For being such a wonderful customer, Verizon Wireless is offering me the chance to increase my talking habits in turn to increase the chance I’ll go over my plan’s limit and pay for excess “overage.” Yes, they sent me a reward of 100 free anytime minutes, which I will retrieve from a special website for ... Continue reading this article…

About a year ago, TD Ameritrade customers began receiving spam sent to email addresses used only with that company. TD Ameritrade admitted customers’ contact information had been compromised. Reading in between the lines, the recent announcement of a database breach at Ameritrade seems to be the same event. From what I can tell from Ameritrade’s ... Continue reading this article…

Until earlier this summer, I had been living with less than 30 cable television channels, one third in a language not spoken by me. I reduced my cable subscription a few years ago in an effort to save some money. When I moved into my new apartment, I was offered free cable for a year, ... Continue reading this article…

The MoneyBlogNetwork was formed in January 2006 to bring together some of the top blogs in the personal finance niche, and today the network is happy to report some additions. No Credit Needed and Get Rich Slowly are joining the six prior members of the network. I respect NCN, J.D., and their blogs immensely and ... Continue reading this article…

American Express originally issued only “charge cards,” which required users to pay back their entire balance every month. This is my preferred method — in fact, my only method — of dealing with revolving credit with an interest rate. These days, American Express also offers typical credit cards, complete with annual fees, interest on carried-over ... Continue reading this article…

To complete — at least for now — my living room upgrade, I purchased a Toshiba HD-DVD (HD-A20) from Circuit City. Just looking at the listing now, I see the price has increased since Tuesday from $359.99 to $399.99. In fact, in the store, the advertised price was $399.99, but after showing the listing on ... Continue reading this article…

In writing about the purchasing of a new Sharp Aquos HDTV, I forgot to mention the extended warranty. I tried to use circuit City’s extended warranty as a bargaining chip to see if the salesman could lower the price. That didn’t work, so I left the store without the plan. For $190, if the television ... Continue reading this article…

Dow down to 13,041.85, S&P 500 down to 1,432.36, Nasdaq down to 2,500.64, Flexo’s net worth down by over $1,500 today. That last statistic is due to a long-overdue upgrade in living room entertainment. [AP]

Updated December 1, 2008. Any indented text is excerpted directly from Capital One’s marketing. Capital One has been in the news recently for two issues relevant to card holders. First, the company reversed their policy on reporting credit limits so FICO scores are not adversely affected. Later, Capital One closed its wholesale mortgage business, distancing ... Continue reading this article…