Money Management

Sick of the high price of plane tickets? You can use flight deal services to get a discount. Check out these services to try to save on airfare costs. 

While I love to travel the world, I’m not a fan of paying full price for travel. Whenever I get a great airfare or hotel deal, it feels satisfying, and I seem to enjoy my trip more.

If you’ve researched flight costs recently, you may have been disappointed with the prices you saw. But what if I told you there are flight deal services that can help you score cheap airfare? A good airfare deal could free up more money in your vacation budget for other travel expenses. With a flight deal subscription, you can save hundreds of dollars on flights each year. Find out how with the below services.

1. Going

Going, formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights, is a flight deals service I’ve used before. The company sends airfare deals to your email inbox. Currently, three membership options are available, including a free membership for those on a limited budget. Paid memberships cost between $49 and $199 per year. Going sends international and domestic flight deals and economy and premium and first-class deals — but to see deals for all fare types beyond economy, you’ll need to invest in the Elite membership, which costs $199 annually.

2. Secret Flying

Secret Flying is another airfare deal membership you can join. But one thing that differs about Secret Flying is it’s completely free to join. There are no premium subscriptions. After signing up, you’ll be sent domestic and international flight deals straight to your inbox. You can set your departure city so you only receive alerts for deals that depart from your home airport.

3. Thrifty Traveler

I recently signed up for Thrifty Traveler and am a fan so far. Thrifty Traveler offers two memberships. A Premium membership costs $69.99 annually and enables you to receive domestic and international flight deals for economy-class tickets. The most expensive Premium Plus plan costs $89.99 yearly, and with this membership, you’ll get even more deals, including business and first-class deals and points and miles deal alerts.

4. Dollar Flight Club

Another airfare deal service is Dollar Flight Club. Similarly to the services mentioned above, you’ll be sent airfare deals by email. Three membership types are offered. Free members are sent a limited number of deals. Paid memberships cost between $69 and $169 yearly. If you want to receive domestic and international deals, you’ll want to invest in a paid membership. Premium Plus members receive business class flight deals and economy class deals.

5. Airfarewatchdog

The final flight deal membership on our list is Airfarewatchdog. This service is free to join. Most airfare deals sent to your inbox are for domestic flights, but sometimes international deals are available. After signing up for a free account, don’t forget to set your departure city so you don’t miss the best deals departing from your home airport.

How to use flight deal services to save big on travel

Flight deal services can be beneficial if you’re trying to travel more without depleting your checking account balance. Getting a good deal on travel can allow you to prioritize travel while staying on track with your personal finance goals. Talk about a win-win situation.

After finding a cheap airfare deal you like, you can use an airfare price comparison tool like Google Flights to find potential travel dates that match your availability. But you’ll need to buy cheap plane tickets directly from the airline. Don’t forget to book your tickets using a travel credit card to earn rewards and redeem them later for free travel. Flight deals like the ones offered through the service mentioned above prove that you can explore the world while on a budget.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Natasha Gabrielle has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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If you have a minor accident, you may not want to make an auto insurance claim. Here’s what you need to consider. 

Auto insurance is typically supposed to cover the costs when a collision occurs. A driver who causes an accident could make a claim with their collision coverage. A driver who is involved in an accident caused by someone else could make a claim with the responsible party’s liability insurance.

Sometimes, an accident will appear to cause pretty minor damage. In those situations, it’s important to consider whether it pays to make a claim after the crash or if the responsible driver should just pay for the damage personally out of their checking account. Here’s what drivers need to know.

Why making a claim may not be the wisest move

There’s a solid argument to be made for not reporting a minor collision to insurance — especially if no one was hurt and property damage was limited to a few hundred dollars.

Reporting an accident to insurance can result in premiums becoming more expensive. In some states, a single crash for an at-fault accident can cause auto insurance premiums to increase by as much as 74%.

This is a huge increase in the cost of insurance. And, those who are to blame and who report an accident may see premiums increase not just because they present a higher risk with the crash on their record, but also because they lose good driver discounts.

Instead of facing the costs associated with making a claim, a driver may prefer to just pay out of pocket. This is especially true in situations where a deductible applies. If a policyholder causes a crash, damages their own car, and does $1,500 in damage, their collision policy would cover it minus the cost of any deductible. But if they have a $1,000 deductible, they’d end up making a claim to get $500 back and dealing with higher premiums that could add up to more than the insurer paid out.

Making an insurance claim can also take time and energy. It means dealing with adjusters and trying to haggle over how much the insurer should pay out. If a driver can just pay out of pocket — or get a check from the other motorist responsible for the crash that covers their damages — they may prefer this option.

Why there’s an argument for reporting the crash to insurance anyway

While there are certainly reasons to avoid making a car insurance claim, there’s also an argument to be made that it’s important to report collisions — especially if there are multiple motorists involved.

The biggest risk of not reporting a crash is that the damage could turn out to be more serious than originally anticipated. The at-fault driver may not have the money or be able to pay if that happens. In that case, relying on insurance would be important, but that might be a problem if the crash wasn’t reported.

Ultimately, it’s important to carefully consider whether the benefits of avoiding a premium increase and the hassle of an insurance claim outweighs the risk of not alerting insurance to a crash and potentially facing problems if damages are worse than they appear.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Many people struggle to make a 20% down payment on a home. Read on to see how this writer and her husband managed to put down 50%. 

A 20% down payment on a home will get you out of paying private mortgage insurance, or PMI, on a conventional loan. PMI is a costly premium that’s designed to protect your mortgage lender in the event you fall behind on your home loan payments.

But many home buyers struggle to come up with 20% down on a home. According to 2022 data from the National Association of Realtors, the average home down payment during the prior three-year period was between 6% and 7%.

My husband and I, on the other hand, made a 50% down payment on the home we live in now. Here’s why we did that — and how we were able to pull it off.

Why we put down extra money on our home

My husband and I moved from a small starter home to the house we live in today. We knew that upsizing was going to result in higher monthly mortgage payments. But we also enjoyed having lower ones in our starter home.

Lower payments gave us a lot of financial flexibility. We were able to spend money on things we enjoyed, like leisure and travel, that we didn’t want to give up. So we figured that if we could keep our mortgage payments as low as possible in our new house, we’d be able to uphold those habits.

That’s what motivated us to put so much money down on our house. Because we bought new construction, our lender required us to make a 20% down payment on our home. But we clearly went well beyond that.

How we made a 50% down payment

One thing that helped us make a 50% down payment on our home was that we were selling a house we had a lot of equity in. So even after paying off the mortgage on our first home, we had a nice pile of cash to use for the purchase of our next one.

We also decided to dip into our savings account to come up with some of our down payment. We were initially hesitant to do so, because we didn’t want to leave ourselves with inadequate funds for expenses like home improvements and emergencies. But one thing that made us more comfortable taking funds out of our savings is that we were buying a brand-new house. We were virtually protected from major repairs for a couple of years due to the different warranties that came with our home, and we weren’t expecting to do any near-term improvements.

Also, while we did take money out of savings, we didn’t touch the portion earmarked as our emergency fund. That would’ve been a mistake.

All told, making a large home down payment made sense for us, and it was feasible for us to do so. But most people don’t put down 50% on a home. And if you can’t, that’s really okay.

If you make a 20% down payment, you’ll at least avoid getting stuck with PMI. So if that’s a more attainable goal, there’s nothing wrong with that.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Pre-approved credit card offers can lure you with generous bonuses and low interest rates. There’s a reason issuers target you. Find out right here. 

It feels good when financial doors open, especially if you’ve worked hard to rebuild credit from a prior low spot.

But there’s a reason credit card companies try so hard to get you to bite. They make money.

When you receive pre-approved credit card offers in the mail, consider them to be nothing more than information you can use to make your own educated financial decisions.

Why do you get pre-approved credit card offers?

If you have decent credit or better, you probably get pre-approved credit card offers in the mailbox darn near every day.

You get pre-approved (or pre-screened) credit card offers in the mail because the credit card issuer took a look at your credit and thinks you might qualify for the offer. Even if the letter says “You’re pre-approved,” it isn’t a guarantee. You’ll still have to apply if you want the card. Getting the offer means you fit the definition of the issuer’s target customer.

You’re a target. Keep that in mind.

Why do they send so many pre-approved credit card offers?

The name of the game is money. About half of credit card owners carry a balance. Just about all of those people are paying interest on their balance. The average interest rate is around 22% to 25%, but can be as high as 36%.

If you owe $5,000 on a credit card that has a 24% APR, you’ll pay almost $100 in interest this month. If your minimum payment is calculated as the interest plus 1%, you’ll pay about $150, meaning you’ll only make a $50 dent in the balance that you owe.

The average credit card debt in America is a little higher than $5,000, according to research from The Ascent. So you can multiply this scenario by tens of millions of people to get a sense of how much money is at stake for the credit card issuers.

What should you do with pre-approved credit card offers?

Pre-approved credit card offers are not inherently bad. They can give you a sense for what you might qualify for. You can use your pre-screened offers to strategically manage the credit cards you keep in your wallet.

The first option you have is to go ahead and apply for the card. Two big reasons you might choose to go online and apply are bonuses and balance transfers:

Credit card welcome bonuses

Many travel credit cards offer a generous payout of free points or miles to new customers who get the card and meet requirements (usually by making a certain amount of purchases with the card in the first few months). If you’re taking a vacation next summer, you could get an airline credit card and a hotel credit card now, meet the spending requirements, and redeem the points for your trip.

What to watch out for:

The catch with travel credit cards is that the ones that have really good bonuses usually also have an annual fee. The annual fee can range from $49 to $500. The annual fee can be worth paying if you are certain that you will get benefits that are worth more.

Balance transfer offers

If you have higher-interest credit card debt that you’re trying to knock down, and you qualify for a balance transfer card, you could use it to get ahead. These are offers for 0% or very low interest on transferred balances for a period of time (usually between six and 21 months). There’s almost always a fee for the balance transfer, ranging from 2% to 5%. So if you transfer $5,000 and the fee is 3%, your starting balance on the new card will be $5,150. Now, if you’re paying 0% interest, every dollar of your payments will lower the balance you owe.

What to watch out for:

A common pitfall with balance transfers is to use a new card to pay off an old card, and then…charge that old card back up, resulting in more debt.

Reduce this risk by closing the old card when you pay it off. It’s possible that closing a credit card could cause your credit score to drop temporarily. But addressing your financial situation is more important than having multiple open cards if there’s any risk that you’ll increase your debt.

When it’s not a good idea to consider pre-approved credit card offers

The second choice you have when you receive those blank checks in the mail is to deliver them straight to the shredder. There are many reasons to take a pass:

You don’t carry a balance, so balance transfer offers don’t matter.You’re loyal to your favorite credit card and you already use it for all your purchases so you can maximize your rewards.You feel as if it’s risky to get another credit card and you want to avoid letting your debt get out of control.You’re already paying down your debt at 0% or very low interest.You aren’t interested in changing things up in your wallet right now.The bonus is nice, but the card’s features aren’t attractive otherwise.

What should you do if you don’t want pre-screened offers to show up in your mailbox?

There are privacy and identity theft concerns to consider with pre-approved credit card offers, and it can be inconvenient to shred a lot of mail every week.

Just visit optoutprescreen.com and enter your info. When you opt out online, it lasts for five years. You can opt out permanently in writing. The website will walk you through the steps. And you can say goodbye to pre-approved credit card offers using this method.

Alert: highest cash back card we’ve seen now has 0% intro APR until nearly 2025

If you’re using the wrong credit or debit card, it could be costing you serious money. Our experts love this top pick, which features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, an insane cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee.

In fact, this card is so good that our experts even use it personally. Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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