Guess what?

Yesterday I saw a flyer on our banker's desk at Wachovia - 3.5% downpayment on FHA loans at xx % effective Sept. Guess the current administration thinks it can re-inflate the bubble and work our way out of this mess.

Our banking system is run by a cartel formed by Fed + FDIC + GS alumni, aka Treasury.

Yup, those of us who believe living under our means could not even qualify for the Cash for Clunker because the "combined" mpg was reclassified by EPA as 21 mpg on a 13 years old Camry! :mad:

I saw a new TV ad today - the Pledge of Debt Payment, by a group of Kindergarten children...

Regarding the oldest form of currency... there is a "New" talk going around that, because the velocity of Money is now near 0 (banks not lending to small business, and people losing jobs), there would not be inflation, despite the quantitative easing...
However, somehow I think US has to destroy the USD in order to effectively make the mounting debt worth only 0.50 per dollar when it slowly pays back some amount to its debtors (namely China and Japan)... China has been crying Foul but it is being hostaged and could not do anything about it!

I always enjoy a good laugh. Thanks for your post.

Another liquid option
 

GE Corporate Notes. http://www.geinterestplus.com/learn.html you can not get miles with this one. it has a better rate than what you can get in a bank but it's not FDIC insured. however, it's a relatively safe place to park your cash until you figure out how to invest your money. read the info on the page carefully.

:td: Not really helpful. Bankdirect has been mentioned quite a few times in this thread already. It is an OK option if you only want miles. For me. miles would be a sweetener but I was looking for better places to put liquid funds in than a bank account that pays zilch in the way of interest.

What makes you assume every FTer has already read this thread?:rolleyes:

Now this is helpful, thanks.:) Yes indeed, it looks like there are very few options if you are purely looking to earn miles with your cash.

Great, thanks. ^ This is more along the lines of what I was looking for along with the preferred share ETFs and closed end funds mentioned previously in this thread. I am also looking into foreign government bonds. Of course, these instruments are only for those people who can tolerate a slight risk of loss of principal in exchange for a much better yield than bank accounts.

I didn't really know. I just know that my branch never closed. There was even a customer appreciation day this last Saturday the 29th with doughnuts (but there's doughnuts every day!), etc. On Aug 22, it officially became BVBAA Compass or something like that. I suppose that the flow of AA miles will probably come to a halt. I just got my latest pile. Maybe I'll check out BankDirect to keep the flow going.
Anybody have any good ideas for what to do with hundreds of thousands of AA ff miles? JAL or Cathay Pacific to China? Qantas to Australia/NZ?

Isn't it now confirmed by others that the miles earning opp with idle cash were far and few in between as most already knew? Even yourself now ADMIT it. That is what I refer to, mile-earning opportunities with idle cash - as that is what your original posted query. You did not say you were also seeking other financial advices on how to maximize your cash return. :rolleyes:

Good luck in looking at the preferred ETFs at this stage of market.

As I said, others would post if they know about anything they feel would be "new" data on miles earning opp, whether me and skofarrell have any exchanges or not. It is a forum anyone can post and comment. You can choose NOT to read our posts, dont you? ;)

Guaranty Bank was shut down by FDIC and then being taken over by BBVA - not BVBAA. It is Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a Spanish bank just so you know. In modern day bank closure, the shut-down does not affect the depositors in most part. FDIC tries hard to make it a seamless transition as much as possible. Though FDIC's fund has dwindled from 60 billions last year to now less than 10 billions. But not to worry, FDIC can always borrow from Treasury or Fed, which in turn, can always PRINT money, essentially create money from thin air, with the costs being born by taxpayers in the many years to come.

You should have received a notification letter regarding the AA program by now. The existing AA program would continue till end of December. AA has removed the partner from its website already.

There is a dedicate thread in AA Forum.

Also your questions on how to use your hoard of AA miles would be much better served in AA forum - there is even a STICKY on OneWorld Award - a specific AA award that works differently than other AA awards (AA has 3 types of awards).

Unfortunately, the 2% rate (for 50K or less) isn't high enough for me given that banks are paying the same rate for passbook savings and CDs. Not to mention the the lack of capital protection that comes with buying corporate bonds. The risk of GE going under is pretty low, but then again, 2 years ago no one would have thought GM, Chrysler, or Lehman Bros would have gone under as fast as they did...

How about 3% at an FDIC insured bank
 

OK...I;ll post. I get 3% interest on checking at https://www.mercbank.com/
There is a catch. The base interest rate is 2% with a 50 basis point bump if you do a direct bill pay each month. There is also another 50 basis point bump if you use their debit visa card and make 5 transactions each month. It's easy to pay $1.00 on a recurring bill each month and buy five bananas at the store as separate transactions for the extra 1%. The 3% interest rate is limited to $75,000 per account but you can have multiple accounts.

Hope this helps. Mercantile Bank is based in Michigan and closed their Ann Arbor office last month. Their Lansing, Michigan office would be happy to help you open an account.

Given the Zimbabwe-like hailstorm of money-printing, consider moving some savings to gold stored at the Perth Mint

My credit union just started paying 4%, but only up to $20,000 and you must do 15 debit card transactions a month (I bought 8 nectarines this morning, one at a time, and will buy 7 more tomorrow).

I'm going to go to Mercantile Bank's branch in Holland and open an account.

Thanks a lot for the great tip.

Get an interest bonus for your loyality at Flagstar Bank
 

What's the name and website of this credit union? I might be able to qualify for an account there. I like the 4% interest rate on a savings account.

Flagstar Bank (Michigan) also has a loyality program that, to qualify, makes you do an average of 15 transactions per month or one automated bill pay. As my other credit card program uses my automated bill pay transaction, about every 55 days, I give any teller at any Flagstar branch office 30 deposit slips, starting a 1 cent and going to 30 cents to satisfy the requirements of their loyalty program. I don't see how making these additonal transactions makes me a more loyal client of Flagstar Bank, but, Flagstar sent me a letter demanding I make these extra transactions or lose the special loyality rate. It seems like the Flagstar headquarters is making a lot of extra work for their bank tellers because a teller suggested I could purchase 15 one cent stamps at the post office using the Flagstar debit card instead of making these deposits at the bank branch office.