$200 bonus for opening a checking and credit card account
- and -
$200 bonus for referring each of your friends!

You receive $200 cash after you sign up for a checking account as well as the no annual fee credit card account from WingspanBank.com. Only one application is required to sign up for both account. WingspanBank interest checking account also offers ATM card rebate up to $5 per month and free bill pay. The checking account has a $7.50 monthly free if balance falls below $1000. Otherwise, there is no monthly fee. This deal is too good to pass up!

Through the refer-a-friend program, you get $100 for each new customer who sign up a checking account, $200 if the new customer is also approved for the Platinum Visa card.
You will receive $100 if your credit card application is declined.

For more detail and sign up information go to
the Secret Offers website at
Secret offers

It's entirely upto you to take advantage of this offer or not. This offer is part of the refer-a-friend program. You can't find this offer on their website.



[This message has been edited by Dennis Wong (edited 08-21-2000).]

I suspect the well named "S.P.A.M." board here might have been where this one rightly belongs? And p.s. unless your name is also "Ralph Peng" as well as Dennis Wong, you have supplied the wrong hot link.

Please note that this offer is open to USA residents only. (Some 20% of FT boarders reside outside USA.)

I did open the link and saw this re-assuring piece of advice in their legal notices. Sorry, call me cautious and old fashioned, but not sure I'd want my money in any "bank" account with THIS kind of legal "out"!

"I (we) understand that investments offered through WIS are not bank deposits, are not FDIC insured and are not guaranteed by a bank. Investments involve risk, including possible loss of the principal amount invested. An affiliate of WIS serves as investment advisor for the One Group Funds for which it receives a fee."

Not living in the USA, I have never personally heard of the "Wingspan Bank", but maybe they are a prominent institution there? Perhaps they are big in Las Vegas? Others here will be able to advise I am sure. I can see YOU receive $100 when anyone here places $100 into a bank account, and then they (supposedly) get their $100 back "as a credit" in 10 days.

Can't see anywhere on their site where your posting advice comes from, and I regard this as a fictional and highly misleading claim by you, viz:

"You will receive $100 if your credit card application is declined".

But then again, the program rules on website do say: "WingspanBank.com is not responsible or liable for changes that either Referrers or Friends make to the notification before they send it out".

(edit "p.s." - I really smiled to notice the old "Pezzy.com" thread was bought to the top of this board one minute before I posted this!)

------------------
~ Glen ~



[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 08-21-2000).]

I don't believe the deal is SPAM. I have seen others post special offers here before.

Because this deal is ONLY available for people who participate in the refer-a-friend program offer by wingspanbank.com, I am not provided a link for you to sign up without being referred by me. or someone else.

I apologiz for not including the complete information but in no way am I trying to mislead anyone.The link to secret offers website has been corrected.

It's ok to be suspicious about something you haven't heard of. However, you should try to investigate a little more before posting some inaccurate information.

The quote you got from wingspanbank's website has been taken out of context! Wingspanbank.com's accounts are FDIC insured. You see the logo at the bottom of the page, don't you? The quote you got regarding investment risk is for customers who also uses wingspanbank's brokerage services.

Also, Wingspanbank.com is not some small local bank. It is a nation-wide online bank. as noted at the bottom of the offer page "WingspanBank.com, a division of First USA Bank, N.A.". First USA is a major credit card company in United States. Wingspanbank is one of the better online banks with great reviews. Check out gomez.com, and bankrate.com.

There is NOTHING to be suspicious about. If you are not comfortable with online banks, online brokerages, that's fine. It's up to you. However, it doesn't hurt to learn more rather than be just suspicious.

I found this special offer in another message board, and was referred by the person who posted this offer. I signed up 7 days ago. I received the ATM card pin number, and some deposit slips. I was told by the customer service representatives, that 3 days after I mail in $100 to my wingspanbank checking account, I will receive the $100 bonus. However, it seems that I received the $100 even before I fund my account with $100. I can withdrawal the money from my account right away using the ATM card, which by the way allow you to use any ATM and get $5 ATM rebate each month to cover the ATM fees.

If you go over to the secret offers website, you will find another special offer from CITI FI, also an online bank, owned by CitiBank. You can either get $100 cash or a palm pilot IIIe for opening a checking or a savings account. I got the palm IIIe they sent me, and sold on ebay for $200 during the palm shortage a month ago.

There are a few great website to learn about these special deals in addition to the Secret offers website. Here I will a few of the best.
1) www.anandtech.com, then click on forum, then select hot deals board. Special offers are being posted there everyday! Some amazing offers only last couple of hours. You can also read about others experiences with various offers, so you can check out whether an offer is real or not.
2) www.techbargains.com, daily updates on the greatest deals found on the net. Get some really good deals on laptops, palmpilots..etc!
3) www.fatwallet.com, another site worth visiting.

I hope after you have visited the above sites, you will find this deal is truely one great offer too good to pass up!

your comments and criticisms are welcomed.

I gotta go 100% with the oz guy here. IMHO almost any offer, deal, savings etc THAT INCLUDES ANYTHING RE "REFERRAL" somehow leads me the wonder if the primary purpose of the posting was (1) to convey the amazing offer, deal, savings etc to me for my benefit, OR (2) to enhance the wallet of the poster for his benefit.

I prefer an offer, deal etc TOTALLY WITHOUT any direct personal financial gain to a poster so as to assure it is posted for the benefit of all (ie especially me), and not for the personal gain of one (ie he). I still dont do referrals, hopefully will never willingly do referrals and for those who must do such.......please use the S.P.A.M forum to do so, or better, one of the many news groups that cater to such wonders. My best guess is I will find your "deal" all over the internet and probably under many names too.

ps: ozstamps wisely pointed out the fact many of the "referral people" use different names to enhance their "earnings". I have noticed that also in many cases.

MisterInternet ... I guess all FT'ers will now just use their best judgement on this one! It may be a wonderful deal, but not being a US resident I'll never know. I'm just devestated!

I just posted to a thread here re how I think is the RIGHT way to do these things:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/001280.html


Steffo was up front, said clearly he/she was gonna get points out of the offer if the user stayed 5 nights in 17 months, but in turn the recipient got a Sheraton Gold card, with the real benefits that brings.

That to me personally that is a much nicer deal and the terms were spelt out very clearly up front.

And it is my humble guess that Starwood/Sheraton group will be around in 17 months time. So will their Starwood Points plan. Not sure what odds I'd place on the Wingspan Bank if they had my dough!



[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 08-21-2000).]

I agree with OZ as far as the referral goes, I was a little taken aback when I saw that but I can assure those outside the US that Wingspan is legit. It is the online effort of Bank One (also the parents company of First USA, though I bet they wish they weren't given what the First USA aquisitionb did to their stock price after all its problems were discovered), a large regional Bank out of Columbus OHio.

Thanks for the info and links Dennis but SPAM is the place for this post, IMHO!

If you could get miles from a CC deposit in the "old" days, then "The Buzz" might have been a stretch, but possibly "okay."

ozstamps,
80% of Flyer Talkers do live in the US and may be interested in this offer. Bank One (symbol "ONE"), the parent coropration of Wingspan Bank, is a large US corporation listed on the NYSE ( You Aussies have heard of that I assume.) In the future, you may wish to check out the facts prior to posting disparaging remarks. Check out http://www.bankone.com/about/profile/description/ for more information

Schutzee.. don't spend your "$100" all at once!

------------------
~ Glen ~

Unless FF miles are involved, SPAM or other boards are the place to post such deals.

------------------
For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for fiance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com

I'll go with Mr. Wong on this.

I too have seen many posts on deals too good to be true in teh BUZZ section.

This is markedly the best on-line banking deal I've seen in a loooong time.

Since the SPAM board is visited much less frequently than the BUZZ board, I think he just wanted to convey the AWESOMENESS of this deal by having the most people visit it. Plus, he didn't even ask for a referral (which then I agree should have gone into SPAM).

My SALUTE to you MR.Wong for the GREAT info!!!

(p.s. Wingspan is generally considered one of the highest rated, most financially solid online banks in existence)

Awesome viral marketing deal, thanks.

Part of the confusion may be that the SPAM board here has a totally different meaning then the general Internet term spam.

I do agree, this belongs over there, it's a money making and referral thing, and don't see anything wrong with it, but it should be in SPAM.

Again, remember that SPAM here actually stands for something (don't remember what at this point) not the generally understood term of mail you didn't ask for, so it's not the same thing.

With everyone looking for a good "deal" it is easy to get lulled into grabbing something which later turns out to be "too good to be true" even if it is posted in this respected forum. Something that looks, smells and walks like a duck might just be...a duck!

Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch --- unless someone else is paying

I signed up but saw no instructions on how to refer others. I sent them an email...