The other day, as I was leaving our house, I saw a rolled up Comcast flyer on my door. When I unrolled it, I saw that Comcast was offering high speed internet and cable television for $89.99. That’s about the same base price as Verizon FiOS, so it wasn’t terribly appealing. As I threw the paper behind my door, we were already on our way out, the guy who left it there was next door and he started talking to me. As he gave me his pitch, the most amazing part about their offer wasn’t the price, it was how Comcast was willing to pay any early termination fees, up to $200, I would be subject to by breaking my contract with Verizon. That’s certainly a first, I’ve never heard of that, but that’s nothing compared to the offers they currently have running online.

A few years ago I signed up with Comcast, they were basically the only game in town that offered both cable television and high speed internet, and compiled a list of their high speed internet and cable television deals. Back then I took advantage of the ditch the dish program (I did it three times, twice with the same box because they didn’t actually take it), rocked multiple rebates from various office supply stores, and otherwise had a grand ole time. Since then, all those promotions are gone but the fattest of them all, from ComcastSpecial.com, is still around and now $50 fatter.

ComcastSpecial.com is run by Comcast and their offer includes some pretty fat cash rebates. For their standard $99/mo Triple Play of Internet/Television/Phone, you can get a free wireless router after rebate and $250 cashback. Their Double Play of Internet and Television yields a $225 rebate and a $66/mo rate. Just standalone internet will get you $150, free wireless router and cable modem, plus a $19.99/mo rate for 6 months. It basically gives you free internet for six months (there is no mention of a contract in the promotional details).

If you want to see what they offer in your area, visit ComcastSpecial.com, put in your info and use a throwaway email from Guerrilla Mail.

With the guys walking around our neighborhood, it looks like the cash rebates ComcastSpecial is offering online is simply being used to cover early termination fees. One thing not being mentioned by those salespeople is the fact that Comcast has been known to compress their HD signals and they just announced a bandwidth cap. Booo! Remove those two and you might have my business (or offer a ridiculously cheaper service, you’re just on par right now), until then you’re just going to be my bargaining chip!

I picked up a copy of Quicken last year to help with our family’s personal finances and perhaps assist in the accounting of my fledgling little business. This year, Quicken has released yet another version update, Quicken 2009 is slated for a September 10th release, and offered some handsome discounts for those looking to upgrade or use the software for the first time.

Quicken 2009 New Features

I’ve read people talk about how they hated all these yearly updates because they offered little in upgrades. Well, in scouring the web for more information, I stumbled on this job posting in which Intuit, makers of Quicken, is “planning a major redesign of the product, and we are looking for a senior user interaction designer for 6-9 month.” Who knows what that means though.

There are additional portfolio planning features added, a whole new help system (with screens for each page), as well as adding more banks to its system. Quicken 2009 will now interface with over 6,000 institutions from banks to brokerages to PayPal.

Quicken 2009 Coupons Codes

• Quicken Deluxe 2009 ($59.99 $44.99 - 25% discount)
• Quicken Premier 2009 ($89.99 $71.99 - 20% discount)
• Quicken Home & Business 2009 ($99.99 $79.99 - 20% discount)
• Quicken Home and Inventory Manager ($29.99 $23.99 - 20% discount)
• Quicken Mac ($49.99 $33.99 - 23% discount)
• Quicken Medical Expense Manager ($69.99 $44.79 - 36% discount)
• Quicken Rental Property Manager ($149.99 $119.99 - 20% discount)
• Quicken Online (60 day free trial, then $2.99/month)

Last week, I went through my usual routine of making coffee in the morning. After filling the water reservoir and putting ground coffee in a filter in the basin, I ran upstairs to do some work. A few minutes later, I noticed that I couldn’t smell any coffee. Usually after a few minutes I could smell the rich flavor of glorious coffee wafting through the home, but today that smell was gone. I walked downstairs and, to my horror, saw that the coffeemaker hadn’t made any coffee. The green “On” light was lit but the pot was empty! Try as I might, and this included opening it to see if there was an obvious problem but I couldn’t see one, I couldn’t get it to brew (or even heat up the platter). Boo! I need coffee!

Sadly, I believe my coffeemaker is kaput.

The solution? I had two. I could either go to the local Wal-Mart/Target/Similar store and spend $20 on a coffeemaker (or buy this Mr. Coffee DRX5 4-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker and not leave my house)… or I could try Gevalia Kaffe again. I opted to go the route of the Gevalia Kaffe trial because for $15 you get a decent coffeemaker and two half-pound bags of coffee. The last time I tried two types of flavored coffee, because I’d never had flavored coffee before, but was less than pleased with it (nothing against Gevalia though, I think I just enjoy normal coffee).

The last time I did it, the offer was for a free coffeemaker and a travel mug for $5. The offer isn’t as sweet this time, this time I got a fancier looking 12 Cup Programmable Stainless Steel Coffeemaker (an estimated $100 value! Wow!), a Stainless Steel Coffee Scoop (a $10 value! Wow!), and two half pounds of coffee for $14.95 shipped. The two types I chose were French Roast and Le Procope, a choice from their European Coffeehouse Collection named after a fabled café in Rome (how could I not try it???).

Update: The offer for a free coffeemaker is part of a trial for their coffee-by-mail program. I’ll have to cancel my membership if I want to avoid getting coffee by mail and pay subscription fees.

I’m a fan of coffee, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not about to spend $20,000 on a coffeemaker.

(Photo: jamie3529gq)

HSBC Direct recently sent out an email to account holders notifying them that the 3.50% APY promotional rate was being extended an additional month to September 15th. The email is a bit silly, it’s obvious that customers like higher rates for longer periods, but the rate is good. 3.50% APY is among the best in the nation and one of the largest from a reputable, brand-name bank.

Is it worth it to transfer funds from one bank to another for this rate? Probably not, but opening a new account doesn’t cost you anything (no minimums, no fees) so you could always put new savings into this bank. I have several of these high yield accounts and when I’m looking to save, I simply transfer from my checking account to the bank with the highest rate. This leaves me with several online bank accounts and goes a little against the simplifying my personal finances concept, getting the best yield is worth a little extra headache.

Dear JIM,

Customers like you have told us how much they love our big fat rate. And as far as our customers are concerned, we can’t give them too much of a good thing. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

* You’ll keep earning 3.50% APY* on all balances in your Online Savings Account.
* That’s 9x the national savings average.±
* Deposit more now to take full advantage of our great rate extension.

Now’s the time to watch your savings grow. So deposit more today.

Deposit more now Sincerely,
Kevin Martin
Executive Vice President,
Head of HSBC Direct U.S.

Amazon is running an Amazon Prime promotion where they will give you a one month free trial of Amazon Prime and a $10 credit towards products sold by Amazon.com. This offer is for new Amazon Prime members only and expires July 28th.

Amazon Prime is their fast shipping program that offers free two-day shipping on any order and $3.99 expedited next-day shipping. The program normally costs $79 a year.

It’s likely that signing up will have you automatically renewing. To change that setting, read these instructions from the last Amazon Prime promotion.

Occasionally on BFP I’ll write posts in which I list promotional offers such as a Sharebuilder promotion code or some free money credit card offers. With the RME offer or Sharebuilder codes, it’s a pretty straightforward offer with little downside. The credit card offers are different, they look soft and cuddly but they have some pretty sharp teeth you need to be aware of. I wanted to discuss those offers specifically because there are substantial negative impacts to taking advantage of them and you should be aware of them before you sign up.

The most significant of the negative impacts is on your credit score. Applying for credit cards will lower your credit score. That’s a known and accepted fact. Numerous inquiries in a short period of time is reason code Y in the derogatory statements for Experian (Y - Inquiries impacted the score but not significantly), I know because I saw it on my own report!

This makes sense if you look from the perspective of the lender. If you are making numerous loan requests, which is essentially what credit card applications are, in a short period of time, they want to know why. People who need money are the last people banks want to lend to and, in this credit environment, this could result in increased rates or even push you into a group they won’t extend a loan to! So a $100 gift card in your pocket today, may have a significant downstream impact in your life. If you’re planning any major purchases that require loans, such as a house or a car, don’t do these offers. A $100 gift card is nothing if it raises your mortgage rate by even a tenth of a percent (or makes you ineligible all together!).

Another negative impact is that you’ve just opened a credit card you probably didn’t need. In the best case, you stick the card in your drawer after you’ve fulfilled the promotional requirements and you cancel it (that’s another ding!). At worst, you start spending on it and it’s another piece of plastic taking up another spot in your wallet or purse and another spot in your personal finance mind. That’s one more statement you’re getting, one more bill you have to pay, one more bill you have to scan over for problems, and it’s complicating your life all for a $50 or $100 gift card. A hundred bucks is nice but there’s something very Zen about simplifying your finances and maximizing your life.

Finally, most of the gift cards are to places you normally won’t shop often at, like furniture stores. In some rare cases, you might be able to get gift cards to a restaurant you frequent (or would like to go for special occasions) but most of the time it’ll be to a place you wouldn’t have otherwise gone to and be, unconsciously, compelled to spend more than the value of the gift card. If you have a $50 gift card, how many times will you be able to walk out with exactly $50 of stuff? How many times have you had a gift card, gotten close, but then looked for some piece of junk little $5 or $10 item to clear out the card? I know I’ve done it numerous times because I didn’t need $2.49 on a Bed Bath & Beyond gift card. That extra spending is probably not in your budget (it might only be $5 over… but still) but that’s part of their plan! (I may not have needed to tell you that the credit card company’s plan is to try to get you to spend more money… haha)

Credit card offers are just one example, a big example, of how a promotion may not be all that it’s cracked up to be, but it’s certainly the biggest one. So the next time you see any kind of promotion, always be aware of the downside before you sign up.

This post originally appeared on Gather Little By Little.

(Photo by chalkie colour circles)

Until June 30th, get $25 off a future $100+ Southwest Airlines round-trip flight when you purchase a $100+ Southwest gift card from Southwest.com using a US-issued Visa card. The Southwest gift card has no fees and no expiration date, so you can buy it now and use it whenever.

The $25 credit will be emailed to you and will likely be in the form of a credit voucher (I ordered a gift card but the credit doesn’t come for 4 weeks, but I’ve had credits before from canceled flights). Thankfully Southwest’s credit vouchers are like cash, have no expiration date, and are usable on all flights but subject to these restrictions (including blackout dates and an expiration date); so there’s no little risk of being screwed in the future (Thanks Ceo Reom!). I know a lot of other airlines’ vouchers are much harder to use, they’re specially coded and you can only use it on the worst possible seat of the worst possible flight.

$25 off $100 is a pretty good deal, that’s like being able to check in a bag at one of the other airlines! (have we upgraded from “nickel and diming” to “five and fiftying” yet?)

The fine print after the jump:
(read full article…)

Discover Business is running a promotion where you can get $100 bonus cashback after $1000 in purchases within the first three months. Discover Business was the card I decided was the best business card because it offered a 0% APY on balance transfers and purchases for 12 months, had no annual fee (rare in a business credit card), and now with this $100 cashback promotion offer… it’s certainly worth considering if you run a business.

Some other notable features of the card:

• 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers,
• 5% cashback bonus on office supplies,
• 2% cashback bonus on gas purchases,
• 1% cashback on everything else.

So, who can apply for a business card? Anyone can apply, simply enter your social security number as the TIN. The beautiful thing about the United States is that anyone can be a business as a sole proprietorship and there are no additional tax implications or forms to fill out for the sole proprietorship business entity. This means that anyone can take advantage of this business card offer even if you don’t have a business.

Links updated August 29th, 2008.
Welcome to the self-service $25 ING Direct signup promotion center at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. I’ve written on numerous occasions about how ING Direct will give you a $25 bonus for opening either a checking or savings account through a referral and depositing $250, so I’ve set up this page to allow readers to help themselves to the referrals (I get $10 for each referral). In the past I asked for you to contact me, then I emailed out the referrals… no more, this is far easier!

Below, you will see a series of links to ING Direct and each one is an account referral link good for one $25 bonus per new customer only. Each link will only work for one new account so if you click the link and it says “We’re sorry, but the referral link within the email you received has expired and is no longer valid. We recommend that you contact the sender and ask them to re-send the referral email. Or click ‘Continue’ to proceed with the application process without the account opening bonus.” then please move onto the next one. As links are used, I’ll clean up the page such that only the good links are left.

If you use an expired link, you will not get the bonus.

Lastly, if you do not deposit $250, you won’t get the bonus. If you still want an account, please use this link.

ING Direct Savings Accounts

1. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
2. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
3. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
4. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
5. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
6. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
7. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
8. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
9. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
10. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
11. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
12. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
13. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
14. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
15. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
16. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
17. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
18. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
19. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus
20. ING Direct $25 Savings New Account Opening Bonus

My friends thank you for using one of their links!

This promotion has ended.

I know that you all are fans of some free money so this little offer is right up your alley. RevolutionMoneyExchange is a PayPal-like clone, offering online money transfer services but with no fees. They have been around for about a year, running a payment network called Revolution Money that included a debit-like card, but only recently jumped into the person-to-person money transfer business.

The current promotion they’re running is a bonus of $25 if you open an account by May 15th, then you can start referring people (as I am doing so now) and you earn $10 for each person you refer. The only rub I have with RevolutionMoneyExchange is that they require a social security number and they may even deny you an account based on that (though it doesn’t appear they run any credit checks, so I’m not sure what they’re checking and why the need to social), but if you’re cool with that (I was) then the $25 is almost as good as yours.

Signup takes about five minutes. Don’t say I never gave you anything.