- The Finance Gourmet

Ibotta Review Cash Back for Buying Stuff

August 23, 2024 by Finance Gourmet

A friend of mine keeps going on about Ibotta. For those of you who don’t know, Ibotta is a shopping app that gives you cash back rebates for various items you buy. It’s kind of like coupons, only instead of saving on your grocery bill, you build up a cash back account. What makes it such a huge deal for my friend is that those offers often include beer and wine, and often for a few bucks at a time, so that can add up. But does that make Ibotta a legit deal for others, or is Ibotta a scam that takes more than it gives? Let’s dig into is Ibotta legit. What Is Ibotta? Ibotta is an app for either Android or Apple. You can also use it online via the webpage. It works a lot like many grocery store apps where you go through a list of coupons and select which ones you want to use. However, unlike my King Soopers app, or Safeway app, the offers on Ibotta are rebates, not coupons. In other words, while the coupons take 50 cents off of my grocery bill, the Ibotta rebates have no effect on the cost of my …

Rakuten Review Scam or Legit Money Saver

January 7, 2024November 11, 2023 by Finance Gourmet

What is Rakuten? Is Rakuten legit, or is Rakuten a scam? Can you really earn hundreds of dollars using Rakuten to shop online? How does Rakuten work? Ebates is now Rakuten. Rakuten bought out eBates and renamed it, just like it did with buy.com. Rakuten is legit and Rakuten is not a scam. I’m updating my Ebates review and turning it into one of the rakuten.com reviews. Let’s check out my Rakuten review below for answers. Holiday shopping bonuses make Rakuten a better deal than it usually is throughout the year. On Veteran’s Day, for example, there is 11% cash back at several retailers. Combine that with already available Black Friday sales or hit those bigger purchases you are waiting for. Rakuten Reviews The Ebates Rakuten commercials promise cashback for shopping. Does this online website deliver, or is this just a Rakuten scam? I took my own look after a cousin of mine (an extreme couponer) asked, “Is Rakuten safe?” So, without further ado, here is my review of Rakuten. Update: This Rakuten review is still completely accurate, however, it turns out that Rakuten is an especially good deal around holiday time. The reason is that many retailers have a …

How To Maximize Gift Cards Value

December 28, 2022 by Finance Gourmet

You got a bunch of gift cards for Christmas, or a lot of gift cards for your birthday, and you are wondering, “How do I maximize the money from gift cards?” As always, I’m here for you. Maximize Money from Gift Cards Using smart, insider techniques to maximize your gift card value typically involves timing and patience. Selling gift cards for money is almost never the way to maximize how much money you get from gift cards. Selling Gift Cards for Cash If you want to convert gift cards to cash, you can always sell them. When selling gift cards, you should expect to get less than face value. How much less than face value depends on how valuable the gift cards you have are. You might think that gift cards to expensive stores are more valuable, but that isn’t usually the case. The most valuable gift cards to sell are those that can be used anywhere, by anyone. That makes a gift card to a local jewelry store much less valuable because there might not be that many of that brand jeweler around the country, and the only thing you can buy with it is jewelry. So, Walmart gift …

Find Great Deals With Deal List Websites

November 15, 2019 by Finance Gourmet

If you are like me, the Christmas shopping season comes with a new challenge. Buying gifts for people in areas you aren’t familiar with can make it hard to know if you are getting the best deal on your Christmas gifts. But there is a way to find great deals on just about anything with a little searching. Find The Best Deals On Anything Once upon a time, you could type something like best kitchen knives into Google and hope to get some sort of list of really great kitchen knives. These days, those lists are all bought and paid for. And those lists that show up in Google’s search lists are not the result of the best list, but rather of search engine optimization wars where various professional SEOs work to manipulate the mechanics of links and web page code to impress the Google ranking engine. In this world, that list of the best kitchen knives from the world-class chef trying to be helpful from his kitchen is likely to be buried deep in the results, behind the list promoted by a major affiliate marketer trying to get the highest commission from each sale generated by the most possible …

Is Leasing a Car Bad?

October 3, 2018 by Finance Gourmet

There are far too many people out there insisting that certain things are “bad” in every case. For example, some very prominent financial personalities will tell you that you should never lease a car. While car leases aren’t necessarily a great deal all of the time, neither is getting a regular car loan, or even buying a car for that matter. If you don’t know what you are doing, and work with people you can’t trust, you can get strung out in any number of ways during a car purchase. The lease isn’t the only potential problem What Is a Lease? So, what exactly is a car lease? When you lease a car, you change the mechanics of the standard auto loan, but at the end of the day, both processes are a way to borrow money to buy a car in exchange for monthly payments. Check out my Credit Karma reviews When you buy a car using financing, you can either get an auto loan, or an auto lease. Most people are at least familiar with the basics of a car loan, so let’s start there and move onto how a lease works. Auto Loan With an automotive loan, you …

Quizzle Scam or Legit?

September 11, 2018March 27, 2018 by Finance Gourmet

I’ve gotten several requests for a Quizzle review. Quizzle is an online financial service that offers, according to the bold face type, a free credit report, free credit score and various financial tools. Whenever someone points me in the direction of a personal finance company like this the first thing I check is if I can sniff out a scam. Often, you can spot the scam coming before you even see the fine print. Obviously, if something isn’t on the up and up, then there is no reason to waste any time on a review. So, is Quizzle legitimate, or is this all a big con job? Quick Quizzle Review The biggest red flag for the various free credit score or free credit report offers floating around out there is to look for the words “free trial.” Typically, the way the free credit score scam works is that a financial company (including all three major credit bureaus) offer you a free report in big, bold type and in smaller type, lower down on the page, inform you that it isn’t actually free at all. Instead, you are being offered an automatically renewing trial membership in a credit monitoring program that …

Experian Free Review – Scam, Legit, Worth It?

February 16, 2017 by Finance Gourmet

Did you see commercials for a free credit service from Experian. They do something clever in that they de-emphasize the free credit score idea and instead play up the concept that “credit is a skill” rather than a number. This is actually true advice, even if it isn’t what most people are looking for. This new push is undoubtedly a response to the growing number of free credit score services out there like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and WalletHub. Keep in mind there is no Experian free credit score offering, but we’ll get to that in a minute. This is also not the same thing as getting your annual free credit report that is required by federal law. Free Experian Credit Report Not Free Experian Credit Score Is Experian a scam? There are plenty of unsavory things about Experian’s business, but at least they are not some new free credit report, or free credit score business. Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus, and they have been around for a long time. If you have ever had a credit card, mortgage, car loan, or personal loan, chances are, they already have a report on you with all of your information. …

Where To Get Free Checking

October 4, 2017March 3, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

If you know anything at all about personal finance, you know that big banks are financial institutions for big suckers. Right now, with interest rates at, a little bit over zero, everywhere, it isn’t as easy to tell, but big banks have never been good deals for average customers. Big banks are good deals for big money. Are you big money? Here is an easy way to tell. What interest rate do you get on your CDs and other accounts? If you get the posted rates, then you are not big money. If you get a rate negotiated by you and the bank manager because you business is so valuable, then you might be big money. Credit Unions Are Better Than Banks – Always There are numerous studies that show free checking is disappearing from big banks. Everyone already knows this, but until someone goes out and actually crunches the data, you don’t have a news story. Now, we’ve got a story and a money headline. Only 38 percent of banks offer no-strings, free checking. However, nearly 72 percent of credit unions offer free checking. By the way, this story NEVER changes. Credit unions are always better than banks for …

New Year Finance Checklist

January 4, 2016 by Finance Gourmet

It’s a new year. Contrary to popular opinion, for the most part, when it comes to money, finances, banking and investing, it doesn’t really matter if the year is new or not. That being said, plenty of people take the opportunity of a fresh calendar to take a fresh look at things like personal finance and their financial plans. So, here is a checklist of things to start thinking about to make sure you personal finances are lined up for 2016. 2016 Personal Finance Checklist Don’t get overwhelmed. Not all of this stuff needs to be done at once. Put a section on your calendar each week or two, and by the end of the first quarter, your finances will be reviewed, tuned-up, and ready for the year ahead. Banking Checklist Review your checking account statements and make sure your bank isn’t charging you fees just for having a checking or savings account. If you are paying monthly fees, or minimum balance fees, find a new account. Check with your current bank first, you might just be signed up for the wrong account. Remember, at today’s interest rates, there is no way having a higher rate compensates for having to …

Money Investing and Personal Finance End of Year

December 14, 2015 by Finance Gourmet

Here comes the end of 2015, are you ready? Are your finances and investments ready? On the one hand, the end of the year means absolutely nothing to your money. Those twenties in your wallet don’t care what year it is, and your bank accounts don’t either. The stock market goes up and down before December 31st, just like it will after January 1st. That being said, there are some end of year tax issues to be aware of, as well as some smart money moves to make before the end of the year. What To Do With Money Before Year Ends Step One: Don’t Panic. Seriously. Too many people get all wrapped up in the end of the year and the start of a new year. I think that some of that comes from the added stress of the holidays, or the vacuum left behind when they end. The reality is that you and your money are probably fine, even if you don’t do anything at all before the year ends. Yes, tax deductions matter, but probably not as much as you might think. And, yes, there are deadlines, but many of them may not apply to you. With that …