I move my assets to different brokerages and banks to take advantage of the following types of offers. Moving securities is easy. The new broker will do it for you. However, be sure to ask if there is a maintenance fee, or a fee to close the account.

Cautions:

• Many of the brokers, banks, and mutual funds making these offers restrict you to 1 offer in your lifetime. So plan carefully. If you don't have enough money to receive the maximum number of miles now, consider waiting until you have more, taking the risk of the offer disappearing, of course. Your guess is as good as mine whether or not the offers will be increased or decreased or cancelled. (I regret accepting the then maximum 10,000 miles for opening an E*Trade account years ago. Had I waited, I could have received 75,000. However, had I waited even longer, I would have received no miles at all, since E*Trade no longer offers them.)
• Before you accept any offer, be sure to make a copy of the offer and all of its terms and conditions. Mail a copy with the application, along with a note saying that you are accepting that offer. And keep a copy in case anything goes wrong.
• I have made no investigation of the financial stability or performance history of any of the investment companies I list on this page. You are on your own to do appropriate due diligence before giving these companies any of your assets. (Occasionally I will give you some help on how to do that due diligence.)

Stock and Bond Brokers

For most or all offers listed here, you can meet the minimums by funding the account with secures from other brokerage accounts, and sometimes from mutual fund accounts. The receiving broker does all the work for you. Ask if this is permitted and, if so, by what deadline after opening the account, before committing to the deal. And be sure to get it in writing, and do screen shots of the offer and your acceptance of it if you apply on line.

Be sure to find the page on the broker's website (often well hidden) that lists all fees. Beware especially of maintenance fees for low balances, and fees to close the account. You must include these fees in your calculations of how much your miles will cost.

Before accepting any of these offers, you may want to read about the experiences of others on the Epinions page on brokers.

U.S. brokers are supposed to be insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Be sure to read about the limits of that insurance and exactly what it does and does not insure.

The SIPC posts a warning on its website about a brokerage identity theft scam that every investor should read. You can look up a broker on the SIPC's Member Database to see if it is a member. Be sure the address listed is the address of the company with which you are thinking of doing business.

You may also look up useful information about a U.S. broker on the website of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) on its NASD BrokerCheck page.

I have no information on non-U.S. brokers except for what I say about the offers that I list below. I do not know if they are insured. You are very much on your own in doing due diligence for any prospective investment, but especially with one with a foreign company.

You need not fund the account with cash to get the deal. A transfer of assets from another brokerage also works. Transfer is easy. Ameritrade will do it for you after you fill out and sign their form. So it is possible to get bonus from another brokerage (say Fidelity), then transfer assets to Ameritrade to get another bonus. Note that the account from which you are tranferring assets may charge you for this.

On March 31, 2007, a reader wrote:

"My wife and I have a joint account with TD Ameritrade. I called and asked if this disqualified me from taking advantage of the miles offer. I was told as long as the new account was in my name only and that new monies (no interior transfers) were used to make the account, I would qualify."

I and others have had success with getting additional miles or points for adding more assets to and existing TD Ameritrade account. Sometimes they offer merchandise I don't want for adding these assents. I ask if they will give me miles or points instead. They have done so in the past. One reader simply waited until all of his miles posted for his initial deposit, then successfully requested more by offering to deposit more. I don't know if all of this depends on having an Apex account. It doesn't hurt to ask, but do ask before counting on the bonus. You need the agreement to give you what you want first.

Note: You can do me a favor by allowing me to refer you before you apply for an Ameritrade account. First check my What's New page to see if I am traveling, so you will have an expected response time. I need your name, the email address you will use for the account, and complete mailing address to do this referral. This will cost you nothing, and will give me a few free trades. You can get any offer mentioned below, or any other offer you find from TD Ameritrade. Thanks.

Offers for opening an account:

Special cash offer through February 29, 2012: Funding with minimum of $25,000 - $99,999 receives $100 cash, funding with minimum of $100,000 - $249,999 receives $250 cash, funding with minimum of $250,000 or more receives $500 cash. Plus free trades for the first month.

• Starwood (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Points earned
  $2,000	3,000
  $10,000	10,000
  $25,000	20,000

  Note:

  • Since 20,000 Starwood points gets you 25,000 miles on a large number of airlines (except United or Continental), the $25,000 Starwood offer is by far the best miles for initial deposits of $25,000.
• American (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

• Delta (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

• United (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

• Continental (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

• U.S. Airways (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

• Amtrak (Expires February 29, 2012.)

  Initial Deposit	Points earned
  $2,500	5,000
  $10,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000

Please let me know if these offers are extended beyond their scheduled expiration dates.

• The Fidelity account must remain open with minimum funding for six months. Additional deposits to the eligible account will earn the customer a higher mileage award provided such deposits put the cumulative deposits above the next eligibility tier (up to a maximum of 25,000 miles). Initial and subsequent deposits must be made within 90 days of account opening.
• This flyertalk discussion suggests a way to get the full 25,000 miles without actually depositing $50,000 in assets, at least until Fidelity figures this out.
• Each offer says "Offer valid for new customers only." However, for a previous United Airlines offer, I was able to simply add equity to my existing brokerage account to get the miles. But ask first. Also note that this is for a non-retirement brokerage account. If you have other types of accounts with Fidelity (mutual fund, retirement, etc), you are probably still eligible for this offer. Read this FlyerTalk discussion, then ask Fidelity.
• Each offer says "Limit one per household, per lifetime." This means that if you get a 5,000 mile offer now for a particular airline, then after 90 days of opening an account, you will never be able to get a better offer later for that airline, ever.
• On December 5, 2006, a Fidelity rep carefully checked my account and then confirmed that since I had already received United Airlines miles from them, I could not also receive American Airlines miles. However, as of June 2, 2011, you can add assets to your account to receive Delta Airlines mies. I was successful in doing this.
• Be careful. Read all of the terms and conditions.

  Initial Deposit	Miles earned
  $25,000	15,000
  $50,000	25,000
  $100,000	50,000

  • American Airlines offer (Sign up by September 30, 2012)
  • Delta Airlines offer (Sign up by February 14, 2012)
  • United Airlines offer (Sign up by October 1, 2014.)
• You have 30 days after signing up for this offer to open an account, and 90 days to fund it.
• The Delta offer will give the miles for adding new money to an existing, non retirement brokerage account. A conversation with a Fidelity rep on January 30, 2011, confirmed that the addition may be in assets transferred from another brokerage, not necessarily cash. I also confirmed that the fact that I initially opened my Fidelity account via another miles offer does not preclude me from getting the Delta miles by adding assets. You have 90 days to get the assets transferred after signing up for the offer. I suggest calling (800) 642-6972 to get your own confirmation of this in your own account, with a notation in it that you were told that it qualifies. Note that the account from which you are transferring assets may charge you for this.
• I was under the impression that is illegal for a financial institution to offer incentives for transferring your 401(k) or other retirement savings from your employer plan to the financial institution. Apparently I was wrong. Fidelity now offers commission free trades for making such a transfer. Details.

• 2,500 Alaska Airlines bonus miles are offered when you open a new ShareBuilder account and purchase your first security. Active ShareBuilder accounts earn an additional 1,500 miles at each anniversary date when you invest each month. Mileage Plan members can earn up to a maximum of 10,000 miles.

• 2,500 U.S. Airways bonus miles are offered when you open a new ShareBuilder account after your first stock purchase. 500 additional bonus miles each quarter when subscribed to the Standard or Advantage pricing program, whatever that means.

• 2,000 Delta Airlines bonus miles are offered when you open a new ShareBuilder account and purchase your first security. If you're a Delta Skymiles Medallion member, you are offered 3,500 bonus miles after your first investment. Also the opportunity to earn 500 additional bonus miles each quarter are offered when you are actively subscribed to the Standard or Advantage Investing Program.

• 2,000 Continental Airlines bonus miles are offered when you open a new ShareBuilder account and purchase your first security, plus 175 bonus miles each subsequent month you subscribe to the Standard or Advantage Investing Program.

• By comparison, there are cash offers for opening an account:
  • $30 bonus offer from Pentagon Federal Credit Union. It is not clear if you have to be a member of that credit union to get this offer. The system enters an offer code in the application process, but see no place to enter credit union information on the first page of the application, which is as far as I could get without actually opening an account. But anyone can join the credit union, one way or another, and it has an excellent credit card offer, which you can read about in my Credit Card page on the Free Cards page in the Cash Back Cards section.
  • FrugalTravelGuy passes on the story of one of his readers getting 21,000 miles for his family for $45.
  • A reader writes: "A simple Yahoo search for Sharebuilder Promotion Code prior to opening a new account will bring up several codes that will allow a $20 or $25 credit for making 1 purchase of as little as $5 in any stock. Additionally, this can be done over and over. I have earned $150 of my current $600 portfolio just from Sharebuilder thru their offers." So use your favorite search engine to look for "Sharebuilder bonus" to find cash bonuses for opening an account which may be competitive with the miles offers. (I even received 11 Swagbucks for doing this...). There is some commentary on blogs that you can received both the cash bonus and the miles, but I haven't figured out exactly how to do this. Please tell me how to do this if you know. Thanks.
  • These bonuses are probably taxable income, but I don't know this for sure. If I am correct, you would be paying $30 - $50 minus the taxes you would pay on your marginal tax rate for the miles you would get from the other offers. (The miles are not taxable.) Do the math.

Note: This is a very different type of investment account. It is designed for regular purchases of stock or mutual funds intended to be held for a long period of time. Be sure you understand all aspects of the deal before opening an account. For example: It is not clear on the ShareBuilder web site how your purchases are priced. Ask.

As I read the rules on 11/20/2002 (but read them yourself to confirm), you can make market order purchases in real time and make limit orders for a higher fee. Purchases are limited to a list of several thousand stocks and mutual funds. There are many other fees, so be sure you are aware of them before you open an account. (Note that there are three schedules of fees. Use the pull-down menu to read all three.) Note the $50 transfer out fee, in case you were thinking of acquiring some miles for just $4.

Offers of interest as of July 27, 2006. (Please tell me when they change or disappear.)

• Offer of up to 15,000 miles investing in Deka's fund of the month.
• Offer of 6,666 miles for opening a Trader 6x6 account at Cortal Consors.
• Offer 1,500 award miles for starting a savings plan at DWS Investments.

Banks

Before accepting any of these offers, you may want to see if anyone has written about their experiences with the bank you are considering on the Epinions pages on banks and on internet banks.

Click here to see if a U.S. Bank is indeed F.D.I.C. insured. If you are thinking of depositing more than the $100,000 limit of insurance in a F.D.I.C. insured account, Bankrate has a useful service that rates the financial stability of banks.

I do list offers from some banks outside of the U.S. I do not know if these banks are in any way insured by their governments, and have no knowledge of their financial stability, and I don't intend to research this. You are on your own to do due diligence with any investment you make in any bank or financial institution, but especially with foreign banks.

Caution: Effective with the January 2012 monthly statement cycle, all Mileage Checking with Interest Accounts will be charged a monthly service fee of $12.00, regardless of the balance maintained in your account. This means that this account becomes a good deal only with large balances. Do the math.

If you opened an mileage account recently, note that there is a $15 fee for closing an account within 90 days of opening it, yet the bank gave much less than 90 days notice of the new $12/month fee. You have a valid reason to request waiver of the closing fee if you don't want to pay the new monthly fee.

• 100 miles per month for every $1,000.00 maintained in an interest bearing Mileage Checking Account, up to the first $200,000 on deposit. Earn an additional 25 miles per $1,000 for collected balances over $200,000.
  • Yes, the interest rate on this account is quite low (currently 0.05%). But the highest rate I can find for liquid money (April 2, 2010) is Ally Bank's 1%. The 1% is taxable. But BankDirect has not sent out 1099's for the miles. Let's take a round number example:
    • A $10,000 deposit in a BankDirect checking account earns 12,000 American Airlines miles per year and $5 taxable interest per year. That same $10,000 in an Ally Bank account earns $100 per year. But remember that the extra $95 is taxable. You would have to do your own math, but at my combined federal and state tax rates I get to keep only $61.90 of that $95. That's an opportunity cost of 61.90/12,000 = a bit over half a cent/mile. A mile is worth way more than that by anyone's calculation.

      Now I would never consider investing a lot of money in a higher but still very low C.D., because that money is not liquid. But when I am between investments, depositing my cash in this BankDirect account seems like a very good deal, so long as interest rates remain very low.

      Of course, for the first year, the other bonuses make this account very worthwhile for a minimum balance of $2,500.

• 50 miles per month for every $1,000.00 maintained in a Mileage Money Market Account, up to the first $200,000 on deposit. Earn an additional 25 miles per $1,000 for collected balances over $200,000.
• Earn 1,000 miles for every $1,000 invested in a two-year Mileage CD purchase up to $200,000. Additionally, earn 25 miles per $1,000 invested over $200,000.
• Earn 500 miles for every $1,000 invested in a one-year Mileage CD purchase up to $200,000. Additionally, earn 25 miles per $1,000 invested over $200,000.
• Earn 250 miles for every $1,000 invested in a six month Mileage CD purchase up to $200,000. Additionally, earn 25 miles per $1,000 invested over $200,000.
• Earn 1,000 miles for each new Mileage Checking Account or Mileage Money Market Account opened. Additionally, earn 1,000 miles for every $100,000 in initial deposit, up to $500,000, per household.
• An additional 1,000 miles if you are referred by someone before you open an account. I can no longer do this, as the bank is now enforcing its 10 referral limit. I have no idea why they do this. Try asking for a referral on Flyertalk or Milepoint.
• 1,000 miles for each successful referral you make to the bank. Consider family members, for example.
• 1,000 miles to convert your Regular Checking or Regular MMA to an interest bearing Mileage Checking Account or Mileage Money Market Account
• Earn 10,000 miles for establishing full payroll direct deposit from your employer into a Mileage Checking Account. To receive mileage credit for payroll direct deposit, contact BankDirect Client Support to notify then that you have met the minimum qualifications. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for the miles to post to your AAdvantage account.
• Earn 5,000 miles for using BankDirect's bill pay service for 12 consecutive months from a Mileage Checking Account. In order to receive these miles, you have to pay at least 3 different merchants per month from a BankDirect Mileage Checking Account through its online bill payment system for 12 consecutive months. The 5,000 miles are paid out at the end of the 12-month period. To receive mileage credit, contact BankDirect Client Support to notify them that you have met the minimum qualifications. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for the miles to post to your AAdvantage account.
• Earn 5,000 miles for Visa® CheckCard usage. Use the Visa® CheckCard on 12 transactions per statement cycle for 3 consecutive months. To receive mileage credit, contact BankDirect Client Support to notify them that you have met the minimum qualifications. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for the miles to post to your AAdvantage account.
• Limit 2 Mileage transaction accounts per household; one Mileage Checking Account and one Money Market Account.

• You get a free ATM debit card with your checking account. BankDirect charges no fees for using that card at any ATM anywhere in the world (thought the owner of the ATM might charge a fee). Very nice for foreign travel.
• They say to wait 6 - 8 weeks for miles to post after you earn them. But it took only 2 days for my initial opening miles to post.
• There are fees for not maintaining minimum balances on these accounts. For example, the minimum balance to avoid a monthly fee on the mileage checking account is $2,500, and $10,000 for a mileage money market account.

The interest rates and on Mileage CD's are substantially lower that those you can get from regular CD's from BankDirect, and lower still that CD's you can find elsewhere. And the miles received from mileage CD's are lower than those from the checking account. So investing in Mileage C.D's for the purpose of acquiring miles is not particularly attractive.

Annual fee is $55.

Only signature-based purchases (including small dollar purchases that do not require a signature), Internet purchases, phone or mail order purchases or automatic bill payments qualify for mileage earnings. 1 mile/$1 spent. Double for Delta purchases.

The offer is available to residents of AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA and Washington D.C. only.

• Los Angeles Times article on the subject.
• View from the Wing article on the subject
• Flyertalk discussion on the subject

Citibank regularly offers two debit cards that earn miles:

• The Basic card offers 2,000 American Airlines miles up front and costs $25 a year, for a cost of 1.25 cents per mile. It earns 1 mile per $2 spent, but earns no miles on PIN transactions.
• The Premium card offers 4,000 American Airlines miles up front and costs $65 a year, for a cost of 1.625 cents per mile. It earns 1 mile per $1 spent, but earns no miles on PIN transactions. Do the math to see if this is best for you.

• The US Airways debit card gives 3,000 bonus miles for your first purchase with the card, for a cost of 1 cent/mile. There is a maximum of 80,000 miles/year that can be earned from this card.
• The Alaska Airlines debit card gives 3,000 bonus miles for your first purchase with the card, for a cost of 1 cent/mile. The card also offers 3,000 Bonus Miles for each traveler in the reservation for every ticket purchased at alaskaair.com using the card for payment. There is a maximum of 100,000 miles/year that can be earned from this card.

Bank of Hawaii offers a business check (debit) card for $2/month that earns 1 mile/$1 spent on purchases that do not use the "debit" function of a merchant terminal. On May 28, 2008, the website said they will waive the monthly fee for a year. Please tell me when this offer disappears or changes. Thanks.

The bank offers a business check (debit) card that seems the same as the personal card, except it costs $25/year and offers free primary rental car insurance.

Offers of interest as of July 27, 2006. (Please tell me when they change or disappear.)

• Offer of up to 30,000 miles from Deutsch Bank.

AmericanBank offers $20 to new customers who open any interest-bearing checking, savings or money market account with a minimum deposit of $100 and maintain at least $500 in it for 90 days, if are referred by a current account holder. That $20 represents an annualized rate of over 16% for that $500. Try to beat that with any 90 day C.D. I would be happy to refer you, as I get some credit for it at no cost to you. Just ask, after first checking my What's New page to see if I am traveling. I need your first and last names, and your email address.

• After opening your account, you may refer others and receive $40/successful referral. Referred individuals may not reside within your household, but I see nothing that says you can't refer children, parents, or other relatives who reside elsewhere.
• Note that there are several American Banks. This one is not the bank at americanbank.com, which is in Texas. The American Bank described here is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and does online business nationwide. Its website is at http://www.pcbanker.com (because AmericanBank.com was already taken).
• If you choose the AMERICAN e-CHECKING account, you earn some interest on your money.
• There is a $20 closing fee for closing your account within 60 days of opening it.

For the following banks

• All of the offers are for money market accounts. The interest rate varies, but all offer some of the highest rates available nationwide. You can confirm this at BankRate.com. Select CD's and Investments in the pull down menu in the Compare Rates box, then click on MMAs, then MMAs/Savings Accounts, then Search by 100 highest yields. Note that this page is usually out of date. But it gives you a point of comparison to the rate you would get from the bank you are investigating.
• All use the ACH system to allow you to make deposits and withdrawals electronically. You link the account to one or more of your other checking accounts, then go online transfer money between accounts. The transfer usually is completed within 2 business days, sometimes 3.
• You may do an unlimited number of deposits to each account. All allow a maximum of 6 withdrawals per statement cycle. If checks are offered with the account, no more than 3 can clear the account per statement cycle.
• All have good telephone customer service.
• I have maintained personal accounts with all of these banks for at least two years, and usually much longer. I am very satisfied with all of them. The websites of all of them work quite well.
• You can check to be sure the accounts are insured by the FDIC at FDIC web site. Click on "Bank Find" in the left menu, enter the name of the bank.
• All of these banks think (rightly, in my opinion) that once you see what they have to offer, you will keep the account you open. The bonuses and referral fees they pay is are very inexpensive ways for them to acquire new accounts.
• Be sure you fully understand the terms, conditions, and fees for each type of account before opening one.

• ING Bank offers $50 for opening an Electric Orange account. activating your Electric Orange Debit MasterCard®, and using it to make at least 3 signature-based purchases within 45 days of account opening. It offers $25 for opening an Orange Savings account if you are referred to them by a current account holder. They give the referrer $10. Please You must open the account for at least $250 to get the $25 bonus, but there is no minimum to maintain the account. The account has no fees.

  Please allow me to refer you to the Orange Savings account. I need your first name, your last name, and the email address to which you would like the bank to send you the information you need to open the account. First check my What's New page to see if I am traveling, so you will have an expected response time. (Thanks.) You must use the link in the email the bank sends to you to open the account to receive your $25. Please add a sentence saying that you have actually decided to open an account, since you would waste my time and one of my limited number of referrals if you were to ask for one and not open an account. (Thanks.)

  I can obtain only one referral per email address, so if you want referrals for family members and friends, I will need separate information for each.

  • All deposits and withdrawals must be done online or via telephone via the link to your checking account. You may connect up to 3 personal checking accounts to your ING Bank account.
  • The minimum to open an account is $250, and this is done completely electronically. No postage, no deposit slip, super easy.
  • There are no fees for this account. This bank does things the old fashioned way. They have your money. That's enough.
  • The $25 posts to your account about 30 days after you open it and fund it with at least $250. You must keep the account open until the $25 posts.
  • The choice of Orange Savings or Electric Orange depends on the balance you intend to maintain. Higher balances earn higher interest in the Electric Orange account.

   

Mutual Funds

Offer of 1.5 award miles/euro invested in selected funds from DWS Investments.

Home Buying

These miles do cost the lender or broker money. So be sure to compare their rates to those who don't offer miles - the latter may offer better deals. Note also that you may be able to negotiate a lower commission or a lower loan rate by offering to give up the miles.

SmarterTravel has a good article on these offers.

A reader describes how he earned 170,000 United Airlines Miles for $100 in this thread on FlyerTalk. Note that the deal is via Awards for Mortgage, which apparently no longer exists. I have no knowledge of whether or not there are extra fees on these offers that were not found on the United offer. Ask. I suggest you closely follow the discussion. Some good questions and expert advice appear there.

Please tell me about any programs you come across. I will add them here after I check them out. You can often find them through the web site of your favorite airline. Look for the partners of its frequent flyer program. Here are the ones I know about:

• Alaska Airlines
  • Miles4RealEstate offers 10,000 airline miles/$100,000 of real estate transaction value for brokerage, Mortgage and title insurance, moving and relocation, and other unspecified home services.

• United Airlines.
  • Loan, real estate agent, and relocation programs are listed here.
  • AirMiles for Moving offers United Airlines miles for mortgages, real estate agents, and moving.
  • I understand that North American Mortgage is offering United miles for borrowing money from them. Call (800) 500-6262 for details.
  • United lists its bonus offers for home buying and related services here. There are usually several that I have not mentioned above.

• American Airlines.
  • Citibank. Miles for mortgage. Click on Benefits to read the offer.
    • This FlyerTalk discussion describes a 25,000 mile bonus for a home equity line of credit from Citibank.
  • Wells Fargo Bank mortgage program.
  • Chase mortgage offer. 3,500 miles for each $10,000 borrowed at closing, up to 25,000 miles, last I looked.
  • Cendant Real Estate. Miles for choosing one of their real estate agents, and for moving.
  • SIRVA. Miles for choosing one of their real estate agents, and for moving. More info here.
  • loanDepot offers 3,500 AAdvantage miles for applying for and an additional 26,500 AAdvantage miles for funding your loan.
  • The American Airlines website has a page dedicated to real estate offers. If my link doesn't work, go to www.aa.com, and in the left column hover over AAdvantage > Partners & Mileage Programs, and click on Real Estate & Mortgage.

• Delta Airlines.
  • Some real estate and loan programs are listed on Delta's Real Estate & Financial Partners page.
  • AirMiles for Moving offers for brokers, mortgages, and moving.
  • Miles4RealEstate offers 10,000 airline miles/$100,000 of real estate transaction value for brokerage, Mortgage and title insurance, moving and relocation, and other unspecified home services.

• Continental Airlines
• RealEstate.com. Mortgages, re-finance, home equity loans, and real estate broker referrals.
• Prudential Real Estate broker offer.

Car Loans

I do not recommend borrowing money for buying a car. You are almost always much better off making your old car last a few more years, saving up money for the new car, and earning interest on the money saved. That interest alone would probably exceed the value of the miles you would receive from the offers listed on this page, let alone the savings on the interest you would pay on the loan.

Caution: You may be paying for these miles bonuses via higher interest rates. Shop before you accept a loan deal.

• Capital One offers 5,000 American or Alaska miles for funding your car loan through them.
• HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union offers auto loans. Hawaiian Airlines says it offers an unspecified number of miles for loans from this lender.

Other Loans

It appears that banks are just beginning to experiment with the idea of awarding miles for loans other than those for the home. Please tell me about any other of these types of offers you find. Thanks.

If you are looking for a smaller short term loan (less than a year), I may have 0% balance transfer offers listed for certain credit cards. For some, you can get a check for your full credit limit, and then make minimum payments until the 0% offer ends. You can often get another check for that minimum amount you pay once the payment posts. The best way to find these offers is to look on my Free Money page.

Student Finance

Here I list miles producing and cash back offers for savings plans and loans for tuition and other student expenses.

If you or your parents are saving for your college education, it appears to me that it would be a very worthwhile hour of time spent studying this program. Most of your questions are found on the Frequently Asked Questions page (which I found by clicking on the Help link at the top of the front page of the website. However, there are still two questions the answer to which I was unable to find:

• Minimums for transfer to a 529 are alluded to, but never stated. What are they?
• Which 529 plans are on your list for eligibility? (And specifically is yours on it?)

The reader who told me about this program says

"...most 529 plans have annual fees exceeding average consumer's Upromise earnings, so people should decide if it's worth it for them to participate, based on their shopping habits. It doesn't mean they shouldn't join Upromise, of course. There is a way to request a check from Upromise, not subject to any 529 penalties, and something they obviously do not advertise."

"A Canadian Trust Plan / RESP is a registered education savings program. It's a fund which parents put money into every month, which can be cashed when the child is 18 to use on education."

Insurance

Most insurance companies accept credit cards (mileage producing, of course) for payment of premiums. Ask.

• American
• Delta
• Hawaiian

21st Century Insurance offers 200 U. S. Airways miles for getting an auto insurance quote from them and an additional 2,000 miles when you purchase a policy.

A reader tells me you can do this once a year.

Investment Advice

Taxes

Southwest Airlines offers 1,000 points for purchase of TurboTax through April 17, 2012.

TurboTax, and possibly other tax preperation software, can be purchased via many miles and cash back shopping portals. For example, Big Crumbs offers 12% cash back.

H&R Block offers miles or points for your allowing it to prepare your taxes.

Continental Airlines offers miles for use of TaxCut and TurboTax.

Wyndham Rewards offers 500 points for using Jackson Hewitt's tax preparation service.

RewardsDB maintains pages of miles and other offers for purchase of TurboTax, TaxCut, and Complete Tax tax preparation products, so I won't bother. FreeTaxUSA
"Online tax preparation, e-filing, and printing of your federal income return are FREE if you live in one of the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NE, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, UT, VA, or WV and if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $52,000 or less."
I know nothing about this outfit.

• The IRS has a nifty page showing numerous methods for obtaining e-filing for free. Most require that your Adjusted Gross Income be $50,000 or less.
• Often the payment agencies arrange special offers for payment of taxes:
  • Official Payments Corporation
  • LINK2GOV
• American Express lists which state and federal taxes you can pay by credit card. Presumably this includes Visa, Mastercard, and Discover.
• Mastercard has a nifty list of which states accept its card, and via which agents. Presumably those states also accept other cards.
• Redeem American Express Membership Rewards points to credit your Card account for the cost of the convenience fee (200 Membership Rewards points = $1).