Like three Eskimos trying to share one Snuggie, financial companies are vying for a larger share of your wallet. The credit card giant American Express recently launched a digital payment system called Serve. The service is similar to PayPal, aimed at capturing more of the online transaction market.
Lets take a look at this new service to see if it is worth your money.
Serve is an online debit account, similar to PayPal, which lets you send or receive money to anyone who has a Serve account.
I have been traveling with Lufthansa for over 15 years, and until very recently had nothing but good experiences with the company. My latest experience with the Star Alliance affiliate, however, made me aware of a few company policies that are extremely unfavorable to consumers.
To give you some context, I typically fly back and forth between Washington, D.C. and my native Greece a few times a year. As a result, I have racked up literally hundreds of thousands of rewards miles, which until recently made me a Star Alliance Silver Status customer.
The general consensus is that folks from Australia march to a different beat than the drums of those of us from North America. You want proof? Well, we’ve got it. And we’re not referring to that crap factory Hugh Jackman movie Australia…
No, we’re referring to that country’s advertising campaigns for their credit card offers. See, a regular ol’ Aussie clearly won’t even apply for a card unless they see a really wacky reason to do so! Heres a few t
When deciding where to keep your money, it is a good idea to consider the health of your bank. There was a time, not too long ago, that it seemed as though banks were failing left and right. While the rate of bank closures has slowed, you still need to think about what it could mean if your bank were to fail. It’s true that, if your bank is protected by the FDIC, you will get your deposit back, up to certain limits. However, just getting your deposit back isn’t always enough.
Issues Associated with Bank Closures
If your bank’s health is poor, and it is at risk of closure (there are more than 700 banks on the FIDC watch list), you could run into other problems. Here
Love can make us do stupid things. Getting caught up in a new relationship can lead to mistakes in our financial lives that we only see in hindsight. With more people deciding to co-habitate prior to marriage, money problems often times pop up far sooner than couples are ready to deal with them.
One big mistake that couples continue to make time and time again is opening joint accounts without considering the financial ramifications for each individual. When you
All investors should have a system they use to approach investing. The ultimate goal of this system is to help the investor effectively make consistent investing decisions without being tossed to and fro by market conditions.
People who suffer the greatest investing losses are those who are constantly getting in and out of ‘hot’ stocks and those who buy and sell according to the dips and spikes of the market. Not only is this approach less-than-profitable, it is also stressful and time consuming.
An alternative option is to accept a systematic approach to investing. One such approach is called dollar cost averaging (DCA). DCA
For most people, even when they know there is enough cash in the bank, they may still cringe a little with a quickened heart beat when turning their debit card over to complete purchase transactions in a public place. There is always a little fear that something might go wrong and cause an embarrassing situation. When it comes to credit cards, even when nothing is seemingly amiss, there is a still a chance you may be on the receiving end of some bad news in a public manner.
Here are some of the more common, potentially embarassing credit-related situations that can arise when making purchases on your cards.
Back in 2009, Wallet Blog broke the story that Chase had reneged on a promise it made to certain customers not to increase the interest rates on balances transferred to the company’s credit cards. While Chase did not increase interest rates per se, the company did begin assessing $10 monthly fees that increased the cost of consumer debt nonetheless. Working together with the New York Times, Wallet Blog made the story national news, causing then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to threaten legal intervention against the financial giant. As a result, Chase repealed the monthly fees and even provided refunds to the customers it had already charged.
Such actions were taken because, from a regulatory standpoint, there is no practical difference between interest rates and fees. Bot
The deadline for filing your federal taxes this year is Monday, April 18th, 2011. This is because Friday, April 15th is a holiday in the District of Columbia (Emancipation Day). If you file for an extension, you will automatically be extended to Monday, October 17, 2011.
You can fill out the official Form 4868 using pen and paper and mail it in for the cost of a stamp. But hey, who doesn’t like convenience! Websites like FileLater.com will charge you $17.95 or more to file the form for you. However, I found two ways that anybody can e-File a federal extension online for free.
Please note that filing an extension only extends the time to file your return and does not extend the time to pay any tax due. T