Free: Bankrate

Alternate Dimension Andy (ADA):

There's another website in the tubal internets that I want to tell you about. It's called Bankrate.com. What is it? Well duh, it's a website that lets you look up bank rates and shit.

If you want to know where to get the best rate for a 1-year CD, check out Bankrate. Want to know what an average mortgage payment is for someone with your credit rating buying a $200,000 house? Bankrate. Want to know how much term life insurance should cost you? Bankrate.

Think about this: there are a whole bunch of banks and insurance companies out there that make money by charging interest, fees, monthly payments, etc. A lot of them get away with murder. If you take the first mortgage you're offered, you could end up paying many hundreds of dollars more per month, for instance.

Now, zag with me and think about it like this: pretend you'd never bought a banana in your life. Also, pretend that there are two grocery stores within a block of your house. So, you walk into one grocery store and see that bananas are on sale for $550 a bunch. You'd have to be crazy to buy them at that price, but even if you didn't know that was a terrible price, you'd be crazy not to go to the other grocery store and compare prices, since you're spending so much money.

In this day of interwebal communications, doesn't it only make sense that you should shop around before you spend hundreds of dollars? You know, just to make sure that shit is on the up and up? That's what Bankrate is all about. Of course, if you're a fucking moron, you can just stick with the first offer that comes your way.

Also, they have whole bunches of articles about personal finance, written by people who (unlike me) have a fucking clue as to what they're talking about. Imagine that!

Hope you love it. Cowabunga, over and out.