Game Duell is a huge online gaming community.  Its Free to join and lots of fun.  They also have deposit players, where you can enter cash games for real money.  They have hundreds of skilled and action games, including all the card games like poker, solitaire, crazy eights and more.  The action games like Jungle Jewels is a lot fun.  Join the community for free and start playing immediately.  Its so much more fun then playing on your own computer, because you can play against real people, and there is always lots of players online at any given time.  Just don’t play to long while sitting at your work desk!  Game Duell currently has over 10 million members.   You can win real prizes as a free player, and if you think you can compete you can upgrade to a money player and play head-to-head for lots of cash.  I just upgraded my account to a money player so I can join an online mini-league for for 9 ball pool.  You get 1000 G dollars when you sign up for free and you can request free credits up to two times for a total of 3000 G dollars.  Lots of playing for free, I’ve been on for almost a year now and still playing for free(you win more as you play).  Only upgrading to money player because I think I’m that good at pool.  Your G dollars can converted to merchandise, and gift certificates for a ton of online stores and cash.  Check out the largest online gaming community at Game Duell.  Game Duell is not a gambling site, and is skill based gaming site.  I highly recommend Game Duell.

Pertuity Direct is a social lending network.  If your not familiar with the concept, its a place where individuals and business can borrow money at great rates(simple interest loans starting at 7.9% (8.6% APR) for good credit ) from other individuals.  Loans max out at $25,000 and for borrowers there is no pre-payment penalties.  The process is much easier and cheaper then going to the banks.  Peer to Peer lending is growing in popularity, and much easier then dealing with the banks.  Pertuity Direct handles the process of making you a credit-approved borrower, allowing you to get great interest rates from lenders in the network.  This eliminates the hassle of lender bidding on your loan.  If you have not gone through the process of having banks bid on loans, you will find that a lot of loans get overlooked and cancelled because your loan did not receive enough bids.  Your personal information is not shared with anyone in the network and is protected by Pertuity Direct.  You can loan to consolidate, auto, business, renovations, or whatever else you want to use the money for.  The part I like the best is also the lenders portion of Pertuity Direct.  You can become a lender and make some real interest rate on your money.  You can become a lender through their National Retail Fund.  Something to consider with the non-existent interest on your cash and if your still a little nervous about dumping a pile of cash into the market.  Check it out at Pertuity Direct and get a low interest loan.

Pre-paid visa cards are growing in popularity.   Although not for me I came across the Rush prepaid visa, created  by Russell Simmons, and decided to take a look at the whole pre-paid visa concept.  The concept is simple, you load your Rush visa card up with cash and use it like a regular visa.  Visa is the most widely accepted credit card worldwide.  You can’t over spend and there is no interest charges because you have to pre-load your card with cash, and it is not unsecured credit.  This prevents you from overspending and saves you from carry cash around.  Great way to budget for your children aswell, or provide them emergency money without them having to carry cash in their pockets.  Prepaid visa can also be used to repair your credit rating.  For many people with poor credit scores, getting approved for a Visa is impossible.  If you don’t know your credit rating, you should, go get it online at Equifax, now!!  No Visa Card makes it difficult/impossible to do many things such as rent a car, or even shop online.  Several people have also told me that they use a prepaid visa for shopping online due to security reasons.  They are more comfortable with having their prepaid visa number floating around with a small amount on the card then say their regular visa that has a much higher limit.  Prepaid visa generally have no annual fees, although I found a few that do.  Prepaid visas have a one-time activation fee, some have a deposit fee or recharge fee, a convenience fee, and ATM fees for cash withdraws.  Make sure you review the fee schedule of any prepaid visa that you are looking at.  Inactivity fees also seem to be common for most cards.  An inactivity fee really bothers me.  What your telling me is that I pay you to hold my money, and if I don’t spend it you charge me more??  Okay most of the fees bother me, but I’ve learned to deal the generally accepted fees like everyone else thanks to our banks.  Bottom line is that if you need a visa, your going to pay some fees and having one makes life a lot easier these days.  The Rush Card has an activation fee of $19.99, and you can add money for free via retail locations(beware the retail location may charge you a few bucks so not really free), check/money order, and Tax Refund.  The Rush card also offers online management and telephone inquires for free, including their Rush Text Alerts.  An optional service called Rushpath to Credit is also free and it helps you build a positive credit file by reporting your regular bill payments you make with your Rush Card to participating credit reporting agencies.  You can find out more information and apply for a Rush Card at Rush Card prepaid visa.

If you have pretty good credit you probably get a lot of credit card offers.  There is lots to consider when getting a credit card, such as interest rates, annual fee, grace period, and late fee charges.  Well take a look at a Discovery card.  They offer lots of options, with low rates.  Their rates appear to be based on your credit rating.  Not sure what your credit score is check out previous blog about equifax credit score service.  I got myself a cash back bonus credit card.  It may not seem like much, but what I do is put everything I can on the credit card.  I have some of the other credit cards for miles, points, etc.  but at the end of the year, I can’t get a flight and I don’t need another toaster.  The cash is great, and who can turn down an extra few hundred dollars especially for making the purchases that I have to make such as gas and groceries.  Discovery offers no annual fee(unlike my American Express) and easy online account access.  Check out Discovery card options at savingsheadquarters.com.  Get 5% cash back bonus till June or $50 cash back at savingheadquarters.com

I can’t stress enough the importance of watching your credit score and trying to prevent identity theft.   It has always been important to check your credit score, but in today’s world the importance is increasing.  The higher your score the easier it is to borrow money at much more favourable rates.  There are things that you can do to improve your score, however most people do not even know their credit rating/credit score.  Increasingly importance is preventing identity theft.  Now with a global economy and the technology and internet usage, identity theft is sharpley on the rise.  If you have ever had your identity stolen you will know the nightmare that it can create, possibly for years to come.  Equifax has been well known to many to get a copy of your credit score.  Just remember 87% of credit reports have an error, so if you don’t check they you can’t fix it. Equifaxalso offers a unique service called Equifax credit watch gold.  Take a look at Equifax Credit Watch gold at savingsheadquarters.com.  Equifax Credit watch gold offers 3-in-1 monitoring of the 3 nationwide credit reports for you.  It also alerts you of key changes within 24 hours.  In addition it offer you an in-depth identity theft plan that includes Up to $20,000 Identity Theft Insurance with no deductible.  Check it out at savingsheadquarters.com, its well worth the small monthly fee.