Archive for September, 2006

Well, finally got a response back from HSBC’s mortgage division and it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.

Thank you for your recent E-Mail to HSBC Mortgage Corporation (USA). I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Please note that servicing transfers are a normal part of business in the mortgage industry. We appreciate your time as an HSBC mortgage customer. However, the servicing of your account will be transferred to Countrywide Home Loans, effective October 1, 2006. Your savings and checking accounts remain serviced by HSBC Bank USA.

Yes, very helpful. Guess I will have to call again.

I had previously written about how HSBC had sold me out by selling my mortgage to Countrywide. Well I spoke to one of the CSRs and they told me it would be easiest if I wrote my feelings out and sent it to their mortgage division. I did so a few days ago via bankmail and have yet to hear back from them. I guess I will give it till the end of the week before I start harassing them again.

Delta has a very very quick survery on their site which will earn you an easy 250 Skymiles.

Take the survey.

Before the June deadline I consolidated both my fiance and my own student loans so lock in the lower interest rates before they rose. I went through 2 different lenders for different reasons, each with their own benefits package which I believe to be the best available. It’s now been a few months and everything has transferred over so I thought I would share my experiences with the process.

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Usually ING DIRECT only offers $25 for signing up, but there is a new link that offers $50 if you deposit $250. Open your account by November 15th.
http://www.ingdirect.com/chicago/

Promo Code: CH919/gghvhxcb

Chase is offering their new Freedom Credit card which looks pretty attractive with the recent reduction of benefits for the Citibank Dividend card.

You’ll earn 3% Cash Back for every $1 in eligible Gas, Groceries, and Quick Service Restaurant purchases

You’ll earn 1% Cash Back in purchases everywhere else.

Redeem your points for gift certificates, hotel stays, car rentals, travel on most airlines with no blackout dates, or merchandise. Choose a reward for as few as 1,000 points.

Reach $50 in rewards and redeem for a $50 check. Or, save up to $200 in rewards and redeem for $250 Cash Back!

When you reach $600 in spending in these categories in a billing cycle, you will only earn the 1% Cash Back for each $100 on these categories of net purchases.

0% introductory APR for 12 months. No annual fee.

Apply Here.

The Carnival of Personal Finance is up over at Free Money Finance, lots of great reads over there.

I’m back from a few day hiatus… was away on business on Thursday and Friday so limited posted, then had a wild wedding this weekend in which I was a groomsman. So back with some fresh material.

Here are some of my favorite posts of the week:

• AllFinancialMatters has a fantastic collection of Personal Finance How To’s. Well organized and highly useful.
• Financial Freedumb presents the Rough Guide to Starting Your Own Business. This hits home for me because I own a business on the side as well this was a nice primer for any young enterpeneurers out there thinking about starting one.
• In Cash Flow We Trust has a great tip for investors - Look At The 50 Day Moving Average.
• Molly’s Brother says to look out for Free Credit Reports That Aren’t Really Free. Its important to make sure you are going to the right website to request your reports.
• Experiments in Finance shows you how the art of Calculating Tax-Equivalent Yields (especially good for T-Bills).

I am in the process of finishing my new basement, and while I wanted to install the carpet last this deal seems too good to pass up. Not sure if it is regional, but the Home Depot stores here are having a Home Show 06′ sale in which there is 20% off all carpet. It gets better… the 20% off also includes the pad and the labor! Usually you can only get the discount off the carpet itself so this is a great deal.

If you combine this with a 10% off coupon and 20% off Dealpass cards you get an effective 42% off the regular price! So if you have a home improvement project that needs carpet now is probably the time to buy.

PC Connection has a 19″ Hanns-G LCD Computer Monitor for $99 after rebate ($219 - $120) with FREE shipping using code 921689316. I actually have this monitor from a deal a few months ago where it was $120 and I can say it is definetly worth it if you need to replace an old monitor, want some space on your desk, and don’t do much gaming (its not terrible for gaming but more of a web surfing monitor). I got all my rebates without having to hassle anybody. It even has DVI!

Don’t forget your 2% FatCash too!

Fast response time (8ms)
3 YEAR parts and labor warantee
RGB and DVI connections
Both RGB and DVI cables included (in box)

I do not have any children, and do not plan on having any for a few years. So why did I just decide to start a New York Direct 529 plan?

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Travelocity has a new rewards card up at their site. Reward structure is as follows:

5,000 Travelocity Points for a $50 statement credit
7,500 Travelocity Points for a $100 statement credit
20,000 Travelocity Points for a FREE airline ticket** (up to $400)
40,000 Travelocity Points for a $800 statement credit

Point structure is:

Earn 3 Travelocity Points for every $1 on Flight + Hotel packages
Earn 2 Travelocity Points for every $1 on air travel, hotels and more!
Earn 1 Travelocity Point for every $1 spent everywhere MasterCard is accepted

You’ll get 5000 bonus points and 6 month intro 0% APR (3% bt fee) if you are approved. Major downside to the card is $29 annual fee (waived the first year). Also its not clear from the T&C if the points ever expire.

Overall not too bad for 2% back if you can make it to 40k points.

Link (Not an affiliate link)

I don’t escrow my taxes / home owners because I would rather save the money myself in a high interest bearing account rather than letting my mortgage company do the same. I am a disciplined saver and know what the bills are going to be, when they are due, and how much I need to save every month to meet those.

So my school tax bill came in this week to the tune of $3,717.44 so I thought to myself, you should figure out how much you are actually making for your effort. Let’s assume for arguments sake the mortgage company makes my additional payment 1/12 of this amount every month (though usually it’s higher by about 10%) – so $309.79.

If it put $309.79 a month in for a year at the current rate of 5.05% APY, through the power of compounding interesting the total amount I will have in the account will be $3804.74. So basically I gained $87.30 by holding onto the money myself.

I guess that might not seem like a lot for the hassle of now having to worry about paying your own bills, but over the life of a 30 year mortgage, if I take that extra money and get 5.05% APY on it it equals about $6115.17. Quite a hefty sum, and that isn’t even including my home owners insurance or property taxes.

I just received notice in the mail today that my home loan is being sold to Countrywide by my current lender HSBC. I’m a little disappointed because I have my checking, savings, and home loan through HSBC so it was nice to be able to manage it through one site and easily transfer funds between accounts.

Also because I had more than $15,000 in accounts at HSBC I was eligable for the Interest Checking Plus account fee free, which gave me some nice little perks over the standard free checking like free wallet checks, free cashiers checks/money orders, 50% discount on a safe deposit box (that I haven’t taken advantage of), and 0.25% APY on my balance (hey, better than nothing). I’m not exactly sure how this is going to be affected but my guess is I’m going to lose this once my loan is transfered as I do not have $15k in my savings account there. Will have to call to verify.

Nothing I can do I suppose. At least Countrywide is in Yodlee.