7.25.19 Solar power becoming a slam dunk decision; Kids with credit cards? Oh no; Ditch your big bank for a better online one

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5.1.19 Getting a mortgage if you are self-employed; New-style payday lenders; Robot baristas are on the way

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How to spot a fake online store in 5 easy steps

One of the most prevalent scams on the internet is fake online stores. If you’re an online shopper, you need to be especially careful. Luckily, you can spot a fake online store if you know what to look for.

In this article, we’re going to over some easy steps to confirm that the site you’re visiting is real — before you click “Buy now.”

Can you tell a fake online store from a real one?

One reason fake websites continue to trick countless numbers of people is because of a cybercrime known as “phishing” or “spoofing.” In this context, it’s when a crook sets up a website that looks identical to a reputable institution.

The damage can seldom be undone if you enter your personal information onto a bogus site. You could have your bank account drained or even have your identity stolen.

It used to be that you could tell a legit website from the “HTTPS,” in the address bar. But research from cybersecurity firm Phishlabs indicates that more than half of phishing sites use HTTPS. The truth, they say, is:

Just because a site has HTTPS doesn’t mean you can trust it unequivocally.

Given the state of internet security, you may be wondering what can an ordinary online shopper do to feel safe before a purchase?

Here are 5 steps to spot a fake online store

1. Scrutinize the URL

Some fraudulent sites have URLS that look just like those of legit websites — at first glance. Before giving any of your personal information like your credit card number, study the URL.

If you used a search engine to get to the site, always look in the address bar to confirm that you are on the correct place.

2. Use a website checker

You can check the legitimacy of any website by using online verification services. Here are two sites that do just that:

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• Go to UrlVoid.com and enter the website’s URL into the bar. After that, you can see all kinds of details about the site. UrlVoid.com generates a threat analysis, a safety report and runs the suspicious website through multiple blacklists to see if any warning signs pop up.
• Go to Google Transparency Report, which can tell you how safe a website is. Once you’re on the homepage, just click “Site Status” and enter the URL in the search bar.

For a deep dive on site security, explore the Transparency Report’s research on phishing, content delisting and safe browsing.

3. Hover over the address bar

In addition to studying the URL you’ll want to look for a green address bar or padlock. This signifies that the site has been verified.

It’s true, some phishing sites have been able to replicate the padlock icon in the address bar. But clicking the padlock can still tell you some valuable information about a site.

Chrome, Firebox and other major browsers have security checks in place to tell you whether a site can be trusted. Chrome, for example, tells you how many cookies the site has, the status of its certificate and more.

4. Rely on your browser

If you keep your browser updated and have antivirus software on your computer, it should tell you when you’ve run across an unsafe site. Listen to it!

If you see a “Not Secure” warning on your screen, back out of the site or close the page immediately.

5. Look for a trust seal

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Trust seals or trust badges aren’t just for decoration. Whether it’s from the Better Business Bureau, PayPal or Google, trust seals are what tell online shoppers and other users that they can make secure transactions.

Here’s the thing: If an e-commerce site doesn’t have a trust seal, be leery of it.

In summary

Hackers and scammers are constantly coming up with ways to trick even the most capable browsers these days.

Using the internet safely involves a focused effort on your part to be aware of phishing sites and other scams. Some other telltale signs that a website may be fake are:

• Bad grammar
• No contact page
• No refund policy

If you run across a fake website or malware, you can report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, send an email to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency as well as tell these internet companies:

When shopping online, remember to always heed cybersecurity warnings, be smart and be cautious when you sense something isn’t right.

Want to learn more about how to safeguard yourself online? Check out Clark’s Free Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection Guide.

Buying cars online vs. traditional dealers: Which is cheaper?

Online shopping has yielded big savings for people who opt to stay out of the stores, but what about when it comes to buying a car?

Although some people may prefer to visit their local car dealership rather than use their computer, savings can be found online, according to a new report.

Can you save more buying a car online or at the dealership?

Car search engine iSeeCars.com recently released a study that found people who bought vehicles online saved $185, or 0.8% on average. And some car models led to even more savings.

The site analyzed 2018 sales on more than 9.4 million used cars to come up with the results. Here are the vehicles that provide the biggest online savings, according to iSeeCars.com.

Admittedly, some people may be a little hesitant about making such a major purchase online. But for others, the high-pressure environment of a dealership is just as bad, according to iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly.

“Today’s car buyer wants to spend as little time as possible at the car dealership,” Ly is quoted as saying.

Ly says the best car-buying sites and apps can deliver significant savings, generous return policies and rigorous vehicle inspections.

Clark Howard: Here’s when you should go car shopping

Still, there may be some people who are just more comfortable visiting a car dealer — and that’s OK.

Money expert Clark Howard, who has bought a family car or two (or three), says it’s important that you be able to shop for a vehicle pressure-free. His advice is to check out the dealership after-hours.

“Look at cars when a dealership is closed, so there’s no salesperson to pressure you,” Clark says. “The best way to test drive a car is to rent it for a day or two. It’s the ultimate test drive.”

To learn more about the process of buying a vehicle, read Clark’s step-by-step guides for buying a new car and buying a used car.

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More Clark.com stories you may like: 

How to make an extra $100 in a day

If you need a little more money in your pocket to see you through to the end of the month, there are a lot of ways you can make an extra $100 a day — and some of them you can do online from home.

Check out these ways to make $100 today!

Got a little bit of extra time on your hands? Just follow this advice to monetize those spare moments. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to putting an extra Ben Franklin in your billfold.

As you read through this list, keep in mind that all of the figures about potential earnings are before taxes.

Table of contents

Pet sitting/walking: Rover and Wag

• Potential earnings: $16/hour
• Work 6.25 hours in one day to earn $100

Are you an animal lover? Then you might be a good candidate to sell your on-demand services as a pet-sitter or a dog walker through a variety of apps including Rover and Wag.

To qualify for the job, you typically just have to demonstrate prior experience with animals, be competent at using collars and harnesses, and demonstrate that you can remain in control of unpredictable situations with dogs.

The average hourly salary for a dog walker with Rover is $16, according to Glassdoor. But the earnings could be higher if you manage to take more than one dog out for a walk at a time.

Nanny for hire: SitterCity

• Potential earnings: $17.50/hour
• Work just under 6 hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re good with kids, you might consider being a babysitter or nanny for hire. SitterCity is one app that can connect you with families in need of child care. Just log on and complete a profile with your bio, preferences, availability and a photo. It’s free to register!

According to SitterCity, the average wage for a nanny in June 2019 was $17.50.

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Similar services you may want to check out include Bambino, UrbanSitter, and SeekingSitters.

Take online surveys: MTurk 

• Potential earnings: $7.30/hour
• Work 13 and a half hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re wondering how to make $100 a day online, don’t overlook using Amazon as part of your strategy. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gives you the opportunity to take surveys and do other kinds of micro-gigs for a small cash reward.

One of our staff members did a deep dive on working MTurk gigs. He spent 30 minutes a day for a month and managed to earn $110! That works out to be about $7.30/hour. You can read all about his experience here.

However, we should make one final point: While it’s easy to complete MTurk tasks while sitting on the couch watching TV, the work can be repetitive and boring. You probably wouldn’t want to plan on doing this more than a few hours a day.

Deliver groceries: Shipt and Instacart

• Potential earnings: $16 to $22 an hour
• Work 4 and a half hours in one day to earn $100

Apps like Shipt and Instacart give you the opportunity to pick up grocery orders and deliver them to people’s homes. All you need to get started is to be 18+, have a smartphone, valid driver’s license, auto insurance and a reliable vehicle — plus be able to lift about 40 pounds.

Shipt says you can earn anywhere between $16 to $22 an hour. There’s the potential to earn even more when you factor in tips.

Do small tasks online: Fiverr

• Potential earnings: $20/hour (assuming you can do four tasks in an hour)
• Work 5 hours in one day to earn $100

No matter what kind of skill set you have, you can probably find a way to make $100 a day online with Fiverr!

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Fiverr is a site where people post a variety of tasks they’ll do starting at $5 a pop. When we checked, we found the following services being offered:

• Make an animated logo video intro
• Give personalized dating advice
• Perform property title searches
• Scrape business data with emails from Google Maps
• Proofread and edit any text up to 1,000 words

Some of these tasks might only take about 15 minutes or so. The key is to know which ones fit that criteria.

Once you cull the herd, you’d have to perform about 20 of them in a day. It sounds like a lot, but it is possible — particularly if you’re proficient in whatever it is you do. There’s a market for just about everything out there.

Pick up odd jobs: TaskRabbit

• Potential earnings: $25/hour
• Work 4 hours in one day to earn $100

Are you good with furniture assembly, mounting and installation, moving and packing or general handyman jobs? TaskRabbit lets you pick up odd jobs in those and other categories.

The pay varies by job. Here are some sample rates advertised on the service’s homepage:

• Assemble a table/desk – starting at $49
• Mount a TV or mirror- starting at $56
• Move boxes via truck – starting at $51
• Clean bathroom/kitchen – starting at $54

You’re not paid by the hour, but by the task — no matter how long it takes to complete. So let’s say it takes you two hours to mount a flat-screen TV on a wall in somebody’s home. If you do that in two homes over the span of about four hours, you’ll have your $100.

Online tutoring/teaching: Chegg and Udemy

• Potential earnings: $20/hour
• Work 5 hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re looking to make $100 a day on the internet, either tutoring online or creating your own online classes could be a good ongoing source of income for you. Chegg is a leader in the former space, while Udemy dominates the latter.

Sites like these allow you to virtually connect with students in need of lessons and do the teaching right from your home computer. This is a particularly good job for teachers who may be off during the summer.

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According to Chegg, pay rates start at $20+ an hour.

Ride-share driver: Uber and Lyft

• Potential earnings: $15 to $16 an hour
• Work just over 6 hours in one day to earn $100

It’s entirely possible to make a living driving for ride-share services like Uber and Lyft — but you only need a handful of hours to make $100 fast!

You can expect to make estimated earnings of $15 to $16 an hour by being a ride-share driver, according to Glassdoor. Meanwhile, you can read about money expert Clark Howard’s experience of driving for both services here.

Final thought

It’s not that difficult to make $100 a day. The key is to know the opportunities that are out there and hone in on what makes sense for your life.

Maybe after reading this article, you’ll decide that you need to make a lot more than $100 in a day. In that case, you may want to see our piece that outlines 6 steps to make $1,000.

Meanwhile, if you specifically want to start earning money from home, check out our Work From Home Guide.

More Clark.com stories you may like: 

How to spot and avoid fake product reviews on Amazon

Fake product reviews have become a big problem on online retail sites like Amazon, according to money expert Clark Howard.

The consumer advocate points to numerous reports that indicate that the world’s largest online retailer is rife with fake reviews. But how can you tell if a review is bogus?

Fake Amazon reviews: Here’s how to tell

We’ve compiled some ways for you to spot and avoid fake online reviews. But first, here’s what Clark says on the issue:

“Our consumer behavior as a buyer is so influenced by reviews that now there are people, who all they do full time is earn a living by writing fake reviews,” Clark says.

Clark says that the issue of bogus reviews has become so commonplace that a cottage industry has emerged to help facilitate it.

“A lot of companies that are trying to get a product sold in the marketplace, or get you into a restaurant or get you to stay at a particular pace, they’re contracting with these organizations,” he says.

6 ways to spot fake Amazon reviews

Because it’s so hard to tell whether we’re reading an authentic review or not, here are some ways to decipher the real from the fake:

1. FakeSpot.com

FakeSpot.com lets you paste the URL of a review so that it can be analyzed. While it was originally built around Amazon, the site has expanded to other retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy.

Clark says this about FakeSpot.com’s ability to sniff out a fake review: “They’re not always successful at it, but it’s a help.”

Get the FakeSpot browser plugin for Chrome and Mozilla as well as the app for Android and iOS.

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2. ReviewMeta

Like FakeSpot, ReviewMeta lets you copy and paste the review link to view its credibility. The premise behind the site is not so much to decipher fake reviews, but to help shoppers uncover bias in reviews, which can be just as damaging to consumers.

ReviewMeta has a “Pass,” Fail” or “Warn” system that it uses to gauge reviews. Here’s what the site says about that:

“PASS/FAIL/WARN does NOT indicate presence or absence of ‘fake’ reviews.”

Get the ReviewMeta browser extension as well as the app for Android and iOS.

3. Watch for typos and bad grammar

Another way you can spot a fake online review is to look out for typos and bad grammar.

It’s not that every reviewer has perfect typing skills or a high education level, it’s just that online reviews are littered with sentences that seem to come straight out of a translation website. Those reviews could be fake!

4. Beware overly positive reviews

If a product review is superb in every way and the accolades seem too good to be true, a lot of times they are. This overly positive review is often accompanied with a perfect rating that may seem impossible to achieve.

5. Be suspicious of the bland and general

Some reviews are so general that you can’t even tell what the product does or is from the way it’s written. This could be a telltale sign that the review is artificially generated.

6. Look at the reviewer

Another good way to sniff out a fake review is to spot a fake reviewer. Click on the reviewer’s profile to see if they’ve written any other reviews or if they’re simply copying and pasting the same reviews on different products.

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Also, if you’re considering a purchase from a reseller in a marketplace site like Amazon or eBay, make sure you only buy from vendors with a 98% or higher seller rating.

Bottom line

As a thoughtful consumer, it’s ultimately up to you to scrutinize reviews before you buy a product or service. Here’s what Clark says:

“You and I have to understand that whether you’re looking at a place to eat, a place to sleep, a place to shop, or an item to shop for, that the odds are very strong if not overwhelming that the reviews that are being posted are bogus and you and I have to be the cops on the beat.”

If you run across a fake review online, file a consumer complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission or call the agency at 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357).

More Clark.com articles you might enjoy:

Where to watch free movies online

There’s never been a time when there have been so many ways to watch free movies. With so many streaming options at our disposal, of course, we’re not talking about free flicks at the movie theater.

All you need today is a smartphone, tablet or laptop and you can watch movies for free all day and night. But where are the best places to find them?

In this article, we’ll cover how to watch movies for free.

Grab the popcorn: Here’s how to watch movies for free online

When it comes to streaming TV and movie services, everyone from Netflix to Hulu to HBO Now offers free trials that range from seven to 30 days, but after that you pay for a monthly subscription. That’s not the case with these sites!

(While all of these options offer free movies, in many cases, you have to register or put up with ads to watch them.)

Classic movies in black and white are the specialty of Big Five Glories, which features films from back in the day. The site uses a YouTube video player to host scores of old-time films, including some featuring some old Hollywood greats like Charlie Chaplin.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

Crackle is a free streaming service owned by Sony. The platform has plenty of older films (Fight Club, for example), but they all come with ads.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

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If you’re looking for oldies but goodies on the big screen, Classic Cinema Online has it all for free. The site uses a YouTube player to host everything from to silent films to John Wayne Westerns.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

Free Movies Cinema has a number of independent and short films mainly curated from sites like Vimeo. What’s different about this site is that users can upload movies, playlists and other content.

If you’re really looking to deep dive, Free Movies Cinema has fan-made films that you can enjoy.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

If international films are your thing, this is a place for you. GoMovies lets you watch movies from nearly 60 countries. Its menu lists films under such categories as Top Watched, Top IMDB and Genre, to name a few.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

IMDb-TV is a free movie platform that is owned by Amazon and works with your Amazon Fire TV stick. After you watch a movie, you can rate it and contribute to IMDb.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

Kanopy, a site with lots of classic cinema and kids movies, works with your library card. You can stream up to 10 movies a month before a paid plan kicks in.

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• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

PopcornFlix features free movies, TV shows and viral videos culled from the web. Looking for a classic film? There’s a good chance PopcornFlix has it.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

Pluto TV is a free movie site and app owned by Viacom. It works on a number of different platforms like Apple TV, Roku, Playstation, Amazon Fire TV and others.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

Featuring scores of free movies and TV shows, from comedy series to sci-fi flicks to Popeye, Retrovision brings the nostalgia. The site features a durable video player and is organized well.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

If you’ve got a Roku device, the Roku Channel features a mixture of free movies and TV shows from different channels. Of course, the Roku device costs money, but  you can sign up for a free account and still enjoy the “Featured Free” section.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

Snagfilms specializes in full-length documentaries that focus on everything from animals to Amish life — and it’s all free. Be sure to check out the Cult Classics category.

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• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

Tubi TV has been growing in popularity as one of the best free movie websites and apps. Not only does Tubi load quickly, but its movie library is larger than the one at Netflix.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

Vudu has a simple interface that offers you free movies and TV shows. The ad-supported platform categorizes titles by genre and more.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: Yes

The largest video site on the internet, YouTube features tons of free movies. Of course, they’ve also adopted a play-for-a-fee option, you can find older full-length films on the site, usually interspersed with ads.

• Subscription: No
• Signup: No

What you need to know before you watch free movies online

Not every free movie site is legit or legal. We purposely didn’t list several popular pirate sites because of security concerns.

With that being said, here are three tips to stay safe when watching free movies online:

• Be aware of privacy & security risks: Many sites are operated by hackers in foreign countries who have made sport out of infesting people’s computers with malware. Along with recording your computer’s IP address, they may try to steal personal info as well.
• Avoid downloading movies from the web: Because many movie sites (torrent sites) host films that they don’t own the copyright to, downloading flicks from them is illegal. Don’t do it.
• Watch out for other stuff: It really can’t be stressed enough: Along with that free movie may come other stuff you hadn’t bargained for, like pop-ups.

If you want to know another dependable resource where you can watch movies online for a small fee, the Motion Picture Association of America has a Watch it Legally page that lists paid and free film sites.

These credit cards offer bonus rewards for streaming subscriptions

Millions of Americans have cut the cable cord in favor of streaming to lower their monthly expenses, but you may be able to save even more money by choosing the right rewards credit card.

A handful of credit cards offer bonus rewards or credits for streaming services from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Spotify, Apple and others. If you love to stream movies or music, consider one of these cards to help you get the best benefits in return.

6 of the best credit cards for online streaming services

Remember, you should only use credit cards if you can pay them off in full by the due date each month to avoid interest costs.

If you can do that and manage your budget well, the credit cards featured below will maximize what you get back when paying for online streaming entertainment. Let’s get to the list… 

Table of contents: 

1. Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express

For streaming, the Blue Cash Preferred card offers a great deal. You’ll earn 6% back on online streaming services including Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon Music, Sling, YouTube, HBO, Pandora and others.

It’s hard to find a card that gives 6% back on anything consistently. If you are a heavy streaming subscriber, this benefit can add up quickly.

This card also offers bonuses at U.S. supermarkets, taxis/rideshare services and U.S. gas stations. If those are your most common places to purchase, this card may be well worth the $95 annual fee.

2. Uber Visa Card

The Uber Visa card from Barclays gives you 2% cash back for all online purchases. That includes streaming services and online shopping. If your household spends a lot online, this bonus category can be quite lucrative.

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In addition, you can earn a $50 statement credit for online subscription services after you spend $5,000 on your card in a year.

The Uber Visa also offers bonuses on Uber, restaurants, travel, and it includes cell phone insurance if you pay for your phone bill with the card. The card has no annual fee.

3. Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card

The Propel card from Wells Fargo gives you 3x points per dollar spent on online streaming. It has a smaller list of just six services: Apple Music, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Sirius XM and Spotify.

The card also offers bonuses on dining and travel categories. The card has no annual fee and points are generally worth 1 cent or 1.5 cents each, though it can be higher for some high-spending cardholders.

4. Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier card offers 2x ThankYou points per dollar spent on entertainment, which for Citi includes online streaming services. It also includes video rental stores — if you can still find one.

The card also features bonuses on travel, gas station and restaurant purchases. Points can be redeemed for travel or transferred to partners. The card has a $95 annual fee, which is waived the first year.

5. Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card

While this credit card doesn’t specifically call out streaming services as a bonus category, Amazon Prime memberships include Amazon Prime Video and this card offers a bonus there.

Prime Visa cardholders get 5% back on all purchases at Amazon.com. That includes the Prime membership. If you are a big spender at Amazon, this card is a no-brainer.

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It also offers bonuses at Whole Foods, restaurants, gas stations and drug stores. The card charges no annual fee, so if you only use it at Amazon you’ll probably still come out ahead.

6. US Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card

This card is another that doesn’t specifically offer a bonus for streaming but can give you a bonus for those purchases. The Cash+ card from US Bank lets you choose two categories for 5% bonus cash back. One option is “TV, internet and streaming services.”

After that, you can pick another 5% bonus category and will get 2% on your choice from the list of “everyday” categories including grocery stores and gas stations. If streaming is a big spending category for you, you’ll definitely want to lock in the 5% bonus.

Don’t forget about general rewards credit cards!

Citi Double Cash gives you an effective 2% back on all purchases (1% when you buy and another 1% when you pay your bill.) Chase Freedom Unlimited gives you 1.5 points per dollar on every purchase.

Neither card carries an annual fee and can give you more than 1 point or 1% back on streaming.

Never add extra subscriptions just for the cash back or rewards, but if you are going to use a streaming service anyway, you might as well get a bonus where available! With any of these cards, you can make it happen.

More Clark.com stories you may like: 

Best online banks: Free checking and high-interest savings accounts

Several online banks including Ally Bank, CIT Bank and Marcus by Goldman Sachs have recently lowered the yield on their high-interest savings accounts. 

CIT Bank’s Savings Builder account dropped to 2.30% APY in late June 2019. Despite the change, its rate and other online-only banks pay more interest compared to traditional banks. 

The average rate on savings accounts nationwide is only 0.10%, according to the FDIC.

Some Clark.com readers tell us they’ve moved their savings to Wealthfront’s FDIC-insured cash account, which offered 2.57% APY as of July 2019. Wealthfront is a robo-advisor investment service.

If you want to earn more interest and grow your savings, now is a great time to switch from a traditional bank to an online bank.

Many online-only banks are growing in popularity because they have lower fees and higher interest rates compared to the big banks — and they’re still a safe place to keep your money.

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Depositing a check is easy with your bank’s mobile app, but there’s no way to deposit cash with most online banks.

Best online banks: Team Clark’s picks 

If you’re someone who never needs to walk into a bank or credit union, you may be able to bank 100% online like Clark.com senior writer Michael Timmermann who has accounts with Discover Bank and CIT Bank.

Discover’s cash back checking account has 1% debit card rewards, while CIT Bank’s savings interest rate is now well above 2%.

Best online banks: Table of contents 

Not ready to leave your bank or credit union completely? You can keep your checking with them and open just an online savings account. After all, that’s where you’ll be earning the most interest anyway.

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Look at it this way: Some online banks pay a full 2% APY (annual percentage yield) more than big banks.

Here’s the difference over five years if you open up a savings account at a traditional bank and deposit $5,000, then fund an online savings account with $5,000:

Savings rates comparison

Traditional bank: 0.01% APY

Online bank: 2.05% APY

Year Total Year Total 1 $5,000.50 1 $5,102.50 2 $5,001.00 2 $5,207.10 3 $5,001.50 3 $5,313.85 4 $5,002.00 4 $5,422.78 5 $5,002.50 5 $5,533.95

Team Clark has identified some of the best online banks. All of them are FDIC-insured, which means that your deposits (like checking and savings) are protected up to the FDIC insurance limit.

Each depositor is insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank. Read more at FDIC.gov.

The banks on our list don’t nickel and dime their customers. They offer free checking with perks, top rates for online savings accounts, mobile banking tools and great customer service.

Read on for Team Clark’s picks and let us know about your favorite online bank in the comments below…

Best online banks: Team Clark’s picks 

Ally Bank 

Ally Bank offers 2.10% APY on savings for all balance tiers, interest checking with no monthly fees and 24/7 customer service. 

Checking

• 0.60% APY on balances $15,000 and more, 0.10% below that
• No monthly maintenance fees
• Use Allpoint ATMs for free, plus $10 reimbursement per statement cycle for other ATM fees
• Free standard checks

Savings

• Online Savings Account: 2.10% APY on all savings tiers
• High Yield Certificate of Deposit (CD): 2.55% APY for 12 months, no minimum balance

Discover Bank 

You probably associate Discover with cash back credit cards, but it also has a checking account with cash back rewards for debit card purchases. 

Checking

• Earn 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month
• No monthly fees or monthly balance requirements
• Access more than 60,000 surcharge-free ATMs (Allpoint or MoneyPass networks)
• No fees for insufficient funds, excessive withdrawals, falling below minimum balances and stop-payment requests
• Free checks upon request

Savings 

• Online Savings Account: 2.05% APY, no minimum deposit or monthly fees
• 12-month CD: 2.40% APY, $2,500 minimum initial deposit

Capital One 

Online banking customers can deposit cash at select Capital One-branded ATMs and Capital One Cafes. 

Checking 

• Earn 0.20% APY on 360 Checking account balances under $50,000
• $0 minimum deposit and no monthly fees
• Access to 39,000 fee-free Capital One and Allpoint ATMs

Savings 

• 360 Money Market: 2.00% APY for balances of $10,000 or more, 0.85% APY for balances below $10,000
• 360 Savings: 1.00% APY for any savings balance

Simple 

Simple is fee-free banking! There are no minimum balance requirements, and no maintenance, overdraft or monthly fees.

Checking 

• Built-in budgeting tool with the Simple app
• Fee-free online checking account, including no overdraft fees
• Free access to Allpoint ATMs
• Protected Goal Accounts with a $2,000+ balance earn interest

CIT Bank 

CIT Bank offers some of the nation’s highest interest rates on its savings accounts, but you must keep a $25,000 balance or deposit $100 a month to earn the best rate. 

Savings

• Savings Builder: 2.30% APY if you maintain a $25,000 balance or deposit $100 per month
• Money Market: 1.85% APY, $100 minimum opening deposit
• No-Penalty, 11-Month CD: 2.05% APY, $1,000 minimum opening deposit

Marcus by Goldman Sachs 

Marcus by Goldman Sachs has a competitive rate on its savings account and no monthly maintenance fees. 

Savings 

• Online Savings Account: 2.15% APY, $1 minimum deposit to earn interest
• No-Penalty, 13-Month CD: 2.35% APY, 

  $

  500 minimum deposit 

Charles Schwab Bank 

Schwab Bank checking and savings customers get unlimited fee rebates from any ATM worldwide, but the checking account must be linked to a Schwab One brokerage account.

Checking 

• High Yield Investor Checking: 0.40% APY
• Unlimited ATM rebates worldwide
• No service fees or account minimums
• Linked to a Schwab One brokerage account

Savings 

• High Yield Investor Savings: 0.50% APY for all clients
• Unlimited ATM rebates worldwide
• No service fees or account minimums

Once you’ve identified an online bank that meets your needs, follow Team Clark’s step-by-step guide to help you make the transition process as easy as possible.

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Clark Howard: Why you need to give online banks another look

Thinking about switching your bank?

You’re probably familiar with credit unions as a superior alternative to traditional big banks, but you’d be wise to give online-only banks some consideration, too.

That’s because the online banks now offer some of the highest rates across a variety of banking products.

RELATED: Lots of banks are offering free cash: Should you bite?

Internet banks give you the best bang for your buck

How many times have you gone to your local bank branch or credit union in the past year? If you’re like most people, the answer is “not many.”

The advent of Internet banking on your smartphone has reduced the need for physical branches. If you’re fully comfortable with digital banking, there are a few compelling reasons why money expert Clark Howard says you should look at moving your money to an online bank.

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“Recently, I’ve had to rethink banking. It used to be a two-horse race between banks and credit unions,” Clark says. “But now online banks are the new low-cost place to bank.”

Clark notes the competition is really heating up in the online banking sector.

Ally and CIT deserve your attention

Ally Bank will give you a 1% bonus on any money you move over to their online banking services as part of its newly announced PayBack Promotion. You can earn up to $1,000 on a deposit of $100,000!

And if you’re somebody who likes to chase the highest interest rates, we’ve saved one of the best deals for last.

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CIT Bank is offering 2.30% APY on its Savings Builder account. To qualify for that rate, you need to either have an account balance of $25,000 or more OR make at least one deposit of $100 or more faithfully each month that you don’t have $25K on deposit.

If you fail to make that monthly deposit, the interest rate drops down to 1.26% APY for the following month. But if you make a deposit of $100 or more before the next month is over, you’ll get back up to the higher rate.

“Online banks are where all the action is right now in banking,” Clark says. “But it’s not just savings accounts; it’s about great deals on checking, CDs and so much more, too.”

Haven Life Plus: What you need to know about this unique insurance offering

Today’s life insurance customer is not like the life insurance customer of old. Younger customers want to be able to buy a life insurance policy and manage it all from their phone.

And they want perks with their policy — lot and lots of perks!

RELATED: John Hancock wants you to exercise your way to a lower life insurance premium

Introducing Haven Life Plus

Haven Life is one of a handful on insurers that issues term life insurance policies — money expert Clark Howard’s favorite kind of life insurance — with no medical exam.

When you go through Haven, select qualified applicants (up to age 45) can finalize coverage online without the need to have a physical exam or a blood test. Certain candidates, however, may still need to pass medical underwriting, depending on a variety of factors.

All of Haven Life’s policies are underwritten by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, an A++ rated company for financial strength and stability.

And now, in an effort to broaden its customer base, the startup insurer has introduced Haven Life Plus.

What do you get with Haven Life Plus?

Haven Life Plus is an insurance rider that sits on top of your existing Haven Life policy. It offers a broad range of freebie perks valued at north of $200 that touch on estate planning, on-demand health services and emergency planning.

And here’s the nice thing about Haven Life Plus: While some insurance riders typically cost extra to add to a policy, that’s not the case here. A Haven Life representative confirmed to Clark.com that, “The Haven Life Plus rider is included in a policy at no additional charge.”

However, we should note that the Haven Life Plus rider is not available in Florida, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington.

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But if you live anywhere other than in those few states, here’s what you do get:

Will creation

We’ve talked extensively in the past about the need for a last will and testament for most people. Haven Life has teamed up with online will provider Trust & Will to offer free will creation services and a year of unlimited updates for its policyholders. That’s up to a $129 value.

This offer is void in Washington, Missouri, and North Carolina.

Secure online safe deposit box

The traditional safe deposit box has been reimagined with the rise of cloud computing.

Life Site is part of the Haven Life Plus offering with a secure online safe deposit box to store all the important papers you and your family could ever need. Uploading a document to Life Site is as easy as pointing and shooting a picture on your phone.

This is an $80 value.

15% discount at MinuteClinic

CVS MinuteClinic operates 1,112 clinics across 33 states and Washington, D.C., offering a convenient health care option that doesn’t require an appointment and is open every day.

Through Haven Life Plus, you get a 15% discount on any single CVS MinuteClinic service. This discount is not compatible with health or other insurances.

Mobile alternative to 911

You don’t want a 911 operator to have to fool around with triangulation to locate you in an emergency.

Life Link is a mobile app that lets you connect with emergency services accurately and instantly at the touch of a button. It’s compatible with both Android and iOS.

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(This free app is actually available to all Haven Term policyholders, not just those with the Plus rider).

More insurance stories on Clark.com

How to get college textbooks for free (or nearly free)

Higher education is getting more and more expensive, and the cost of college textbooks is no small part of that equation.

The average price of college textbooks for a full year of school now exceeds $1,200, according to the latest figures. A recent survey indicates that because of the steep prices, as many as 65% of college students are choosing not to pay for course books, potentially hindering their grades. Thankfully, there are ways to get college course books for free or very close to it.

A recent discussion on Reddit.com about how to get cheap college textbooks yielded some very good tips. Here are some of those suggestions, along with others.

Here are some ways to get college textbooks for free (or nearly free)

Ask for alternatives to buying the books

Many college teachers remember when they, too, were cash-strapped college kids. Ask if there is a free hard copy or online version of the textbook that you can use for the semester.

Buy them used

Project Gutenberg

The Project Gutenberg initiative has nearly 50,000 electronic books available online. The textbook you need just might be there.

Textbook Nova

This website finds college and high school textbooks for sale on Amazon for you. All you have to do is enter the title, keyword, author or ISBN.

Rent them

There are also sites that let you rent your college textbooks at a discount and return them when you’re done. In addition to some of the sites listed already, check out Valorebooks.com and Slugbooks.com.

Try the city library

Take a look inside your city library. If they don’t have the book you need, ask the librarian if they can find it among their network of library branches. There’s a good chance they can get it through the inter-library loan program. The beautiful part about this is that it will cost you absolutely nothing!

How to spot hidden resort fees when you’re booking travel

When you’re shopping online for a travel deal to a vacation getaway, it’s common to be lured in by a price. After all, many of us choose our destination based on how much it will cost us.

But a number of travel resorts have taken to listing a bare-bones price online only to inflate it with various fees when it’s time to click the “buy” button.

In this article, we’re going to show you how to spot, track and avoid hidden resort fees.

How to spot hidden resort fees

Money expert Clark Howard says that hidden fees are as numerous as hotel rooms at a tourist destination. These extra charges can be found on your bill by looking for words like “administrative fee,” “amenities fee” or “resort fee.”

Clark says this is how a typical resort pricing trick works:

“You’ll be told the rate would be $175 a night, but then you get there and there’d be another $20 a night to pay for the amenities of the place, like the fancy pool or whatever,” Clark says in his podcast.

In many cases, when you’re booking online, you’ll have to look closely to compare the quoted price with the final tally at checkout.

You see a resort package that you like:

Wow, $1,332! Great price, right? For two people, that’s $2,662. And that’s how it shows up on screen.

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But when you go to make the purchase…

The total jumps up to $2,702! Now, for some people those extra charges may not be a lot, but others may be wondering what’s going on.

We did a deep dive into the hidden resort fees and associated charges and here’s what we found:

Common tax and service fees

• Sales tax: The usual tax imposed on the sale of a product or service
• Excise tax: Levied by the government on certain services and products
• Value added tax: A value added tax (VAT) is usually a percentage of the total cost added to the sum
• Hotel to resort transportation: That ride from and to the airport may end up on your final bill
• Processing service fee: Fee for processing your reservation
• Security deposit: An amount of money paid upfront to cover damages or reservation
• Fuel surcharge: If applicable, this fee is a reimbursement for gas expenses

Of course, you could also incur other charges (safe fees, Wi-Fi fees) from the service or activity provider that are not even included in the quoted price.

2 steps to track hidden resort fees when you book online

Clark says before you click “purchase,” on a resort trip, double check the prices every step of the online process.

1. Double check the prices: “Take one extra step with any hotel you’re thinking of booking. What you want to know is if there are any junk fees,” he says.
2. Call the hotel directly: Before you book a hotel reservation, contact your hotel directly and ask them about the fees they add on in addition to the room rate. Let them know what price you’ve been quoted online by a third party — you may be able to negotiate some of those fees and get a better price by booking direct!

The travel industry isn’t the only one with sneaky fees. See other areas where hidden fees could be costing you thousands.

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