Think it sucks to be a TD Bank customer this week, especially if you were formerly a Commerce Bank customer? Try being a TD Bank employee. One insider tells what it what was like yesterday on the other side of all those (still) unprocessed transactions and new fees.
money
10 Inexpensive To Start Small Businesses
By 10.2.09
Has the slumping economy got you looking for ideas to earn some extra money? If so, personal finance blog Wise Bread can help you out with their list of 10 small businesses that are free or cost little to start up. Here’s the list along with their “advice to live by” for each suggestion:
Some TD Bank Customers Still Not Seeing Their Paychecks
By 10.1.09
TD Bank customers, particularily former Commerce Bank ones, are still complaining about their paychecks and other transactions not posting. Other customers said they were being limited to $250 withdrawals. The problems arose Monday after they tried to combine their bank system with Commerce Bank’s, which TD recently bought.
BoA CEO Resigns
By 10.1.09
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis resigned yesterday after becoming a lightning rod for criticism after his controversial takeover of Merril Lynch. Even though BoA has appeared in our Worst Company in America contests each year, it’s kind of sad because his office had a good record of solving our reader’s problems they sent in to the executive office. Too bad that ethos couldn’t have flowed downhill more.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 9.30.09
Furniture Shopping Secrets: How to Tell Superior from Shoddy [Get Rich Slowly] “What makes for a strong, long-lasting piece of furniture.”
Learn The Secret Language Of Money
By 9.28.09
Think that just because you know what a credit default swap is, you can speak the secret language of money? Think again. Psychiatrist/executive coach David Krueger has studied how we relate to our cash, and has put his research into a new book, “The Secret Language of Money: How to Make Smarter Financial Decisions and Live a Richer Life.” Lesson one from Dr. Krueger: “Money speaks to us and we speak with money. It’s kind of a Rorschach; we imbue it with whatever values or meanings we want.” Uh, okay.
USAA Online Checking & Savings Open For Non-Military
By 9.28.09
If you’ve heard us rave about USAA’s stellar financial services but grown sad when you learned that it’s only available for military-members and their family, have heart: you can get still get access to some of their services like banking and checking.
Old Debts Under $100 Don't Matter Under FICO '08
By 9.24.09
An update to how the new FICO ’08 scoring system got revamped this year:
Credit Card Traps
By 9.24.09
As if a global meltdown, precipitous drop in investment value, and widespread unemployment isn’t bad enough, now the economic recession is now making credit cards a bad thing. Will the travesty never end?
Food Makers Not Passing On Savings From Falling Commodities Prices
By 9.23.09
The prices of commodities has dropped from their peaks of last year, yet food makers are not reducing consumer prices, reports Marketplace. Now this is rather funny, and familiar.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 9.23.09
10 Ways To Make Your Boss Love You [Smart Money] “10 strategies that employees in almost any job can use to help keep their bosses happy-and keep themselves off the street.”
Where To Find Great Personal Finance Writing Online
By 9.21.09
If you don’t know about the Carnival of Personal Finance, it’s a weekly round-up of interesting posts from the glut of personal finance blogs and websites that now litter the web. I discovered two of today’s posts—the 23 debt-saving tips and the the alkaline-vs-rechargeables story—through the most recent Carnival.
How To Financially Benefit From The Mistakes Of Others
By 9.21.09
Monevator dishes out some general advice on stock investing to keep in mind as the economy (hopefully) starts to turn around and investing no longer becomes a bottomless money pit.
Discover Vastly Improves T&C But Reduces Open Road Rebates
By 9.21.09
Discover Card customers received a notice in the mail recently that the card was reducing the “Open Road” rebate on auto maintenance and gas dropped from 5% to 2%. Around the same time, customers have also received notice that the terms and conditions for the card are basically coming in line with the CARD act ahead of schedule. Hmmm, coinkydink?
Read My "Google Power Reader" Feed
By 9.17.09
Google selected me to be one of their “Power Readers,” which means you can easily subscribe to an RSS feed with some of the blogs I recommend reading. I encourage checking out The Red Tape Chronicles, Bankrate, Credit Slips, Elliot.org, and Frugal for Life, as well as the other blogs recommended by my fellow “Power Readers.” Yes, we all got issued special laser rings.
Retirement Savings Before College Savings
By 9.17.09
These days many parents are struggling with saving any amount of money. So imagine the difficulty of trying to tackle the seemingly insurmountable tasks of saving for college and retirement simultaneously. No question, it’s a tall order. To give parents some options to consider, US News offers suggestions for dealing with this double-headed financial dragon as follows:
Finally, A Personal Finance Podcast For People Who Don't Want To Listen
By 9.16.09
The blog Personal Finance Hour is the home to a weekly live audio show with personal finance bloggers over whatever topics they like. Sometimes the conversation turns inward and focuses on trying to blog for profit, or blogging as a part time job. Sometimes the conversation is about things like remodeling your home or planning for a vacation.
