Unlimited Free Calls with Grand Central and T-Mobile

December 31, 2007 · Filed Under Street Smarts · 3 Comments 

This hack has been around awhile. Since I never had T-Mobile, I didn’t look much into it. So for the readers with T-Mobile cellular service, this post might be of interest to you.

Those with T-Mobile with my-Faves can get unlimited free calls when you combined with Grand Central. Grand Central, owned by Google, gives you a free local number that can relay all numbers to your one free local number.

How does it work?

Since my-Faves let you pick any five numbers to call/receive unlimited free calls, you just need to get a number from Grand Central and use that as one of your my-Faves numbers. Then give the GrandCentral number to all your friends as your new official number.

Steps to get free inbound calls.

  1. Get an account at GrandCentral. It was free before, but now you need an invitation. Maybe you can ask by commenting below or check out this post at Slickdeals or Fatwallet to ask for an invite. I believe you can also go the website and reserve a number.
  2. Now add the number from GrandCentral to your myFaves list.
  3. Sign into your GrandCentral account, and redirect all calls to your cell phone number.
  4. Make GrandCentral Caller ID settings to “Display my GrandCentral number”. How come? Because every call to your GrandCentral number will be counted by t-Mobile as one your my-Faves five since you have assigned the grand central number to unlimited free calls.

Calling outbound for free unlimited minutes is a little hassle. If you are running low on your minutes, tell your friends to leave a short voicemail. Have all your friends leave a very short message. Anytime you want to call one of them, listen to the specific voicemail, and GrandCentral has a feature whereas you can call back to the number. Simply select “Return the call” and it will count as free minutes as one of your my-Favs numbers.

For those readers who are using this hack, maybe you can explain your experience with the Grand Central + T-Mobile combo.

I heard that AllTell’s my “Circle” and Sprint’s “Pick 3″ can work just as well with the above steps.

Discover® Business Card

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Bank of America $100 Bonus Extended until February 29th, 2008

December 30, 2007 · Filed Under Credit Card bonuses · 5 Comments 

Bank of America $100 Bonus until February 29th, 2008

A few things from personal experience with this bonus:

  1. I got the $100 even though it stated that this is only for first timer. I’ve been a BOA customer before.
  2. No DD requirement.
  3. Make sure to deposit with $100 to get bonus.
  4. You can fund the account with a credit card.
  5. No hard pull for BOA customers.
  6. New code is AOU2612 and good until 2/29/08

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American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card $50 Bonus

December 29, 2007 · Filed Under Credit Card bonuses · Comment 

The American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card is perfect card for those who pay off their balance in full each month. You want to avoid accumulating credit card debt and learn to use credit cards to your advantage.

One of the best advantages is getting free money for sign up bonuses. The American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card gives out 5000 bonus points after your first purchase. The 5000 bonus points can be converted to a $50 gift card from stores such as Home Depot, Gap, Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble, Banana Republic, and so on. Even though it’s a business card, you do qualify to apply as sole proprietorship.

Whether you have a home-based business or that you have sold something on Ebay, you can apply for a business credit card. You can put your name as the business name and your social security number as the tax id. Your business is called sole proprietorship and it’s perfectly legal with the IRS.

In addition, you can access to the Membership Rewards program for no additional fee. Cardholders earn one point per dollar spent on all purchases. The annual fee is waived for the first year. Make sure you cancel the card before the 1 year anniversary if you feel the card is not worthy of the fee. Other benefits include up to $100,000 in travel accident insurance, auto rental insurance, purchase protection services, various merchant discounts, and more.

American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card

  • You can earn 5,000 Membership Rewards bonus points after your first purchase with the card -redeemable for a $50 gift card
  • The Membership Rewards program
    also lets you transfer points to 11 frequent flyer programs: 1 point =
    1 frequent flyer mile or frequent guest credit for most programs
  • Purchase Protection Plan protects eligible purchases made with the Card against accidental damage and theft for up to 90 days from the date of purchase
  • Many other travel and shopping benefits
  • No Pre-set Spending Limit

    • Apply Now!

American Express® Preferred Rewards Green Card

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$20 Total Gift Card for Joining Sam’s Club

December 28, 2007 · Filed Under Free Random Money · Comment 

I never had a Sam’s club membership, but you can make $20 in gift card if you are thinking of joining anyway. $10 for you and $10 for your friend. It’s good through Dec. 31st 2007. Membership starts as low as $35 per year.

sam

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Cheapest Family Phone Plan

December 27, 2007 · Filed Under Street Smarts · 7 Comments 

You want to lose weight? Very simple..eat less, workout more. You don’t need no grand diet plan or great exercise program. You want to increase your wealth? There is no secret. You need to make more money and spend less. Believe me, I was in the same boat just a year ago. My spending was out of control, and I had no idea what to do. Getting desperate, I started to look online. Finding a deal here, a little bonus there, and cutting back here and there. Being proactive in your daily financial life is a must.

I’m going to share with you the cheapest family phone plan. Along with SERO, I have a family plan with Sprint. For five phones, we pay less than $50 a month. Our plan includes free text, free 6pm, 1000 minutes, and bonus 200 minutes for each phone, and many more. Any family plan for 5 phones could easily run up to $200 a month. It does take a little work, so here’s the step by step.

  1. Go to sprint.com and pick the cheapest family plan. Right now, it’s two phones for $59.99 for 550 minutes. You should pick two free phones.
  2. Don’t worry, you have thirty days to try out or return without paying anything. This is where you have the most leverage with Retention.
  3. Dial *2, tell them you want to cancel so they will put you through retention.
  4. Here’s where you basically get pretty much whatever you want. There job is to keep you. They do not want to lose you as a customer.
  5. First, I would tell them that you don’t like the plan. Tell you heard of better family plan elsewhere, and that you would stay if you can get the $50 family plan for 1000 minutes. They don’t advertise it online, but retention does have it available at their disposal to give out. You should also ask them for free text messages to be included and free 6pm.
  6. If the retention doesn’t give it to you, ask to speak to the supervisor or call back at another time. You could also log into your account online and email them if you don’t like to do it over the phone.
  7. If you prefer to get better phones, you can also call and haggle them with the price. For example, the Sprint Touch phone is $249 even for new customer. You can call them and tell them how your phone sucks and you can’t hear jack. You would want the Touch for $99. You have thirty days so do it asap.
  8. Lets say you got kids, and now you want to add three more lines since they allow family plan to have up to 5 lines. This is also when you can haggle the most by calling retention. They would love nothing more than get you to sign up for another line. Why? Instead of you canceling a line, they manage to get you sign up for another line.
  9. You want to add one line at a time by calling retention. So first, act dumb…don’t go right at it. Do the what if..what if I get another line etc etc. Let them feed you what they can offer first. There are many many more freebies such as a loyalty discount, free 300 minutes to each phone, free $50 credit to the first statement, free internet vision, and $10 credit each month. You should haggle for at least two or three of the freebies for them to add another line to your family plan. If you don’t get it, call back and talk to a different retention CSR.
  10. For the sake of the cheapest plan, I would recommend to get the $10 credit each month..hence making your plan possibly $40 a month. You want the $10 credit because it will offset the $10 add a line to your family plan.
  11. For phone number 4, do the same thing..call retention and ask for more freebies. Whichever ones you can’t get before, use the 4th add a line to your advantage.
  12. Likewise phone number 5. By the end of 5 phones, you should have gotten all the freebies I mentioned above.
  13. Your plan should be like this now: $50 a month + $30 for 3 additional lines = $80 for 1000 minutes, free 6pm, free text, bonus 200 minutes on each phone, 15% loyalty discount, $10 credit each month, free vision, and $50 credit to first phone bill.
  14. After you got everything you wanted, visit your local sprint store and check to see if you qualify for corporate discount too. My family also have a 20% corporate discount on top of everything.
  15. Your average family phone bill should be like $80 + $10 taxes = $90 - 30% discount - $10 credit = $60
  16. Last but not least, you can get up to $50 a month in credit by doing dropped calls. Each phone should net you $10 by dialing *2, and keep on saying dropped call. Each dropped call is a 50 cents credit. Keep doing it until the computer CSR won’t let you anymore.
  17. Don’t forget the $25 referral credit when you first sign up. Get someone with a Sprint line to do it for you.
  18. Around the 16th or 17th month into your contract, renew each phone one at a time. Make sure to get at least $50 credit to renew and get a good deal on a nice phone.

Now, if you are making $100K a year, then I guess it’s not worth your time. But like most Americans, we are drowning in debt. You do what you need to do to get yourself out of debt. This is one of many ways to do it.

Peace out..

Hustler

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Random Deals and Freebies

December 26, 2007 · Filed Under Freebies · 3 Comments 

Here you go:

  1. Ebay 10 cents listing Dec. 27th
  2. FREE AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 Professional
  3. Free Download of Johns Hopkins ABX Antibiotic Guide ($25 value) Pocket PC, Palm, iPhone ..Doctors, PAs, Nures Practitioners, Nurses
  4. Everyday Coupons
  5. Free Old Country Buffet
  6. More Freebies
  7. Blockbuster 1 Month Free code: 90430 or friends
  8. Netflix 1 Month Free code: 80004468
  9. Get your FREE credit score and more!
  10. Free Lasik Exam

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Happy Holidays

December 25, 2007 · Filed Under Uncategorized · 1 Comment 

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

christmas

lending

gas

plane

money

travel

business

books

hotel

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Costco Cash Bonuses

December 24, 2007 · Filed Under Free Random Money · 1 Comment 

I’ve been a Costco member for almost two years now. For those who live close to a Costco, joining Costco is a good idea. I love getting their tilapia fish, salmon, and cooked chicken.

First, I’m going to start you off with a $10 gift card for signing up to their membership. The offer is good until 02/28/08. If you have a big family and plan to buy a lot from Costco, then you should get the Executive Membership for $100. Executive members get 2% Cash Back on their total purchases for the entire year. They guarantee that you make your $50 cash back or they will refund you the difference. Costco will only take cash, debit card, or American Express Credit Card. Consider getting the SimplyCash (Review) or Blue Cash (Review) to get more cash back.

With Executive membership, you can sign up to Capital One 4.60% APY and get $50 cash bonus when you deposit $5K. One thing about Capital One Costco bank deal is that you can request it to be a business account. This is a great deal for those who have a business and would like their cash to make money while sitting in a bank account.

Do you have the AmEx Costco credit card? Earn a $10 Costco Cash Card when you Pay Your Wireless Phone Plan
with your American Express Costco Card.

Lets not forget about Costco $55 Sharebuilder bonus. Since two people can be on one membership, both might be able to qualify. On top of that, I wrote extensively about Costco $55 Sharebuilder custodial account bonus.

There are so many more deals such as low car insurance and cheap discounts throughout the year. Joining Costco has been a good experience for me, especially when you get all the bonus money with it.

American Express SimplyCashSM Business Card

Blue Cash® from American Express

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OptionsXpress $100 Bonus and More!

December 24, 2007 · Filed Under Free Random Money, Investments · 6 Comments 

OptionsXpress, an online option & stock brokerage, can help you use options to protect portfolios, maximize returns on stocks, and increase investment income. With its innovative tools, they reduce the mystery and complexity of options to execute suitable options investment opportunities. You will find that optionsXpress site is easily to navigate and accessible. Opening an account takes less than five minutes online. Their excellent services include live help online, by phone and prompt email responses. There is no fees. They have been featured in Forbes.com, Businessweek.com, voted best online Brokerage by Kiplinger’s, and many more.

Here’s the deal. If you deposit $500 right now for your new account, they will add $100 bonus. It’s a referral program whereas I get $100 bonus too. This is by far the biggest referral bonus that is out there. Hence, you can refer your friends and family. Simply send me an email with your full name for $100 optionsXpress bonus to Hustlermoneyblog@gmail.com to get a referral link.

You should get an email just like this:

Dear Investor,

Your friend hustlermoneyblog@gmail.com referred you to open an account at optionsXpress but we have not received your application yet.

Your friend seems to think that optionsXpress could be a great fit for your online investing needs – we invite you to open an account today and we’ll give you a $100 when you fund your new account by January 15th, 2008.*

Come join over 250,000 investors who already call optionsXpress their investing home - open an account today.

Regards,

bennett_n
Ned Bennett
CEO, optionsXpress Inc.

As you can see, I sent myself a referral link to test it out. For the first email, there was no mention of the $100 bonus. So after a few days, you will get a 2nd email saying you can get $100 bonus by opening an account. I suppose you want to wait for 2nd email before opening an account.

Here’s more of the fine print on the $100 promotion:

In order to qualify for the $100 offer, account application must be completed and a deposit of funds in the amount of at least $500 must be made by January 15, 2008. Those who qualify will receive funds in their account on or before January 31, 2008. Customer may only qualify once for this offer.

Follow these steps:

  1. Email me to Hustlermoneyblog@gmail.com for a referral link.
  2. At the new account application page, choose Individual account, Cash (No Minimum Deposit), Options.
  3. Click Next Step, then fill out all the basic info includes name, email, etc etc.
  4. They will ask you a few questions to identify you.
  5. Later choose ACH transfer (it’s free) to deposit money into you account. They will need you verify two amounts. It takes 2-3 days for you to see the small deposit and withdrawal.
  6. Once you have been verify, deposit $500 and you should see your bonus before January 31st, 2008.

Good thing about OptionsXpress is that there is no hidden fees. From the website:

So, when we say “no hidden fees”, here is what we mean:

We DO NOT charge:

For account use, connection or access
For volume or quantity of activity
For real-time or streaming quotes
For standard withdrawals or deposits
For postage or handling of mail in the United States
For any “minimum balance maintenance costs”
For any “no-activity maintenance costs”
For any checking account maintenance costs

We DO charge:

$15 for outgoing wire transfers within the U.S. ($30 for international wires)
$50 for physical stock certificates
$50 for outgoing account transfers
$50 for IRA account termination*

One important thing to note is that I’m not sure you have to make a trade in order to get the $100. In the email, there is no mention about New Account Holder must make a trade. But from their referral page,

Terms:
Offer limited to one reward per customer for each unique referral resulting in an activated, funded optionsXpress account which has executed at least one trade. Free rewards will be delivered or made available within thirty days of the referred account’s first trade. Customers who select free trades for referrals will receive a single $14.95 deduction from their total commission for each of the next ten trades following offer availability. Unused free trade credits cannot be exchanged for other offers, cash or credit. Those who select $100 in their optionsXpress account cannot exchange the $100 for other offers, cash or credit. Trading books and optionsXpress gear are subject to availability. We reserve the right at our sole discretion to cancel, modify or suspend this offer program at any time without notice.

If you are going to open a new account, make sure you write or call them to verify this. If you have to, buy a cheap stock then make a trade. It will cost you $14.95 for a trade, but you will get the $100 bonus. Then you can make more money by referring your wife/husband, family members, friends, or even for your children by opening a custodial account. Again, email me for a referral link. It’s a Win-Win situation, but in any case, Thank You for supporting me.

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K-Mart Buy $50 Gift Card, Get Free $10 GC

December 23, 2007 · Filed Under Free Random Money · 1 Comment 

This K-Mart Buy $50 Gift Card, Get Free $10 GC is good until 12/24. Here’s the thing though, it can be recycled over and over. This means you can use the $50 gift card to buy another $50 gift card + extra $10. It goes on and on and on….

So to be less noticeable, you should do the following:

  1. K-Mart promotion should be nationwide, or just print this K-Mart Buy $50 Gift Card, Get Free $10 GC
  2. Visit your local K-Mart. Buy the $50 gift card, get $10 bonus = $60
  3. Go back again, Buy $50 gift card + a pack of gum with your gift card = almost $70 gift card + pack of gum
  4. Repeat Step 3, then again, and again…

The reward card gift card can be used until 1/31/08 and work at Sears too since they are under the same company.

You can see the ad by checking out kmart.com, click on weekly circular, and enter your zip code.

Chase TravelPlus Visa® Card

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