Many highly rated FW threads have grown out of user requests in the course of a seperate discussion. Some very recent examples are here and here .
At the same time, we get many questions over and over again, in various OT threads, where FW members are (justifiably) reluctant to answer them.
Anandtech has had an "I wanna" thread that would handle requests for hot deals, which avoided cluttering the forum up with numerous threads begging for a deal. In that same tradition, the purpose of this thread is to serve as a centralized location where FWF members, new and old, can request threads devoted to particular subjects. People who are looking for answers that they can't find good information on can ask their questions here. Likewise, folks who are looking for a suitable way to contribute back to the community can look for suitable projects here as well.
One nice way to handle this might be to have an "edited-by-all" post after this one keep a member-updated list of requested threads, along with posts by volunteers willing to tackle these projects. I'll start with a couple of projects, one of which I'll volunteer to do myself.
Please offer suggestions for refining this thread in order to increase its usefulness to all. TIA.
Discussion of USAA's ACH based system: limitations, strategies, suitability for providing "direct deposits" to others, combining accounts, etc.
Volunteer: Go Cowboys beat theBigDon to it
Multiple finance-product discount thread
Volunteer: ???
Current CC signup deals (something like this Thread, but with the OP updated more frequently)
Volunteer: mhesidence Results: Mhesidence updated the "Quick Summary" of the above thread, didyousearch updated the post beloe the "Quick Summary". Now more than $1000 in CC signup bonuses posted!
Saving for your child's education, strategies and deals(529, ...)
Volunteer : German Expat Timeframe : August 2005
Financing Graduate School (or how to not have to)
Volunteer : ???
Strategies for profiting from below prime rate for life balance transfers in the 2.99% to 4.99% range.
Great topic Dave. I have long thought about the best way to run a thread about credit union hot deals. I'm sure many good deals are overlooked because they're not heavily promoted and/or widely known about. Since many credit unions have very restricitive membership fields, posting deals in the cd, Heloc, or other threads can just serve to tease and disappoint. Posting them in a seperate thread would alert people that the deals posted are a big YMMV. Obviously, Penfed and other credit unions that are easy for everyone to join wouldn't have the same concerns. With 1,500+ credit unions out there, it's too much for one person to keep track of the hots deals out there. Plus, with this amount of info, proper thread organization is key. Is the best way to categorize CU deals by state or some other way? Cuna.org has a good search engine to find about 90% of the CU's out there, many of which have their own websites. I'll be happy to work on a thread in this area, but I'd like some feedback before starting.
Edit. Thanks, after getting some input, I'm going to work on updating some of the excellent threads on credit unions and post hot deals where appropriate.
Reading Tooshy's comments on the Altura CU thread, I was intrigued with the idea regarding financial institution's trends to develop customer relationships via multiple lines of business. This was evident with Altura's top CD rates and Wells Fargo PMA which offers extremely attractive brokerage option for 250K+ account balance. Interesting to speculate how many future mergers may take place to consolidate brokerage and banking and insurance institutions in order to compete for the "one place shopping" for your money. Is there a thread in place to consolidate a list of financial institutions that offer financial perks for multiple lines of business? if so, sorry my search missed it. If not, it's a suggestion.
It would be nice to have a thread dedicated to every bank and every credit card product, with current promos offered to existing members (not targeted), e.g. Discover's 5% on select categories, fee-waiver for tax filing or UAL Signature Visa's double miles on tuition.
I seem to have started pretty decent threads on Advanta cards and on Capital One cards where FWers can compare their solicitations. Both do not require constant OP updates.
Maybe it would be a good idea to make FAQ-type threads something different altogether: let only senior members start and update them (there should be no discussion there anyway) and add an option to search in FAQs only.
In http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/497801/ DYS said "those experienced in suing debt collectors for fun and profit shouls start a thread on the subject.... ". That would be a great thread. I wouldn't mind filing a few suits.
Thanks for the excellent thread suggestion. A 'suggestion box/wish list/volunteer' thread is an awesome idea. I'm mulling ideas now for just how I can best contribute.
Would it be useful to have a thread correlating CR scores with CLs granted for the various cards, and outright rejections? Possibly differentiated by whether the person is a new customer or (if not) whether his past history with the company in question is "perfect" (always on time & never overlimit) or "flawed" (having one or more late fees or overlimit fees)? And knowing your strong feelings on the matter, Dave, perhaps there could be a third category, "above & beyond," for those who are not only "perfect" but also always pay more than the minimum, even on a 0%-APR BT. Also it would be good to know if the person had applied for a better card but been given another.
Such a thread might save some of us some unnecessary hard pulls (as well as time & effort) because we'd be able to see, for instance, that within the FWF population having a CR score in our own range, there had been only rejections (or at least no known approvals) for the card we want.
Such a thread might also help in researching the theory I've seen here somewhere, that the CC companies covet customers who incur fees. (So I guess the thread should also differentiate those who've paid finance fees from those who've avoided them.)
This is all very nebulous in my mind. To be optimally useful, it would have to be set up very carefully. But I imagine you long-time members might be able to polish the idea into shape.
Thanks for the excellent thread suggestion. A 'suggestion box/wish list/volunteer' thread is an awesome idea. I'm mulling ideas now for just how I can best contribute.
I would like to see more investment outlook threads. I know discussion of specific investment products are not allowed on this forum, but I am looking for more discussions linking macro events and investment strategy. Perhaps this is not the right forum as interest in this is generally poor and limited to discussions of real estate, CDs, savings bonds, and stock market.
Perhaps the reason for lack of interest here is the nature of FW, quick hot deals that are sure profits. The problem with investments is it is NOT a sure deal, while stakes are higher, rewards should commensurate with time and knowledge accrued. So I'd like to start spending my available free time in this area (I'm a late bloomer) and not so much on other finance topics.
Actually, a thread discussing how to sue telemarketers for $500 a pop when they call after a DNC notification (or worse, send you junk faxes) would be fantastic, and possibly quite lucrative.
My hunch is that you meant to reply to and quote bluegenie's post that stated In http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/497801/ DYS said "those experienced in suing debt collectors for fun and profit shouls start a thread on the subject.... ". That would be a great thread. I wouldn't mind filing a few suits.
Bycracky said:zender said:Dave,
Thanks for the excellent thread suggestion. A 'suggestion box/wish list/volunteer' thread is an awesome idea. I'm mulling ideas now for just how I can best contribute.
i'd like to see a thread with information/guide to students/first time applicants applying for credit cards. i'm going through this process and couldn't find that much information regarding this topic.
Lots of threads regarding massive CL's. Usually, they are the result of combining multiple cards from the same issuer. What I wanna see is how high of a CL have you received WITHOUT combining cards. This would provide some good data points on max CL's each card imposes and how close people have come to that max CL
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