Deals

United Dining Rewards Earn Airline Miles for Dining Out

by
united dining rewards restaurant

In order to make it worthwhile to get airline miles without being a frequent traveler, it is important to take advantage of every mileage program bonus, special offer, deal, or coupon. For United Airlines Miles, one of the great ways to earn miles free and easy is to join the United Dining Rewards Program, which offers miles for every dollar spent eating out at restaurants. Signing up for Mileage Plus Dining is free and easy for Mileage Plus Rewards Members. Just go to the United Airlines Miles Plus website and login with your Mileage Plus Member Number. Find the link to dining rewards and click the button to sign up. The program works by allowing members to register credit card numbers with the Dining Rewards Program. Then, whenever you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you earn points on United Airlines for free just buy paying for your tab with one of the credit cards you registered. To really make this offer pay off big, use the best rewards credit cards in your wallet. Since United Dining miles are not related to your credit card account issuer or bank, you still earn your regular credit card points and credit …

Read More

DirecTV False Advertising Says FTC

by

For years, everyone involved in the TV or phone business has boosted their profits using increasingly dishonest tactics, all made legitimate by a few paragraphs of fine print on ever advertisement. For example, the advertised rate doesn’t actually include all of the costs necessary to use the package you are buying. There are plenty of add-on fees, plus modem rental, DVR rental, and so on, which I noticed not long ago when comparing Comcast to CenturyLink here in Denver, one of many articles about cable bill scams I’ve written over the years. And, then of course, there is the gold standard of trickery, the limited-time offer, where your cable or satellite provider starts by offering you a reasonable competitive rate for a limited time. Then, your rate goes up, automatically, and all those great offers are for “new customers only.” FTC Claims DirecTV False Advertising Since all the TV and phone companies use this low-priced trial offer, it was somewhat surprising today to see that the FTC is charging DirectTV with false advertising regarding it’s introductory trial offer of service. Or, as the FTC blog says, “there’s DIRECTV — and then there’s Deceptively Advertised DIRECTV.” – Ouch. The key to …

Read More

Can Car2Go Save You Money?

by

I recently wrote a review of Car2Go Denver and someone asked if they could save money using Car2Go. The answer, as always, depends on your own personal finances and circumstances, but let’s take a look at how you might save money using Car2Go or another car sharing service. Car Sharing or Auto Sharing Keep in mind the difference between ride sharing and car sharing. With ride sharing, you ride in a car with someone else. With car sharing, you “share a car” with other people. While this is technically true, in reality what you are doing is renting a car by the minute. So, can a car sharing membership save you money? To find out, we need to know about the costs. Car2Go in Denver charges 38 cents per minute. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can add up quickly, especially if you end up driving during heavy traffic. For a quick 10 minute drive to the grocery store, a Car2Go rental costs you $3.80. Of course, you’ll have to get back home too, so we’ll call it $7.60, round trip. Not bad. Whether or not that will save you money is going to depend on your current …

Read More

Amazon and TurboTax Refund Special

by

So, I haven’t had a chance to dig through all the details yet (I will soon), but there is a new wrinkle in the tax software refund game. Consider this your, “Wait, there might be a good option here before you buy,” post, not your go for it post. For several years, there have been various offers about what to do with your tax refund. For example, H&R Block got into trouble a few years ago by directing refunds into IRA accounts that had fees and charges that made them a bad deal. This year, TurboTax has an interesting new twist for Amazon shoppers. Amazon Gift Card Bonus from TurboTax TurboTax is one of the most popular tax software packages. (Look for full details and review of TurboTax and Tax Cut coming soon on Finance Gourmet.) There are tons of ways to buy TurboTax including online, via direct download, and of course, via boxes of software in stores. The first rule of buying TurboTax is never pay full price. There are always sales, and deals, and bundles of software that make buying TurboTax cheaper. The most common offer bundles Quicken, which is also an Intuit product with the tax software, …

Read More

Legit Free Trial Offers

by

There are a lot of ways that businesses squeak through the door of legally sufficient, while staying far outside the realm of generally fair. One of the areas that comes up repeatedly as a source of customer discontent is the free trial offer tricks companies pull on unsuspecting consumers. Free Trial Offer Scam The free trial offer scam generally relies on a disconnect between what the legally agreed upon terms in the fine print state, and the general understanding that a reasonable person has about what a free trial is. For most people, a free trial means that you get to try something out for free. Everyone knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch, however. Most people understand that the point of the free trial is to get you to sign up for the paid version going forward. What most people don’t notice, is that they actually already signed up for the paid version when they agreed to the free trial. In other words, you aren’t really getting a free trial. What you are really doing is signing up for a full subscription with the first month free, and a limited free cancellation period. That doesn’t …

Read More

Save $1 Gallon on Gasoline with Grocery Cards

by

There is a battle brewing between Grocery Store chains that will benefit savvy customers. Recently, King Soopers made news in the Denver, Colorado area with its rewards program offering up to $1 off each gallon of gas purchased at King Soopers’ gas stations or affiliated Loaf n Jug gas stations. Basically, each dollar spent when using the grocery store’s loyalty card, called SooperCard, earns one point. When you have 100 points, customers can get 10 cents per gallon savings on gasoline purchases. Safeway has a similar program. King Soopers Gas $1 Off Program The waves started coming when King Soopers upped the ante this summer. Typically, customers with more than 100 points simply start earning another discounted trip to the gas pump. For example, a shopper who spent $200 on groceries would earn two fill-ups with a 10 cent discount. For many shoppers, this accrual rate is higher than how fast they purchase gas. The program rewards reset every quarter, so many households don’t use all of their 10 cent off gas rewards. Recently, however, King Soopers changed the deal to allow rewards to accrue for multiple 10 gas discounts on a single fill-up, up to $1 per gallon discount. …

Read More

How To Get Government Grant Money Free Step By Step Instructions

by

If you are wondering if getting free money from the Federal Government by getting government grants is a realistic and true way to make money and profit by knowing what other people don’t know, then read Free Government Grants For Moms Dads Business and Others. You may also be interested in other personal finance tips and advice. If you are already convinced that you can go out there and get your share of this multimillion dollar giveaway from the Federal Government just by finding and winning grants from the government, then read on. How To Find Government Grants Do a Google search for government grants or US Government Grants and you’ll see that the top result is grants.gov Notice that it is dot GOV and not dot com. If grants.gov is not your top search result, then you got a little too fancy with your search. Remember that nobody pumps up the real government grants webpage. There is no profit in that. If you want to shortcut the process, you can just trust me about the website and go to grants.gov directly. (Do yourself a favor and open it in a new window so you can follow along here.) While …

Read More

Free Government Grants for Moms and Government Grants for Dads

by

When I write personal finance articles for Finance Gourmet, I put on my Financial Planner hat. Just a few short years ago, I was a professional financial advisor with all of the required securities licenses. I had my Series 7 License, my Series 66 License, and my Life and Health Insurance licenses as well. In addition, I was a Certified Financial Planner, or CFP if you prefer. Most of my clients were upper class, high-income, people with either a high-paying job, or they owned their own business. As a result, most of the people I worked with day in and day out as a financial consultant were well educated, either through formal education, or as graduates of the School of Hard Knocks. They also knew a little something about money. While it might be those who don’t have any money, or those who really don’t know anything about personal finance who need the most help, they also are the ones who can’t or won’t seek professional financial advice. As a financial adviser, you find out quickly that trying to “win” discussions with clients who believe something that is incorrect is not worth the effort. No matter how many facts or …

Read More

Give Gift Cards for Christmas The Finances Pros and Cons

by

Thinking about giving someone a gift card for Christmas? You are not alone. Last year, billions of dollars of gift cards were purchased in the days and weeks leading up until Christmas. In fact, Google reports that searches for "Gift Cards" continue to rise until December 26th when they finally peak. I guess some people are looking for after last-minute gift ideas. Not long ago, Gift Cards replaced the gift certificate as the present to give to someone that either you don’t really know what to get for them, for people who are very picky (and thus better off picking out their own gift), for people you don’t want to bother shopping for, and for people on your gift list who live far away because gift cards can be shipped easily and cheaply tucked into a Christmas card. Reports about gift card tricks and things to beware of when buying gift cards have those with savvy financial planning skills looking for unbiased financial advice about whether or not giving gift cards is a good idea. Fortunately, in most cases, giving them as presents works out just fine for everyone. Gift Cards Losing Value There are some concerns regarding Gift Cards, …

Read More

Online Bargains Aren’t Always Great Deals Check The Details First

by

Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday is history. Yet, online shopping continues in full force. Various reports suggest that online shopping has increased dramatically this year, likely due to the increasing usage of broadband connections in the home, and the draw of huge savings secretly located on the Internet if you can just find the right combination of coupon codes, discount websites, and wholesalers online. However, as always, when it comes to personal finance what you don’t know can hurt you. Make sure you understand all of the details regarding online shopping for bargains. Otherwise, you may get burned. Amazon Makes Online Shopping OK Not long ago, online shopping was the exclusive providence of very specific people, typically techies, and ultra-bargain shoppers who linked together in electronic discount finding groups reminiscent of the old coupon clubs. A few appearances on Oprah by folks like "Coupon Mom" helped drive online shopping and deal finding to the forefront of the American consciousness. But, what finally pushed online shopping over the edge from the wary, angst filled, activity it used to be to a common shopping method used by teenagers, little old ladies, and the technological inept alike was the legitimizing …

Read More