It’s been 26 days since my last post. As I expected, my financial situation has taken a plunge.

The total bill for the car repairs cost $1,360. That totally puts me in a place where I’m no longer keeping the $5,600 of assets. After this bill, I was definitely in the negatives for my net worth. After reallocating large chunks of my savings, I decided to pay this off completely after charging it on my Citi Driver’s Edge card for some rebates. And then I paid off my Citi Diamond Preferred card as well. That much amount of debt for me right now is not fun to look at. Now I only have three credit cards that carry a balance: my Am Ex Sky Blue, Citi Driver’s Edge, and BofA’s World Points (MBNA).
Because I paid off two credit card debts all at once, my emergency savings account is sitting at an ugly pitiful $755. I am at less than 10% of my goal now. Sigh.

Speaking of my savings account and as ratna commented on my previous post, FNBO kicked their rates down to an incredibly sad 4.3%. The fed rates getting cut is always a bad thing for online savings accounts. Surprisingly, Savings Square is still riding high at 4.80%. Maybe I should just join them. Here’s an updated list:

ING Direct is so pathetic. They chop down their rates more and faster than any online savings accounts out there. I’m surprised WaMu hasn’t made a cut since November. Impressive. I’ve tried to register an account with them online but it’s been freaking impossible because their system won’t recognize my information. Maybe I’ll try going into the branch next time. In other news, I’ve been using my Am Ex Sky Blue credit card for everything and it’s been working out great. I’m racking up points like crazy. I’ll be going away on a vacation soon. But probably later.

Uh, oh. As the title of the article says, federal fund rate was cut a quarter point. I finally noticed a new APY rate when I checked my ING Direct account yesterday.

What a surprise. ING Direct has been known to drop its rates like no other and after federal rates were cut .25%, ING Direct’s Orange Savings account is now at 4.1% APY. Does this matter to me even though I don’t use ING’s account except to earn referral bonuses? Well, not really but knowing that a big company like ING is dropping rates so quickly is unfortunate. Who knows which online bank is going to do the same next time?

FNBO Direct, the online savings account I use, is still above the 5% APY category. FNBO did drop .2% a while back during September but it’s certainly been more consistent than ING has. My previous article about the best online savings account with $1 to open needs to be updated since many of them have different rates now. UFB is down to 5.22%, Savings Square is at 5.00% and iGoBanking is at 4.9%. It seems that UFB did the best to manage (out of the banks that lowered their rates) with the new federal rates by only decreasing their original APY % by .9%. Anything above 5.0% for an online savings account is still pretty nowadays.

I’m only going to be discussing online savings accounts, not money markets, CDs or anything else. All of these banks only require $1 to open and there are no fees at all. This post is for people like me who right now can’t afford to open an account that have high minimums to open.

I got $26 for basically nothing at all on Halloween:

1. I received a free burrito bowl at Chipotle, one of my favorite restaurants, for wearing a piece of aluminum foil on my arm on Halloween. I believe Chipotle does this every Halloween and even during other holidays. Also, if you are a student, you can receive a free drink by showing your student ID. So, keep it even after you graduate college.

2. Sharedreviews.com finally reviewed all five of my reviews and rewarded me with $10. I only reviewed five to see how things would go and now I’m liking it. Reviewing five things took me no more than 15 minutes. They must be extremely packed with other reviews since it took about eight days for my reviews to be approved. Here’s a link if you are willing to earn easy cash on the side: sharedreviews.com

3. FNBO Direct’s 5.05% APY earnd me nearly $10 on interest for the month of October. And speaking of FNBO Direct, they offer FNBO Direct ExtraEarning Visa Card to selected members. Here are the card’s features:

• 7.99% fixed APR.
• Earn cash back faster with 2% back for the first 12 billing cycles and 1% back after that directly deposited into your FNBO Direct Online Savings Account.
• Redeem your cash back by requesting a $25 deposit into your FNBO Direct account for every $1,250 in purchases on the card for the first 12 billing cycles after your account is opened. After that, rewards are redeemable in $25 increments for every $2,500 in purchases.
• No annual fee.
• 7.99% balance transfer APR.

Not too bad. I don’t think I will apply for this card though. The purchase APR is pretty good and the rewards are extra, but I don’t need it.

4. I have three subscribers now. I don’t know who you are, but thanks, guys!

Sometime in November last year, I enrolled in the Keep the Change program at BofA. This is how KtC works: When you purchase a, for example, a can of soda for $.75 with your Visa Check Card (a.k.a. your debit card), BofA will round that up to the next dollar amount and transfer the difference to your savings account. It feels like I just got free $.25 tossed into my savings account, but not really since it’s still my money just transfered from one account to another. I thought it was kind of lame and wanted to enroll out of it (but I couldn’t figure out how ), but after receiving this email from BofA today, I’ve changed my mind.

Dear SEAN S KIM,

It’s been almost a year since you enrolled, and as of 09/28/07 you’ve saved $178.58 with Keep the ChangeTM.

Now, how easy was that?

Your savings total includes a matching bonus from Bank of America. As of 09/28/07, your first year’s accrued bonus was $31.73. Your first year’s matching bonus will be credited to your savings account following your anniversary date on 11/01/07 and will be identified on your periodic statement as “Annual Keep the Change match for Account 1225.”

Interesting. I guess I’m going to be getting more than $30 for basically spending like I usually do. Which is actually pretty cool. It’s almost as if I’m earning interest on my spendings in a cool way. Yeah! I was a bit confused on what exactly KtC did, and even some people said that it’s a stupid way to overdraft. Well, don’t have less than $5 in your checking account then, you broke bastards. Here’s the fine print for KtC:

We match 100% of the amount of your Keep the Change transfers during the first three months after you enroll, and we will match 5% thereafter. The maximum total match is $250 per year.

The matching funds will be credited to your savings account annually, within 8 weeks after the month in which the anniversary of your enrollment in the Keep the Change savings service occurs. To receive the matching funds, your checking and savings accounts must be open and in good standing and you must still be enrolled in the Keep the Change savings service at the time the matching funds are credited. Purchases with co-branded or rewards Check Cards are not eligible for matching.

From now on, BofA will match just 5% on my “savings”. Not bad even if it’s interest on a small amount.