According to the Wall Street Journal, the government is using Facebook and MySpace to find tax deadbeats.  State revenue agents have been mining through information posted on social-networking Web sites to find relocation announcements, professional profiles and financial boasts.

On MySpace a long-sought tax evader was found and forced to pay back taxes after he posted that he would be returning to work in his hometown as a real-estate broker; for which he gave the name of his employer.  The state of Minnesota ended up collecting several thousand dollars, the full amount due.  In Nebraska, agents collected $2,000 from a deejay after he advertised on his MySpace page that he would be working at a big public party.

Read full article.

easyGROW Checking is offering an amazing rate of 4.01% APY for its free checking account plus automatic ATM free refunds worldwide each month, as long as the following 3 criteria are met:

• Make 10 purchases with our VISA Check Card. (ATM transactions not included. Purchases must be posted, not pending.)
• Ensure one (1) Direct Deposit or one (1) Automatic Payment occurs from your account.
• Enroll in e-Statements to receive your statement electronically, so you can save to your computer and view anytime you’d like.

As an added benefit to easyGROW Checking, you also get:

• No minimum balance
• No monthly service charge (Other fees may apply.)
• Open with as little as $100
• FREE online banking
• FREE online bill pay service

For more information visit EasyGrowChecking.com.

eBay Motors and General Motors Company today announced the extension of their first-of-its-kind promotion that enables consumers to shop new cars, crossovers and trucks online from participating California Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Pontiac dealers. The promotion, originally launched on August 11, has been extended through September 30. Customers can access the promotion at gm.ebay.com.

Since the beginning of the program through August 30, shoppers visited dealers’ virtual showroom sites more than 1 million times and logged more than 1.4 million searches of GM inventory. In addition, nearly 4,000 new car buyers entered into negotiations online, over the phone and in person as a result of this promotion. At the conclusion of the California promotion, GM and eBay Motors will evaluate extending the program nationally, based on consumer demand and dealer feedback.

Complete program details including participating GM dealer inventory available through individual GM brand websites can be found at gm.ebay.com, chevrolet.ebay.com, buick.ebay.com, gmc.ebay.com, and pontiac.ebay.com.

The promotion enables consumers to browse hundreds of vehicles in dealer inventory online, ask questions, negotiate prices, and arrange financing and payment to purchase select new 2008, 2009 and 2010 cars, crossovers or trucks online. Additional GM 2010 model-year inventory is being added to this extended promotion.

With more than 225 GM dealers in California participating, shoppers can expect to see a wide selection of new GM vehicles at competitive prices. Vehicles will be offered through eBay Motors’ traditional formats such as “Buy It Now” (where shoppers agree to pay the advertised price) and eBay’s innovative “Best Offer” option (where buyers indicate the price they are willing to pay and can negotiate online with the dealer for the vehicle).

The site also incorporates features that will allow consumers to compare pricing across models or participating dealerships throughout California, ask a dealer questions, and get tips and advice with a Buyer Checklist.

Lending Club has announced that in the next few weeks one lucky winner will be their 25,000th registered investor.  To celebrate this milestone, the 25,000th registered investor will receive $2,500 cash.

In addition, each new registered investor you invite during September will instantly receive $25 to invest in Lending Club notes.  Lending Club notes offered by prospectus registered with the SEC.

To receive $25 to start investing and become eligible for the $2500 prize visit LendingClub.com and in the “Referred by” code enter: pbirm.

The winner will be announced on Lending Club blog after October 1st.  For contest details visit the Terms & Conditions page.  Good luck

As a side note, after researching Lending Club, I recently invested $10,000 and so far so good! When I opened the account, Lending Club was offering a $200 bonus, so I couldn’t resist. That’s an immediate 2% return, with an expected 10%+ (conservative) annual return for the next 3 years. Over the next several months I’ll be reporting on my progress.

For more information visit LendingClub.com.

Relevant Articles:

• 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

If you are looking for a doctor, dentist, contractor, roofer, electrician, landscaper, plumber, etc. and want an unbiased opinion about their service then you should consider using Angie's List.

Angie's List was started by Angie Hicks in 1995 with 1,000 members in Columbus, OH because she was frustrated at how difficult it was to find good doctors and contractors.  As a result, she literally went door-to-door recruiting members and collecting reviews from friends and neighbors.

Today Angie's List has 750,000 consumers operating nationwide and was named in 2002, 2003 and 2004 as on of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.

You can contact Angie's List by phone, fax, and website.  You will then receive the names and phone numbers of companies that are rated high by other members. You will also be told what type of work the contractor has done for the other members and what they thought of their prices, if they were polite, punctual, finished the work on time, etc.  

There is a fee to Join Angie's List.  You can join by phone (1-866-943-8257) or Website.  There is also a trial membership to test out the service.

For more information visit AngiesList.com or call 1-866-943-8257.

Videos with Angie's List Founder Angie Hicks

I love getting free things!  Previously I got some free movies from Netflix with their free 2-week trial membership.  It's easy to signup online, by your information and selecting a monthly plan and subscription rate.  A credit card is required.

The offer is only for first time customers, with a valid payment method and is limited to one per household.

Membership also includes instantly watching movies and TV episodes online on your PC or Mac or on your TV via an Internet connected Netflix ready device.

If you decide you don't want the membership, you cancel at anytime during the 2 weeks and you will not be charged.  Just login into your account and follow the cancellation instructions.

Netflix have over 100,000 DVD titles and ships from 100 shipping points nationwide.  More than 95% of Netflix members live within one business day postal zone.

So go ahead, get your free movies!

We all know college text books are expensive.  Most college textbooks are really a lousy investment because they lose value quickly.  Not to mention most likely you’ll use it once, forget everything you learned and it then sits on your bookshelf collecting dust for the next several years.  Of course you can always sell the book, but it takes time and then sometimes the version of the book changes for the next class so selling it becomes impossible.

To combat this problem, consider renting or buying used text books online.  There are a few websites where you can rent textbooks which include Chegg, who offers renting text books at about 65% to 85% off the retail purchase price.  Chegg has thousands of textbooks and allows you to ship the books back to them free of charge.  

You can also consider renting textbooks from Amazon.com and Bookbyte.  Bookbyte started out as a home-based business in 1999 and has grown steadily over the years.  Bookbyte buys and sells used text books.