Welcome to Mound of Money

iBankBonus has compiled a list of bank bonuses. The list is particularly helpful, because you can view bonuses available by state, as well as see a brief overview of the terms of the bonus. I tend to sort by bank bonus value.

Some terms include:

• Initiate ACH transfers
• Set up recurring payments
• Set up direct deposit
• Complete forex transactions
• Account minimums

Just remember to take screen shots of all the confirmation pages, and offer pages so the banks don’t make a ‘mistake’ crediting your account with these bonuses.

All it takes for someone to identify you is 33 bits. 33 bits isn’t a magical number, it’s just that 2 to the power of 33 happens to be close to the number of people on the face of the planet. If you ask the right 33 yes or no questions about a person, one can identify a specific person anywhere – sometimes with far fewer questions. With all the traces of data you leave on websites such as facebook, twitter, etc it’s pretty easy to identify you, as well as your shopping habits, college major, favorite foods, income, address, how many children you have – and the list goes on.

IT should come as no surprise that companies are capitalizing on the breadcrumbs you leave behind while surfing the net. xplusone.com states they “serve the right message, to the right person, at the right time.”

What if this system of ultra-targeted advertising could be manipulated in your favor? It seems like the information you leave on the internet could be tweaked to show you in a better light.

If credit card companies are using where you shop to develop targeted credit card offers (like Capital One), it could be beneficial to pay cash at low end places like Wal-Mart, but to always pay with credit and tweet about your meals at expensive restaurants. Someone could possibly subscribe to golf and yachting magazines to boost their profile with high end retailers or creditors.

Next post: Credit cards and places to shop (or avoid) to boost your profile to merchants and lenders.

So, we all know that our online data is being used by companies to target advertisements with pinpoint precision. However, advertising is not the only use for data collected from your internet usage.

For instance, did you know that ordering pizza can affect your ability to obtain a mortgage? If a college grad is living with his or her parents while saving for a mortgage, while claiming apartment rent, data collected from online pizza delivery can determine where you live and tie that data with who actually owns the home. If someone is trying to refinance a home, but pizza is ordered to a home in another state, it becomes apparent that the home is not a primary residence.

Where you shop can also be used to identify those with disposable income. Targeted mailing, internet advertisements, etc can be directed based on the type of store credit cards you hold. A person with a Nordstrom’s card is perceived to have more income than someone with a TJMaxx credit card.

A recent blog post by a scientist with AVG suggests his facebook information was used by his bank to confirm his identity. He suggests the age of his daughter in law was used in a security question.

All of this seems a bit creepy. However, if you can get past being creeped out, there could be some fun ways to trick corporations into thinking you are more wealthy than you actually are. More on that later.