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Sony Style, the official Sony electronics site, is giving you $150 credit toward the purchase of any item when you sign up for the Sony Visa credit card.

The application is right online with instant approval available, which means you’d be able to use the card right away to make a purchase on the Sony website.

“Your first single sales receipt purchase made at a SonyStyle store, including SonyStyle.com equal or greater than $299 (”Qualifying Purchase”) will automatically qualify you for a $150 Statement Credit.”

Also, you don’t have to pay any annual fees with this credit card. So getting this card doesn’t cost you anything. Just get the card and save $150 on any purchase of $299 or more.

Use the credit to get a big discount on a Sony Vaio computer, a Sony audio system, a Sony Playstation, a Sony digital camera, a Sony TV - you name it.

Just imagine, you can get a high-end digital camera like the $299.99 Sony Silver Cyber-shot H10 Digital DSC-H10 for half off!

Oh, and shipping is free too!

Link to Offer

Get $30 off any purchase of $100 or more at Banana Republic with this printable coupon.

Just download the coupon, print it out and take it with you to any Banana Republic store.

Link to Banana Republic Printable Coupon

Valid August 8 - September 7, 2008.

Note: There is no bar code on the coupon. All the cashier has to do is enter discount code 497. It says so right on the coupon.

Haha. Sometimes, I just love Buy.com. Here’s their new best-selling laptop promo.

Check this out. They’re selling this refurbished Toshiba notebook computer for just $399.99 with free shipping included.

It comes with a 15.4 glossy wide-screen (HighDef 720p), 2GB memory, DVD burner, card reader, Vista Home Premium (not the crappy Home Basic), and a 120GB hard drive. Nice specs so far.

My problems with this particular laptop:
- crappy Intel Celeron 540 processor (in the title it just says Intel 540; apparently, the Buy.com sales reps know the word ‘Celeron’ is a big turn-off for lots of customers)
- not clear if it includes a wireless adapter and if so what type (the specs only say: “Wireless LAN Supported: Yes)
- 90-day warranty

(I don’t really mind the fact that it’s refurbished. I’ve bought refurbished items before and they work just as well as completely new items. It’s just that “just as well” is not enough. When you’re buying a laptop, it better come with at least a 1-year warranty.)

Who should buy this laptop?
1. You desperately need a new laptop but you can’t afford to spend the $500+ to get a cheap Dell, then this deal might be good enough for you.
2. You’re going to use the laptop for simple things like browsing the web and word processing. Forget about playing the latest games on this.

And finally, if you are really interested in this laptop, you should also live in a state other than CA, MA, NY, or TN. Why? Because Buy.com will charge you sales tax if you are a resident of one of these states.

Here’s one more cellphone deal. How about a free Blackberry PDA smartphone and $100 cash? That’s what Let’s Talk is offering, a BlackBerry Pearl 8130 for free. Plus, a $100 rebate from Sprint means you actually make money off this deal.

Link to Deal

Don’t even feel bad about taking advantage of this deal. Your monthly payments are going to make up at some point for their loss. Of course, it’s still way better than what those cellphone dealers in the mall could ever offer. So if you’re looking for a new contract anyway, this is a pretty hot deal.

The only catch: you have to sign a 2-year agreement with Sprint. If you’ve been following this blog closely over the last year, you also know that there’s a good chance though that you’ll be able to get out of the contract much sooner than that and without paying an early termination fee. Just wait for Sprint to make changes to your contract (like increasing text messaging rates). All the carriers have been doing it periodically. And by law, whenever they make such a change to your contract, you can get out without having to pay any ETF. Why get out of a cellphone contract? Well, to jump on the next free phone deal of course and to make some extra money by selling your old phone on Craigslist. That’s the Cashrunner way.

Anyways, here’s the deal. Keep in mind the orginal retail price for this smartphone is $499.99.

Product Price: FREE
Shipping: FREE shipping on all cell phones with a service plan!
Price Today: FREE
Mail-in Rebate(s): $100 Sprint mail-in rebate w/ Smartphones!
$25 credit from leading online entertainment providers!
After Rebate(s): You make $100.00

So let’s get this clear. You’re not charged anything for the phone. The phone is free. Plus, you also get free shipping

But that’s not it. There’s also a $100 Sprint mail-in rebate. Yes, I know it can be a hassle. Just be sure to photocopy everything you mail out and stick a post-it note on your desk to remind yourself to follow up on the rebate, and you should be all fine. You’ll get the $100 rebate. So now you’re getting a free phone and you’re making $100 on top of that. Not bad.

But hey, that’s still not it. On top of the free phone and the $100 rebate check, you also get a $25 credit from “leading online entertainment providers”. Here are your “entertainment” options: 50 Free Songs from eMusic, 25 Free Songs from Napster; $25 in audio books from Simply Audiobooks; 1 Free Game from Shockwave; or $20 for purchasing or renting downloadable movies from CinemaNow. Actually, I don’t think this last part of the offer is all that great. It’s not the same as $25 cash. Still, you can’t really complain about free music or free movies.

Here are some of the features of this phone (from Let’s Talk website):
2.0 Megapixel Camera, Flash, Video Playback, GPS Capable, Bluetooth, Speakerphone, MP3 Player, PDA, etc.

Included Accessories:
* Lithium ion battery
* Compact wall charger
* Stereo earbud headset
* USB data cable
* Leather pocket

Washington Mutual is now offering a 12-month CD (and also a 13-month CD) with an amazing APY of 5%. It is the best CD offer out there from a major bank. I can’t believe some people are still putting up with savings accounts that give them less than 1%.

Link to WaMu Offer

The minimum deposit required to open this CD account is $1,000. It’s an Online CD, so you have to open it online. You can’t go to a branch. In addition, according to the terms of the offer, to obtain the APY for the effective date on the day you apply, the Online CD account must be funded within seven (7) calendar days. As with any other CD account, early withdrawal penalties (i.e. 90 days interest) apply.

Note: Beware! The financial services industry is going through some major turmoil right now. Washington Mutual is no exception. Since your deposit accounts at Washington Mutual will be FDIC insured, there’s absolutely no risk of losing any funds as long as your deposit is less than $100,000. In these troubled times, I would not keep more than $100,000 in any single bank account. If a bank goes bankrupt, you will likely lose any amount above the $100,000 for which your account is insured.

The deal Is back! AT&T Wireless is offering a refurbished Nokia 2610 for just $9.99, a steep discount from the $149.99 retail price. Also, it’s a GO Phone, so you don’t have to sign a long-term contract. It’s all prepaid. You could use it as a backup phone. Heck, it’s so cheap.

You may remember AT&T was running a similar promotion back in February (Last Nokia 2610 Post). If you want this phone, you’d better hurry. It’s sure to sell out once again.

Link to Offer

Not only do you get free shipping and free online activation when you buy this for the super-low price of just $9.99, but get this: You also get $10 worth of free airtime. You’re basically getting a free phone.

Retail Price (New) $149.99
Refurb Discount - $140.00
Total Due Today $9.99
You Save $140.00

American Express will give you 5000 bonus points when you sign up for their Green Rewards Card and use it to make any purchase. The card is available both as a consumer credit card and also as a business card. The 5000 points are worth $50 and are redeemable for gift cards from major retailers (e.g. Banana Republic, Dell, etc.).

There are a couple of reasons why American Express seems to be able to give away such generous bonuses:
1. Merchants have to pay American Express relatively high fees when customers pay them using American Express cards. That’s right. And it’s usually more than Visa and MasterCard charge.
2. Cardholders usually pay annual fees. In turn, they can earn better rewards with their cards. Many Visa and MasterCard credit cards, on the other hand, do not charge annual fees. At the same time, their rewards programs are generally not as good as the American Epxress rewards program.

As a potential cardholder, you need only be worried about the fees that you have to pay American Express. So what are the fees? Do you have to pay to get the $50 bonus? Actually, no. With this card, there is no annual fee for the first year. If you decide to cancel the card before the second year, you do not have to pay any annual fee. Either way, the bonus is yours to keep.

I admit the $50 bonus is not quite as generous as the $100+ bonuses available with some of the other cards we list, but $50 is still something. And if you apply for more than one card, the total value of the bonuses quickly add up to a considerable sum. At last count, it was more than $1,100. Not bad, eh? All of that is basically free money considering that you don’t have to pay any fees to get the bonuses.

You can apply for the American Express Green Card right online and instant approval is available for both cards.

Link to American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card (Consumer Credit Card)

Link to American Express Business Green Rewards Card (Business Credit Card)

Get a 14-day trial membership at 24 Hour Fitness with this printable guest pass right from their website.

Link to Offer

I hate gym guest passes. I’ve used them a few times over the years and it’s always the same. 24 Hour Fitness actually makes you turn in your driver license at the customer service desk when you go there to work out. No, they don’t just want to see it. They want to keep it as a deposit while you work out. And that’s not it. Before you can even sign up for the trial, they actually make you fill out a form so they can enter your personal information into their computer database. That way they can always keep track of you even after your membership is over. They even ask about your job. It’s ridiculous.

As annoying as they can be, if you are interested in becoming a member at a gym, a trial membership is a must. The best gym deals require long-term commitments. Obviously, you will want to check out the gym in and out before you agree to any long-term deal. The longer the trial, the better. That’s why I like this trial offer. It’s not just 7 days but a whole 2 weeks.

Got IRA?

Washington Mutual will give you a $100 bonus when you open a new IRA account with them. This is an awesome deal, especially if you are already a Washington Mutual customer.

You will need to make monthly $100 transfers from your Washington Mutual checking account. The bonus will be deposited within 30 days of the first such transfer from your checking account. Also, there is no maintenance fee for the IRA account as long as you make those regular deposits.

Link to Offer

From Washington Mutual website:

“$100 bucks says you’ll love your retirement plan
Have you started planning for your retirement yet? If you haven’t, we make contributing to a retirement account simple with our Retirement Made Easy program—and $100 says you’ll love it.

Open a Washington Mutual IRA through WaMu Investments with as little as $250, then set up automatic monthly IRA contributions for at least $100 per month from your Washington Mutual consumer checking account—and you’ll get a $100 contribution reward toward your new Retirement Made Easy IRA account.
We’ll even waive the annual IRA maintenance fee if you meet certain program requirements.

See important information below for details.*

Ready to start saving?
We’re here to help. Call us at (800) 888-0055 to find a Licensed Personal Financial Representative at a Washington Mutual financial center near you.”

Footlocker and Champs are having a Friends & Family sale from August 21 - August 24, 2008. Get an extra 30% off with these printable coupons.

Link to Footlocker Offer

Footlocker Store Locator

Link to Champs Offer

Champs Store Locator