I was recently contracted to provide a review to the owner(s) of Bankaholic, another site in a long line of blogs that seek to bring you the latest in bank rates and promotions. I’ll share my review of this site because a lot of the readers are also personal finance bloggers who might be able to make use of the critiques I provide about this site. If you have a moment and want to go check out the site and share your own thoughts, I’m certain that the owner(s) would be interested in hearing what folks say.

The two claims to fame that Bankaholic has are these two tools, one to track high interest savings accounts and one to track the best CD rates, both of which are designed pretty well. The filters you can use update the list automatically which is a plus for usability, making the interface better than what you can find almost anywhere else. The only thing that concerns me is how fresh this data might be, which I’ll get into later.

Content Is King, Bankaholic Needs More
As I write this, it’s May 23rd but the first article listed is dated May 16th, which is one week old. If you look at my favorite and probably many people’s favorite bank rate site, Bankdeals, it’s had close to thirty posts since May 16th. Now, if you’re going to be bringing the latest and greatest in bank rates, promotions, etc. then you better update more often… unless Bankdeals simply has set the bar too high to meet. I mean thirty posts since May 16th is a pretty impressive post rate but you’ll have to do better than once a week to compete. Bankaholic had two posts on May 16th, then one post about its tool on May 8th, and sporadic posting beforehand at about the same rate.

If you consider the rate of posting at about one every few days, it makes me wonder how fresh the data is behind the two tools they offer. If you look at the money market rates of Bankdeals versus those of Bankaholic, you’ll find that the Bankdeals list is fuller. For example, on the latest rate update (accessible on the sidebar of Bankdeals), the second one listed is for Geauga Savings Bank at 5.45%; this one doesn’t appear on the Bankaholic list. Its number two is Countrywide Bank at 5.40%. Now, does it matter that it doesn’t have a that bank? You’ll have to decide. (Incidentally, Bankdeals doesn’t have Countrywide listed)

Except for the freshness issue, the site looks well designed and clean, with a navigation that makes sense and is easy to use. If I were to make some changes, I’d probably do away with all the lines that compartmentalize all the content and go with a more free flowing template.

Apparently this little “trick” has been known by some in smaller circles for quite a long time, but apparently if you search for number ranges in Google, you’re bound to find some valid credit card numbers. While it’s very much illegal to use someone else’s number to buy stuff, and I hope you burn if you do commit credit card fraud; this is something that they, as in the credit card companies, should fix. Google only finds stuff that’s freely available, so that means those credit card numbers are freely available. No need to hack a third party processors system or steal a laptop left unattended, just Google your way to a free flat screen plasma TV.

…credit card companies have apparently known about this technique for at least three years, probably longer, and presumably have hoped it would continue being swept under the rug

Un-freaking-believable. THREE YEARS!?!?!? Google has error’d out some of the queries but I’m sure something is bound to slip through… those credit card fraudsters are trickly like that.

Tip of the hat to Consumerist for snagging this one off Slashdot.

This is part of my series of reading about investing topics like technical indicators. I don’t really know what I’m talking about and all of it is based on information I read online, please feel free to correct me, my interpretations, whatever - door’s wide open.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is basically a mathematical calculation meant to try to figure out whether a particular security is overbought or oversold. It does this by first taking the average of the price increases of a security on the days it’s up and dividing it by the average of the price decreases of a security on the days it’s down, then it does some simple math to come up with an RSI value using the following equation:

Now, how do you use this? When the RSI reaches around 70, it means that the security might be overvalued since it’s been going up a whole heck of a lot and may experience a drop of some kind, either a pull back or some profit taking. When the RSI reaches around 30, that’s an indicator that it perhaps has been oversold and is likely to rebound off its latest woes.

RSI indicators don’t work well on their own because big jumps or big dips will mess with the score, since it’ll throw the whole average off (as you would expect if you take an average). Experts recommend using this along with other indicators to get a clearer picture.

There you go, yet another crazy mumbo jumbo investing technical term demystified.

Money magazine recently did a recap of the best reward credit cards out there and they were surprisingly on the money with a lot of their picks. Personally, I roll with the Discover Open Road card for gas purchases and the Citi mtvU card for food, and then my American Express True Earnings card for practically everything else.

For Big Spenders: Blue Cash from American Express
The only knock against the Blue Cash is the tiered rewards system, something a lot of other cards have abandoned, but when you exceed the $6500 a year level, you can get 5% cash back on the coveted everyday purchase category of supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations and 1.5% everywhere else with no annual rebate cap. With how few 5% cash back cards there are for that category, if you are willing to use this card for a lot of things to get to that $6500 level, the 5% will reap rewards that very few other cards can meet.

Balance Carriers: Discover More
If you are carrying a balance, I wouldn’t recommend the Discover More card even though it offers the 12 month 0% balance transfer because they now carry a fee, I’d instead go with any other Citi card because they don’t have a transfer fee. There are plenty of no fee or zero fee balance transfers out there that can get you the same offer and I’ve compiled a list of 0% balance transfer credit cards here. The card itself is useful for its cash back potential because the Get More program rotates what you can get 5% cash back on. For this quarter through June, you get 5% at Home and Apparel shops like Lowe’s, Linens ‘n Things, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. It’s a nice utility card to have but it’s sometimes a pain to remember where you get the bonus at.

Heavy Drivers: Citi Driver’s Edge Platinum Select MasterCard, Discover Open Road
The really cool thing about the Citi Driver’s Edge Platinum Select is that for every hundred miles you drive, you basically get $1 in cash back. Another huge plus is 6% cash back on everyday purchases (gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores) but unfortunately that lasts only 12 months, then it falls to 3%, and is capped at $1,000 a year (which is higher than most caps). I think the whole free money for driving aspect is clever and if you consider the average annual mileage of 12k - 15k, that $120 - $150 isn’t chump change.
Money also recommended the Discover Open Road card, it used to be their Gas card, but the only advantage it has over the Driver’s Edge is the 5% cashback that lasts “forever,” instead of for only 12 months. The Open Road card doesn’t come with the especially lucrative cash back for driving bonus so I think it has to take a back seat to the Driver’s Edge.

Heavy Flyers: Discover Open Road, Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards
I’m always ambivalent to cards that offer miles because I live so close to a Southwest hub and am able to get really good prices on flights to almost anywhere I want to go, so I’m a little inexperienced with what programs are good and what programs are not so I’ll just defer to Money’s judgment.

Skinflints: Chase Freedom Visa Card
Ha, I had no idea what skinflint meant until today but it means someone who is so cheap and miserly that he or she would “skin a flint” to save it. Anyway, if you don’t spend at all and want some flexibility, I suppose the Chase Freedom card is what you’ll want. Just recently they had a promotion where they gave new applicants $250 statement credits after their first purchase and that offer has been coming on and off at seemingly random. Outside of that promotion, the card is decent, giving you 3% for everyday purchases. Check out my review of the Chase Freedom card for more.

Source: CNN Money

One day I was going to the Bank of America ATM after hours to make a deposit when I pulled out my debit card to swipe it at the door. It made the familiar clicking sound, I went in and stuck my card into the ATM. When I entered my PIN, the machine told me it was wrong and spit my card back out. That’s when I realized I had put my Citi mtvU card, which, when you only view the bottom quarter centimeter of the card in a wallet, looks remarkably like the Bank of America debit card; into the ATM. This also meant that I had swiped the front door with a credit card not affiliated with Bank of America. I went back and tried it again with a couple other credit cards and even a card with my fiancee’s name on it (we share a Discover Gas card), all of them worked!

This could’ve been a matter of the card reader scanning the card, processing the customer data and matching it with their database; in which case all would be well. Unfortunately I can’t test my theory out on Bank of America because I have an account there and I don’t have a credit card belonging to someone who doesn’t, but I can try to swipe at a local SunTrust after hours to see if my credit cards worked there. However, if any of you have local banks that have card readers and you don’t have an account there, try one of your cards to see if you can get access and please let us know. Maybe we’ve uncovered some hidden security flaw…

I have several copies of You Call The Shots by Cameron Johnson (read my review) to giveaway and you can be one of the lucky winners! To make this more than just a “leave a brief comment, win a prize” contest, I’m going to ask that you list one topic you wish personal finance blogs would write more about. It can be as specific or as broad as you want, as long as it’s interesting. Be funny, be creative, be outlandish, but don’t just leave a “I hope I win” comment before next Wednesday and you’ll be in. Laffy taffy type jokes are an acceptable substitute as long as they haven’t appeared in the 500,000 unique visitors contest comments before.

It’s been a couple months since Zecco announced they’d be offering free online trades (you’re limited to 10 a day, 40 a month, then $3.50 a trade thereafter) so that’s been ample time to sniff off if it’s a fraud, which it isn’t, so I’ve decided to sign up, throw some money into an account and start trading. In the next few days I’ll write some reviews about the interface, compare it to the other accounts I have that charge me for trades (Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Vanguard), and basically give you my take on Zecco and what they’re all about.

I think the temptation is to start thinking that because the trades are free, you should start making a lot of trades. Well, you can make a lot of trades if you don’t mind gambling with your money. When it comes to stock trades, the biggest expense isn’t going to be the transaction costs, it’s probably going to be either your own ignorance or taxes. Long term capital gains tax is 15% or 10% depending on your tax bracket, short term capital gains tax is your marginal tax rate, which could be over twice as much as the 15% LT rate; by waiting a year you cut the amount of tax you pay on gains in half, which will make the $8 or whatever transaction cost seem like nothing in comparison.

Anyway, if you’ve thought about trying these guys and were interested in my humble opinion, keep an eye out because it’s on its way.