August 2012

7 Apps To Make Free Phone Calls Online

August 29, 2012

When Skype emerged several years ago, it was all the rage.  The possibility of making free high quality phone calls excited our ultra-connected world.  Faster internet connections meant you could clearly and instantly transmit your voice from one computer to another.  Along with Skype, programs like iChat, Google Talk, and various other Messenger services emerged [...]

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15 Auto Insurance Discounts You May Be Missing

August 28, 2012

Next to a root canal, paying for car insurance is about as painful as it gets. And the bill always seems to be an unpleasant surprise. Just when you think you’ve got the monthly budget under control, along comes a hefty 6-month premium. So I did some research into the common discounts that most car [...]

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Survey: Highest Rated Credit Cards by Customer Satisfaction

August 26, 2012

J.D. Power has released its 2012 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Now in its sixth year, the survey examines six key factors: customer interaction, credit card terms, billing and payment process, rewards, benefits and services and problem resolution. As in past years, American Express credit cards came out on top, although Discover cards was a close [...]

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How to Find “Safe” Dividend Paying Stocks

August 21, 2012

Over the past two years I’ve been investing in dividend paying stocks. Given the low rates on savings accounts, I turned to “riskier” dividend stocks to get a better return on my money. Today I want to share a bit about my results and a resource I found to help identify dividend paying stocks that [...]

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3 Ways to Avoid Paying Private Mortgage Insurance?

August 20, 2012

When my wife and I bought our first home, the most we could put down on the home was five percent. As a result, we had to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI) to qualify for the loan. Each month our mortgage payment included the premium for PMI, and I absolutely hated paying it. If your [...]

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Discover Open Road Credit Card Review

August 19, 2012

Updated: The Discover Open Road credit card is no longer available. It’s been replaced by the Discover it Credit Card. Why is it that gas prices drive us crazy? Perhaps it’s because we are reminded of the price per gallon every time we pass a gas station. Whatever the reason, we hate to pay even [...]

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Reader Question: Can You Pay a Credit Card with Another Credit Card?

August 13, 2012

In a recent Daily Dough newsletter (subscribe here), I asked if people consider cash bonuses in picking credit cards, bank accounts, and brokerage accounts. You can see the responses to this question here. One reader responded with an interesting question of her own: Nowadays with my credit card paying all my bills, I think twice [...]

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Do Bonus Deals Affect Your Purchasing Decisions?

August 8, 2012

Recently I asked Dough Roller newsletter subscribers (you can subscribe here and get a free copy of 99 Painless Ways to Save Money) whether a bonus deal on a product would affect their buying decision. Here’s some background. A lot of financial products are marketed by offering bonus cash to new clients. This is especially [...]

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Prosper vs. Lending Club SmackDown–Who has the best interest rates?

August 7, 2012

LendingClub: LendingClub investors can earn significantly higher returns than on savings accounts or CDs. For borrowers, you can submit an application in under 3 minutes and get an instant decision. For more information on becoming a lender or borrower, visit the official LendingClub website. If you think Prosper and Lending Club set interest rates the [...]

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