WTDirect is offering a $100 cash bonus, up to $500 for every $10,000 you deposit.  That's an immediate 1% return.  You will have to open and fund your account by June 15, 2010 and maintain your initial deposit for three months to receive a cash bonus.

Now for the fine print:

• This offer is available to new WTDirect clients only.
• Primary account holder must NOT have held a WTDirect account in the past 12 months. WTDirect account must be opened and funded via electronic (ACH) transfer received by 6/15/10.  
• Bonus is based upon the lowest daily balance during the promotional period of 6/15/10 – 9/15/10.  
• Bonuses will be paid approximately 2 weeks after the end of the promotional period to clients whose accounts are open and in good standing.  
• Wilmington Trust employees and their family members are not eligible.
• WTDirect reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at any time without notice.

For more information visit WTDirect.com.

Below is a video of a recent news report from ABC KABC-TV in Los Angeles, CA, featuring a Lending Club borrower who took a personal loan to pay off her credit card debt which saved her money in the process.

The news report also featured a Lending Club investor who built a diversified portfolio, lending no more than $100 at a time to more than 200 loans with a return of over 10%.

Related Article: Need a Loan? Get a Low Interest Loan from Lending Club

KeyBank is offering a free iPod Touch if you switch your banking to them.  You can get a free iPod Touch if you open a checking account (Key Express Free Checking or Key Advantage Money Market Checking), make one Key KeyBank Rewards debit card transaction and make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by October 1, 2010.  

KeyBank is also offering the iPod Touch with a $25 iTunes gift card if you open a checking account (Key Privilege Checking or Key Privilege Select Checking), make one KeyBank Rewards debit card transaction and make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by October 1, 2010.

Per the fine print:

• You must have or request a KeyBank Rewards debit card (Key Privilege Select clients must have or request a KeyBank Rewards World debit card) and enroll in the KeyBank Rewards program.
• There is a $20 annual fee for the KeyBank Rewards Program that will be waived for the first year.
• Qualifying debit card transactions include signature, PayPass, and PIN-based purchases only.
• Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, Social Security, pension, and government benefits.
• Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal transactions, and account-to-account balance transfers.
• Limit one iPod touch per qualifying account.
• Limit one iPod touch per individual.
• The value of the iPod touch and, if applicable, the $25 iTunes card will be reported on Form 1099-INT.
• You will receive your iPod touch within 90 days of meeting requirements.
• Offer available to individuals without an existing checking account at KeyBank as of 4/30/10.
• Employees of KeyBank, its affiliates, and subsidiaries are not eligible for this offer.
• If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.
• Accounts overdrawn or closed as of 10/1/10 are not eligible for this offer.
• Accounts titled as Trust Accounts, Estate, and No Access are excluded from eligibility.
• You must have a U.S. mailing address on 10/1/10 to be eligible.
• The iPod touch shipped may differ from the iPod touch shown.
• Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer.

For more information visit Key.com.

If you are in the job market and want to differentiate yourself from everyone else, you may want to consider trying Alec Brownstein’s method for landing a job.  Brownstein identified influential individuals in his field who could hire him.  He then created ads on Google Search by bidding on the names of the people he wanted to notice him.  When they Googled their names, Brownstein ad would appear.  As a result he was able to land his job.  See video below.  Read more here.

A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward.  Check out the video, it reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. The video is simply brilliant.

The video was created by a 20-year old for the AARP U@50 and won second place.  According to the creator, the video is based on Argentinian Political Advertisement "The Truth" by RECREAR.

It's time for another update of my Lending Club Account Performance. The last update was on February 20, 2010.  Since then Lending Club has revamped their website and changed their logo (see below).  The new site is easier to navigate and features different background pictures which I guess is cool!

Since starting to issue loans last August (2009), I’ve earned a total of $1,483.68 in interest, but with and interest plus bonus I've earned $2,196.75.  I currently have 456 notes (loans) issued with 14 fully paid.  One note is currently late 16-30 days and 3 are late 31 to 120 days.  One was charged off with a loss of $24.  Calculated net annualized return is 10.83%.  Total payments to date (principal and interest) is $7,050.89.  (See screen shot below)

As notes are paid back I've re-invested in new notes to A, B, and C investors using the Build Portfolio feature.  I use the filter option to only list A, B, and C investors and issue $25 notes to each borrower.  Additionally,  I use the Conservative and Moderate portfolios to loan to mostly A and B investors.

I do not review the notes to determine the reason why each borrower want the money.  I'm more concerned about the borrower rating (A, B, C).  Reviewing each note would be very time consuming and there is no way to really determine risk.

According to Lending Club, there are now 35,000 investors and 220,000 members.  Investors have earned an average return of 9.65%.  The company announced last month the closing of a $24.5 million investment and just recently added 5 year notes.  Before only 3 year notes were available. The 5 year notes pay a higher interest than the 3 year notes. I'm not certain if I'll invest in 5 year notes as yet!

So far so good,   I'm happy with my account performance.  If Lending Club was a profitable entity I'd consider investing more money.  However, for now I'll take the wait and see approach to see how the company does over the next several months.

Lending Club is offer $25 for free when you sign-up as an investor at no risk.  You can use the $25 to try out P2P lending with no future obligation.  There is nothing for you to deposit and you can lend the $25 immediately.

Related Articles:

• My Lending Club Account Performance Update 2
• My Lending Club Account Performance, So Far, So Good (Update 1)
• Earn a High Interest Rate with Lending Club P2P Loans
• Need a Loan? Get a Low Interest Loan from Lending Club
• Social Lending Networks are Booming
• Lending Club Offering $25 to New Customers in September and a Change to win $2,500

I received another Chase Offer in the mail yesterday and will not be using it, therefore its up for grabs! 

Chase is offering $100 cash bonus for opening a new checking account by June 30,  2010.  To qualify for the bonus you must open a new Chase Checking account with a $100 minimum deposit of new money (money not currently held by Chase or its affiliates).

The bonus will be deposited into your account within 10 business days after the $100 minimum deposit is made.  The bonus is not considered part of the minimum opening deposit. 

The checking account must remain open for at least 6 months or the bonus will be debited from the account at closing.

To open your account visit Chase.com/checking and use coupon code 3758904985404656.  If interested grab this coupon code quickly.  It's the only one I have!