ING Direct was once far ahead of the pack in terms of banking innovation, offering a high yield savings account and pretty much scaring people with how good their rates were. The online service was fantastic, since that’s all you had in terms of interface with the bank, and it was amazing how quickly you could do things. Perhaps they rested on their laurels, maybe they just wanted to be deliberate, but only now have they joined the ranks of banks that offer remote deposit. Remote deposit is when you can deposit a check without having to mail something in or go to a bank or automated teller machine.

The service is called CheckMate and there are two ways to deposit your check remotely. The first way is to download their ING Direct app, take a photo, and upload it. The second involves taking a picture of the check, logging into the website, and uploading it.

I used the ING Direct app and the process was painless. There is a limit of $3,000 maximum per check and after you take a photo of the front and back, you’re asked to enter the amount of the check (it won’t read it off the image, or they use it as verification). Then, you’re told the deposit will be available May 17th. Once ING receives the image, they email you. Once the deposit is confirmed, they email you again (and you can destroy the check).

Seems pretty pretty easy to me, hopefully the deposit goes through!

Update: Deposit was confirmed within a couple hours of submission.

I’ve said on numerous occasions that personal finance and fitness share a lot of similarities. Watching what you eat isn’t that much different than watching what you spend, responsible caloric intake and responsible spending are quite similar, and lessons from one apply quite well to the other. Wealth Watchers: A Simple Program to Help You Spend Less and Save More was written by someone who shows you the similarities because the author lived them.

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There’s a better than average change that you won’t spending your entire adult life working for the same company. Although the BLS wants us to know that the average worker holding seven careers in a lifetime is a myth, it’s possible and even probable that you won’t work for the same company forever and because of this, you may end up having more than one 401(k).

If you’re the hands off kind of investor, keeping these 401(k) accounts as they are, scattered with different investment institutions is allowable but probably a bad idea for a few reasons. First, they’re hard to manage. Just keeping track of a checking and a savings account is hard enough for some people who are constantly on the run. Second, since you’re limited to only a small offering of mutual funds, you can open up the amount of products available to you by consolidating these 401(k)s in to one IRA account. Here’s how.
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Credit cards are the prevalent form of payment in our country. However, in spite of their convenience, there are some drawbacks to credit cards. While some contend that credit cards are pure evil, the truth is that they are tools. Whether or not they are tools that are likely to work for you depends on your financial goals and you situation.

Before you make a decision about whether or not to get a credit card, it helps to consider your own financial situation, and decide which card is mostly likely to help you meet your goals (if any card can do that). Here are some of the pros and cons of credit cards:

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What happens when you “misrepresent the health benefits and nutritional content” of your product? You get sued. And then you settle.

That’s exactly what happened to All Market Inc, maker of Vita Coca Coconut Water. They recently settled a class action lawsuit (Fishbein v. All Market Inc. d/b/a Vita Coco) in which they were accused of misrepresentation, so anyone who purchased one of their products between August 10th, 2007 and when the settlement is approved, is entitled to a payment from the settlement. How much you get depends on how much proof you have:

• Cash Payment With Proof of Purchase: If you have Proof of Purchase, you may receive a check in the amount of the purchase(s) up to a maximum of $25.00 per Settlement Class Member.
• Cash Payment Without Proof of Purchase: If you do not have Proof of Purchase, you may receive a check in the amount of $6.00 per Settlement Class Member.
• Product Voucher With Proof of Purchase: If you have Proof of Purchase, you may receive a product voucher with a retail value in the amount of the purchase(s) up to a maximum of $36.00 per Settlement Class Member.
• Product Voucher Without Proof of Purchase: If you do not have Proof of Purchase, you may receive a product voucher with a retail value of $8.00 per Settlement Class Member.

You can find the claim forms here and you have until July 23rd, 2012 to fill it out.

(Photo: bitchcakes)

If you’re the mother or father of a high school student you’re probably wondering where the time has gone. It seems like only a few years ago they were getting on the bus for their first day of Kindergarten and now they’re going to prom. The time goes by fast but once the nostalgia of the event passes, reality will set in. Prom can cost a lot of money and your, at best, part time employed child probably won’t whip out their credit card for any of those expenses.

Between the cost of the dress or tux, the pictures, the dinner, the prom tickets, and the new hair and makeup, costs will add up fast but there are some ways to lower the cost of the event without sending your child to prom looking like they wearing your hand-me-downs.

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In a vote of 52 to 45, the Senate failed to pass a motion to begin debate on a Democratic bill that would have frozen student loan interest rates before they are set to increase on July 1st. The Senate needs 60 votes to begin debate on a bill and Republicans planned to filibuster the bill over how the bill would be funded. The cost to freeze interest rates would be about $6 billion and Democrats planned to offset that with increased Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on high earners.

Who is affected by this increase? Any students taking out subsidized Stafford loans after July 1st. The current rate, set by a law in 2007, is a mere 3.4%. Holders of existing subsidized Stafford loans are not affected.

Personally, I’m of the mindset that subsidized funding for education is important but we’re in a very troubling time. The cost of one year at my alma mater is nearly $60,000 a year – which is nearly double what I paid. Well, technically I got Stafford loans and some grants, but the top line number was “only” $30,000. There’s no doubt that college is expensive but higher education is like any profit – it’s price is in part dictated by supply and demand. As more cheap money is available to student borrowers, colleges can pay more because the student offsets higher prices with cheap funding.

This is especially true when you look at the for profit education space, where for profit universities are happy to charge less exorbitant sums knowing full well that their students aren’t going to be getting a positive ROI out of the investment. I’ve heard plenty of “non profit” (I think all universities are for profit) horror stories of people with six figure debts for low paying entry level liberal arts degrees too, so it’s not a “profit vs. not-for-profit” issue.

That said, I don’t know what the solution is but I don’t think increasing interest rates will help us as a whole.

One of the most well-known personal finance gurus is Dave Ramsey. He often talks about how he pulled himself out of debt, and now lives debt-free. He also develops products and sells books designed to help his followers lead debt-free lives.

Among the ideas that Ramsey has developed is The Seven Baby Steps. These are steps that, if used in order, can help you get your financial house in order, and start down the path to financial freedom. The idea is to follow the steps in order so that the steps build on each other.
Here are Ramsey’s 7 baby steps:

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