One More Reason to Like Sharebuilder
If you're like me, the current uncertainty in the markets means you might have moved a lot of money into cash in your brokerage account, and unless you are a high net worth individual privy to higher rates. Well, ShareBuilder.com who until this point was giving you a massive .01% rate on your account sent me an email letting me know there is a new FDIC-insured option that will pay you .50%. That's not a lot, but it is a 50x improvement over the other option. It's a no-brainer to make the switch.
Here's how:
- Sign in at ShareBuilder.com, then click the Accounts tab
- Select Profile & Settings from the Overview menu
- Click Account Settings and scroll down to Cash Balance Preference
- Click the blue Edit link, then choose FDIC Insured Cash Balance and click Save Changes
If you are not already a ShareBuilder.com account holder, you can get a $50 sign-up bonus through any of the links in this post.
NOTE: If you're account is margin enabled, then you are not eligible for the FDIC-insured account option.
Marriott VISA Annual Fee Jumps 30%+
Fees! You know how I hate them. And now, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card is raising their annual fee from $65 to $85. That's over 30%! It's pretty hard to stomach that kind of a price increase in any economy, let alone one that's in as bad a shape as ours. It's the kind of news that makes me want to run over to AMEX and get the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card that many extol as the best travel rewards card or maybe even PenFed's AMEX travel rewards card. It's got NO annual fee.
As a reminder though, let's re-visit all the lovely benefits of the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card:
- NEW! 50,000 bonus points after your first purchase
- NEW! No annual fee the first year
- NEW! No foreign transaction fees
- A free night stay upon account approval (category 1-4 hotels)
- A free night stay EVERY YEAR upon account anniversary (category 1-5 hotels)
- 15 nights credit toward Elite status
- 5 points per $1 spent at Marriott
- 2 points per $1 spent on airline, dining and rental car purchases
- 1 point per $1 spent elsewhere
- 1 Elite Night for every $3,000 spent on your card
Sigh. There's a lot of good stuff in there. And, the vast majority of time I'm using this card on business so all the accrued points are actually free to me since I'm being reimbursed for the dollars. I've got a few months to decide before my next annual fee would be due, but I am certainly not happy about this change.
Ally Gives PerkStreet Some Competition
Ally Bank, one of my favorites, announced a rewards program for their interest checking account today. With partnerships already lined up with the likes of iTunes, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target Online, Lowes, and Barnes & Noble Online and strong marketing power, Ally enters the debit card perks arena as a legitimate player. The checking account pays .5% on accounts less than $15k and .9% on accounts $15k or above.
This presents some direct competition to the PerkStreet Financial Debit MasterCard®. I will be curious to see how the PerkStreet team responds.
Currently, I would have to lean towards the PerkStreet account if I was choosing between the two. They have a wider range of perks and there is more transparency around the offers. However if Ally raises interest rates or greatly expands their program, it will be a tougher call, especially since it seems there's no limits on their perks vs. the $250 limit on 5% rewards at PerkStreet.
What would it take to make you switch from PerkStreet to Ally?
Not familiar with PerkStreet? Check out my reviews.
PerkStreet Review Part 2 – In Depth Comparison
PerkStreet Review Part 3 – Management Speaks
PropertyPeers Review
PropertyPeers is a new website promising to create a platform to allow individuals to presumably invest in real estate opportunities in small amts. The link above goes to the invitation page as the site is not yet launched. I'm excited about the opportunity though. It's a great idea as long as it can avoid some of the pitfalls that other peer-to-peer lending sites have experienced.
Expect a full review here once the site actually launches. For now, I'll leave you with this:
Bye Bye BB&T Bright Banking
Dear BB&T,
You just blew it. I've been your customer for over 20 years, and you just let a monthly fee toss all that out the window. For the past year and a half you've been trying to put a fee on my checking account. I've made phone calls and emails to get these $1 charges reversed since even your Relationship Manager agreed they shouldn't be there. It was a PITA to do this every month, but I did it.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago when I received written notice that my checking account was changing to the ironically named BB&T Bright Banking. As part of Bright Banking BB&T was offering me a new benefit of a $10 charge every cycle ($120/yr for a checking account!!!!!). Luckily there were exceptions for:
- Direct deposit1 OR (<—-THIS IS ME!)
- $1,500 avg. checking balance during the cycle OR (who in the world would leave that much in a no-interest checking account!)
- $6,000 combined in deposit or loan balances OR (sorry but your rates suck so my $ is at the credit union and in internet banks)
- Carrying a BB&T personal mortgage loan balance (Nope)
So, I have $50 per paycheck sent to this bank account. I've been doing it for years, and I have an automatic transfer to ING that pulls it right back out each month too Now I'm sure by now you noticed there was some small print attached to the direct deposit. It reads "One monthly ACH direct deposit of $100 or greater per statement cycle." Again no problem, right? I have more than $100 per cycle since I'm paid bi-weekly. Wrong. I got hit with the $10 fee. I of course immediately called my Relationship Manager. I pointed out my direct deposits, and she agreed to look into it. I called her 2 days later since she didn't call me. She said it had to be a single ACH deposit of $100. So, two $50 deposits won't work? That's right. I told her this was insane, and asked to schedule a meeting with the manager.
SIDEBAR: Let's take this to it's absurd extreme. I could ostensibly make a $99 deposit every day for 30 days ($2,970) during a month, and I would still be subject to a fee due to this ridiculous rule. Contrast that with a single $100 deposit I could make and transfer out the next day and get no fee. Absurd.
My Relationship Manager failed again and never set the meeting so I called and set one up for myself. I pointed out all of the logical flaws in their thinking. He didn't care. He reversed the fee, but said I would be subject to it in the future. Yeah, I don't think so. I closed that account, and oh I'm sorry to say you can kiss my Mom's $50,000 IRA goodbye too.
John Allison would have never allowed something so irrational. He'd be turning over in his grave, but he ain't dead yet.
Bright Banking? Not so much…
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