So it’s now the start of a new year and a new decade. The holidays are over, and the reality of 2010 is starting to sink in. So what to do with all those useless gift cards? Sure, you could just spend, spend, spend, but aren’t you tired of spending. Wouldn’t you rather have some cash?

You can do just that with Plastic Jungle. Sell your unwanted and unused gift cards that are just laying around for up to 90% of the balance or up to 95% if you take an Amazon.com gift card ($25 minimum). Or you can buy gift cards at up to a 35% discount. Free shipping whether you buy or sell. With over 1400 retailers you should be able to find your retailer and sell that gift card you’re never going to use.

So I decided to try it out. This is actually my second time using the service, but the first time reviewing it. I had a $100 Chilli’s gift card which I am never going to use, so I decided to sell it.

The process is simple. Just click on “sell cards” and start typing your merchant. It will come up with a list of matching names. Then enter the card balance and click “See Offers”.

You will then see Plastic Jungle’s cash offer and Amazon.com gift card offer. You get more money with Amazon, but if you’d rather use the cash to pay down debt or something else like save it, take the cash offer. You’re going to get less with the cash offer. These numbers also change depending on supply and demand.

Then type in your card number and PIN (if applicable) and click “Continue”.

On this screen, you can add another gift card or even choose to donate part of the money to charity. A nice idea if you weren’t going to use the gift cards anyway and would like to do some giving. Next click “Continue”.

Here you can print out a prepaid envelope label and the receipt. They’ll also send the receipt to your email. Include the receipt along with your gift card(s) in the envelope and just drop it in the mail. As soon as Plastic Jungle receives your shipment and verifies the balance on the card(s), they’ll send you either a check or an Amazon.com gift card (depending on what you chose). And that’s it! Extra cash for the new year!

Now if you have gift cards that you would’ve used anyway, go ahead and use them. You’ll lose money by selling them for cash. But if they’re just gathering dust in your wallet, why not sell them for some extra green and use Plastic Jungle? They are the largest gift card card exchange site on the Internet.

ShareThis

Just opened an Advantage Savings account at Bank of Internet today that’s currently paying an astounding 2.50% (yes, it may not sound high, but it’s one of the highest rates I’ve seen lately). I’ll have a proper review sooner rather than later.

ShareThis

ING Direct has a rare $50 bonus for opening an Electric Orange online checking. Open an account by June 20, 2009 and then just use your debit card to make 3 signature-based (non-PIN) transactions within the first 45 days. On the 50th day, ING Direct will deposit $50 into your account! Make sure you use reference code EM275 when you open the account, otherwise it won’t work.

I’ve used my Electric Orange account for years now and I like it. Mine’s connected to all my online accounts and it’s also connected to my main checking account at WaMu (Chase). The electronic checks are unique and I find myself rarely using paper checks anymore. However, I actually use this as a secondary checking account (currently WaMu’s my main). If you don’t need paper checks (you can still mail checks), this would be a good choice for you.

I’ve found ING’s customer service to be excellent and they don’t have many fees that most big banks charge like overdraft fees. Please note that they will do a hard pull on your credit because of the mandatory overdraft protection. There is no minimum deposit to open an account, but obviously you need money in there to do the 3 transactions.

The interest rate isn’t that high, but you can open an Orange Savings account and you can get a better rate (1.50% as of this writing). If you want a $25 bonus for opening an Orange Savings account with at least $250, let me know. I’m not sure if you can use both, though.

ShareThis

Logos is offering a free ebook download of Money Matters by Larry Burkett. Just add the Money Matters ebook to the cart here. Use coupon code BIBLESTUDYMAGAZINE at checkout. You do not need to add anything else to the cart. A valid credit card is required, but it will not be charged. It should show $0.00 at checkout. It only has 2.5 stars on Amazon, but hey, it’s free. And I respect Larry Burkett as a leader in personal finance from a Christian perspective. God bless.

Full details here.

ShareThis

Quiznos is giving out one million subs! Who doesn’t like free food? I sure love it! I actually redeemed mine today for lunch. You can pick a small Everyday Value sub or a small Signature Classic Sub. I ordered a Turkey Bacon Guacamole! Mmmmm.

But be aware, some restaurants might not participate. I rolled up to the one right next to work and there was a sign on the door, “We are not giving out free subs today!” So I had to drive to the other one in town.

All you have to do is register your name, email, and a few other things to have your coupon sent my email. Make sure you use your real name as they might check ID at the restaurant. You can use a disposable email so you don’t have to give your real one out.

Hurry, there have already been 425,688 as of right now given out. They’re only giving out 1 million!

ShareThis

Get 3 free pancakes from IHOP on National Pancake Day (Tuesday, February 24, 2009) from 7 am to 10 pm! Who can turn down free food? I sure can’t. Details at IHOP.

ShareThis

Earlier this month, I blogged about getting your free FICO score from MyFICO through their Score Watch trial. Well, now you don’t have to sign up for anything to get your free Equifax FICO score! Just visit this website and register. No credit card required and the website is run by MyFICO and Equifax. But hurry, this is only open to the first 10,000 people! Here’s my FICO score:

I’m happy with my 738 credit score. Obviously, there’s always room for improvement. And it still beats Warren Buffet’s! My goal is to get to at least 760 by this year by paying off all of my debt (which will improve my debt-to-credit ratio) as well as continuing to pay my bills on time. I’m still on schedule to pay off everything and be completely debt-free by September! I’m excited!

ShareThis

Oprah and Suze are at it again with a free download of Suze’s newest book “2009 Action Plan” ($10 value)! But hurry! This offer could end anytime. Just go to Oprah’s website and click on the download. There’s an English and Spanish version of the entire book for free download!

This is not the first time Suze and Oprah have given out free ebook downloads before. Get yours before they’re gone! God bless!

ShareThis

With tax season looming in the not-too-distant future, we should all make plans to start at least thinking about taxes and how to pay for them or how much of a refund we’re going to get. TurboTax (which is the software that I use to file my personal income taxes) is offering one free answer by phone about any tax question ($29.95 value) you might have from one of their tax experts!

Just to to their website (www.freetaxquestion.com) and submit your question by January 31st and they’ll call you back within 24 hours for free (up to 20 minutes)!

ShareThis

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And what a great year it’s been! Here’s wishing you another great year for 2009! It’s never too late to get out of debt, save some money, and give some money away! Speaking of giving…

Chick-fil-A is giving out free Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits on New Year’s Day! All you have to do is visit your local Chick-fil-A and get a free chicken biscuit with any purchase!

I love Chick-fil-A and especially their chicken biscuits! Try it with some jelly or jam (depending on where you’re from)! And remember that Chick-fil-A is Christian owned! Hallelujah!

ShareThis

Get the hottest Christmas gift this year! The limit is 3 per household.

ShareThis

Courtesy of Engadget.

ShareThis

You can only open it online with a minimum of $1,000. Make sure to have less than the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit.

ShareThis

Now through this Friday, August 29th, WaMu is offering a 13-month 5.00% APY CD available in the branches, online, or by phone. They are really pushing this hard and is a great rate. Penalty for early withdrawal is 90 days interest.

They are also offering a 12-month 5.00% CD online which might be better for you if you don’t want to lock in your money for 13 months. I’m not sure when this deal expires, though. This is only available online. Minimum is $1000 to open for both.

I’m thinking about opening one up myself. This may be a desperation move for the large bank to get some cash but I wouldn’t be worried unless you have more than $100,000 with them. The FDIC will cover everything under $100,000.

ShareThis

FNBO Direct is putting on a Pay Yourself First online video contest with some nice cash prizes! I had heard about the contest a while back since I’m a customer of FNBO Direct and I wanted to put together a video. I kept putting it off until fellow blogger Jonathan at My Money Blog wrote about it and put up a video for the contest. This kind of sparked a fire inside me (I always love a little competition!) and I whipped up a quick video for the contest. Go ahead and watch and rate it!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn6YhPPK0v4&hl=en]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn6YhPPK0v4

The odds of winning are really good since currently there are only 33 submitted videos and four of them are from FNBO so there are really only 29 submissions (including mine). That means almost everyone by default is winning $500! First 500 submissions get a $10 Amazon.com gift card. Top 20 videos win $500. Top five get up to $5000 in matched savings. Deadline is July 31st and unless everyone is just waiting to post their videos up before the deadline, I think you have a good chance of winning something. Let’s just hope they don’t cancel the contest for lack of participation.

FNBO Direct is currently paying 3.50% on their online savings account which is a very competitive rate right now. I currently have some money parked there. Here’s my full FNBO Direct review.

Like the post? Subscribe to this feed!

ShareThis