deals

Here is a snippet of a weekly advertisement from Albertson’s. We get this in our mail box very often and each time it’s almost the same stuff. Most of the deals in the pamphlet are advertised as 10 for $10.

Yeah…pretty cheap when converted to 1 for $1, but who’s going to buy 10 ?!! $10 for 10 different things is fine, but what’s with trying to sell 10 pounds of plum for $10 to just one customer? Till date, I have never been able to take advantage of Albertson’s *great deals* because of this. May be, Albertson’s doesn’t want to give *great deals* to people like me, or may be they don’t realize that half the people in this town are students who would never buy 5 gallons of milk just because it’s selling cheap at $2 per gallon (may be 5 students can get together and do their shopping in bulk and then redistribute the stuff…but then that defeats the whole purpose of bunching products in groups of 10 and selling them for cheap).

It’s not just Albertson’s, here is another snippet from a similar 10 for $10 ad pamphlet from Kroger:

Probably, some convenience stores make good use of those offers (however, I am not so sure…I am aware that our neighborhood convenience store owners do their bulk shopping in Sam’s Club). Do you (or anyone you know) buy things in that kind of *bulk* from these stores? Do such *great deals* hold any appeal for you?

Sometimes, I wonder if there is a better strategy to offer *great deals* like these. How about offering a “combo basket” with 10 different things (for example, half gallon milk, one bottle of ketchup, a pound of plum (or any other fruit), one pack of waffles, one pack of ice cream, one toothpaste, one pound of tomatoes, one pack of cookies, one pack of frozen vegetables, and one frozen dinner)? May be, more people will be ready to spend $10 for such a combo than spend $10 on buying 10 pints of ice cream. Better than that, wouldn’t more people be willing to buy milk (as much as they want) in multiples of half-a-gallon, at $1 each, rather than 5 gallons at once at $10?

Update: Apparently, the “10 for $10″ text in the advertisements and my singular experience in Albertson’s led me to believe that I cannot buy individual items at discounted price. Readers have reported in their comments that they have made use of such offers to buy just one or two units. Oh!..now I am wondering how many deals I have missed because of this. Anyways, I will head over the nearest Albertson’s at the first available opportunity and check it out myself.

It’s about time I checked my FICO credit score ( rather multiple credit scores ) - been 6 months since I applied for a couple of 0% APR (balance transfers) cards and transferred large balances from the cards to my HSBC Direct account. Now, I want to see if things have gone haywire (or not) after the balance transfers (this will help me plan my future credit card arbitrage moves). Trying to find the best deal for your credit score is really a pain if you don’t know where to look - this led me towards doing some research on the subject, the results of which are described below.

I have compiled all the information I could find and added some recommendations towards the end to highlight the best ways of getting your credit score for cheap (I wanted to use a ranking system…but that might mean comparing apples and oranges, because some of these products are conceptually different than the others). If you know of any other reliable sources of obtaining credit scores for cheap, please feel free to share the information.

Before I get into the details, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Experian does not offer FICO scores through it’s website and TransUnion offers an in-house *TransUnion* score (not a FICO score) with some of it’s programs. So don’t just rush into buying any score that first comes to your attention…read and understand what it means.

I don’t know why they are making it so complicated for the common man. Between the three credit rating agencies, you can get 6 different credit scores (3 different FICO scores for 3 agencies, TransUnion score, Experian Plus score, and VantageScore). Thank god there is just one VantageScore, not three different ones for the three agencies.

To add to the confusion, each credit rating agency and myFICO.com sell different types of products with different types of scores and it really takes a while to figure out what product is using what score. The list below will make the process simpler for some of you…it includes all credit score products available through the three agencies and through myFICO.com. If there are more out there, I will update this list accordingly.

Also, just to be clear, I am talking only about credit scores…not credit reports (you can get free credit reports via AnnualCreditReport.com). My main objective is to find ways to get the score for less money …irrespective of whether it comes with a credit report or not. Another thing, there are no referral links in here…all links for your information purposes only.

Credit scores from TransUnion [Updated: March 27th, 2007]

TransUnion is the master of confusion when it comes to credit scores. It has two different websites www.transunion.com and www.transunioncs.com. On transunion.com (which takes you to truecredit.com for your scores), all scores available are ONLY TransRisk scores (not FICO scores)…which are some in-house scores generated by TransUnion. I was not aware of this before one of the readers made a comment regarding this issue.

I had to call TransUnion in order to figure out where I could get my FICO scores and then they mentioned www.transunioncs.com. I have no idea why TransUnion is doing this two-websites thing….and why there is no mention or link to the FICO scores website on their main website.

Anyways, here is what TransUnion offers on it’s www.transunion.com website (pretty much useless scores):

• TransUnion offers a 30-day free trial of the TransUnion Credit Monitoring program. This program will give you access to your TransUnion credit report and your Trans-Risk credit score based on the credit report. The potential cost of laziness (if you don’t cancel within your trial period) is $9.95 per month. This is not a FICO score.
• It also offers a 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring program for $14.95 per month. No free-trial offer. This thing provides all three credit reports and all three Trans-Risk scores. This is not a FICO score.
• Watch out for this “3-in-1 Credit Report and Free Score” one-time purchase offer from TransUnion for $29.95. This is a different offer than the two above and it provides a *TransUnion* credit score….not a FICO score.

Here are the FICO score offers from TransUnion’s www.transunioncs.com (transunioncs stands for TransUnion Consumer Solutions) website:

• TransUnionCS offers Single Credit Report + FICO score. A one time TransUnion credit report and score for $14.95. There is no trial period.
• It also offers 3-in-1 Credit Report plus FREE FICO Score. This program offers three credit reports but only one credit score…and that is based on TransUnion credit report. The one-time cost is $34.95. No trial period.
• There is also a credit monitoring product available through this website. This product provides you with your TransUnion credit report and FICO score 4 times a year at the cost of $19.95 per quarter($79.8 per year). No trial period.

Credit scores from Experian

• Experian offers a 30-day free trial of the Triple Advantage program, through which you can get all 3 credit reports and Experian Plus Score. Note that the Plus score offered by Experian is not your FICO score. Plus and FICO are similar scoring systems but not the same. Personally, I only care about the FICO scores…so this doesn’t sound attractive to me. Potential cost of laziness (if you don’t cancel within your trial period) is $12.95 per month. (annual cost: $155.4)
• A one-time, non-subscription purchase of Experian credit report and score will cost you $15.
• Experian also offers credit scores calculated using a new credit rating called VantageScore for $5.95. Again, as in the case of the Plus score, this score has nothing to do with your FICO score and hence, doesn’t impress me.

Credit scores from Equifax

• Equifax offers the Score Watch program through which you can get your FICO scores based on Equifax credit report. Monthly subscription cost is $8.95 and there is no free trial offer. (annual cost: $107.4)
• Equifax also offers a non-subscription (one time purchase) program called Score Power for $15.95. With this you will get your Equifax credit report and your FICO score based on that report.

Other sources of credit scores

There are a multitude of third-party credit score providers that go through one of the above agencies to obtain your credit score. Personally, I would not punch in my all my personal information on such third party websites. Apart from the risk of having your identity stolen (or misused), there is also a risk of finding yourself signed up for a ton of trashy snail-mail and junk email if you go through some arbitrary credit score information provider. If you insist on using such websites, make sure you comb through the privacy statements and opt out of any optional services that they might stick to your application.

• The only exception to this rule is AnnualCreditReport.com on which you can get a credit score for $7.95 with your once-a-year free credit report from each credit rating agency (I need to verify this in a better way). AnnualCreditReport.com does not offer credit score as it’s own product…ultimately it’s offered through the individual credit agency.

Credit scores directly from myFICO

Buying your scores directly from myFICO has one advantage..they are just FICO scores (duh!). myFICO offers 5 products as follows:

• myFICO® Identity Theft Security Deluxe: this one gives TransUnion credit report and the corresponding FICO score at $4.95 per month. No free-trial offer. (available for 1 annual payment of $49.95)
• Score Watch: provides Equifax credit report and corresponding FICO score for $8.95 per month. 30-day free trial is available with potential cost of laziness at $89.95.
• FICO standard: just gives a one-time score and credit report for any of the three credit rating agencies for $15.95 each. This is an incredibly bad deal…just stay away from this one.
• FICO Deluxe: All three credit reports and credit scores with a one-time purchase for $47.85.
• Suze Orman’s FICO kit: Suze Orman’s advice and all three credit reports and credit scores with a one-time purchase for $49.95. I don’t know why myFICO has special love for Suze Orman. But, it is noted that the product above (FICO Deluxe) has everything except the Suze Orman advice and it just costs $2.1 less than this Orman-endorsing product. I wonder if Orman’s advice is not much worth than $2.1 then, is it? I won’t recommend this.

Some recommendations on purchasing credit scores for cheap

[Updated March 27th, 2007: according to TransUnion, it does not provide *FICO* scores on www.transunion.com. When I called them up to ask about checking my FICO scores, they directed me to www.transunioncs.com. The following information has been updated to reflect the change]

Based on the above information, it is clear that the cheapest way to get your credit scores is by signing up for free trials and cancelling them before the trial period expires (some people may have ethical issues here and I understand that). If you are just looking at scores for one-time comparison purposes, here are my top recommendations:

• If you want a score based on Equifax credit report, the best option is available on myFICO website through the Score Watch program. Free trial for 30 days. If you forget to cancel, it’s $8.95 per month.
• If you have exhausted the free trial offers in the past, your next best bet is myFICO® Identity Theft Security Deluxe through myFICO website for getting a TransUnion credit report and score. Cancelling within a month will cost you just $4.95.
• If you want to look at all three credit scores and reports just once using a single product, your best choice is FICO Deluxe through myFICO website. It will cost you $47.85. Alternatively, you could buy individual credit scores from myFICO website for Equifax ( Score Watch , $0 free trial - cancel within one month), TransUnion (myFICO® Identity Theft Security Deluxe, $4.95 - cancel within one month), and Experian (FICO Standard, $15.95)…this way all three credit scores will cost you only $20.9. Just remember to cancel them during the trial period.
• Stay away from Experian’s website unless you want the Plus score or the VantageScore.
• Stay away from TransUnion’s www.transunion.com website. FICO scores are only available on www.transunioncs.com.

If you are looking for year-round continuous monitoring, then go for this:

• myFICO® Identity Theft Security Deluxe ($49.95 per year, no free trial) for TransUnion credit report and score. A better option is to purchase the plan and then cancel within a month. That will cost you just $4.95 per month. Doing this every three months will cost you just $19.8 per year……and quarterly monitoring is sufficiently *continuous* for credit scores, in my opinion.

Update: Free credit score offer suggested by a reader

An avid reader of this blog, Gaming the Credit System, mentioned a credit card offer from Washington Mutual that comes with free online acces to credit score. In case you find the card attractive, the free score is an additional incentive. Thanks GCS.

Most credit scores will come in a combination of score+ credit report, so don’t go about buying a separate report if you are ordering a score.That’s all for now, good luck with your next credit score purchase. I think by now you fully understand why this stuff may be really confusing to some people. If you have something more to add, just drop a line and I will include it.

And while I still have your attention, let me mention it here that you can subscribe to this blog by clicking on the following buttons:

Yesterday, I was trying to put together some documentation for a mail-in rebate and got to thinking about mail-in rebates in terms of why’s and how’s. In my quest to learn more about the mind games behind mail-in rebates, I stumbled on a very interesting paper titled ” The Consumer Psychology of Mail-in Rebates: A Model of Anchoring and Adjustment“. Everyone knows about the basic psychology behind mail-in rebates; from a retailer’s point of view, it can be concisely put as: bait, sell, delay, and hope that the customer messes up. However, the paper goes beyond this basic psychology to explain why consumers behave the way they do when it comes to mail-in rebates. Here are some key excerpts from the paper:

We argue that there is uncertainty associated with performing effort in the future and that consumers use this uncertainty to justify a preferred purchase precision. If consumers are motivated to purchase a rebated product, they overestimate their probability of redeeming the rebate in order to make the purchase more attractive. However, if they are motivated to avoid purchasing that product, they underestimate their probability of redeeming the rebate in order to make the purchase seem unattractive.

In the context of mail-in rebates, we propose that when consumers are strongly motivated to purchase a rebated product, they might choose the product mindlessly without elaborating about the likelihood of rebate redemption, or simply use the rebate as a reason to buy the product.

Though the main theme of the paper is about mail-in rebates, there are some other analogous insights into consumer psychology. Read this and you will know what I am talking about :

…. the main points that we make hold true in any situation in which the rational evaluation of a purchase opportunity requires a consumer to incorporate an estimate of their own future actions. For example, an exercise machine is worth it if the consumer believes s/he will exercise sufficiently, and buying a car might be better than taking cabs if the usage of the car will be sufficiently large….

….If a consumer is motivated to buy the exercise machine or the car, he might tell himself that his usage rates will be high – on the contrary, if they were motivated to avoid these purchases, they might convince themselves that they don’t really have the time to exercise too often, or that they don’t commute a lot.

Click here for the entire paper; it’s 38 pages long, so…good luck . You might have to register with Social Science Research Network in order to obtain the full text (it’s free).

The paper is an outstanding source of information on this matter, but it talks more about the “pre-purchase” psychology behind mail-in rebates. However, in my opinion, it is the “post-purchase” period that the retailers are banking on for profits. I think they create a lot of requirements (lot of documents/time contraints….stumbling blocks if you prefer) just to increase the probability that you will fail at least one of them. That sort of delivers a one-two punch to the consumer…you first bought the product (because of a mindset that the above-mentioned paper explains)..and then you stumble along the way (throw away a bar code sticker…or your dog eats the receipt or whatever). For retailers, this is good news…first the sales rise, and then there are profits due to unclaimed rebates.

Here is a silly analogy to mail-in rebates that crystallized after some thoughts. Have you seen a track & field hurdles race? Mail-in rebates are like that. You are the runner, the rebate money is your finish line, and the sundry requirements are the hurdles. If you knock even one hurdle off, you will be disqualified. Some make it, but some won’t. If you start loosing often, you will think twice before you participating in the next hurdles race.

Winkflash is currently running the following promotions:

100 free photo prints (4×6); shipping 99¢ - offer code: VP32WE54

50 free photo prints (4×6); shipping 99¢ - offer code: WF23EA73

Keep an eye on whether you are being charged $3.49 for the 100 photo offer; some people have reported that happening (it is still a good deal).

Thanks NKu for sending this information.

Below is a quick review of some major players for cell phone deals in the market. When compared to brick-and-mortar retail shops, these online shops provide better phones for much lower prices and a large variety of choices when it comes to free phones. Most deals are not just “free”; they also make you some money through mail-in rebates. However, like for every other online transaction, one needs to read the fine print carefully. I have highlighted some important points that warrant consideration, towards the end of this post.Wirefly.com

This is owned and operated by Inphonic Inc. According to Wiki:
“The company’s central online storefront, Wirefly.com, has received a number of Internet awards, including Forbes magazine’s “Best of the Web” for 2004 and Keynote System’s “Best In Overall Customer Experience” in 2005.”

Apparently they know their business well. Like all other websites in this category, Wirefly.com offers large mail-in rebates with many nice phones. However, watch out for a $9 “processing fee” when you checkout. 2nd day shipping is free.

Letstalk.com

I like these guys the best. You can make your cell phone deals sweeter using a combination of Ebates.com and Letstalk.com. Ebates.com is offering a $30 discount if you go through them to Letstalk.com to sign a new contract. In addition, Letstalk.com usually offers great deals on cell phones when you sign a new contract with any of the listed service providers. It is not unusual to find some nice free phones with $100 mail-in rebate after activation. The website doesn’t charge any processing fees. Also offers 2nd day free shipping.

Cellularchoices.net

These guys act like agents (I think) for Letstalk.com and Wirefly.com. However, the deals found on Cellularchoices.net are not the same as those found on the two websites. Also, currently it’s running a $25 Mastercard gift card promotion till Jan 31st on all it’s phones. Surprisingly, even though it places the orders through the Wirefly.com (Inphonic Inc) infrastructure, it does not charge the $9 processing fee that Wirefly.com charges. Free 2nd day shipping.

Amazon.comIt used to offer some very good cell-phone deals about a few years ago, but now-a-days I don’t find anything worth mentioning here. However, like other websites, there are a lot of free phone choices available….phones that you wouldn’t get through retail outlets. Shipping is free here too.There is a jungle of websites that offer similar deals ….but if you look closely, they are just different portals (or agents) of one (or more) parent source company (companies).:) Here are some examples:

Cellularchoices.net orders are fulfilled by Letstalk.com or Wirefly.com/Inphonic;

Easycellphones.com orders are fulfilled by Letstalk.com;

Younevercall.com orders are fulfilled by Wirefly.com/Inphonic;

Freecellularphonedeals.net orders are fulfilled by Wirefly.com/Inphonic;

There are some things you should remember before you get into this:

1. There is mail-in rebate involved.
2. Usually with these deals, activation fee is charged (approx. $30~$35), so some part of your free money is lost. Make sure you account for that.
3. Read your terms and conditions carefully if you want your rebate. For example, here is an excerpt from the “Rebates Terms and Conditions” on On Letstalk.com:
   

   NOTE: Your rebate submission must be postmarked between Dec 1, 2006 and Feb 1, 2007 or we will be unable to process your rebate request.

   …and an excerpt from Amazon.com:

   Your price paid includes an equipment discount of $250 that has been provided to you by Amazon.com for activating a new line of service with T-Mobile and maintaining this new line of service with the selected rate plan in good standing for a minimum of 181 consecutive days. If these conditions are not met, you herein agree to a $250 reimbursement to be paid to Amazon.com.

4. Also, you might have to wait for quite some time for the rebates to get in your bank. ALL websites will have clauses like these:
   Letstalk.com

   Your rebate submission will be processed and any check mailed by the later of 150 days after your order activation / ship date OR ten weeks after receipt of a properly completed rebate form.

5. Usually for maximum mail-in rebates, 2-year contracts are common. The rebates are lesser for 1-year contracts. At times, it helps to call them and persuade them to give you maximum mail-in rebates on 1-year contracts…if you are lucky they might just agree.
6. During checkout, watch out for those default “Yes” to options like “Add a charger for $19.99″. You need to switch them to “No” before you confirm the transaction. Not many of those listed above will do that, but watch out just in case.
7. Read #1 again.

My personal experience

I recently ordered phones through Letstalk.com and it worked well for me. I usually don’t go for mail-in rebates (why?), but this deal was one of the few exceptions that I allow every once in a while. We went with a T-mobile family plan (two phones) and the total distribution was like this: Mail-in Rebate(+$200); Ebates discount (+$30); Activation fee(-$70); Total 200+30-70=+$160. Not bad :).

I should also mention here that I also had a very good experience with Letstalk.com as far as their customer service is concerned. Initially, I got two Motorola phones (I think they were both V195 models) and both had trashy reception. Sent those back and got two Samsung phones in return. All this was made really easy by Letstalk.com. They were not like those PITA-customer-service guys I usually encounter….and no sir, this is not pay-per-post ..or any such thing.

A few months ago I got an offer from Chase which said this:

I think I was “chosen” for the offer because I rarely use my Chase card anymore (just a few bucks every month or so to keep it active). Anyways, this offer caught our attention and so we (me and my wife) stopped using our respective Citi Diamond Preferred Cards (that were giving us ThankYou points) and started using my Chase credit card for all our purchases..in the hopes of getting that free companion ticket. $500 was no big deal because our regular credit card expenses average about $800 per month (all of which is paid off).

And finally it came…the free ticket voucher that we were eagerly waiting for. Below are a couple of scans from the voucher. Have a look and let me know what you think about this. The voucher basically divides all of the US into different zones (first image) and there is a price table for zone-to-zone travel (last image).

Essential fine print: There is a $9.95 processing fee for each ticket and taxes and fees are not included in the above rate chart. I will not disclose the rest of the fine print at this time.

So what do you think of this free airline ticket offer from Chase? Is this a teaching moment about free stuff?

I am not very pro-black-friday when it comes to electronic stuff, because I have seen better deals on a lot of stuff on non-black-friday days. But, this thing really got my attention. I stumbled on this piece on Electronista.com and just couldn’t believe my eyes. Here is a screenshot:

If you are looking for a laptop, then there is nothing like that, if it exists. There must be a catch though which is not made very clear in the advertisement. Hopefully people will read it before they spend the money. I think it has got to do something with the 12-month Vonage subscription..that costs about $180+taxes, so it might get a bit expensive-er than $99. In that case, you might want to check Bestbuy.com for a $249 deal for a Toshiba notebook with approximately same configuration.

And if you don’t need a laptop, it doesn’t matter if it’s $99 or $249…you will be wasting your money if you buy one when you don’t need one..so keep that in mind.

Happy turkey digesting all you guys.

I was using a SanDisk 256 MB USB flash drive for the last two years…(yeah laugh if you want). Finally, after a lot of search and price comparison, I gave in to the one shown in the image alongside. Turned out to be a pretty sweet deal for me. Got two 1 GB flash drives for 30 bucks! Buy.com was selling the two-drive-pack for $40 and I got another $10 off for using Google checkout. My wife didn’t like the shape of it, but whatever….it’s good enough for $15 apiece.

If you are buying something online, don’t forget to check if Gooogle checkout is getting you the $10 off. Many of websites are running this promotion.

Btw, the old 256 MB was bought for around $50 two years ago!!

Old drive price per MB = 19.53 cents
New drive price per MB = 1.43 cents !!
A priceless question that I cannot answer yet without any guilt: Do I need a 1GB flash drive?

I got this through email and wanted to share with y’all. The link below takes you to a Office Depot page that gives you a $30 off on your purchase of $150 or more (basically 20% discount).

$30 off on a purchase of $150 or more link

The link will work, but in case it doesn’t, use this coupon code during check out: 29045118

Before you go on a shopping spree at Office Depot, like all good personal finance enthusiasts, let’s read the fine print:

“Excludes technology purchases including (but not limited to) configure-to-order computers, desktop computers, notebook/laptop computers, fax machines, monitors, LCD projectors, printers, all-in-one machines, copiers, scanners, networking products, memory, PDAs, and digital cameras.” …”Free delivery in local delivery areas only for orders over $50.”

The link worked when I checked it last at 12:20 pm today. Here is what you should expect to see at some point of time during your checkout:

The email I received said it expires on 10/31, but from the image above it is clear that you can use the coupon code till 11/06.
Wish you happy and wise shopping at Office Depot.