$200 Free with AeroMexico Signature Visa Credit Card from US Bank

US Bank in conjunction with AeroMexico Mexican Airline is offering a Visa Signature credit card that has a special 20,000 bonus plus a complimentary airline ticket. The nice thing about this mileage bonus is that you can use it to buy international air tickets to South America.  The 20,000 bonus miles are enough for a free round-trip ticket within Mexico

The details of this card are:
1. 20,000 Bonus miles after first purchase (you will have to wait 6-8 weeks for the miles to appear on your account).
2. Complimentary airline ticket.
3. Earn double miles on AeroMexico flight.
4. 15% discount on AeroMexico airfare.
5. The annual fee for this card is $80, but this fee is waived for the first year.
6. This is a charge card that does not have a preset spending limit.
7. Complimentary Salon Premier Lounge Access (for one day).

The reward chart is shown below:

AEROMEXICO REWARD TRAVEL REDEMPTION CHART
	Premier Class		Economy Class
Destination	Round Trip	One Way	Round Trip	One Way
USA/Mexico	60,000	30,000	30,000	15,000
USA/Lima	70,000	35,000	35,000	17,500
USA/Sao Paulo	90,000	45,000	45,000	22,500
USA/Santiago de Chile	90,000	45,000	45,000	22,500
USA/Europe	80,000	40,000	50,000	25,000
USA/Tokyo	90,000	45,000	60,000	30,000
USA/Buenos Aires	90,000	45,000	45,000	22,500
USA/Managua-San Pedro Sula-Guatemala	70,000	35,000	35,000	17,500
Within Mexico	40,000	20,000	20,000	10,000
Mexico/Lima	60,000	30,000	30,000	15,000
Mexico/Sao Paulo	80,000	40,000	40,000	20,000
Mexico/Santiago de Chile	80,000	40,000	40,000	20,000
Mexico/Europe	80,000	40,000	50,000	25,000
Mexico/Tokyo	90,000	45,000	60,000	30,000
Mexico/Buenos Aires	80,000	40,000	40,000	20,000
Mexico/Managua-San Pedro Sula-Guatemala	60,000	30,000	30,000	15,000

Apply for this card by clicking this link.

Our master list of all credit card bonus deals is available by clicking this link

$109 Free with Capital One Venture Card Bonus Deal

CapitalOne Bank has released a new promotional offer with their “Visa Venture” credit card. The promotion states that the cardholder will receive 10,000 bonus miles after spending $1000 in the first 3 months of opening the account.

The details for this card are:

1.       Only available to people with excellent credit (FICO score should be above 700 to qualify).

2.       The annual fee for this card is $59, but this fee is waived for the first year.

3.       The 10,000 bonus miles along with the regular 1,000 miles will be enough to earn a free hotel stay worth $107.

4.       You can apply for this offer by clicking this link.

More deals from CapitalOne bank can be found by clicking this link.

For a complete list of all the credit card offers totaling over $1500: click here.

$25 Free with American Express Pass Card Bonus Deal

 The American Express Pass Card is one of the cool looking prepaid cards to have. It can be used with any merchant that accepts American Express cards. This card was introduced especially for college bound students. American Express is heavily promoting this card by providing a free $25 bonus when you reload this card before March 31 2011. This bonus offer is only available when you enter promotion “PASSBONUS” during the signup process.

The details of this card are:

1.       $25 bonus will be available after reloading the card at least once before March 31^st, 2011.

2.       The front face of this card is fully customizable with any image of your choice.

3.       The card comes with built in roadside assistance.

4.       The parent and child can both view the transaction details and balance online.

5.       ATM withdrawal fee is $1.50 per ATM transaction.

6.       It does have a monthly membership fee of $3.95.

The monthly fees are waived until October 01^st, 2011.

More deals from American Express credit cards can be found by clicking this link.

For a complete list of all the credit card offers totaling over $1500: click here.

$500 for HSBC Premier Relationship Account

This is a hot offer from HSBC bank that will be expiring on January 18^th 2011, so act fast if you want the $500 gift card  from Travelocity or Dell. The terms of this offer are as follows

1.     Open a new Premier relationship account with HSBC and deposit a minimum of $50,000 of new funds within 120 days of account opening.

2.     Must maintain a combined balance of $100,000 in deposits and investments to avoid a monthly maintenance fee of $50.

3.     Assets from your business account can be pooled together to meet the minimum balance requirements.

4.     You have to visit one of the following branches in New York, Metro DC, New Jersey, Northern California, Southern California or Washington.

HSBC Bank USA is a member FDIC bank, and its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol of HBC. More details on this deal can be found here.

American Express (AXP) Possible Takeover?

$225 Checking Account Bonus frm M&T Bank

M&T Bank is offering $225 bonus for opening various types of checking accounts and setting up direct deposit and opening a credit card. The table below shows the maximum bonus that can be earned for each type of checking account.

M&T Bank originally started as Manufacturers and Traders Bank in Buffalo, New York. It became a bank holding company in 1969 called First Empire State Corporation. It later changed it's name to M&T Bank Corporation. This bank is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MTB. The bank is aggressively trying to pursue new customers and expand it's asset base. M & T is a financially sound bank which is a member of FDIC. It recently accquired the assets of " K Bank" when FDIC shut it down. The details of this transaction are published on FDIC's website.
The new promotional offer is available on a different website http://www.builtforfamilies.com/.
Even though the bank is primarily located in the New York area, you can still open the checking accounts online by going to their promotional website located over here.

Checking Account Type	Fee / Month	Min. Bal. w/o Fee	Bonus	Total Bonus $
Power Checking	$24.00	$50,000	$150 when you initiate direct deposit $25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$225
M&T Select® Checking	$14.00	$5,000	$100 when you initiate direct deposit $25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$175
Totally Free Checking	$0.00	$0	$25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$75
My Choice Checking	$6.95	$500	$25 when you initiate direct deposit $25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$100
M&T Classic Checking w/ Interest	$4.95	$1,500	$25 when you initiate direct deposit $25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$100
@College Checking	$0.00	$0	$25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$75
Basic Banking	$3.00	NA	$25  when you get a M&T Visa® Credit Card $25 gift card for establishing overdraft protection $25 gift card making 3 online Bill Payments	$75

For a complete list of all the credit card bonuses totalling over $1,500; click here.

For all credit card offers from M&T Bank; click here.

$700 for American Express Platinum Card

The American Express Platinum card is a premium card offered by American Express for their high end clientele. The major attractions of this card are the premium rewards associated with frequent travel, which have been listed below. The card does have a high annual fee of $450 which is subsidized by a very generous 50,000 Membership Rewards bonus points and up to $200 worth of reimbursed airline fees.

The major features of this card are:

1.       50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 in 3 months, these points can be redeemed for two roundtrip tickets or a $500 retail gift card for merchants like GAP, Macys, HomeDepot, Olive Garden.

2.       $200 airline fee credit, this credit can be claimed for incidental air travel fees

3.       The Annual membership fee for this card is $450

4.       Use Bonus ID 4880 to claim this offer

This offer is published on the American Express website.

For a complete list of all the credit card bonuses totalling over $1,500, click here.

For all credit card offers from American Express, click here.

$50 from ING Direct for ShareBuilder brokerage account

ING Direct is offering a $50 bonus for opening a brokerage account with ShareBuilder, the promotional offer is only available when you use the code “50WS10” during the signup. The good thing about this promo code is that this is valid on all types of account (regular investment account, retirement accounts and ESA college savings account). I have used ShareBuilder for trading stocks and found that they provide a very simplistic user interface.

Overall, I think that this is an above average deal that warrants 3 stars.

More details on this deal are available on ShareBuilder’s website.

$200 for Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card

Dear Friends,


I would like to inform you of a cool deal from PenFed (Pentagon Federal Credit Union). It is the "PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Card" by American Express. The neat thing about this card is that it has a fantastic offer of 20,000 bonus points after you spend $650 on that card. The 20,000 points can be redeemed for a $200 gift card at merchants like AVIS, Budget, SeaWorld, Blockbuster, AMC Theaters, Marriot, Hyatt, and restaurants like Chillis, Romano, Macaroni On the Grill, Panera Bread, and other home furnishing retailers like Bath and Body Works, Borders, Service Master, Talbots.
If you are interested, you could also redeem these points for a round trip ticket in continental USA.


The complete list of dining rewards is here. 


The complete list of services rewards are here.


The complete list of travel and entertainment rewards is here.


The highlights of this card are:

1. No annual fee.
2. 20,000 bonus points (good for $200 retail gift card or a free roundtrip ticket in continental USA).
3. 10% off lowest published fares.
4. Car rental savings included in the card.
5. You have to spend $650 within 3 months of activating the card.

Savings tip # 3: Eat home cooked food and 4 ways to avoid the restaurant

We all know that eating outside is a very costly affair, yet we continue to eat at restaurants week after week. In this article I have documented some of the reasons why my family has ended up eating out

1. When we come back from work, we are very tired and so we end up going out to eat.
Solution: Always have a healthy snack ready for you to eat, prepare a cup of tea or coffee and relax with a glass of wine for a few minutes before starting to cook dinner.

2. We do not know what to cook, so even when the fridge is full of produce we end up eating out at restaurants
Solution: Always prepare a weekly menu over the weekend, make sure to purchase all the items needed to prepare your dish. When you have your menu and ingredients at hand it is easy to put something together.

3. We are ready to cook but just do not have the recipe.
Solution: Maintain a folder of all your tried and tested recipes, and keep the book in a specially designated place in the kitchen. By having your recipes readily available you will not have to browse the Internet every time you have to cook something.

4. We are in a hurry to leave for work, and forget to bag the lunch.
Solution: Bag your lunch the night before.

Savings tip #2: never pay more than 50% at mall

I am just like ever other Joe (six pack), I love to shop at the mall for everyone in my family, everyone At home wears name brand clothes like GAP, banana republic, INC, American eagle outfitters, the limited, express, gymboree. I love the mall but I love saving even more, in the last ten years we have never ever paid more than 50% at any one of the above stores. We do this my using the following techniques
1. Always buy clothes when they are on sale
2. Use the store specific credit card, they typically have added discounts
3. After you purchase something from the mall, just check back again after a week or so, if the price has fallen further then do a price adjustment. Most of the mall stores just need the sales receipt for doing a price adjustment, so always carry your receipt with you.
4. Some stores like GAP have additional discounts in the middle of the week
5. Limited stores give card holders additional discounts on your birthday
6. Do not be shy about asking the sales clerk if they have any coupons
7. Go to the retailers website and sign up for their coupons

If you do all the steps listed above, I assure you that you will save at least 50%-60% on your next mall purchase.

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Leave me.a comment if you found this article useful
Happy mall shopping. Savalistically

Savings tip # 1: make a wish list and start saving for it

Create a list of things that you wish to purchase for yourself or your family members, and start accumulating money to meet this wish list. When you have accumulated enough money to buy the items in cash, think again, ask yourself if you still need the item. You may discover that you no longer need it after all.

Save the money you did not spend, and very soon you will start getting addicted to savings! Yes, it is indeed a good addiction to have.

Let me know if this savings tip was helpful.

$500 Apple Gift Card From E*Trade

This is a nice deal for someone who has over $150,000 of investable assets. If you transfer your brokerage assets over to ETrade, you will receive a $500 Apple gift card. I think that this is a super-cool deal, but I may be biased because I love Apple products.

The conditions for this deal are as follows:

1.     Open new E*Trade brokerage account (must be a non-IRA, non-retirement, us-resident only).

2.     Must purchase a new 2 year wireless plan.

3.     Deposit more than $150,000 into the account in order to receive a $500 Apple gift card.

4.     Deposit between $75,000 and $149,999 into the account in order to receive a $200 Apple gift card.

5.     Trade free for the first 60 days of opening the account. This could save an active trader about $100 to $200.

6.     Trading costs after the first 60 days will be the regular price of $7.99.

The details for this offer are published on E*Trade's website.

If you want to take a list of my top 10 brokerage firms by pricing, then please checkout this article.

$25 Huntington Credit Card

Huntington bank is offering new card members $25 statement credit after making a qualifying purchase on the card, the nice this about this card is that it can serve as an overdraft protection for the Huntington checking account. Some of the benefits of this card are

1.       0% APR on purchases for the first 7 statements

2.       0% APR on balance transfers for first 7 statements, please note that the balance xfer does have a 4% transaction fee (minimum fee of $10) applies

3.       No annual fee for this card :)

4.       Overall – this is not a bad deal for a no-annual fee card tied to your checking account

You can apply for this card by clicking this link.

10K Points from American Express ZYNC

This is a smart looking card, and it definetly has a chic and young look and feel to it. American express is currently having a promotional offer where you can get 10,000 membership rewards bonus points. 10K points can typically be redeemed for a $100 retail store gift card for merchants like (GAP, Macys, HomeDepot, Pottery Barn, Old Navy, Banana Republic, etc.) 

Some key features of this card are:

• 10,000 membership rewards after first purchase.
• Card should be paid in full to avoid interest.
• This card does have an annual fee of $25, so if you were to deduct the annual membership fee from this card then you would still get a $75 gift card. Overall, I would recommend this card to someone who would like to show off a nice looking card.

The rewards website can be found over here

8 Tips to Reduce Home Heating Bills This Winter

In winter we often get slammed with a high heating bill in the $100 to $300 range, in our house we use a few simple strategies to minimize the winter heating bill shock, these strategies are listed below.
1. Use a Programmable Thermostat – we use the programmable thermostat to reduce the indoor temperature to about 55° F, and program it for 64° F when we are supposed to be back home, buy using the programmable thermostat we are not simply heating the home when there is nobody inside. The picture of the thermostat that is installed in my home is show below.

2. NEVER use Electric Room Heaters – the typical electric room heater has a high resistance conducting coil that heats up when electricity passes through the coil, this heat around this coil is then bowed by a fan that sits behind the coil, eventually heating up a small space. This all seems like a very nice idea, the only downside is that the electricity required for heating room will burn a bigger hole than using natural gas for heating the house. I have tried using electric space heaters and the electric bill was not at all a nice sight.
3. Use Sweaters Indoors – this seems like a no-brainer, but I have been to people’s homes and find them dressed in summer clothing during the peak winter season. By using sweaters indoors you can reduce the indoor temperature and still remain as warm as before
4. Use Socks to keep feet warm – typically hot air rises to the upper levels in a room and cold air (being more heavier) falls to the bottom of the room, thus your feet will tend to feel colder even though your upper body feels warm. By wearing socks you can overcome cold airy feeling near you feet.
5. Check your door for insulation – the builder forgot to add insulation around the foot of the door, and I could feel the cool air coming inside. The best way to insulate you door is to buy a door insulator from Walmart, costs approximately $10.
6. Reduce the heat at night to 60° F – use a warm blanket to reduce the nighttime temperature to 60° F, there is no use heating up the entire space while you are in bed, instead use a warm blanket( or two blankets) to stay warm at night.
7. May use radiant heat dishes to heat a small space because the dish uses radiation for heating objects and does not have any electric coil, the one that I have tested and found to be quite decent is available in Costco and is called Presto HeatDish Parabolic Heater. I do not believe that this is an absolute ncecessity and so kept this right at the bottom of the list

Hope you find these tips useful. Stay warm :)