice thing about teaching, though, is that there are frequent days off, and rarely did we have to pay the full amount each time.

Anyway, with two kids, the price jumped to $80/day, still three days a week. I try to spread out my sick and personal days so I can stay home as much as possible, but it doesn't work out to too many days. There has been better news since September, though. The money we were paying was considered "under the table", but now our daycare provider (our friend) is willing to claim the money as income so we can take the deduction on our taxes. Since September, that's $3500. That's about $800 added to our refund for next year - nice!

On a less financially related note, we've been very happy to have our girls go to a private home instead of daycare. Our children have received very close attention, we're sure, and the extra expense has been worth it. When we don't send them (day off, vacation, summer), we don't get charged. Finally, our friend who is watching them now has two daughters the same age, so basically they have a playmate all day and enjoy going. Good situation, all around, except I wish it was cheaper.

Frickin' Roof

It's been a couple years of gazing out my daughter's window at the lush green vegetation below, and I knew I had to do something. You see, it was my roof that was providing a home to many pockets of moss and other things living. Two years ago, my father-in-law and I spent some quality time up on the worst part of the roof doing some weeding and sweeping. The time had come. Since I bought this house from my parents, I knew that the roof was 30 years old, and had several layers underneath it. However, I would soon find out there was more I didn't know...

The process began with getting several quotes from recommended roofers in the area and also a quote from Home Depot. Their reactions said it all - the rep from Home Depot actually looked like a doctor telling me I had 6 months to live, and the guy who came recommended, his eyes gleamed with a fever telling me all about how he would personally enjoy roofing my house because it had "character". The damage - $23,000 from Home Depot and $18,500 from the local guy. I had secretly budgeted myself for $8000-10,000K for this job, and since I had over $1500 in Home Depot gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, wanted to give the job to them. But $23,000! I found other uses for the cards, like ebaying for cash!

Needless to say I went in another direction. A third guy came out, recommended by my uncle (a lawyer), and quoted $10,000. After various questions and "give me a day to think about it", I had to accept. What was making everything so damn expensive was that besides being a total tear-off (including 6-7 layers in the ecosystem section), I needed an entire layer of plywood to be put down since there wasn't any up there! The house had the original cedar shakes, covered with layers of shingle. Thanks mom and dad!

Ten grand later (in cash), I am the proud owner of a new roof and a warmer house. And since I purchased this house over 5 years ago, the only thing we haven't replaced is the upstairs toilet seat. And come to think of it, maybe we should.