Citibank MasterCard - for me it started years ago like many others. The 0% offer in the mail and the 1% cashback, and I was in the game. Fast-forward a few years and the cashback is still there but I just received a notice that the interest rate on the card will soon be 23.99%. — Continue reading »
Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees
📆 July 21, 2009
This is probably old news to some but it came as a surprise to me. As I have done so for many years, I booked a flight online with a foreign carrier with offices in the US and made a credit card payment in US Dollars. About a month later I got slapped with an — Continue reading »
Amazon Vs. Internet Sales Tax
📆 June 30, 2009
As an Amazon Associate (you can see the banners even on this page), I have been following the spat between Amazon and the cash-strapped states that are legislating Internet sales taxes. The states argue that Amazon Associates in their jurisdictions are tantamount to company branches constituting presence and therefore any sales made to their residents — Continue reading »
Cell Phone Tax
📆 June 15, 2009
Saw this article the other day that makes one wonder how desperate the government must be. Seems like if you have a company-issued cell phone and you use it for anything personal, the value of that use should be reported as income to be taxed. So guess if I'm in the office and scribble a — Continue reading »
The Inverted CD Yields
📆 June 2, 2008
I was checking ING DIRECT's CD (Certificates of Deposit) rates today and wondered how long will they continue to be inverted. A 6-month CD currently has an APY of 3.3%, while that of a 4-year CD stands at 2.5%. What I would really like to see is a normal curve, where the longer the CD — Continue reading »
Bank Service Agreement
📆 April 15, 2008
Every time I receive a new service agreement from a bank or a credit card company I know they've devised a new way to profit from the consumers. Remember when many credit card companies shortened the payment cycles (grace periods) from a full month to three weeks or less. That was their ingenious way to — Continue reading »
Tax Spam Season
📆 April 3, 2008
You know the income tax filing deadline (April 15th) is nearing when tax-prep companies rev up their spam engines. This one from H&R Block is offering half-off their regular prices. Obviously trying to push through a few more sales before the filing season is over and they are back in the lull period. I'm sure — Continue reading »
Prospectus Paper Waste
📆 March 31, 2008
Like many people I have a 401(k) account through my employer, invested in a few mutual funds. I can appreciate that by law mutual fund companies have to send their clients their prospectuses (prospecti?) whenever there is a change in their investment strategies, but I was getting tired of receiving these booklets in the mail. — Continue reading »
Give a few Sats