Advertisers have made an art out of making something seem like it is a great deal, especially when it is not.  There are tons of phony bargains out there waiting for you to spend your hard earned money on them, but being able to identify them for what they are will make you much less likely to fall for the tricks.  Here are some false bargains that you can definitely do without.

Frequent Flyer Reward Credit Cards

When these credit cards first hit the market, they were the latest thing and their popularity skyrocketed to where nearly everyone who flew periodically had some type of frequent flyer reward credit card.  Now that the novelty has worn off, many people are seeing that these credit cards are not such a great thing after all.  In the intervening years, the benefits have shrunk, the number of seats available has decreased, booking fees are imposed for most flights, and the number of miles needed to redeem a reward has increased dramatically.  A better choice would be a reward credit card that offers cash back on your purchases so you can choose what to purchase with that money.

Interest Bearing Checking Accounts

A checking account that earns interest for the account holder sounds like a great deal – until the terms and conditions of the account are read.  Most interest bearing checking accounts offer a very small interest rate, often less than 0.25%, but require high minimum balances to avoid monthly maintenance fees on the account.  For example, the average minimum balance for these checking accounts is $3,400, an amount that will earn less than $5 in annual interest, but dropping below this amount could cost you $25 per month in maintenance fees for the account.  You are much better off opening a free checking account that does not pay interest and has a much lower minimum balance requirement.

Going Out Of Business Sales

Many people go to “going out of business” sales expecting to actually see fire-sale prices, but this is often not the case.  In order to make as much money as possible, many closing stores advertise sale prices that are not much different from the prices you would have paid before the liquidation started.  Price shopping competitors will quickly show you that there is not much difference in the price and you may be better off buying the item from a competitor that will be around long enough to handle any issues that arise with your order.

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Tags: checking accounts, credit cards, rewards

This entry was posted on Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 8:31 pm and is filed under tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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