Episode 5: Gift Card Fees and More Great Deal Sites!

Thinking about getting a gift card from a bank with the credit card logo for a friend for birthday, or graduation?  Think again!


Scott lists out 10 of the sneaky fees that these bank cards have that you probably aren't aware of!


Show audio here. 


Bottom line, these gift cards are a BAD idea.  Scott will further cover legislation passed in Congress that addressed some but not most of these fees.  

Thanks to the Consumerist article for this information. Fed updated rules here. 

Then, Elaine covers three great deals money-saving websites: 

These are (www.groupon.com) Groupon, (www.weeklyplus.com) Weekly Plus, (www.livingsocial.com) Living Social, and (www.tippr.com) Tippr.

All of these sites work similarly to Restaurant,com discussed in a prior show. You can follow these on Facebook and Twitter or receive a daily email for a quick look at what is being discounted today.

Each site has a service, restaurant, summer camp, oil change, etc discount.  The way it works is:

1) you sign up

2) you pick a deal that you are interested in

3) you buy the "deal" online

Groupon has a Today's Deal in addition to a "side deal".  On their page, you will be told how must time is left to buy the deal. For how it works, there is a link from the page. (http://www.groupon.com/learn).

WeeklyPlus has a nice explanation of how it works.  The link is on the upper right of the page.  The price of the deal starts out as one discount, but as the days go by and more people buy the deal, the price goes down by levels.

Living Social has a daily deal. On the left side of the page, you'll find information on how it works. (http://livingsocial.com/deals/how_it_works)

Tippr gives you 3 deals per day. You can find their terms and how it works y clicking the How It Works button on the top of their page.

(http://tippr.com/how-it-works)

Each of these have deals from 50% to 90% off. You can subscribe to them by entering your email address and selecting your city. 


Show audio here.