Discover It Credit Card Review

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.


The Discover it™ is an essential part of any credit card lineup.  It is one of my favorite cards (I have too many favorites to count ;) and I'll try to explain why.  You shouldn't try to use it as your only card, but it is a great secondary card.

Advantages

1. 5% cashback rotating categories in categories that you actually spend money in.  (Starting in July it is gas and in October through December it will be Holiday shopping)
1. 5% cashback is really 6.25! Once you accumulate $20 of rewards, you can redeem that for a $25 gift card in many stores.  
1. Examples are Bed Bath and Beyond, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap, The Children's Place, Brooks Brothers, DSW, Eddie Bauer, Lands End, LL Bean, Motherhood Maternity and many more.
2. Extra cashback when you shop through Discover's shopping portal.  
1. Before you buy anything online you should always check ebates or your credit card's shopping portal to see if you will get extra cashback.  I have found that Discover is consistently better than every other credit card for cashback online.  
3. No foreign transaction fees
1. If you use the Discover Card in a foreign country you will not be charged an extra fee.  Most cards do charge you.
1. Credit cards without foreign transaction fees

Disadvantages

1. Not as widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard, but it is accepted in most places
2. Does not give you 1% everywhere else.  Until you spend $3,000, you will only get 0.25% cashback outside of the 5% categories.

For these reasons, I think the Discover it™ is a great addition, but shouldn't be your only card

Shoes.com and Discover Card- 20% Cashback

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Shoes.com. has a special back to school promotion if you shop with your Discover it™ and shop through Shop Discover on their website.

They have free shipping and free shipping on returns within the first 60 days so you can buy shoes in a few colors and sizes and only keep the ones you like.

Lending Club Review

Lending Club - An Investment Alternative

Disclaimer - This is an sponsored link to lending club.  I do get a fee if someone signs up for an account, but I would not recommend it if I didn't use it myself and didn't think it was a good investment.

Lending Club is one of many peer-to-peer lending sites.  Returns from the stock market has been rather volatile in the last 15 years while Lending Club has enjoyed some very good and steady statistics.  

Lending Club is also a great place to go for a loan if you can't qualify for a standard loan from a regular bank.

Like any loan, there are defaults so if you spread your money out to many different borrowers you are more likely to do well.  You can invest in $25 increments so it isn't hard to spread out your money.


Rates

The creditworthiness of the borrower is graded on an A-G system and this is how the loans have historically performed

- As I said before, volume is better - here are statistics if you invest $20,000 or more

91.78% of Lending Club investors with 800+ Notes earn returns between6% and 18%. 800 Notes can be purchased with a minimum investment of$20,000

The breakdown is as follows:

- If you invest less than $5,000, the average return is 7.01%

- $5,000-$10,000 averages 8.22%

- $10,000-$15,000 averages 9.15%

- $15,000-$20,000 averages 10.41%

- $20,000+ averages 11.08%

There is a strategy to get even higher rates.  They break down the statistics of returns depending upon the stated goal of the borrower when he receives his funds.  Here are the categories in order of average return.  If you stick to the top categories, you should get even more money

- Credit Card payoff - 10.57%

- Home Purchase - 10.06%

- Home Improvements - 9.47%

- Wedding - 9.41%

- Other 8.55%

- Car Financing - 8.28%

- Major Purchase 8.14%

- Green/Solar - 5.30%

- Training/Learning - 2.14%

Funding

You can fund your account via your checking account or via paypal.  This means you can get even better returns!  If you use paypal through your credit card, you can get your normal cashback from your card as well.  This means that if you have a Fidelity AMEX (my favorite general credit card), you will automatically get an extra 2% return on your loan before you start or whatever percentage you normally get from your credit card.  There is a minimum of $250 with paypal and a maximum of $5,000 with paypal.

You can argue whether this is ethical or even possibly stealing, but you can also get "free" money in this way.  You can fund via paypal and then withdraw the money to your checking account and you are left with your rewards for your credit card without spending anything.  This can also allow you to reach spending thresholds for credit card sign up bonuses, which can sometimes be very high.  You need to transfer electronically to a bank account for a free transfer.  If you have a check sent, there is a $15 fee.

Voltage Tester - $3.99 from Meritline

My wife and I decided to try to save a few dollars by doing some house repairs by ourselves.  We have two switches for our kitchen lights and one of them broke so we decided to see what we can do.  We (read: my wife) watched a youtube to figure out what to do.

We bought all of the parts for about $15-$20 and saved ourselves about $100 because we didn't have to call an electrician for a very small job.

These kinds of little tasks can easily be done if you just watch a couple of videos online first.

One tool that is necessary for changing light switches is a voltage tester.  You need to tell which switch is the live wire and which one is not.

Right now, you can get a voltage tester for $3.99 from meritline

Start your purchase at from Ebates and get 1.0% cashback as well.  You will still get your normal cashback from your credit card as well. 

Don't have ebates?  Sign up here for free.  You also get a $10 gift card to Target, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot or Magazines.com after your first $25 purchase 

16 GB USB 3 Pack for $19.99!

Update: Dead!

Get a Memorex 16GB Mini TravelDrive USB Flash Drive (3-pack) for $19.99 at Buy.com! Valid 7/19-7/23

Start your purchase at from Ebates and get 2.5% cashback as well.  You will still get your normal cashback from your credit card as well. 

Don't have ebates?  Sign up here for free.  You also get a $10 gift card to Target, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot or Magazines.com after your first $25 purchase 

Joseph A. Bank - $20 off your next $20 Purchase

Joseph A. Bank - $20 off your next in store $20 minimum purchase - printable coupon

Keurig B130 - $55 with Free Shipping

Keurig B130 - $55 with Free Shipping from Office Depot after you use coupon code 683550516  ($20 off a $75 purchase).  


The Keurig only costs $69 so you need to buy something that it is a little bit more than $5 in addition to get the coupon code


Office Snax Border 2% Reduced Fat Milk costs exactly $5.01 so it will get you to the $75 mark


Start your purchase at from Ebates and get 2.0% cashback as well.  You will still get your normal cashback from your credit card as well. 

Don't have ebates?  Sign up here for free.  You also get a $10 gift card to Target, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot or Magazines.com after your first $25 purchase 

Joseph A. Bank - 70% off Everything with Free Shipping

Today Only!

Get 70% off the entire site with free shipping.

Use coupon code FATW10 in promo code 1 slot and SHIPJULY in promo code 2 slot.

FATW10 will take off an additional $10 for a $50 purchase so if you are buying $100 worth of items or more, you want to buy them in as many $50 increments as possible to keep getting the additional $10 off.

Shoe Trees for $7.50
Wrinkle Free Shirts 2 for $21.25 each (after $10 promo code)
Instant Shoe shine for $2.10
Cedar Tie Hanger $8.50
Cedar Belt Rack $4.50

These are some great deal so don't miss out!

Start your purchase at from Ebates and get 5.0% cashback as well.  You will still get your normal cashback from your credit card as well. 

Don't have ebates?  Sign up here for free.  You also get a $10 gift card to Target, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot or Magazines.com after your first $25 purchase