The “Spirit of Swiftwater” is going to happen.At least that’s what the developer on Tuesday promised, and he said that everything was in place and there were no major hurdles remaining.“It’s a two-part project,” developer Anthony Maula said. “It’s happening.”The development, which will be highlighted by apartments and a hotel, has been stalled for years after Maula encountered various problems, none of which [...]
Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1Y2PBAu
الأربعاء، 2 مارس 2016
Best Job Perk Ever? These Companies Will Help You Pay Off Your Student Loans
Want to pay off your student loans three years early? If you get hired for the right job, your employer might do it for you.
Student loan repayment is part of some companies’ benefit packages, according to a new study by Nerdwallet.
By adding the company’s contribution to your regular minimum monthly payment, you can pay off your loans much faster — and pay less in interest. The average borrower, with $29,400 in loans, will save about $4,100 and get out of debt three years sooner than they would on their own.
Student Loan Repayment: The Best New Benefits Package?
Financial tech firm CommonBond contributes $100 per month toward employee student loans until those loans are paid off — as long as the employee is still with the company, of course.
At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fast Company notes, recent grads can receive contributions of $1,200 per year for six years.
The average recent grad has more than $35,000 in student loan debt, according to a 2014 White House Report on millennials. That’s more than the salary for entry-level jobs in many fields.
Who cares about retirement matching when you’re worried about paying back your loans for the next 10 years?
And parental leave is awesome, but the likelihood of you taking that leave in the first few years out of college is pretty low.
Student loan repayment might be the best perk for this young generation. It might even prevent some of the job hopping millennials are notorious for.
Old-Fashioned Methods for Getting Work to Cover Your Student Loans
Three percent of U.S. employers offer student loan repayment in their benefit packages — so far. What do you do if you don’t work in the financial sector, where these repayment programs seem to be centered?
Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and nurse faculty working in poor urban and rural regions can apply for the NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program, which helps pay 60% of unpaid nursing student loans in two years.
Military officers may be eligible for loan repayment programs through their branches.
Teachers can receive loan forgiveness totaling $17,500 of federal loans, so long as they commit to teaching for at least five years.
Full-time teachers at low-income schools or teaching certain subjects may be able to have their federal Perkins loans canceled completely.
Peace Corps volunteers can have 15% of Perkins loans cancelled in their first year of service, 15% for the second year of service, and 20% for each of their third and fourth years served.
Government employees at federal, state, local or tribal levels, along with nonprofit workers, become eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
But this one is a long game: You must make 120 loan payments (one per month for 10 years, basically), before you can apply to have the remainder of your federal direct loans forgiven.
If you don’t qualify for one of these repayment programs and your employer doesn’t seem to be shaking a tail feather toward its own program, there are still options to make paying your student debt easier.
Consolidating and refinancing your loans could cut months or even years off your repayment schedule. Or try one of these other strategies for paying off your student loans faster.
Your Turn: Do you have a brilliant plan for getting someone else to repay your student loans? Share it in the comments!
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor, and podcaster living in Washington, D.C. She has a whole boatload of student loans and isn’t shy about celebrating every time she makes a payment.
The post Best Job Perk Ever? These Companies Will Help You Pay Off Your Student Loans appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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You’ll Never Guess How Much Money We Throw Into Fountains Every Year
Make a wish!
How much money have you tossed hopefully into fountains in your life? $5? $10? Maybe even $100? (Hope some of those wishes are coming true, big spender.)
As it turns out, we collectively toss a whole lot of change into the world’s wishing wells.
Fountains Make Bank
Take, for instance, the beautiful lake in front of the famous Las Vegas Bellagio, which made $12,000 in 2010.
And Rome’s Trevi Fountain regularly makes $3,200… a day. That’s an annual salary well over $1 million.
Even smaller fountains — and those with explicit instructions not to throw money at them, please — pull in thousands of dollars every year.
Just for sitting there and being watery.
How’s that day rate of yours looking?
Wishes Without Waste
Good news: All that money you’re throwing away isn’t wasted.
Most of it’s going to various charitable causes, according to Buzzfeed. Some of it, like in New York City’s Bryant Park Fountain, just pays for itself to be dredged and cleaned.
So you can rest assured the money you spend on wishing wells isn’t a total loss.
However, for the best chance at making your wishes come true, we’d still recommend you hoard those pennies rather than chuck ‘em, no matter how lovely the fountain!
Your Turn: How much money have you spent on wishing wells in your lifetime?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems.
The post You’ll Never Guess How Much Money We Throw Into Fountains Every Year appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Protecting Yourself Against Negative SEO
You’re checking the backlinks pointing to your site, as you do occasionally, when you see it:
a huge spike in links.
At first, you’re not sure whether to be excited or scared, but when you look closer, your fears are confirmed—you’re being attacked.
Someone is bombarding your site with spam links (like the ones below) in the hopes that you will be penalized by Google.
It’s likely a competitor, but it’s almost impossible to tell who.
While this type of scenario is most likely to happen in competitive niches, it can happen anywhere.
The term for it, as you may know, is negative SEO.
Will it hurt your rankings?
It can. There are many stories in forums of negative SEO causing organic search traffic to crash.
However, you should first understand whether there’s a real risk to your site.
In order to get penalized by Google, the number of spammy backlinks would have to be overwhelmingly huge compared to the number of good links.
For a site such as Quick Sprout, there’s almost no risk that a negative SEO attack would be successful because it has hundreds of thousands of quality links pointing to it.
If your site has only a few hundred links, or even a few thousand, that’s when you need to be concerned.
I have some good news for you (among the bad): If you do get attacked, it sucks. It will cost you weeks or months of lost revenue. However, you can almost always recover from negative attacks.
Additionally, if you follow the four steps that I lay out in this post, you’ll be able to prevent negative SEO attacks from causing any real damage most of the time.
Step #1 – Automate your data updates
The first thing you should do is get regular updates about your site’s health.
To do that, log in to your Google webmaster tools account and go to Preferences. Next, make sure that the “Enable email notifications” box is checked:
While you can pick specific issues to be notified of, it’s best to set the type to “all issues.”
You’ll immediately get notified if there are any signs of foul play like getting hacked or having malware on your site.
Next, get email updates about new backlinks: The longer you wait to address a negative SEO attack, the more likely it is to be successful.
If you get a daily email that gives you a quick overview about new links pointing to your site, it will be obvious when someone spams your site.
If you see an abnormal quantity of links or tons of links with anchor text such as “pills,” “payday loans,” etc., you have an issue.
There are a few tools that can help you track your backlinks.
A free option is OpenLinkProfiler.
As a free option, it’s limited, but it’s still a decent solution for small sites.
Once you create an account, go to the Backlinks panel, click “Link Alerts,” and then input your website and email:
You’ll then get a daily email that lets you know whether any new backlinks were detected.
Alternatively, Ahrefs (a paid tool) also has this feature, but it has a more reliable (and sizeable) database.
You can either look at new links manually by going to the “new links” page:
Or you can also go to the “email notifications” section and change the status of new/lost backlink notifications to “Daily”:
Again, you’ll get a nice email summary every day.
You don’t need to do anything big with these email summaries. Just take a 10-second scan of them for anything out of the ordinary.
Step #2 – Monitor your top backlinks
There’s one more type of negative SEO attack you should be aware of although it’s far less common than the ones I mentioned above.
Sometimes, someone doing negative SEO will create a new email account similar to yours (e.g., Neil.Patel38388@gmail.com) and then email sites that link to you asking them to take down the link to your site.
This is clearly unethical, but some people don’t care.
While you can’t monitor all of your links, you can keep track of the best ones.
You can find your best ones with any backlink database tool. On Ahrefs, you type in your site in the “site explorer” tool, and then click on “links” in the sidebar:
This will bring up a list of links to your site, sorted by URL rank by default.
Get to know your top 20 or so links well because they’re likely the ones that will be targeted.
From here, do two things:
- pay special attention to them in the “links lost” section of those emails we set up in step 1
- check all of them manually once in awhile (maybe once or twice a month) just in case one slipped by. You could create a tool to do this for you if you’d like.
Finally, you may be able to prevent a negative SEO attack from being successful by doing all your outreach from an email address for your domain (e.g., Neil@QuickSprout.com).
Then, add a line to your signature that reads something like this:
This is the official email address I use for all matters regarding (site name).
That way, some of your contacts may notice something fishy when they get a removal request from a different email.
Step #3 (if applicable) – Monitor and report fake reviews and mentions
This next step applies mostly to local businesses although any website can implement it to be safe.
Many businesses get links from review sites such as Yelp:
These links often carry a lot of weight since Yelp is an authoritative site in the eyes of Google.
However, the quality of the link you get from Yelp depends on how your business is weighed compared to other businesses in your industry.
For example, if someone searches for plumbers in Florida, they get a page like this:
That’s the page that’s most authoritative to Google, not the individual profile pages for each business.
But the profile pages are the ones with links going back to the businesses’ sites.
Finally, the higher up on the page the link is within the search results, the more authority is transferred to the profile page, which is then transferred to the actual business website.
This is because links higher on a page are generally more important than those lower on the page.
A competitor involved in negative SEO has an opportunity to hurt you in a few ways here.
The plan will be to leave negative reviews on your profiles, which will lower your rankings on sites like Yelp. This in turn hurts you by:
- lowering your search engine rankings
- lowering the number of customers who hire you based on those reviews
If someone resorts to those dirty tactics, react quickly.
Since you should know all your customers, it should be easy to spot fake reviews right away even if they’re well written.
Dealing with them is pretty easy in most cases. Sites like Yelp usually have a “report this review” button available to the owner of the business profile:
The tricky part is finding the fake reviews in the first place and doing it fast enough so that you can remove them before they cause any damage.
To find them, use some sort of a monitoring tool.
Google Alerts is an amazing free tool that is enough for most, but there are also advanced tools you can use if you feel that you need more.
Once you’re signed in, enter the term you want to create an alert for into the text box. Then, click the Options link below to expand your options:
I recommend getting these alerts at least once a day.
You should set up alerts for all the names that could be used for your brand. For example:
- Quick Sprout
- QuickSprout
- Neil Patel
- Misspellings – e.g., Neal Patel, Quik Sprout
From the emails you get, you can quickly find reviews of your brand and its mentions in groups and forums.
This will help you not only protect yourself from negative SEO but also maintain a good brand image in general.
Finally, you also might want to manually monitor specific review sites that are really important to your business.
They could be Yelp, Amazon, Angie’s List, etc. If they send you customers on a regular basis, check in with them once every day or two.
Step #4 – Disavow bad links
The final step is a last resort.
In theory, the best plan is to just not make any enemies, but even that doesn’t always work.
Eventually, you may be faced with that huge spike of spammy links that threaten to destroy your Google rankings.
You need to make sure that Google doesn’t count those links when the algorithm is deciding where to rank your pages.
It’s a tool that can be dangerous because it can actually harm your rankings if used incorrectly:
Basically, you create a text file that contains all the URLs that should be ignored, and Google will do that the next time it crawls any of those pages.
However, if you disavow a link that was actually helping one of your pages rank well, that page now has one less good link.
What this means is that you need to be careful, and I’ll show you how to do just that.
A possible shortcut: If you have an Ahrefs account with a standard plan or higher, you have access to a disavow feature.
You can turn it on beside the main search bar:
In the link reports, you’ll see an option to disavow a URL or domain by clicking a link:
At any point, you can go to your “disavow links” and export a file that could be uploaded into the disavow tool.
This will save you time in the long run because you don’t need to worry about tracking old links that you’ve disavowed, but it’s not mandatory either if your account doesn’t support it.
Disavowing manually: This is the option that most use, and it works fine.
First, you’ll need to download as many backlinks pointing to your site as possible. It’s difficult to get all the links, but if you use multiple sources, you can get a good number of them.
Start with Google Search Console (former Webmaster Tools). If you go to the backlinks section, there’s an option to download sample links and “latest” links. Do both:
Then download whatever links you can get from backlink databases such as Ahrefs, Majestic, Open Site Explorer, and Open Link Profiler.
Add them all to one giant spreadsheet. All you really need is the URL/domain name.
Here’s the scary part:
You need to determine whether each link is legitimate or not.
This involves a lot of manual tedious work for large sites.
You can use some shortcuts such as:
- looking for spammy domain extensions (e.g., “.ru”)
- looking for spammy anchor text (e.g., “viagra”)
- looking for well-known domains that are obviously good links
That’s the bulk of the work. You’ll have to visit many URLs to check them. Consider dividing this work up if you have a team.
Next, you need to strip the trailing URL data so that all you have left is the domain name.
To do that in Excel or Google sheets, use this formula in a column next to the URLs:
=left(B1,find(“/”,B1,9)-1)
Drag the corner of that cell down so that the formula is applied to all the URLs in the column:
In the example above, you’d start with column B and end up with the bare domains in column A.
Next, get rid of the “http://”, “https://”, and “www.”. You can do this with a simple “find and replace” function (replace each phrase with a blank space).
Next, highlight all the domains and remove the duplicates.
Finally, you need to add the term “domain:” in front of all the sites so that the disavow tool knows to discount links from the entire site.
While you can disavow specific URLs, it’s usually best to remove all the links from the spammy domain.
Do this by using the formula:
=”domain:”&A1
Here is the resulting table:
You should now have a list like the one in column B above.
Finally, copy and paste these into a simple text file:
You can add comments using the “#” sign, but those are just for you. The disavow tool simply relays the information about the links to the search engine’s algorithm.
Finally, go into the disavow section of your Webmaster Tools account, and choose the domain that these links affect:
After clicking that button, you can upload your disavow text file.
As long as you did everything right, you’ll get a success message like this:
It’s a lot of tedious work, but it’s not too complicated.
Within a week or two, Google should remove most of those bad links from consideration.
Conclusion
Negative SEO is a terrible business practice, but some people still use it.
I’ve given you a 4-step process that will protect you against the bulk of potential negative SEO attacks or at least limit the damage they do.
I encourage you to employ these steps as soon as possible because they aren’t very useful if you use them long after the damage has been done.
Have you ever been affected by negative SEO? Share your experience in a comment below.
Source Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/1T7Zayx
Managing Expensive Hobbies So They Don’t Destroy You Financially
Ken writes:
Golf really isn’t that expensive of a hobby if you do it smartly. My friends jokingly call me the “cheap golfer.” I mostly play at the inexpensive public courses near where I live and I gather up balls that other people have lost and just use those. The only expense really is the green fees and I use coupons most of the time to make that cheaper. I’m not an “every single weekend” golfer but I probably go twenty times a year and I can guarantee it’s cheaper for me than a lot of other hobbies would be.
Ken makes a great point: hobbies really are only as expensive as you make them. However, many hobbies – and golf is certainly one of them – create situations that predispose people to spending a lot of money.
I tend to identify golf as an “expensive hobby” because it shares a few traits with other expensive hobbies. In fact, virtually every expensive hobby has most (if not all) of these traits.
First of all, expensive hobbies often require you to spend to participate. You can’t participate in golf without paying the fee for a round of golf. Similarly, you can’t drink wine without buying an endless supply of wine, so must consumption-based hobbies fall into this category. You can’t dine out at all the latest restaurants in town without keeping your wallet open. You get the idea.
Second, expensive hobbies have an endless array of tempting purchases. With golf, there are always better balls and better clubs and so on that will theoretically make your gameplay better. Almost every consumption-based hobby has new things to try out, from a new craft beer on the market to a new bottle of wine at the store to a new restaurant in town. Those new things are generally expensive and the hobby naturally encourages those purchases.
Third, expensive hobbies are often very well marketed in order to leave you feeling “incomplete” if you don’t indulge in all of the optional buys. I’m not just talking about advertisements here. Most expensive hobbies have a litany of online and offline publications that are packed with articles about things you “need” to buy or places you “need” to visit. All of these things encourage a hobby participant to spend more and more and more in order to have a feeling that they’re “keeping up” with the hobby.
Fourth, the price of new gear and new experiences related to the hobby can be astronomical. Want to golf for a round at Pebble Beach? $500. Not a joke. Want to dine out at Masa in New York City? $2,500 per person. Sure, these are incredibly expensive high end options, but many hobbies have nothing that can even remotely compare to it.
Finally, participating in these hobbies socially can create a “keeping up with the Joneses” effect. If you go golfing and everyone else has expensive gear while you’re using a starter club set and balls you found in the rough, you can feel out of place and feel jealous of their gear. If you go out to eat with friends regularly and they can’t stop talking about some new restaurant, it is going to be very tempting to go there. Those are perfect emotions to encourage you to spend more money.
Each of these factors play into the expense of a hobby, and some hobbies manage to hit all of these factors at once.
Of course, each of these factors points to a smart strategy for saving money on that hobby.
Money-Saving Strategy #1 – Shop Around and Use Coupons to Cut Participation Costs
Unless something is in incredibly high demand (where they’re selling out all available slots and items at whatever high price they’re charging), you’re going to be able to find discounts and coupons for that thing if you’re patient and watchful.
There are many different ways of doing this. My preferred method is to simply seek out online forums dedicated to frugal participation in the hobby – for example, this one dedicated to cheap video games. Virtually every pricy hobby has an online forum and community dedicated to participating in that hobby at a discount.
Another good strategy is to sign up for the mailing list of retailers associated with your hobbies, but sign up using a special new email address (through Gmail or another free online email service) that only collects such email so that you can search through it whenever you’re considering a specific purchase.
When you are considering a specific purchase, definitely shop around. Look at a variety of retailers that cater to your hobby, as well as general retailers like Amazon. For example, in the boardgaming hobby, two retailers to always check for prices are CoolStuff and Miniature Market.
If you’re considering paying for an experience or an entry fee, don’t be afraid to haggle. I often do this over the phone. For example, I might call several different golf courses in the area and directly ask if they’re offering any discounts right now as I’m considering golfing in the next day or two. This works well if all of the slots aren’t taken. Sure, most businesses won’t offer a discount, but some will and that can make a big difference.
Money-Saving Strategy #2 – Focus on “Bang for the Buck” Experiences and Items
Rather than focusing on buying the “best” item possible – which usually translates to the most expensive item – focus instead on maximizing your “bang for the buck.” Look for purchases and experiences that offer the most value for the dollar.
Often, the most expensive purchases fall far short in that area. You’ll pay ten times as much for something that’s only 50% better than the next best option, for example. This is particularly true with new items, as new items often come with a premium that will vanish after a while and which makes other versions of the item a great bargain by comparison.
For example, rather than considering all cell phone options when you go to buy one, look instead at just the ones that are free or just a few dollars with your contract renewal and choose the one that best meets your needs from among those options. It will do almost everything that the expensive item will do at a vastly lower price.
Another great example is the library. The “bang for the buck” here is at an awesome price point – you can get the books you want to read or movies you want to watch for exactly $0.
Money-Saving Strategy #3 – Avoid Hobby Publications and Websites
While hobby publications and websites often feel like a fun place to read to learn more about your hobby, most of the time the articles and material there are nothing more than sales pitches for new and high-end items.
Sometimes, the articles are little more than a re-written sales pitch or press release, lauding some new experience or new item as being the greatest thing that has ever existed.
Even when writers have the best of intentions at those publications, they’re often reviewing items that they received for free and thus the cost is not really a factor for them, so of course they’re going to review the ultra-expensive item as being a little better than the moderately-priced item. They’re not actually sacrificing anything in their life for those items.
I’ve come to avoid such publications for my hobbies most of the time. I really only participate in online sites for hobbies that are basically free – like geocaching – or ones that are focused solely on participating in the hobby at a discount.
Money-Saving Strategy #4 – Don’t Waste Your Time with the High End
Sure, high-end purchases can sometimes be better than the “bang for the buck” items ore the more reasonably priced items. At the same time, however, the top-of-the-line items are usually incredibly expensive and rarely add enough features to make the extra cost worthwhile.
Whenever I’m shopping for an item, I almost always just completely ignore the most expensive 10% of options out there. Those choices are eliminated right off the bat for me – I don’t even consider them in my buying process.
Since I immediately put those purchases and experiences as being “out of range,” I’m usually left with a field of options that are reasonably within the same price range and reasonably within the same level of quality. Doing this makes it much easier to choose the option with the best “bang for the buck.”
Money-Saving Strategy #5 – Participate with Like-Minded People
Like it or not, social influence has a huge impact on which items and experiences you might consider purchasing within your hobby. The things that your friends covet often end up being the things that you covet, and vice versa.
Thus, if you’re participating in a hobby socially, it makes sense to strive to participate in it with people who have a similar frugal “bang for the buck” approach as you do. Actively choose to spend more time with people who have an attitude toward the hobby that doesn’t involve tons of spending, and at the same time pare down your time spent with people who always covet the expensive things and often throw their money down for those things.
You’ll find that your appreciation for the frugal side of your hobbies grows and grows and that your desire for the expensive items dwindles and dwindles.
Final Thoughts
Using these approaches in concert can turn a hobby that seems to eat up a lot of your money into a hobby that’s still incredibly rich and enjoyable without devouring every spare cent.
I use these approaches for my own hobbies, which includes playing board games, reading, and making home brewed beer. In each of those hobbies, these approaches have helped me to deeply enjoy the hobby while keeping a reasonable and healthy cap on my spending.
Good luck!
The post Managing Expensive Hobbies So They Don’t Destroy You Financially appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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This Woman Raised $11K for Her Kids’ School — Just By Organizing Her Closet
Even if you’ve moved past your “New Year, New You” January resolutions, there’s still lots of time to get amped up for spring cleaning.
After all, good Penny Hoarders know clutter can cost you — big-time.
Bonus: We’ve found a way for you to declutter your closet while supporting your favorite school!
Get Organized While Supporting Kids with Schoola
Schoola is a secondhand clothing vendor that turns quality hand-me-downs into money for your child’s school.
They sell gently used, donated clothing online at steep discounts from original brand prices.
Plus, 40% of proceeds go directly toward the fundraising campaign of your school of choice. That’s $2 of every $5!
This School Raised $11,000
Parent of two Julie Verslues spearheaded a campaign that’s raised more than $11,000 for her daughters’ St. Louis, Missouri, Catholic school, St. Justin the Martyr.
Tired of asking parents to buy goods like cookie dough and wrapping paper, the St. Justin’s Home & School Organization turned to Schoola.
Verslues donated a dozen bags of clothes in the fall of 2013. She was “shocked” to learn her school raked in $340 by spring.
As more parents got involved, the money multiplied.
It’s now funded iPad purchases for students in kindergarten through second grade, as well as a chicken coop.
This year, Verslues plans to put the funds toward a new playground. She estimates the school pulls in $34 per donation bag.
“Schoola is so easy,” Verslues says. “They have coaches available anytime to provide you with all the promotional material, and reminders throughout our clothing drive. We are just a collection point.”
The company also sends coupons and promotions to share with friends and family. It also encourages involvement by allowing you to track when and where your donations sell.
So when that jacket you outgrew last year is keeping someone warm in New England or the Pacific Northwest, you’ll know — even if you’re in the Midwest!
Even if you don’t have a particular school in mind, your donation will benefit someone in need.
In fact, even major athleisure brand Athleta has partnered with Schoola to benefit the Malala Fund, which works to ensure that girls all over the world have access to the education they deserve.
Want to Get Involved?
Request a postage-paid bag and fill it with high-quality used kids’ and women’s clothing. Choose a school, or if you’re without an allegiance, ask the site to suggest one for you.
If you know other passionate parents at your child’s school — or just a neighborhood school you care about — you can even set up a school-wide drive.
Schoola makes it simple either way, and they can help get you set up in as little as two weeks.
Or, just shop online for awesome discounted women’s and children’s clothing. You’ll get like-new, name-brand clothing for up to 70% off retail prices!
You can search for a local school or just shop and support a random school. Either way, someone benefits from your purchase!
Psst — did I mention you can get $20 for every friend you refer? Since they’ll get paid, too, it shouldn’t be hard.
Win, win, win.
Your Turn: Will you clean out your closet and support a school with Schoola?
Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems — you can read along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.
The post This Woman Raised $11K for Her Kids’ School — Just By Organizing Her Closet appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Fund to watch: Jupiter Asian Income
Investors should usually ignore new fund launches. Usually, until a fund has a decent track record it’s not worth looking at because there is so much choice already.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1TQmpxf
Investors increase cash Isa exposure in 2016
Despite poor returns on cash deposits topping the list of investor worries, more than a quarter of investors are favouring cash individual savings accounts (Isas) this year.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1TQmpxd
Pension scams given green light by High Court ruling
A recent High Court judgement on a pension transfer request could 'open the floodgates' for pension fraud, according to pension scheme administrator Equiniti.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1QT47et
Abercrombie, Ford or HSBC Might Owe You Money! Here’s How to Find Out
I’ve had another busy month tracking down class-action settlements that will pay you cash.
Last month, I told you about six settlements accepting claims. We covered everything from Blue Buffalo pet food to Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi — even Whirlpool dishwashers!
I’ve tracked down five more class-action settlements this month from major companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Mitsubishi and Ford.
Most of the time, it only takes a few minutes to file a claim, meaning if you’re eligible, you could get free money just by clicking on the links below.
Let’s stop talking and start making you money!
1. Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister, Gilly Hicks
Did you get unsolicited text messages about upcoming sales at Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister or Gilly Hicks?
If so, you could get a portion of Abercrombie’s $10 million class-action settlement!
Abercrombie & Fitch (along with its subsidiaries) agreed to settle accusations the company sent spam texts to customers without consent — or any way to opt out.
The $10-million settlement will be divided up between all those filing claims, but you must file by May 15, 2016.
Abercrombie customers will need to provide the cell phone number where they received the unwanted text messages.
Click here for more details.
2. Stevia In The Raw
Did you pay more for the sweetener Stevia In The Raw because it was labeled as “100% Natural?”
You could be owed $16!
The maker of Stevia In The Raw agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the product label tricks customers into believing the “100% Natural Zero Calorie Sweetener” is all natural.
It actually contains chemical ingredients dextrose and maltodextrin.
Customers who purchased Stevia In The Raw can get $2 back for every box they bought, up to eight packages.
You don’t need to show any receipts, but you must file a claim form by June 6, 2016.
3. Ford, Lincoln Spark Plugs
Are you a current or former owner or lessee of a Ford F-150, Ford F-Super Duty truck, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator or Lincoln Mark LT?
If so, you could receive partial reimbursement for the cost of replacing spark plugs.
Ford and Lincoln owners who kept receipts or other documents showing the cost of replacing the spark plugs will receive higher reimbursement.
However, even if you don’t have any proof to submit with your claim, you can still get up to $50!
If you had your spark plugs replaced, you must file a claim form and submit receipts (if you have them) by Aug. 25, 2016.
4. HSBC Overdraft Fees
Do you bank through HSBC?
You might be owed money from an overdraft fee settlement.
HSBC agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations the banking giant intentionally posted debit transactions on customer accounts in highest-to-lowest dollar amount order to charge overdraft fees.
If you were charged an overdraft fee after June 30, 2007, you don’t need to do anything to receive a payout from the settlement. You’ll automatically receive a portion of the $30 million settlement.
Those charged an overdraft fee between Dec. 17, 2004, and June 30, 2007, must submit a claim form, as well as bank statements showing the overdraft fees.
You have until June 6, 2016 to file a claim.
Click here for more details.
5. Mitsubishi LaserVue TV
Did you buy a Mitsubishi LaserVue TV, only to find the video and color quality isn’t as good as you thought it’d be?
If so, Mitsubishi owe you money.
Mitsubishi agreed to offer several options to customers who purchased a LaserVue DLP TV as part of a settlement alleging the TVs have a defect that causes video and color abnormalities.
Mitsubishi TV owners can get a free repair, get reimbursed if you fixed the defect on your own or get a refund of at least $500.
To get money back from the TV settlement, file a claim form and a copy of your receipt showing the date you bought the TV by July 25, 2016.
If you think you qualify for any of these settlements, file a claim before the deadline so you don’t miss out on free money!
And be sure to check in next month to find out more ways to get cash back from even more settlements.
Your Turn: Have you ever received money from a class-action settlement?
Melissa LaFreniere is the News Editor at TopClassActions.com.
The post Abercrombie, Ford or HSBC Might Owe You Money! Here’s How to Find Out appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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