With today’s rough economy we should always be looking to save money.  Checkout the new Chase Freedom cash back card that pays you whopping 3% cash back for gas, groceries and fast food purchases for the first 6 months.  3% may not sound like a lot but it ads up over time.

Card Features:

• 3% Bonus cash back on gas, groceries and fast food purchases for the first six months
• 1% Unlimited cash back on everything else. No cap. No expiration.
• 0% Intro APR on purchases only for up to 12 months.
• No annual fee

1 - Get a Higher Deductibles
Deductibles represent the amount of money you pay before your insurance policy kicks in. Requesting higher deductibles will lower your costs substantially. For example, increasing your deductible from $200 to $500 could reduce your collision and comprehensive coverage cost by 15 percent to 30 percent. Going to a $1,000 deductible can save you 40 percent or more.

2 - Reduce coverage on older cars
Consider dropping collision and/or comprehensive coverages on older cars. It may not be cost-effective to continue insuring cars worth less than 10 times the amount you would pay for coverage. Any claim payment you receive would not substantially exceed your premiums minus the deductible. Claims occur on average only once every 11 or 12 years. Auto dealers and banks can tell you the worth of a car, or you can look it up online at Kelley Blue Book. Review your coverage at renewal time to make sure your insurance needs haven’t changed.

3 - Buy your homeowners and auto coverage from the same insurer
Many insurers will give you a discount if you buy two or more types of insurance from them. Also you may get a reduction if you have more than one vehicle insured with the same company. Some insurers reduce premiums for long-time customers. But shop around; you may save money buying from different insurance companies despite the multi-policy discount.

4 - Take advantage of Low-Mileage Discounts
Some companies offer discounts to motorists who drive a lower than average number of miles per year. Low mileage discounts can also apply to drivers who carpool to work.

5 - Ask About Group Insurance
Some companies offer reductions to drivers who get insurance through a group plan from their employers, or through professional, business and alumni groups and other associations. Ask your employer or any groups or clubs to which you belong.

6 - Maintain Good Credit
Your credit rating may affect what you pay for insurance, so keep a close eye on it. Credit makes insurance rates more accurate, fair and objective. While the use of insurance scoring varies from state to state and company to company, it is a fact that drivers with long, stable credit records have fewer accidents than drivers who don’t. There are various Internet services that allow you to check your credit rating and provide tips on how to improve your score.

7 - Safe Driver Discounts
Companies offer discounts to policyholders who have not had any accidents or moving violations for a number of years. You may also qualify for a cut if you have recently taken a defensive driving course.

8 - Shop around
Prices vary from company to company, so it pays to shop around. Get at least three price quotes. Sites like this make it easy to get quotes! You can call companies directly or access information on the Internet. Your state insurance department may also provide comparisons of prices charged by major insurers.

Get quotes from different types of insurance companies. Some sell through their own agents. These agencies have the same name as the insurance company. Some sell through independent agents who offer policies from several insurance companies. Other companies sell directly to consumers over the phone or via the Internet.

Auto Insurance

Are you a small business owner or even an individual who would love an easy way to manage all your receipts?  If so, you may want to consider trying Shoeboxed.com.  Shoeboxed is a free web site where you can store and organize all your receipts.

Shoeboxed will even scan your receipts for you through their Receipt Mail-In program for a fee.  For $19.95/month, you can mail your receipts in a pre-paid envelop.  Shoeboxed will then scan your receipts and mail the original receipts back to you.  You can then access your receipts online which allow you to sort and export to Excel, Quicken and other popular applications. There is a 30 day money-back guarantee if you want to try it out.

Shoeboxed offers many free tools for organizing your receipts online which includes:

• Easy aggregation of all your scanned and email receipts
• Export functionality for Quicken, Excel, CSV, and PDF expense reports
• Automatically generated statistics about your spending
• Powerful blocker of spammy emails

Visit Shoeboxed.com for more information

This is cool!  U.S. Bank is offering $100 in free gas when you sign-up for a new cash bonus check card.

When you apply for the U.S. Bank Cash Bonus Check Card with a checking account or Business Cash Bonus Check Card with a Business checking account and link it to a Speedpass key tag to purchase gas at Exxon and Mobil pumps, your first $100 spent on gas at Exxon and Mobil stations will be deposited right back into your reward account!

You will also earn 1% cash back after that on every gas purchase at Exxon or Mobil stations.

To get your first $50, purchase $50 in gas at Exxon and Mobil stations. Use your new Cash Bonus Check Card at the pump to earn $50 cash back. To get your second $50 in free gas:

• Sign up for and activate a new Speedpass key tag and link it to your Cash Bonus Check Card.
• Spend $50 at Exxon and Mobil gas pumps using your new Speedpass key tag.
• Get $50 cash back!

This offer ends September 10th! Visit USBank.com for further details.

Starting on September 2nd, the True Earnings Card from Costco and American Express will offer a $25 statement for the first purchase made on the card after sign-up.

Earn cash back virtually everywhere you go; 3% for gasoline, 3% for restaurants, 2% for travel, 1% everywhere else, including Costco.  There is no annual fee with your paid Costco Membership.

The TrueEarnings Card serves as both your American Express Credit Card and your Costco Membership Card No Limit on the Cash Back earned.  Sign-up at American Express.

Check out this really great deal from Discover Card you can sign-up for. You get a cool $50 Cashback Bonus when you make $500 in purchases within 3 months after your account is opened.

This offer is only for new accounts. The card comes with no annual fees and $0 fraud liability protection.

But not only do you get the $50, you also get a the following:

• 5% Cashback Bonus in categories like travel, home improvement stores, department stores, gas, groceries, and restaurants
• 5% to 20% Cashback Bonus at top online retailers through our exclusive online shopping site, ShopDiscover
• Up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on all other purchases automatically
• Unlimited cash rewards that never expire Increase, even double, your rewards every time you redeem for gift cards or instant eCertificates from over 100 brand-name Partners

Keep in mind, you should use credit cards to make you money and not cost you money.  The goal is to use credit cards for the cash back which requires that you pay off the balance every month.  To sign-up visit DiscoverCard.com.

Let’s face it; going to college is very expensive and can become stressful trying to figure out how to pay for it.  If borrowing for college leaves you feeling lost, be assured that you are not alone.

With so many lenders offering so many versions of basic loan types, it can be hard to find the loan that’s best for you. Having options is great. But you need a guide to set you on the right path. To accomplish this, consider SimpleTuition.

SimpleTuition is designed to help find your ideal college loan, and to help you take action. SimpleTuition allows you to compare and apply for student loans from more than 20 lenders to make the best college funding choice for you and your family.

SimpleTuition also offers an objective, sortable, online comparison solution that will make your college borrowing choices a whole lot clearer. Behind their simple, straightforward navigation, a complex engine crunches real numbers to give you real results. SimpleTuition stand behind the accuracy of our results, because they know the importance of this decision for students and families.

Another company to consider is Upromise. Whether you’re preparing for a child to someday enter college, looking to offset the costs for a child currently working toward a degree, or wanting a faster way to repay existing college loans, Upromise will guide you.

Upromise allows you to earn college savings through eligible everyday spending. You can start a college savings plan which allows you to save money on your taxes.  With Upromise you can learn about ways to pay for college and they also offers special discounts, bonuses and money-saving offers.

Your credit score, also called your FICO score, developed by the Fair Issac Corporation, is determined by the information on your credit report.

Your credit score can change from month-to-month and is based on a variety of reasons such as how you pay your bills, loans you have, credit cards you may have opened, and even how many companies have checked your credit report.

Your credit score is determined by 5 main factors:

1 - Payment history to determine how you pay your monthly bills.
2 - Current debt with loans and credit cards. 3 - Length of time you have had credit or how long you have had credit cards and loans.
4 - The type of credit you have.
5 - Credit inquiries on your credit report.

This information is then statistically analyzed to determine a numerical number between 300 and 850 which is ranked as follows:

• Excellent: 750 to 850
• Good: 720 to 749
• Fair: 660 to 719
• Uncertain: 620 to 659
• Poor: 300 to 619

The number represents the creditworthiness of a person, which is the likelihood that the person will pay their bills. Mortgage and auto loans usually use your score to determine interest rate charged. The lower a consumer’s credit score, the higher the interest charged due to the consumer considered a higher risk.

The credit score is typically from one of the three major credit bureaus which include Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. You are entitled to 1 free credit report within a 12-month period from each of the three agencies which are available at Annualcreditreport.com. The report doesn’t list your credit scores, which is available for a fee. Visit Equifax to get your score.

In some states, such as California and Colorado, you can get a free credit report within 30 days of being denied credit or receiving sub-normal credit terms from a lender, due to their credit rating.

A Credit Report provides information about a persons credit collected by the credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) and by consumer reporting companies. Credit card companies, banks, and lenders buy credit reports to analyze consumer credit and payment history.

• Open and closed credit cards
• Past collections
• Home loans
• Auto loans
• Student loans
• Monthly utility bills

Credit Reports will also list companies that have accessed your credit report called a credit inquiry.

With this information lenders and banks determine whether a potential customer will be denied or approved and if approved, the interest rate charged. Typically the lower you credit score, the higher the interest rate charged if the loan is approved.

Related post: Why Do Companies Offer Free Credit Reports?

Today there are so many options when shopping for a car loan. You can pay for it with cash, a loan or lease it. Paying cash of course is the best option, but most people can’t afford to pay cash. Therefore, most will lease or buy via a traditional loan.

Leasing cars are usually done by people looking for a more luxurious car where a loan payment would get them a cheaper car. Also, leasing cars are usually done by people who like to change their cars frequently.

However, the best way to save on purchasing a car is to buy a car that is slightly used where you’ll save some money because the car has depreciated. You will also be able to pay the car off easier because the loan amount will be lower. Additionally, once the loan is paid off, drive the car as long as possible and then pay yourself the loan amount.

Two car loans companies to consider where you can get instant approval for auto loans are as follows:

Instant Approval Auto Loans helps individuals with bad credit, no credit, bankruptcies and other problems get the car loan they deserve. The one-minute application is easy to complete, and there is no cost or obligation.

Instant Car Loans can also help you obtain auto credit even if you have bad credit or no credit. This site online application is also easy to complete at no cost or obligation.

Want more providers to consider? Enter your zip code below then submit to see car loan providers in your area. The best way to save money for a car loan is to simply shop around.

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