FXCM Mirco $25

Open a FXCM Mirco account and receive $25 to trade. There is a charge to withdraw the money, so I recommend trading with the money and seeing how much you can make. Trading currencies is not like trading stocks because the leverage is usually 1:100. For every $1 you control 100 units of currency and sometimes even 1000 units. Making $100 in one day is not unusual but you could lose the $25 within minutes. If you are interested in currency hedges read my 30 yr trade post.

$50 Lending Club Bonus

Good news! Lending Club’s bonus is back up to $50 for new lenders until August 15th. New Investors Get $50 to Invest in Lending Club notes. With average net annualized returns of 9.61% it’s a great time to join Lending Club and they will give you $50 to get started. To get the bonus type in trug49 in the referral code box. I think Lending Club notes are an asset class that could give your portfolio additional return, however these notes are unsecured so there is a large amount of default risk. In a portfolio of $10000, the maximum allocation would be $1000. Anything less would not make a significant impact but again there is little recourse to make borrowers repay.

ING Direct $25 Bonus

ING Direct is offering a savings account bonus of $25 for opening an Orange Savings Account by August 3, 2009. The promotion page is located at ingdirect.com/save, and the reference code is VE222. Bonus is only available for new customers, and it's limited to one bonus per household.
Opening the account takes less than 10 minutes and requires a minimum deposit of $1, so there should be no excuse not to open an account that pays twice the interest than many brick and mortar banks

Flagstar $100 Bonus

This bonus is only available to residents of: GA, MI, IN Only .
Flagstar is offering two checking account promotions. One offers $100 for opening a checking account and establishing direct deposit of at least $250/month. Here's the online promo page . The website makes it look like you can apply online; however, I called, and the CSR said that a branch visit is required. Some of the important details in the small print include:

* New checking account customers only
* Minimum opening deposit of $50
* Direct deposit of income of at least $250 per month
* Direct deposit must be established within first 60 days of account opening
* $100 will be deposited into your account within 30 days after first direct deposit
* Account must remain open and active for a minimum of 6 months
* Bonus will be reported in your 1099


The other checking account promotion guarantees 2% APY for 12 months from account opening for all balances up to $100,000. It requires opening an interest-bearing checking account (I was told the eChecking doesn't qualify). Like the $100 bonus, direct deposit is required. If it's not established within 60 days, the rate may be reduced. Like the $100 bonus, this also requires a branch visit.

This 2% promo doesn't seem to be listed at Flagstar's website. It was advertised in yesterday's Fort Wayne Newspaper (6/13/09). The ad is available online here. A reader also saw it advertised in a Michigan newspaper.

According to the ad, there's a limit of one promotion per customer. So it appears you can't do both promotions.

Readers have reported a hard credit inquiry when applying for new Flagstar checking or savings accounts.

Branches are located in Michigan, Indiana and Georgia. The bank is a member FDIC (FDIC Certificate # 32541).