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Low and 0% Interest Credit Cards (No and Low Balance Transfer Fee Credit Cards)


Low and 0% Interest Credit Cards (No and Low Balance Transfer Fee Credit Cards)

Published 11/5/07  (Modified 12/2/13)

Low and 0% Interest Credit Cards (No and Low Balance Transfer Fee Credit Cards) By MoneyBlueBook

Zero percent and low intro APR balance transfer cards are a particular selection of credit cards that I've had a lot of exposure and experience with. I've used them for everything from temporary financial emergencies to balance transfer arbitrage purposes. During times when I needed a temporary source of cash, I've applied for 12 month 0% introductory APR credit card offers and requested balance transfer checks. For the duration of the promotional period I would have the needed money to tie me over. Of course I always paid the balance back in full after the introductory period ended.

Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm looking to get back to making some extra money by doing App-O-Rama balance transfers. The process works by submitting new card applications from a select list of balance transfer cards that offer introductory 0% APR. The transferred balance is then deposited into a high yield savings account to earn free interest for the duration of the balance transfer period. When it's over, you pull the money out, repay the credit card and pocket the interest profit. The amount of arbitrage income you can earn depends on how many credit cards you apply for, the total credit limit, the duration of the no interest promotional period, and whether there are any one time balance transfer fees. People looking to make money from balance transfers usually apply for a high number of 0% offers at one time

 

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The Best Restaurant Credit Cards Offering Cash Back and Rewards

Published 11/4/07  (Modified 3/11/14)

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of The Best Restaurant Credit Card Offers For Eating And Dining Out

I wish I could be like a green garden plant and photosynthesize my food instead of having to buy it. I spend so much money eating out it's sad. I eat lunch at work and usually spend up to $8 for a sandwich. Dinner usually involves whatever I pick up on the way home and it's frequently $10 or more. Food in downtown Washington D.C. where I work can definitely get very expensive.

Luckily there are certain credit cards I can use to soften the financial blow by getting cash back or reward points for eating out. Most reward cards only give a measly 1% cash back, and many of the ones that offer a higher percentage back only offer it for purchases at fast food/takeout places. But there are a select few reward cards that offer a very impressive 3%-5% back for all restaurants, including fast food and even coffee shops! If you're a student who eats out often, a young professional who dines out most of the time, or even a family minded foodie who enjoys fancy restaurants, you might benefit from having a utility credit card in your pocket that will allow you to earn rebate rewards and cash back discounts for such meal expenses.

Here is one of the more popular cashback rewards credit cards for eating and dining out:

TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express - This card is brought to you by Costco and is meant for Costco warehouse club members. This card offers...

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Freebies - 5

Published 11/3/07  (Modified 1/3/12)

By MoneyBlueBook

I love freebies! But then you already knew that right? Read the full article »

Is There Anything Wrong With Taking Full Advantage of a Generous Return Policy?

Published 11/2/07  (Modified 3/9/11)

By MoneyBlueBook

Costco used to have the most generous return policy I've ever seen in the history of shopping. In early 2007 they finally changed it, but previously, Costco's policy permitted anyone to return anything with or without receipt at any time, so long as you remained a Costco member. There was no product limitation, no time restriction, and no restocking fees. It was essentially a lifetime warranty on steroids. :)

Obviously this policy was ripe for abuse. I knew people who bought expensive CRT television sets from Costco, only to bring it back several years later to return it for store credit. Even without the receipt, they could still exchange it for a brand new flat screen model many years after buying the first one. Although legitimate, some returns were pretty outrageous and I'm surprised Costco let it go on for so long.

I'm a Frequent Returner

I never took full advantage of Costco's return policy to such an extreme extent but I must admit that I used to be and still am a compulsive and frequent returner. In the past I would frequently buy a whole assortment of items with the intention of only keeping less than half of what I bought. My plan was to try them all out for a while and eventually return the ones I didn't want. It didn't matter if I had already thrown the tags away or worn the items for a while, the stores always took the items back and refunded my money. I still take gratuitous

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Basic Steps To Find the Best Prices When Shopping Online

Published 10/31/07  (Modified 11/24/13)

By MoneyBlueBook

I do a lot of online shopping shopping. In fact, I'm looking to buy a cheap laptop soon and will absolutely buy it online. Other than groceries or items I need right away, I try to plan ahead and purchase everything through the internet where I can often obtain the best deals.

Here are the basic steps I take when I am looking to buy something online at the best price possible:

1) Use Froogle

My first stop is to compare prices using Google's Product Search engine. The program used to be called Froogle but Google changed the name a few months ago. Personally, I liked the old name better and still refer to it as Froogle. Not a whole lot of people use it, but I use it often.

Froogle works the same as your usual Google search engine except it compares prices based on your keyword search. It scours the web for store and auction prices and surprisingly yields a decent size list of results. It gives you an idea of the range of prices online retailers are charging.

2) Use eBay

After I have a general idea of the range of market prices, I visit eBay to run keyword searches of the item I want to buy. As I mentioned in an earlier eBay related post, it is always best to run several searches using different combinations of keywords to maximize your chances.

After factoring in the cost of shipping I compare the eBay total selling prices with the Froogle prices including shipping to

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How To Avoid Speed Traps, And Not Get Pulled Over For Speeding

Published 10/30/07  (Modified 3/9/11)

By MoneyBlueBook

Over the years I've spent way too much money paying speeding tickets and appearing in traffic court to contest routine moving violations. Despite my recent out of state $1,000 speeding ticket, my in-state traffic record continues to indicate zero points and ironically, my auto insurance premium even recently went down. Due to the nonuniform enforcement of out of state traffic violations, I've been lucky so far in terms of my insurance premium not going up, but eventually my luck might run out. As someone who preaches the wisdom of frugality, I have to include speeding tickets and moving violation penalties such as reckless driving, improper lane changes, and running red lights, as examples of frivolous and terribly unnecessary expenses that ought to be prevented.

Speeding tickets are a complete waste of your hard earned money. The best way to avoid having to pay the high price of an expensive speeding ticket is to avoid getting a speeding ticket to begin with. Obviously, the no-brainer way to avoid getting one is to simply not speed. But if you're like the majority of people who safely travel above the limit on occasion, here are strategies I've learned to adopt that help to minimize the chances of being pulled over by the police for speeding or getting nailed at a speed trap.

Tips On How To Avoid Getting Busted By Traps and Cops

1) Don't Speed - This one is obvious. If you don't speed, you have nothing to fear. Unless you are a baby boomer over the age

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