The Problem

SERO is still available, but only to existing, grandfathered users. While this sounds great for those of us with the plan, the main problem is that Sprint is limiting access to certain higher-end phones. SERO users salivating over the Palm Pre or the HTC Hero (Android) phones are out of luck, as Sprint will not allow these phones to be activated on SERO plans.

While there may be a way to force one of these phones to link with SERO, it’s beyond my current comprehension. If someone finds out how, please let us know.

If you’re okay with a lesser phone, you can still keep your SERO plan. You can even get a serious statement credit and a phone upgrade for cheap/free.

$70 Statement Credit

Step one – follow this advice (credit goes to Slickdeals):

At 22 months you are eligible to renew your contract. When you are eligible, login to your account at sprint.com and click on the “contact us” link at the top right of the page in the black bar. If you get a security warning about the content being delivered securely, choose No. Click on the “Email us” link and choose No if you get the security warning again. Search for something like “renew contract” and if you get the security warning, choose No. Now you should finally be at the web form to submit an email to Sprint ecare. For topic select “Plans, features, and services” and for subtopic select “Plan inquires.” In the text box say that you have heard that there is a $70 service credit available for renewing your contract and you would like to take advantage of that. Put your real email address in the box and then submit email. Wait for a day or so for a response and if they offer the service credit, then just reply to the email that you accept. Not everyone is eligible for the service credit so you might not get it, but worth a try.

By doing so, you will renew your SERO contract for another 24 months, and you should also receive a $70 statement credit – essentially paying for two free months! Here’s the reply I received after following the above instructions to the letter:

Thank you for contacting Sprint regarding the $70.00 agreement renewal offer. We offer $70.00 service credit to our valuable customers for renewing their agreement by two years. This offer is promotional and the customers are randomly selected for this offer. Considering your valuable association with us, I have applied a $70.00 credit on your account and have renewed the contract by two years starting today. There is a credit balance of $35.30 on your account after this credit which will reflect on your next invoice. We value your business and appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns. Please reply to this email or visit Sprint.com/mysprint if we can be of further assistance.

Keep in mind that you must wait until your initial contract is within 2 months of expiration. Most existing SERO users are likely already in or near this point. When I logged into my account, I saw this:

Free Phone Upgrades

Since the most awesome phones are prohibited from linking with SERO, what choices are available? A lot, actually, including some quite nice phones, such as the HTC Touch Pro2. I’m upgrading from a Moto Q, and I decided not to go for anything top of the line. Instead, I opted to select one of the free upgrades.

At this time, there are seven free upgrades available:

• LG Rumor 2
• Sanyo SCP-2700
• Samsung Reclaim
• Sanyo SCP-3810
• LG LX370
• Samsung M330
• Motorola i776

Of those, I opted for the Samsung Reclaim, which had the best reviews at the time.

I dig the slide-out keyboard, the relatively small size, the 2.0 megapixel camera, the MicroSD expansion, and the built-in GPS navigation. Sure, there are better phones available, but I’m not the kind of guy who is glued to his phone all day. The web/e-mail access is a boon, and I’m sure I’ll be totally happy with my upgrade.

Total cost: $0, including free overnight shipping.

Now I get to enjoy my SERO plan for another two years, two free months, and a free phone upgrade. I’m happy.

Need a frugal excuse to go out to dinner? Restaurant.com is currently offering $25 gift certificates for participating restaurants. The usual price is $10, but you can get them for $2 if you use the promo code TREATS.

Just go to Restaurant.com and type in your ZIP code to search for participating restaurants. You can then select as many certificates as you like for that restaurant and apply the promo code during checkout. Depending on your area, you might get lucky. In my previous town (in the Midwest), there were a number of good places listed, including my favorite local brewery. In my new town (in TX), there’s unfortunately only one participating restaurant listed. Oh well, I’ve been thinking of trying that place anyway, so this gives me some incentive. You can print the certificates immediately after purchase.

Depending on the restaurant, there’s bound to be a certain minimum price that you must spend (usually $35+), so plan accordingly. Bring a friend, or two. Alcohol is usually not counted, either. If you can work around these minor limitations, paying $2 for a $25 discount is a great deal.

This offer is valid through Halloween 2009. Bon Appétit!

Free MP3s – Amazon

Don’t expect all #1 hits in there, but it’s hard to complain since they’re free. Be sure to sort by genre on the left – it’s easier to find music that suits your tastes. I found a few dozen songs that I like, so help yourself.

What, then, can I do with these extra miles?

One option is to redeem them for magazine subscriptions. Not all carriers provide this option, but here are some that do:

• American Airlines – Link
• Continental – Link
• Delta – Link
• Northwest – Link
• United – Link

(If any of these links are invalid, let me know and I will update them.)

I just ordered a year subscription to The Economist, which normally sells for $119 on Amazon. As of this writing, all the aforementioned airlines offer it for 3,200 miles. Not bad.

A few selections on Delta

If you don’t have enough miles for The Economist, there are cheaper options available, such as:

• 26 issues of Forbes ($30 on Amazon) – 1,200 miles (Delta)
• 26 issues of Fortune ($30 on Amazon) – 1,400 miles (Delta)
• 12 issues of Money ($20 on Amazon) – 800 miles (Delta)

I’m looking forward to reading The Economist regularly since I’ve only heard good things about it. I feel that it’s a good trade for my extra airline miles. In any caee, it’s certainly a better deal than letting those miles expire!

A new competitor to companies like Prosper and Lending Club has recently arrived – Loanio.com, which functions in a reverse-auction manner. You can sign up as a borrower, a co-borrower, or a lender. I went with the lender signup. Here’s how it works, essentially:

When you open an account as a lender, you must link an existing checking account to Loanio and transfer in at least $100 (takes several days for the money to show up). Be warned: instead of doing a trial deposit, Loanio will actually deduct a few cents extra from your account as part of the verification process. Once the money finally shows up in your Loanio account (took 6 days for me, but that included a weekend), you will have to verify the “extra” amount that Loanio deducted. Once it’s verified, you are free to bid on loans as you please.

Borrowers and Credit Quality

As with any kind of peer lending service, you must carefully scrutinize the loan in question before you decide to bid. When borrowers sign up at Loanio, they undergo a credit check (Experian) and their credit information is available for lenders to view. Based on their credit/income information, borrowers are given a grade from A+ down to E. I haven’t found any direct information from Loanio as to a minimum credit score allowed for borrowers, but one E-rated borrower that I found had an Experian Vantage Credit Score ranging from 569-603. Ouch.

When I eye potential borrowers, one of the main elements I examine is the delinquency section. Here’s an example credit profile from a D-rated borrower:

Note the two current delinquencies and the twenty-four past delinquencies! Um, I don’t think I’ll be handing this guy one red cent!

On the other hand, here’s the credit profile of a borrower with an A+ ranking:

Yeah, that looks better, though the large amount of revolving credit balance is alarming.

Of course, you’re free to bid on loans that you deem worthy, and I’m going to err on the side of caution. I suspect that many borrowers on peer-lending sites are there because they absolutely could not get a loan elsewhere, so practice due caution. On the other hand, this type of service is greatly helpful for people who simply want to do something like consolidate high-interest credit card debt, and peer lending is certainly a better option than getting a payday loan!

The Bidding Process

Once you’ve found a worthwhile loan, the bidding process is simple. If you’ve ever used an auction service like eBay, you’ll feel right at home. However, instead of bidding up, you bid downward on the interest rate.

The borrower has the first say in setting the interest rate.

You will be asked to provide the maximum rate you wish to pay on your loan during the loan request application process. Thus, while it is probable that lenders will bid your rate down, you should only use a maximum rate you would be willing to pay.

When the loan auction opens to the lenders, the maximum interest rate is displayed, anywhere from 6-30%. As a lender, you choose how much cash you want to bid (usually $50-100), plus the minimum interest rate that you will accept on the loan. Let’s say that you bid on a loan with a set maximum interest rate of 20%. If you place a bid at 16%, your listing will still show as 20% initially. If enough people bid to fund the loan completely, the downward bidding process begins. As more people bid, the rate will lower incrementally, spitting out lenders who bid the maximum amount first. When the auction ends, those still in the game “win” the right to fund the loan. Make sense?

Lender Fees

When you win a loan and the borrower begins the payback process, Loanio will collect a servicing fee of 1%.

Lenders are charged an annual servicing fee of 1%. The fee is accrued daily the same way in which the borrower interest is calculated.

Also note that if the borrower ever has to pay a late fee, that fee is broken up and distributed to the lenders. Loanio receives no cut of the late fees.

$25 Signup Bonus

Opening an account is easy. Just pick a user name, fill in the required information, and answer some general identity-verification questions. There is no “hard” credit inquiry unless you become a borrower and receive a loan.

As I mentioned earlier, the second step is to link your Loanio account to an existing checking account and verify the initial funding amount.

Loanio has a referral system, and new lenders using a referral link will receive $25.

Every time you refer a new borrower who gets a loan, you’ll earn $50.00 and for every new lender referred, you and the new lender will receive $25.00!

My referral link is right here. If you use it to open an account, we’ll both receive $25. Good karma all around. Please note that you must fund one loan ($50 minimum) in order to receive the bonus.

I think that peer lending has a lot of potential, and now may be an excellent time to get your feet wet. Honestly, I’m considering this fun money, and don’t dare invest more than a few hundred dollars for now, at least until I’m much more comfortable with it. I’ll stick to high-quality borrowers as well. I’m willing to forgo the temptation of 30% interest in favor of a more realistic rate and borrows who might actually complete payments on the loan!

My first impression of Loanio? Pretty good overall, though I think it will be better once they start picking up steam. Right now there are a lot of loans that only receive a bid or two and come nowhere near complete funding. I’d love to see some more action. I’d also love to see a reduction in how long it takes to verify your initial funding. Six days for me, wow.

Still, Loanio is the new kid in town right now. Their service has time and (room) for improvement.

Just enter your ZIP code to see participating restaurants in your area. I lucked out – one of my favorite breweries is in the list for my area, so I bought 4 gift cards ($100 value) for a whopping total of $8. The gift cards are immediately available for you to print.

The code expires on October 15, so act fast. Just be sure to read all the fine print. Most gift cards specify a required minimum spent, such as $35. Alcohol is usually not covered.

My wife and I took advantage of this deal tonight. We popped into ye old Pub and carefully planned our meal so that the total was about $37. With the gift card applied, we only paid about $12, plus tip. Nice! Hey, I even paid with my 5% cashback credit card!

In completely unrelated news, thanks to Ginger at Girls Just Wanna Have Funds for including my post on 7 Free and Simple Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online as part of the 173rd Carnival of Personal Finance.

Academic Superstore

Note: you must prove eligibility when making purchases, such as affiliation with a school, university, or non-profit organization. See their eligibility page for details.

Anyway, here are the promo codes (valid through September 9, 2008):

• LABOR20 – save $20 off a purchase of $200 (or more)
• LABOR10 – save $10 off a purchase of $100 (or more)

If you need to buy academic-related wares, this is a nice offer. Take a look at the picture to prove that it works. In the photo, here I am applying the code to a piece of software that I’ve been eyeing. Just in case you’re curious, no, I didn’t actually buy the software, which brings me to my main point:

This is a good deal if you are already planning to make a purchase. Buying something on a whim simply because of a special offer does not a smart decision make (thanks Yoda).

I hope these codes are of use to someone.

Anyway, my sandals arrived, and yes, they are quite comfy! Included in box was a coupon code to save 15% on my next order. Since I tend to only buy shoes once every 85 years, I have no use for the code and will pass it along to you.

Here it is: use the promo code 15SAVE15 to save 15% on your next ShoeMall.com order. I have no idea how many times the code may be used, so first-come-first-serve!

If the coupon no longer works, please post a comment and I will update this post.

Feeling Trapped

Times change, and sometimes we need to adapt to new conditions. Recently I was away on a job interview, and my two flights were severely delayed due to bad weather. While sitting in the Chicago airport waiting for my connection to Cleveland, I felt completely and utterly isolated. I could not call my wife, nor could I contact my potential employer to let them know my status. Oh, and good luck finding a pay phone in most airports now. I felt trapped.

Eventually, I made friends with a fellow traveler, and he let me briefly borrow his Blackberry. Eventually I made it to Cleveland, albeit seven hours later than scheduled. After a couple hours of sleep, I had an all-day interview. It went well, by the way. Thank goodness I’m still pretty young and resilient.

The Realization

The long delays gave me plenty of time to ponder my lack of cell phone, and I came to the realization that I will probably be in many more situations like this over the next few years. Since I’m finishing my doctorate and applying for a number of jobs, I hope to have several interviews over the next few years as I look for my ideal university/location. Plus, my wife will be away at a number of conferences in the near future, so the same reasoning applies for her as well.

The thought of going through another ordeal like I just experienced sans cell phone is unbearable. I made it back into town on Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day, honey. Let’s get cell phones!

The Plan

Of course, I didn’t just run out and buy the first phone plan that I found. My wife and I previously had Cingular service years ago, and were singularly dissatisfied with them. So, the AT&T/Cingular/SBC/Bellsouth/etc monstrosity was out of the equation for us.

After reading a number of forums and blogs, I discovered the Sprint SERO plan. Formerly known as the Sprint Employee Referral Offer, it recently changed its name to the Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer. Same plan, slightly different name.

For $30 a month, I’m getting:

• 500 Anytime minutes
• Unlimited Nights & Weekends (starting at 7 PM)
• Unlimited text messaging
• Unlimited web/data access (awesome!)
• Unlimited mobile to mobile

There’s A LOT of discussion about the Sprint SERO plan online. If you are interested in detailed reading, you can start with the threads at HowardForums and at Fatwallet.

How to Order

To order, visit the Sprint SERO site in Internet Explorer. I hate IE as much as the next person, but ordering the plan does not currently work in Firefox or Safari. Grrr!

For the e-mail address, type savings@sprintemi.com. Again, this only works currently in IE. You may need to enter your ZIP code to check for availability.

Choose a phone. I opted for the MOTO Q by Motorola because I liked the bigger screen and the QWERTY keypad. Since the plan has unlimited data, I might as well access it easily.

When I ordered the phone a couple days ago, it was $80 (after rebate). Now, it’s $50. Since my phone has not yet shipped, I’m going to call them and ask nicely if they can give me the cheaper price. We’ll see if it works.

Now that my wife and I are both going to have cell phones, I’m going to start looking into getting rid of our landline. From what I’ve already been reading, it looks to be more difficult than I originally imagined. I currently have AT&T for landline/DSL, and I don’t imagine that they will easily cancel our phone service.

Time to start researching.