Interest rates on the safest and most popular types of mortgages fell to record lows this week.

The average cost of a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 5.06% in Bankrate’s latest weekly survey of major lenders.

That’s the lowest average since the survey began in 1985, whacking seven-hundredths-of-a-point off the previous record of 5.13% set in April.

A look through the databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com found lenders in every market we checked offering 30-year, fixed-rate loans for 4.75%, with no points and fees of $2,000 or less.

That means your principal and interest payments will be just $522 a month for every $100,000 you borrow.

Pay a point or two, and you’ll be able to cut that to 4.375% and lower your payments to $500 a month for every $100,000 you borrow.

The average cost of a 15-year mortgage also fell to a record low 4.48% in the new survey.

Until the past couple of weeks, the average had never fallen below 4.72%, which it reached in April and September 2003.

Even jumbo loans — 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages for more than $417,000 to $729,500, depending on the market — are cheaper than they’ve been in years.

The average rate has fallen below 6% for the first time since September 2005, reaching 5.95% in the new survey.

Qualify for one of these loans and you’ll never have to refinance or worry about your mortgage again.

They’re safe, totally predictable loans that carry none of the risks associated with interest-only or adjustable-rate mortgages.

You’ll never have to fret about interest rates going up, principal payments kicking in or any other nasty surprises driving up your housing costs a few years down the road.

Check back Sunday for our latest look at the best mortgage rates.

Bank of the West is paying a $100 bonus for opening a new checking account.

Although the offer is available nationwide, we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone outside the 20 states where Bank of the West has more than 700 branches.

That’s because it doesn’t provide free use of ATMs at other banks — a great perk many of the best checking accounts now offer.

Without a Bank of the West machine nearby, ATM fees could gobble up your bonus in a matter of months.

To quailfy you must deposit at least $100 that is not currently in a Bank of the West account, establish a monthly direct deposit of at least $250, or pay 10 bills online, all within the first 60 days of opening the account.

You can choose from one of two types of personal checking accounts, and “Free Checking” seems like the best deal to us. No monthly fee. No minimum balance. Free online bill payment.

The other option is a “Choice Interest Checking Account,” which offers the same benefits, but in order to have the $10 per month service fee waived you have to:

• Establish a monthly direct deposit of at least $250.
• Maintain a $2,500 average monthly balance.
• Maintain a $5,000 average monthly balance in all Bank of the West accounts, including personal savings, CDs and IRAs.
• Make five or more online bill payments per statement cycle.

That seems like a lot of effort to get the miserly interest rates this checking account pays — 0.10% APY on balances below $10,000, 0.25% APY, for balances from $10,000 to $50,000, and 0.50% APY for balances above $50,000.

If you want to earn serious interest on your checking account balance, look into the rewards checking programs from Bank of the Sierra or Royal Banks of Missouri.

Bank of the West’s bonus offer ends Dec. 11.

Congress has extended the popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers and created a new tax break for homeowners looking to trade up.

When President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 into law last week there was anaudible sigh of relief from the real estate industry.

The first-time buyers’ tax credit that was set to expire Nov. 30 has been credited with causing the modest bump in home sales we’ve seen the past few months.

Under the new law anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the past three years can claim a credit worth 10% of a home’s purchase price, up to $8,000.

Buyers can qualify by signing a sales contract between Nov. 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, and closing on the purchase no later than July 1, 2010.

The act allows buyers with higher incomes to take advantage of that credit, too.

Under the original law, individual buyers could earn no more than $75,000, or $150,000 for couples filing jointly, to qualify for the full $8,000 credit.

Now, buyers making up to $125,000, or $250,000 for couples, can do so.

The new act also includes a tax credit of up to $6,500 for individuals and families who have lived in their homes for at least five years and want to move.

The deadlines are the same as for the first-time buyers’ tax credit — contract by April 30, closing by July 1.

Both credits require the home to be a principal residence and to cost no more than $800,000.

These tax breaks are particularly valuable because they’re credits, not deductions.

Deductions reduce your taxable income and lower the amount you owe in taxes by about 25 cents to 33 cents per dollar.

Tax credits are subtracted from the amount you owe the government. That means every dollar worth of tax credits lowers your tax bill by a full dollar.

If the credit is more than the tax you owe, you’ll be paid the difference.

Although buyers were able to file an amended 2008 tax return to claim the first-time homebuyers’ credit before the deadline was extended, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service told us that may change once details of the new bill’s implementation are worked out.

The IRS is also currently determining whether or not homeowners will be able to file an amended return to claim the new credit for existing homeowners.

With CD and savings account rates plunging to record lows every week, it may be the time to consider a more lucrative alternative — social or peer-to-peer lending.

This is where you loan money directly to worthy borrowers through a Web site, rather than putting your money in a bank and allowing its loan officers to pick the investments.

It’s possible to earn a better return than you’d ever get from a bank.

Lending Club, for example, says the net annualized return for its investors has been over 9.5% since 2007 — and yes, that includes the losses on loans that don’t get repaid.

For the rest of November, Lending Club is also offering a $50 bonus to Bankaholic readers who sign-up to be new lenders. (Use the link above and the money will be placed in your account as soon as you register.)

Then you can start reviewing applications and choose which loans to fund.

You won’t want to risk your hard-earned dollars on just one person. You can invest as little as $25 per loan and spread your money around to scores or even hundreds of loans.

The terms of each loan, including the interest rate, are established by Lending Club based on the creditworthiness of each borrower.

But its rigorous credit policy requires borrowers to have a minimum FICO score of 660 and maximum debt-to-income ratio of 25%, which has led to a low 3% annualized default rate.

Now, let’s be clear. This is not for everyone.

These loans are not insured by the FDIC or anyone else, and you shouldn’t commit more money than you can afford to lose.

Lending Club is pretty up-front about the risk and sets minimum financial standards for all lenders, requiring them to have:

• An annual gross income of at least $70,000 and a net worth of at least $70,000 (exclusive of home, home furnishings and automobiles). California residents must have $100,000 in gross income and net worth.

• Or, a net worth of at least $250,000.

Lending Club also limits investors from lending more than 10% of their net worth through the site.

If you know someone who needs to borrow money, Lending Club says its rates are up to 30% lower than similar loans at traditional financial institutions.

You can land a $50 bonus and top rate with Ridgestone Bank’s checking and savings account combo.

Its Momentum Savings account pays 2.50% APY on balances between $2,500 and $50,000.

That beats the best nationally available savings account rate, 2.25% APY from SFGI Direct, and matches the best deals on 24-month CDs.

To qualify for that rate you also have to open a Momentum Checking account and:

• Make eight transactions per month, which includes any checks you might write and debit card transactions.
• Automatically have at least $100 a month transferred from your checking to your savings account.
• Receive your combined savings and checking statements via the bank’s Web site.

If you don’t make the eight transactions, the interest rate on your savings account falls to 0.25% APY for that month.

Anything over the $50,000 maximum in the savings account earns 1.0% APY.

If this is starting to sound very much like the typical rules on high-yield or rewards checking accounts, that’s because they are.

Think of the Momentum accounts as Ridgestone’s riff on that concept — and the similarities don’t end there.

There are no monthly fees for either account and you can use your debit card free of charge at any MoneyPass ATM. (Click here to see if there’s a MoneyPass ATM near your home or work.)

You can also earn a $50 bonus by adding one direct deposit to your checking account.

Although this offer is available nationwide, you can’t sign up online. You’ve got to call one of the bank’s two branches in suburban Chicago (847-805-9520) or suburban Milwaukee (262-789-1011) to have an application e-mailed to you.

Click here to compare Ridgestone’s deal with the best savings and money market rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

The Discover Motiva credit card has an intriguing bonus for anyone who carries a balance.

Pay at least the minimum due on time for six months and Discover will return your last interest payment.

Once you accumulate $20, you can receive a gift card to use at one of Discover’s 100 brand-name retail partners, or you can donate it to charity.

When you reach $50, you can also have the bonus credited to your credit card account or electronically deposited in a checking or savings account.

There are no limits on how much you can earn, so you can collect a bonus every six months until you get that balance paid off.

That bonus is on top of the 1% cash rebate you earn on most purchases — which will be worth a lot more once you’re out of debt and the rebate is not being gobbled up by interest charges.

There’s no annual fee and the introductory rate on purchases is 3.99% APR until May 2010. After that a variable rate from 11.99% APR to 18.99% APR kicks in, based on your credit history.

Motiva probably makes the most sense if you have a balance to transfer from another card.

The transfer fee is 3% of the balance — as good as you’ll find right now.

The introductory 3.99% interest rate is also available on balance transfers for 6 to 12 months depending on your credit.

That’s a little more than the 0% introductory rate some cards are offering on balance transfers. But none of them come with the cash bonus for making your payments.

Click here to compare Discover’s offer with those from the best balance transfer cards in our database.

If you’re purchasing a home, don’t go with just any real estate agent: Get a full-time buyer’s agent.

One of the advantages of working with a buyer’s agent is that you’re less likely to have conflicts of interest.

Unlike agents who represent buyers and sellers, buyer’s agents won’t steer you toward a home that one of their clients has listed or that’s being represented by an agent they’re working with on another deal.

When brokers are trying to buy and sell homes, it’s hard to know what all of the connections might be and feel confident that your best interests are being represented.

You should never have to wonder: “Is my agent pushing me to buy this home because he wants to curry favor with the selling agent? Are they working on another deal together where their roles are reversed?”

Start by looking for what’s called an exclusive buyer’s agent, which means he or she works for a real estate office that only represents buyers.

You’ll never have to wonder if you’re being shown homes that other agents in the office are selling so that the brokerage will earn all of the commission from the deal.

Be sure and ask if they’re a Certified Exclusive Buyer Agent (CEBA) by the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.

Although that doesn’t guarantee you’ve found a great agent, it means they’ve received additional training on buyer-based negotiations and have closed a minimum of 12 transactions as an exclusive buyer’s agent.

If you can’t find an exclusive buyer’s agent in your area, go for a buyer’s agent at a traditional real estate office.

In this instance, ask if they’ve been certified as an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) by the National Association of Realtors.

An ABR also has special training on how to negotiate on a buyer’s behalf and must have completed at least five transactions as a buyer’s agent.

You should wonder about any agent who claims extensive experience as a buyer’s agent but hasn’t become an ABR or CEBA.

There’s been a lot of discussion since we pointed out that the Chase Freedom credit card has one of the best reward programs.

So let’s see what you think about the new Chase Sapphire credit card. We think it provides an intriguing combination of cash rebates and interest rates.

It charges no annual fee and an annual interest rate of 12.24% on purchases, which is lower than the teaser rate on many other credit cards.

As soon as cardholders make their first purchase they receive enough bonus points for a $100 rebate.

After that they earn points on all purchases, which can be redeemed for a 1% cash rebate. (Chase promotes a higher 2% to 10% rebate on purchases made through its Ultimate Rewards program, but that’s more marketing gimmick than real savings.)

This seems to strike a good balance for consumers who need a low interest rate because they occasionally carry a balance, but want to benefit with a modest cash rebate when they’re all paid up.

Click here to compare rates and rewards from dozens of credit cards in our database.

The best deals on home loans remained as good as they were in September.

The lowest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage ranged from 5.125% to 4.875% in the 10 cities we surveyed this month, almost identical to the 5.125% to 4.625% range we found in September.

That definitely beats the best deals we were seeing over the summer with one caveat. Although interest rates are lower, the fees lenders are charging to arrange home loans are a little higher this fall.

We think a traditional 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of $2,000 or less is the best mortgage for the majority of purchases and refinancings.

To find the best rates in each market we searched the extensive databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com.

The least expensive rates in the cities we surveyed were:

Boston: 4.99% from Total Mortgage Services.

Chicago: 4.875% from InterBank Lending.

Cincinnati: 4.85% from ThirdFederal Savings & Loan.

Houston: 5.125% from D&H Lending.

Los Angeles: 4.875% from Nations Choice Mortgage.

New York: 4.875% from The Money Store.

Philadelphia: 5.00% from TD Bank, NA.

Phoenix: 5.0% from Mortgage Capital Associates.

Tampa: 5.065% from Bank Atlantic.

Washington, D.C.: 5.0% from BB&T.

The fine print: These mortgage rates are for conforming loans (less than $417,000), and for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. For scores from 680 to 699, you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

We think cash is a better reward than points or miles, and the Chase Freedom credit card has one of the best rebate programs right now.

You get at least 1% cash back on everything you buy.

You get 3% cash back on rotating categories for everyday purchases such as gas, home improvements and department store merchandise.

Then there’s the $50 bonus when you make your first purchase or balance transfer.

There’s no annual fee and no interest on purchases for six to 12 months, depending on your credit history. After that your interest rate will run from 13.24% to 23.24% APR.

The best home equity lines of credit are a little more costly this fall than they were in early summer.

Back in June, a number of lenders were offering HELOCs for less than 4%. Now only a couple have deals that good, and most borrowers will pay 4.25% or more.

You also need to remember that these are variable-rate loans, based on the prime rate — the interest rate banks charge the best commercial customers.

Most of the best home equity lines of credit are priced as prime plus 1% (although we did find one charging the prime plus 0%.)

Anyone with a HELOC should be prepared for the prime rate, which is a very low 3.25% right now, to go up sometime next year when the Federal Reserve starts boosting short-term interest rates.

But if you have enough equity in your home to get a HELOC, they remain the cheapest type of consumer loan. Here are some of the best deals around:

Third Federal Savings & Loan is charging 3.25% for homeowners in 18 states from Oregon to Florida for loans up to $49,999. For loans of $50,000 – $150,000, you pay only 2.99%. There’s no annual fee.

BB&T Company, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. with 1,500 financial centers in 11 southeastern states and Washington, D.C., charges 4.25% with no fee and a $5,000 minimum.

Nationwide Bank, owned by Nationwide Insurance, is charging 4.50% with no annual fee.

Viewpoint Bank based in Plano, Texas, with 39 branches serving the north part of the state, offers 4.5% with no annual fee and a $4,000 minimum.

First Tennessee Bank, owned by First Horizon National Company, with branches in Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia and Tennessee, charges 4.25% with a $5,000 minimum and a $50 annual fee.

US Bank, which serves 24 states nationwide, has rates as low as 3.99% and as high as 9.25% in parts of California, Nevada and Arizona –- states that have suffered steep declines in home prices. You’re also tagged with a $90 yearly fee.

To qualify for one of these HELOCs you need:

• A credit score of at least 660, with the exception of Nationwide Bank and Third Federal Savings, which require a minimum score of 720.
• To retain 20% equity in your home after the line of credit is added on to the balance of your primary mortgage.

A small bank in West Virginia has taken over the top spot in our rankings of the best, nationally available savings accounts.

SFGI Direct is paying 2.25% APY with a minimum deposit of only $500.

SFGI Direct is the online division of Summit Community Bank, headquartered in Moorefield, W.Va., which has branches throughout the state and in northern Virginia.

Its rate is just a little less than Tennessee Commerce Bank was paying when it led our late-August ranking of top savings accounts.

While Tennessee Commerce is still paying 2.30% APY on its savings accounts, it stopped opening new accounts a few weeks ago so we can’t include it this month.

The return on SFGI savings accounts is also comparable to what you’d get with the best 12-month CDs, and its far more flexible, allowing investors to reduce or add to their balance anytime they’d like.

The downside, of course, is that yields on all savings accounts are variable. In better economic times, they could go up. In today’s market, they’re far more likely to go down.

The other top rates on savings accounts are:

2.15% APY with a minimum deposit of $1 from ShoreBank, which has branches in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland.

2.00% APY with a minimum deposit of $100 from 1st Constitution Bank, which has 11 branches in central New Jersey.

That rate is only guaranteed for the first three months. After that it drops to 1.95% for accounts with balances of over $10,000 and 1.60% for accounts with balances below $10,000.

1.85% APY with a minimum deposit of $2,500 from Discover Bank, which is owned by the credit card company.

Compare these deals with the best savings and money market account rates from other banks in our extensive database.

Here’s a way to earn 3% on some of your money between now and the end of November.

Sears has created what it calls the Christmas Club.

Sign up by Oct. 31 at any Sears or Kmart store, or online at sears.com. No money is required to open an account.

Now figure out how much you can smartly spend at Sears or any of its affiliated stores — Kmart, the great indoors and Lands’ End — by the end of the year.

Hit the stores or Web sites and total up everything from holiday gifts to that new refrigerator or HDTV you’ve been planning to buy.

Deposit that amount in your Christmas Club account by Nov. 14 and Sears will add a 3% bonus to your balance by Nov. 25.

Since the store caps the bonus at $100, that means you can earn 3% on deposits of up to $3,333.

We know this is just a clever marketing gimmick from Sears. But let’s face it. You can’t earn 3% a year with most CDs and money market accounts right now.

If you only tie your money up in the Christmas Club account for a month, that works out to a very lucrative annualized return of 36%.

Your balance is put on a gift card that has no fees and never expires, so you can take as long as you like to spend it all. But the longer you take, the lower your return.

That’s why we think you should only deposit as much as you plan to spend before Jan. 1.

Add a new bank to our list of the top-paying, high-yield checking accounts.

It’s Royal Banks of Missouri, a 40-year-old institution with six branches in the St. Louis area.

It’s Majestic Checking Account is offering 4.30% APY on balances up to $25,000.

That’s the second-best rate we know of on a nationally-available checking account, topped only by Bank of the Sierra, which pays 4.51% APY.

If you’re not familiar with how these accounts work, “The ABCs of High-Yield Checking Accounts,” will fill in the details.

If you know all about high-yield or reward checking accounts, you’ll find the terms from Royal Banks are pretty standard.

To qualify for the 4.30% rate you must make 10 point-of-sale debit card transactions and one direct deposit or automated payment every month. Customers are reimbursed for up to $25 in service charges for using other banks’ ATMs.

If you fail to meet the requirements you’ll earn only 0.15% for that month and ATM usage will not be reimbursed. Your privileges will resume the next month that your obligations are met.

Balances over $25,000 earn 1.40% APY

Online applications through the bank’s Web site are available to some, depending on zip code. Others will be sent to: CheckingFinder, where you put in your zip code, find Royal Banks in the Missouri listing, and hit “learn more.” You’re in.

As with any deposit account, the 4.30% interest rate is variable, but Royal Banks of Missouri have offered this rate since May 7, 2009.

Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and other banks have announced plans to rein in the outrageous overdraft fees they’ve been charging debit card customers.

They’re not doing this out the goodness of their hearts. They’re trying to stop Congress from cracking down on their abusive practices.

But lawmakers shouldn’t be fooled by the modest voluntarily changes the banks are proposing.

New rules are needed to stop the banks from covering the losses on their reckless lending by collecting $39 billion a year in overdraft fees from surprised and unsuspecting checking account customers.

When debit cards were first introduced banks wouldn’t let customers spend more than they had in your checking account.

While having a debit card declined might be a little embarrassing, it didn’t cause any financial harm (and probably got customers to look at their account balance, pronto).

Then banks realized they could make serious bank by enrolling everyone in “overdraft protection” plans and allowing those transactions to go through — for a price.

The average overdraft fee is now $26, with many banks charging as much as $39.

Customers are never warned that their account is overdrawn and the fee is imposed on every transaction that can’t be covered.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re buying a mink coat or a $4 latte at Starbucks. And to help them charge as many overdraft fees as possible, the banks deduct the largest purchases on any given day first to drain accounts as quickly as possible.

No wonder the same lawmakers who pushed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act through Washington earlier this year want to do something about overdraft fees.

When those discussions heated up this fall, Bank of America, JP Morgan, BB&T and Wells Fargo suddenly decided customers would be allowed to opt out of overdraft protection and have their card declined.

JP Morgan Chase said it would start posting purchases in chronological order.

Bank of America said it wouldn’t impose fees on accounts that are overdrawn by less than $10; J.P. Morgan Chase, BB&T and Wells Fargo will do the same if the amount is less than $5.

They’ll still impose multiple charges, but Bank of America, BB&T and Wells Fargo will limit itself to four a day and Chase only three a day.

Gee, thanks guys.

We saved your ass with a $700 billion bailout and you returned that favor by whacking us every chance you got — raising the interest rates on credit cards, slashing credit limits on home equity loans, dragging your feet on mortgage refinancings and modifications.

Fees like this now account for 25% of big bank revenue, according to the FDIC.

Why should we trust you to do the right thing?

Congress should enact sensible rules that require customers to opt in (not allow them to opt out) of overdraft protection, force banks to post charges in chronological order, and limit the number of overdraft fees they can charge.

If we’ve learned one thing from the financial crisis it’s not to count on big banks to show good judgment.

Credit cards spent the summer imposing draconian terms and higher interest rates before all of the consumer-friendly rules Congress passed last spring can take effect in February.

But we may be getting our first glimpse of what life under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act might really be like — and it’s kind of promising.

Bank of America is introducing a new “Basic Visa” card this fall that features what it calls “simplified rates and terms” and embodies many of the changes Congress — not to mention its customers — seem to want.

The new card will come with a single page, easy-to-read agreement, not the impossible-to-read booklet-sized contract common today.

Lawyers wrote those huge contracts so that customers would have a hard time spotting and understanding many of the abusive practices that will be banned by the new law such as double-cycle billing and universal default.

The new card will also have a single interest rate for all transactions, not different rates for purchases, balance transfers and cash advances.

That rate — prime plus 14.0%, or 17.25% right now — will be a little higher than most cards have charged for purchases, but lower than they’ve charged for cash advances.

The new law forbids credit cards from applying payments only to that portion of a person’s balance that’s charging the lowest rate.

In fact, it requires payments in excess of the minimum to be applied to the credit card balance with the highest interest rate, taking away a major reason for having tiered rates.

Nor will Basic Visa impose a penalty on users who exceed their credit limit.

Under the old way of doing business, credit cards routinely allow customers to go over their credit limit without warning them, and then slap a fee on them.

Under the new law, cards are banned from charging over-the-limit fees unless a cardholder specifically asks the issuer to complete over-limit transactions.

The new card Bank of America card will be available in October.

Anyone watching football today will see lots of ads for General Motors’ “60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee,” which allows a buyer dissatisfied with one of its new cars or trucks to return it for a full refund.

But offers like this always come with so many rules and loopholes that the only thing you’re guaranteed to get is a lot of aggravation if you actually try to take advantage of it.

GM’s promotion is no exception.

First of all, you can’t return your new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac until you’ve had it for at least 30 days. You must bring it back between 31 and 60 days after you bought it

If the vehicle suffers more than $200 in damage during that time, GM doesn’t have to accept it.

Given what car repairs cost these days, it doesn’t take much to cause $200 worth of cosmetic damage. A single dent or ding could put you over the limit.

And who determines whether there’s more than $200 worth of damage? Yup — GM.

If the automaker does agree to take back a car or truck, most buyers will still be out at least a couple of hundred dollars.

You’ll get back the purchase price and sales tax. But you won’t be reimbursed for the cost of registering and titling the vehicle or any extras you bought from the dealer.

You can find most of the other rules and conditions at the program’s Frequently Asked Questions.

By now you should be getting the idea that this money-back offer is more marketing gimmick than serious guarantee.

But there’s a smart way to take advantage of the promotion that you won’t hear about on the television ads.

GM is quietly offering an extra $500 rebate to buyers that waive their right to the 60-day guarantee.

That’s right. GM will actually pay you not to take part in the program — and that’s exactly what you should do.

Use a test drive or three to be certain about the vehicle you want, strike the best deal you can and then ask for the $500 rebate in lieu of the guarantee.

Your newfound discount should be added on to any other rebates or cut-rate financing deals that come with the car or truck you’re buying.

The offer expires Nov. 30.

The best deals on home loans are considerably better than they were last summer.

The lowest interest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan in the 10 cities we just surveyed range from 5.125% to 4.625%.

That’s a little better than in August, when the range was 5.125% to 4.875%, and a noticeable improvement over July when the best deals ranged from 5.25% and 5.0%.

But the real difference comes in comparing our new results to our June survey — every rate was lower this week.

We look at what we think is the best mortgage for most purchases and refinancings: A 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of less than $1,500.

To find the best rates in each market we search the extensive databases at Bankrate.com and Interest.com.

The least expensive rates in the cities we surveyed were:

Atlanta: 5.0% from Hometown Lenders.

Chicago: 4.875% from Sterling Home Mortgage.

Dallas: 5.0% from ACH Lending.

Denver: 5.125% from Gold Star Financial.

Kansas City, Mo.: 5.125% from Cap West Mortgage.

Los Angeles: 4.875% from The Money Store.

Miami: 4.65% from United Mutual Funding Corp..

New York: 5.0% from HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

Pittsburgh: 5.125% from Credence Mortgage.

Seattle: 5.0% from Sammamish Mortgage.

The fine print: These mortgage rates are for conforming loans (less than $417,000), and for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. For scores from 680 to 699, you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

If you have excellent credit, this is the balance transfer deal for you.

The Capital One Platinum Prestige credit card offers 0% financing on balance transfers and purchases through September 2010.

That’s twice as long as the six months offered by the best deals from other credit cards, such as the Discover More card.

When the introductory rate is up, you’ll be charged 8.65% plus the prime rate — or 11.90% right now, with the prime at 3.25%.

That’s a good interest rate for almost any credit card right now. And it’s guaranteed.

You might get a variable rate as low as 8.75% plus prime if you take advantage of Discover More’s balance transfer offer. But that’s contingent on a review of your credit at the time the introductory rate expires. Your rate could be as high as 15.74% plus prime.

There’s also no annual fee, transfers can be processed in as little as 48 hours, and the balance transfer fee remains 3% of the debt — not the 5% many other credit cards are now charging.

The catch, as we said, is that you must have excellent credit to qualify.
Capital One defines someone with excellent credit as one who has:

• Had a loan or credit card for at least five years.
• A credit card with a credit limit of greater than $10,000.
• Never been more than 60 days late with a payment on a credit card, medical bill or loan.
• Never declared bankruptcy.

Click here to see how the terms offered by Capital One compare with the best balance transfer offers from other credit cards in our database.

Time is running out to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax credit.

To qualify you must close on your purchase before Dec. 1.

If you don’t have a sales contract in hand, and mortgage application in the works, by mid-October you’ll be racing to meet that deadline.

The homebuyer’s tax credit has been a popular part of the economic stimulus bill Congress passed last winter — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

It allows most buyers who haven’t owned a house in at least three years to claim a credit of 10% of a home’s purchase price, up to $8,000.

You can apply the credit to your 2009 return, or an amended 2008 return, even if you don’t itemize deductions.

Unlike a deduction, which reduces the gross income used to calculate how much you owe, a credit comes right off the bottom line of your tax bill.

So while a $1 deduction might cut your taxes by 25 or 30 cents, depending on your tax bracket, a $1 credit will reduce what you owe the government by a full $1.

If you don’t owe any tax or if the credit comes out to be more than the tax you owe, you’ll be paid the difference.

Unlike the previous, $7,500 first-time buyers tax credit created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, none of this money must be paid back.

Nearly 315,000 homebuyers have already claimed the tax credit using an amended 2008 tax return, according to a recent Treasury Department report.

More than 42,000 of those claims came from California. Another 29,000 were from Florida and Texas.

The Discover More card is promoting one of the best balance transfer deals around.

It will charge no interest on balance transfers for six months and on purchases made until the last day of the billing period ending in March 2010.

(Yeah, we know some cards used to offer 0% for 12 months, but those deals are long gone.)

There’s also no annual fee and the balance transfer fee remains 3% of the debt — not the 5% many other cards are now charging.

When the introductory period is up, your rate for purchases and whatever remains of your balance transferred is determined by a review of your application and credit history.

It could be as low as prime plus 8.74% or as high as prime plus 15.74%. That works out to 11.99% to 18.99% based on today’s prime rate of 3.25%.

But note that Discover is still using the interest rate for purchases for balance transfers, not the higher rate charged for cash advances as some banks are doing.

This offer is limited to new card members, you’ll need good credit to qualify and to received the 0% APR for six months you must request the balance transfer when you apply for the card.

Click here to see how the terms offered by Discover More compare with the best balance transfer offers from other credit cards in our database.

If you want to take advantage of the best money market rates you’ll have to give three online banks that have been thoroughly trashed by our readers another chance

AmericaNet Bank, Redneck Bank, and Evantage Bank are all paying 2.0% APY on their “Mega Money Market” accounts.

That’s the best, nationally-available deal since EverBank cut the yields on its MMAs from 2.15% to 1.77% this month.

Readers couldn’t say enough bad things about customer service and technical problems last spring when AmericaNet, Redneck and Evantage had the best MMA rates.

“This bank is horrible,” Dave wrote of Redneck in April. “As many others, I had to call to get my account number. This website appears to have been built by my 2.5 year old nephew… Redneck bank is a big fat dud!”

The banks are owned by Todd and Wade Huckabay, whose family has been involved in Oklahoma banking since the ’30s.

But the brothers weren’t prepared to deal with hundreds of new customers a day when their online banks began offering some of the best MMA and checking account rates in the country earlier this year.

“I think we’ve gotten most of the problems fixed,” Todd says.

“We were handling requests (some 20,000 to 30,000 hits a month) manually and we couldn’t keep up. But now our accounting procedures are automated.”

The only delay you might still encounter is making bank-to-bank transfers, Todd says. “Now it takes about three days, but we are turning it into an overnight situation, which should be in place by January.”

If you want to give the Huckabay banks another chance, you’ll earn 2.00% APY on investments up to $35,000 and 1.00% APY on balances greater than that. But like all MMAs, those rates are variable and can go down.

There’s no minimum balance, no maintenance fee, and a Visa Check Card to make up to six, free withdrawals a month. There’s a $5 charge for each additional withdrawal.

You can use our extensive database to compare this deal with the best money market rates from scores of other banks.

Would eliminating your monthly car payment, and other related costs, like insurance, gas, maintenance and repairs make a difference in meeting your budget?

Maybe you should consider sharing rather than owning a car.

More than 300,000 drivers have already joined more than two dozen car share programs across the country, which allow the to use — and pay — for a car only when they need it.

It’s possible to save $300 to $500 a month, depending on the cost of the vehicle you’re giving up and how often you take to the road in a shared car.

You can find car share programs where you would expect them, in urban areas like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

But they are also in less obvious cities, such as Waterville, Maine, Nashville, Tenn. and Winona, Minn.

Fuel-efficient compact cars comprise the bulk of car share fleets, but some larger car-share fleets offer pickup trucks, crossovers and midsize cars.

Rental rates vary by program, but most let members rent by the hour or the day. Hourly rates range from $3.50 to $13, while daily rates range from $50 to $115.

Operational costs such as parking, fuel and insurance are often included.

Other costs may include a small one-time application fee and either annual membership dues or a minimum monthly charge.

How much can you save?

Let’s say you were going to buy a 2009 Honda Civic EX four-door, which will cost right at $30,018 to own over the next five years using Edmunds.com’s “True Cost to Own” calculator.

That’s $500 a month for a relatively frugal model that depreciates at a lower-than-average rate and gets better-than-average fuel economy.

Zipcar is the biggest car share program with operations in 50 cities. Here’s what it costs to use a car for four full days a month with its “Extra Value Plan” in Atlanta:

• A $50 minimum monthly commitment fee which is applied against the first $50 in rental charges.
• A daily rental charge of $62.90 per day.
• 45 cents for each mile over 180 miles on any single rental.

That works out to $202 a month if you don’t incur any extra mileage charges — or $298 less than it costs to own the Honda Civic EX.

The savings are even bigger when compared to the cost of owning a bigger, more expensive car or truck. Owning a 2009 Ford Taurus SEL, for example, would cost $469 per month more than car sharing.

The tradeoff is obvious. Your ride isn’t waiting right outside the back door.

But car share programs park vehicles in convenient locations around participating cities that can be reserved months in advance or picked up with just a few minutes notice.

Most programs post an easy-to-navigate area map on their Web sites pinpointing each reserved parking space around the city and identifying the vehicle parked there.

Well, you can’t say they didn’t warn us.

The banks threatened to go on a rate-raising, fee-hiking, rule-writing rampage if Congress approved the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2009.

It did, and the result has been an unending stream of letters from my credit cards making good on that threat.

But I still find it ironic that the most recent arrived the day after the first few provisions of the law intended to protect me from the credit card industry’s worst abuses took effect on Aug. 20.

It was a typically muddled, if not deceptive, letter that indicated it wasn’t through kicking us credit card holders around.

It began innocently enough:

Customer privacy and security have never been more important. We want you to know that we’re doing more to protect your privacy and make your account secure.

Gee, thanks.

But buried in the mumbo jumbo about privacy changes I soon discovered:

Account policies are once again changing.

That’s never good.

Enclosed with the lovey-dovey intro letter about protecting my privacy was a fine-print pamphlet outlining new rates and new rules, all to my detriment.

For example:

• The Overdraft Advance APR changes to Prime Rate plus 21.99%, and that’s applied to current and future balances. In July, that percentage would be 25.24%.
• Balance transfers and will carry a fee of 5% of whatever you’re transferring or advancing (up from 3%.)
• The bank has the right to deny any balance transfers or cash advances even if I have more than enough available credit for the transaction.
• In fact, the bank is suspending balance transfers unless it expressly allows me to make one.
• If it chooses to do so, that balance transfer will be treated like a cash advance. It will accruing interest charges immediately and at the higher interest rate imposed on cash advances (as opposed to purchases).
• And finally, the astronomical default rate will be imposed on my credit card balance if I make a late payment “on other accounts or loans with us or one of our related companies.”

Ok. Enough already. I get it.

You’re a bad ass and the government’s piddling effort to protect me from our abusive relationship has only turned you into a bigger bad ass.

You’re going to impose every draconian fee and rule your army of lawyers can think of before most of the new restrictions take effect in February, and there’s nothing I or any of those pitiful consumer-huggers in Washington can do about it.

If you’re heading back to campus this month, you need a credit card with the lowest possible interest rate and minimal fees.

With lots of expenses and not much income, you want to spend as little as possible to get the credit you need.

In a perfect world you’d pay off your balance every month and the interest rate wouldn’t matter all that much.

But a whopping 82% of college students don’t do that, according to a study by Sallie Mae, the big student loan company.

By graduation, college students carry an average balance of $4,100 on their credit cards, up from $2,900 in 2004.

Even with a relatively low 14.99% rate that costs a little more than $50 a month in interest. Boost that to 19.99% and you’ll be paying a little less than $70 a month.

So the interest rate matters. A lot.

You can also save big bucks by looking for a card that charges no monthly or annual fee.

With that in mind, here are our three favorite credit cards for college students:

The State Farm Student Visa Card. There’s no annual fee and a very low 11.99% APR interest rate.

The Discover Student Card. No annual fee, a 0% introductory rate for the first six months and a reasonable 14.99% interest rate after that.

The Citi Forward Visa Card. No annual fee, a 0% introductory rate for the first six months and 16.24% after that. But, each time you stay under your credit line and pay on time three months in a row, the rate is cut by 0.25% up to a total reduction of 2%.

Take a few minutes to compare those deals with all of the student credit cards in our database of credit card deals and find the one that’s right for you.

“Cash for Clunkers” may be over, but our favorite discount is still available on dozens of new cars and trucks.

That’s 0% financing.

If a finance company is willing to lend you $20,000, $30,000 or more for free, we say, grab it.

Here’s why.

If you finance $25,000 for four years at 0%, you’ll pay $521 per month or a total of $25,000.

That same $25,000 financed at 7% — the current average cost for a 4-year new car loan — will cost $599 per month or a total of $28,746.

Your monthly payments will be $78 lower and you’ll save $3,746 in interest charges over the four-year life of the loan.

If you borrowed $15,000 for four years, you would save $2,247 with 0% financing.

Even if you were going to pay cash, it makes sense to take advantage of that no-cost money instead. You would use the lender’s $25,000 for free while earning interest on your $25,000 through savings or investment.

If all you did was put that $25,000 into a CD compounding interest annually at a 3% rate, it would earn $3,138 during the 48-month car loan period.

It’s like finding money in the street.

Automakers will often give you a choice between a discount loan or cash rebate that can be used to reduce the purchase price of the car or truck.

A 0% loan will trump all but the most humongous rebates — and you don’t have to guess.

This “Rebate vs. Low-Cost Loan Calculator” will tell you exactly which discount saves the most.

If you’re looking for easy to understand legal advice on all sorts of financial problems check out “Money, Credit and the Law — Know Your Rights!”

It’s a free, six-part series of online videos produced by the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center.

I like them because each video is short (four to six minutes), to the point, and easier to understand than most written advice.

They cover topics such as “Managing Your Money,” “Credit Problems and Debt Collectors,” “If You Are Sued” and “Bankruptcy.”

In them, law professor Richard Alderman explains how to stop abusive calls from debt collectors, find legitimate credit counselors, defend yourself against lawsuits, file for bankruptcy and much more.

You’ll quickly see that Alderman isn’t one of those lending industry lawyers that create the indecipherable contracts and deliberately obtuse disclosure documents we routinely receive from credit cards and mortgage companies.

He’s on your side and can talk your language.

If nothing else, these videos will make it harder for you to be scammed or bullied by unscrupulous collection agencies, credit repair services and credit counselors that lie about their legal authority.

Some of the information is specific to Texas law, such as when Alderman talks about why debt collectors can’t seize most of your money and property even if they obtain a legal judgment against you.

But you’ll know to ask if your state offers similar protections — most do.

Want to buy a home, but don’t have much cash?

Two government programs can help you make a minimal down payment.

You can still get 100% financing if you can qualify for a VA loan.

Veterans, including members of the National Guard and reserve units, soldiers on active duty, and widows whose spouses’ deaths were war-related are all eligible for these government-guaranteed mortgages.

The Department of Veterans Affairs repays the bank if borrowers default, making these loans cheaper and easier to obtain.

VA loans also have the most lenient requirements for income and credit score of almost any type of mortgage. The government doesn’t set minimums, but lenders could accept credit scores as low as 580 and debt-to-income ratios as high as 41% of pretax income.

Can’t qualify for a VA loan?

An FHA loan is your next best bet. Obtain one of those and you’ll only need 3.5% of the purchase price.

In this case the Federal Housing Administration guarantees the mortgage will be repaid, so the lender won’t lose money if you default on your loan.

As with VA loans, that makes lenders willing to take on borrowers they might have rejected, or charged a higher interest rate.

Even a bankruptcy won’t disqualify you from VA or FHA loans as long as it occurred at least two years ago and you’ve been paying on time ever since.

Most lenders participate in the VA and FHA programs. They know what to do.

Looking to save cash and aggravation on everything from home improvements to health care by weeding out the bad guys?

Check out Angie’s List, which I just did for the first time.

A few friends had used Angie’s List to vet contractors — they wanted to find companies that others had raved about instead of looking in the phone book.

Getting hosed by a painter or plumber is not only a financial mess but a major headache.

I knew I wanted a new dermatologist.

Not only did my ex-doc’s smarmy billing tactics piss me off, but he made me feel like an ATM machine: He got his cash and he got me out of there.

I wanted a doctor who would take time with my office visits, listen to my concerns, look at my medical history and offer solutions instead of a wham, bam, thank you ma’am approach.

I talked to my primary care physician about recommendations, but he didn’t offer much more than a list of dermatologists who take my insurance.

I typed “dermatologist” into yelp.com, which is a user generated review site, but the results were too noisy.

While I appreciate the “free” aspect of yelp.com, it’s not really regulated. Someone with a personal grudge could make up a profile and start ranting against a local business. Or a doc could sign up all her friends and start saying nice things about her services.

Searching “dermatologist” didn’t always bring up actual doctors, either. Cosmetics and beauty supply places? How’s that going to help my eczema?

So I ponied up the $15 activation fee and $7.50 for one month of Angie’s List services. (You can also pay $59 for one year, $106 for two, $159 for three or $189 for four.)

Angie’s List started in 1995 in Columbus, O.H. by a woman named Angie (shocker, right?) who wanted more information on local contractors.

Since then the service has expanded to 124 cities with 750,000 consumers on its roster. In March 2008, Angie’s List added health care categories to their list of ranked and reviewed providers.

Like free review sites, consumers submit reviews, whether they pay for the service or not. But Angie’s List has a few layers of checks and balances to make sure those reviews are legit.

No matter who submits, they can’t do so anonymously — they have to be available to Angie’s List staff. Because they screen all reports before they go online.

Companies are allowed to give their side of the story for any negative review, but they can’t pay Angie to ditch a bad review.

Angie’s List only accepts one form of advertising from companies it ranks. Those who consistently get an “A” or “B” rating from consumers can offer coupons. That’s it.

The reviews customers give are detailed, too.

For dermatologists, I could read every customer’s full reviews and read details like how long they waited for an appointment, how the doc handled first time patients, billing policies and the condition of the office and exam rooms.

If you don’t have time to read all the reviews, an average grade is listed for each doctor, in everything from office environment to bedside manner.

Impressive.

I went through the list of doctors reviewed and drew up a list of five possibilities, which I’ll start researching this week. I feel like an empowered consumer, not just someone at the mercy of my primary care doctor’s list of who’s available.

We’ve been impressed with three banks that have not succumbed to the temptation to lower the rates or limit the reach of their high-yield checking accounts since last fall or winter.

They’re still paying more than 4% and offering their high-yield, or reward checking accounts as they’re sometimes called, nationwide.

Bank of the Sierra, with 22 branches in central California, has been paying 4.51% on balances up to $25,000 since October.

Patriot Bank, with five locations north of St. Petersburg, Fla., has been paying 4.01% on balances up to $50,000 since February.

Ouachita Independent Bank, with 11 offices in northern Louisiana, has been paying 4.01% on balances up to $25,000 since December.

High-yield checking accounts have been the biggest banking oddity of the recession and financial crisis.

As the returns on everything from certificates of deposit to savings accounts fell to record lows over the past two years, these checking accounts created by hundreds of community banks, became the most lucrative way to save.

The only drawback is that you’ve got to follow some very specific rules, such as making a minimum number of debit card purchases each month. (If you’re unfamiliar with how these work, take a look at our ABCs of high-yield checking accounts).

Although many of those banks initially accepted applications from anyone, anywhere, they were quickly overwhelmed and started turning away out-of-state depositors.

Others tried to stem the flood of money into their vaults by lowering their interest rates because, as with all checking and savings accounts, these are variable interest accounts.

But Sierra, Patriot and Ouachita have done neither. They’ve been the most dependable purveyors of widely-available, high-yield checking accounts so far this year.