If you are looking for the best savings rates for your cash, online savings accounts win and it’s not even close. Online savings rates are over 1.1% now due to the Feds raising rates 3 times in the past 6 months. Have big banks increased their savings rates too? Nope. Interest rates at the 4 big banks remain at a microscopic .01% APY.

Do you have more than $1,000 cash in a checking or savings account at a big bank? If so, you are losing money by not moving it to an online savings account that paying 1.1% APY.

$120 > $1

For the puny $1 per year that Chase/Citi/BofA/WellsFargo pays for the $10,000 in your checking or savings account, you could be getting paid $120 per year in an online savings account. Take a look at the numbers:

What about CD rates? There are a few drawbacks to consider. One, CDs are not as liquid as a checking or savings account. Your cash is locked up for 6 months, 1 , 3, or 5 years. Two, CD rates are paying close to the same rate as online savings accounts. At Ally Bank, a 1 year CD is 1.35% APR while a 3 year CD is 1.6%. For most situations, you should have your cash in an online savings account for a period of five years or less.

Take the time now to open and move your extra cash to an online savings accounts. Here are my top 3 online banks that consistently provide high interest rates without the limited offer gimmicks:

• Synchrony
• Ally Bank
• Capital One 360 Money Market

Disclaimer: These are not affiliate links and I do not receive any compensation from recommendations. My advice is objectively provided here based on rates from July 2017.

Looking to save money in 2016? Here’s an easy way to reduce your monthly expenses. Take a look at your cell phone bill, see how much you are using and paying per month and change your plan or carrier to a lower rate.

1- Consider cell phone reception

Providers continue to improve network speed and reliability. Before you change cell phone carriers for better rates, check your cell phone coverage at home and work and find out which carrier has the right coverage for you.

2- Are you on a contract?

If your phone is on a 2-year contract, then you may be stuck with your carrier until it’s paid off. Look for special promotions from rival carriers offering to pay off balance. Check phone compatibility- certain phones work on limited networks.

3- Find your data sweet spot

Most cell phone plans offer unlimited talk and text, so log in to your account and check recent data usage. If your phone is not on a contract, take a look at prepaid plans as they may offer more data at a lower rate. Average cell phone data usage is 2GB per month. I have a prepaid plan with T-Mobile, and use around 2GB of data per month:

4- Compare carrier plan and rates

Review your carrier’s cell phone plans. When I signed up with a prepaid plan with T-Mobile, I got 3GB of data for $50/month:

When T-Mobile dropped their prices recently, they did not move me down to the $40/month plan even though I use less than 3GB data per month. Instead, they kept me at the $50/month plan and increased my data limit to 5GB, which is more than what I need. It took just a few minutes to change my plan online to $40/month and save $120 in annual expenses.

Other Tips:

• Avoid 2-Year contracts: Pay for the phone up front or do a no-interest payment plan
• If you’re not under contract, see if there is a lower prepaid plan with your current carrier or switch to another one (check phone compatibility)
• Save even more money by switching to low-cost carriers: Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, Ting, Project Fi, Metro PCS & Cricket Wireless
• Consider family plans to bundle phones & tablets with shared data

 

Enterprise CarShare is offering hourly car rental to college students 18 and older. The program is similar to Zipcar, where insurance and fuel are included in the rate, as well as no maintenance or parking expenses. Enterprise CarShare is the first to offer car rental services to students 18 and older, well below the industry standard age of 26.

Check out which universities and colleges have Enterprise CarShare:

Enterprise CarShare

Getting ready to do online shopping for the holiday season? Don’t miss out on discounts by finding coupon codes to apply before checking out your online shopping cart. A brief history of online coupon codes:

2003: Remember entering your email address to subscribe to deals and coupon codes? You would receive hundreds of emails that would go unread until you needed to buy clothing or get a rental car. Too many emails!

2010: Along came RetailMeNot, a website and then mobile app that provided a centralized site to find coupon codes to apply to online purchases, travel reservations, etc. You no longer needed to give your email address to get the discount codes for shopping online.

2014: There is a new and improved way to find coupon codes when shopping online. Coupons at Checkout have made a web browser extension that automatically finds coupon codes when you are shopping online and gives you a list to choose from without needing to search for them. Here’s how it works:

1. Open a web browser on your computer. The following web browers are supported: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.
2. Go to this link or using Chrome as an example, go to your menu, select Settings, and then select Extensions from the left side. Scroll to the bottom and select Get More Extensions. Search for Coupons at Checkout and select the Free + button.
3. When you are shopping online and are ready to checkout, the coupon code will be outlined in red and provide a list of codes. Select a code and remember to hit the apply button to confirm that the code is accepted and your total amount is reduced by the discount.

They also have an iPhone version that works in Safari.

Are you paying $35 per month for a phone line from your cable provider? You could lower your bill to $4 per month with Ooma. Follow these easy steps:

1. Make sure that you have high speed internet access.
2. Buy Ooma Telo at a retail or an online store. Cost $130
3. Install and activate Ooma telo in your home. As an option, you can keep and transfer your phone number to Ooma. This transfer may take 30 days. Cost $40
4. Get rid of your cable home phone. Basic Ooma monthly services are just the pass through FCC fees. Cost $4/month

If you are among the 60% of US households that have a home phone line, take a look at switching from your cable provider to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. The phone call quality has greatly improved from years ago when VOIP made its first appearance as an alternative to analog phone lines. I prefer Ooma for the following reasons:

• Easy setup
• Low upfront and monthly cost
• Great customer service

Other alternatives are Straight Talk Wireless, Vonage and Magic Jack.