I mentioned before how I registered my debit card at Visa Extras so that I can earn bonus points whenever I use my debt card. Well, apparently, individual banking institutions have started to use the Visa Extras interface to create their own debit card bonus rewards websites. I received an email from my bank, Wachovia, noting that my Visa Extras account had been converted to a Wachovia Possiblities Rewards account. (Of course, I did NOT click on any of the links in the email itself. Instead, I went to the Wachovia homepage so that I could verify that the email was not a scam. Please, if you ever receive an email from what appears to be a bank, even if it’s your bank, do not click on any of the links in the actual email. The email could be a scam, ‘phishing’ for your account information and password!)

How do you earn points? By making “qualifying purchases”. From the Wachovia Possibilites Rewards FAQS

Qualifying purchases include:

* Signature-based purchases
* Internet purchases
* Phone and mail order purchases
* Bill payments

Basically, if you use your debit (check) card but you don’t enter your pin number, you’ll receive points.

So, how much are these points worth? Not much. Each “point” appears to be worth, seriously, $.002. If you spend $20,000 using your debit card, you can cash in your 20,000 points for a $40 gift card. (The new Wachovia Possibilites Rewards site allows you to register your debit (check) card AND your Wachovia credit cards. Credit cards earn more points per transaction (between 2 and 6), depending on the type of credit card.)

I’m disappointed by the value of each point rewarded, but every little bit helps.

Wachovia customers, click here to go to the Wachovia Possibilites Rewards homepage.

Others interested in checking the eligibility of your debit (check) card for rewards should head over to Visa Extras.

(By the way, the links provided are for informational purposes only. I will not receive any compensation should you choose to enroll in either of these programs. I mention these sites because I like to encourage people to use debit (check) cards instead of credit cards.)

Oh yeah. Since joining Visa Extras several years ago, I’ve accumulated over 15,000 points.

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Here’s a quick look at “all things NCN”.

Head over to the No Credit Needed Podcast to listen to my Special Announcement about the all new Money: Personal Finance RSS Network Feed.  I’ve integrated an audio player into the podcast page, so you can listen to the episode by simply clicking on the podcast player!  It’s pretty cool and makes listening to the podcast super-easy.  Oh yeah, I changed the look-and-feel of the podcast site.  The layout is clean, crisp, and I hope, user-friendly.  No Credit Needed Podcast.

Looking for some motivation to get out of debt?  Check out the No Credit Needed Network.  More than 175 members have posted charts, tracking their debt reduction and savings progress!  I’ve added a brand new, awesome feature for members who have their own websites.  Look at the right-hand side of this page.  See that new mini-chart logo?  It’s located directly beneath the big RSS button.  Members of the NCN Network can now post a mini-chart logo on their sites and share their progress with the world!  No Credit Needed Network.

Finally, here at No Credit Needed, I’ve changed the look of the site.  It was tough to say goodbye to the “old green” blog theme, but it was time for a change.  I hope you like the new look!

Interested in subscribing to No Credit Needed?  There are now 3 ways to be sure you never miss a single post!

1.  Click here to subscribe to No Credit Needed in a feed reader.  This is the most common way folks subscribe to my site.

2.  Click here to subscribe to No Credit Needed via EMAIL.  Several of you have taken advantage of this new feature.  Thanks!

3.  Finally, click here to subscribe to the brand new Money: Personal Finance RSS Network Feed.  What’s that?  Basically, when you subscribe to this feed you’ll receive updates from MY site and updates from 9 other personal finance bloggers.  Click here to read more about this awesome new service.

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There are two, rather well known methods for reducing debt:

Method 1 involves listing your debts smallest BALANCE to largest BALANCE and paying extra towards the account with the SMALLEST BALANCE, regardless of that accounts interest rate.

Method 2 involves listing your debts highest INTEREST rate to lowest INTEREST rate and paying extra towards the account with the HIGHEST INTEREREST rate, regardless of that accounts balance.

I’ve created a poll. If you could use only ONE of the above methods, which method would you choose? Want to tell the world “why” you chose that method? By all means, leave a comment and let us know! Let the voting begin!

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I’ve been a fan of the Dave Ramsey Show for more than four years. I’ve listened to Dave’s advice, read Dave’s books,attended Dave’s “live event”, and called Dave’s show. Readers of my blog can tell that I’ve been heavily influenced by Dave’s ideas about credit, debt, money, investing, and budgeting. I love the concept of the “Baby Steps” and I strongly agree when he says that personal finance is more about behavior and less about math. I agree that debts should be paid, smallest-balance first. I agree that people should buy used, not new, cars. I agree that term-life is better than whole-life. But, I have found a few instances where I, yes, good old NCN, disagree with Dave.

Dave suggests that you postpone 401k/403b contributions until you are debt-free, including amounts that would be matched by your employer. (I’ve actually hear Dave say this, at a live event I attended in Atlanta.)

I reduced my 403b contributions to a bare minimum while I was getting out of debt, but I wasn’t about to forfeit an employer-match. If I found myself in a situation where I was missing payments or falling behind, then I’d consider canceling all retirement contributions. But, as long as I could reduce my debt AND fund my retirement so that I could receive the match, that’s what I would do. I’m all for getting out of debt, but leaving matching funds “on the table” strikes me as unreasonable. If your company matches 50% of the first $2000 you contribute, that’s an automatic 50% return on your investment! I don’t care how high your credit card rates are, giving up a 50% return would be ridiculous. Please don’t misunderstand. I fully agree that, while reducing debt, retirement contributions should be temporarily lowered, but not below the amount an employer will match.

Dave suggests that you sell your car, unless you can pay it off in 18 months, even if this means that you have to borrow the difference between the amount for which you sell it and the amount you owed for it, and buy a cheaper, used car.

I’ve run the numbers, over and over, and there are times when simply taking a few extra months to pay off the car makes more since than selling it, financing the difference, and buying a junker. Personally, I was able to payoff my car note in less than 10 months, but I know, for a fact, if it had taken me more than 18 months, my wife would NEVER have gone along with the idea of getting rid of her car and replacing it with another, especially if it meant getting another loan for the “difference”. This is one of those ideas that turn people off to Dave and his message. I realize, trust me, that Dave, like me, is excited about helping people get out of debt. Instead of a hard and fast “rule”, may I suggest that you analyze the “total cost” of owning the automobile that you are buying and make an informed, rational decision about whether or not to sell it? In some cases, you should sell the automobile “you cannot afford”. In other cases, you might be better off paying for the car you already have and driving it until the “wheels fall off”.

After completing your emergency fund, Dave suggest putting 15% of your income into retirement. Dave always uses 12% when calculating anticipated returns.

I’m just not a fan of using “percentages”. Instead, I like to focus on the concepts of “fully-funding” or “maxing out”. But, the single, biggest problem I have with Dave is that he assumes a 12% return on retirement investments. I’ve heard Dave’s rational for using the “12%” figure, but, there are SO many factors that go into determining exactly how much an investment will return, that I think it’s somewhat “reckless” to assume that “everyone” can depend on a 12% return. Trust me, I know very, very little about investing, but I DO know that markets fluctuate, meaning that they go up AND down. I’m a big-time proponent of investing for the long-term over a long-time, but I worry about using such, in my opinion, an aggressive percentage. Call me pessimistic, but I always use 8% when I calculate anticipated returns and then HOPE that I’m off by 4%.

Whew. This has been a difficult post to write, but I’ve been thinking about these things for more than two years. I don’t believe in “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” so I’ll continue to listen to Dave’s show and read his books, but on these issues, I’ll have to “disagree” with Dave.

Check out these posts over at My Two Dollars and The Simple Dollar and All Financial Matters and Five Cent Nickel.
They’ve written articles about various aspects of investing, saving, and debt reduction.

• 27 Comments

As you can see, I’ve radically changed the look of No Credit Needed. I’ve been looking for a theme that I really, really liked, and I think that I’ve finally found “the one”. I’ll stay with this theme for a few weeks and see if I continue to like it. For now, I like the “anti-credit” feel of the giant red “X”.

I’ve recently joined several of my fellow personal finance bloggers in a new, Feedburner “network”. Here’s the basic idea: You simply subscribe to ONE feed and you’ll receive updates from my site, No Credit Needed, all of the MoneyBlogNetwork sites, plus MyMoneyBlog, The Simple Dollar, Fat Pitch Financials, and Get Rich Slowly. Isn’t that cool? You subscribe to ONE feed and you’ll receive posts from 10 awesome personal finance websites.

Click here to subscribe to the brand new Money: Personal Finance, Investing, And More RSS Feed.

For those of you who may have missed my earlier post, I’ve recorded and released a new episode of the No Credit Needed Podcast.

Finally, I participated in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance and Carnival of Debt Reduction.

My contributions: What Does It Feel Like To Payoff Over $70K In 19 Months? and The Value Of Having An Emergency Fund.

Some highlights from the Carnivals include:

Everybody Loves Your Money writes about co-signing for a loan.

Single Ma talks about how to close a credit card account without hurting your credit score.

My Two Dollars gets “philosophical” and asks: Do You Own Your Stuff… Or Does Your Stuff Own You!?!

The Simple Dollar writes about making financial mistakes.

We’re In Debt has an excellent article about how paying off a debt “feels”.

I hope you like the new look of my site. The old theme just wasn’t “working” for me anymore.

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