Stop paying more than you have to at the pump. There are several websites out there that track local gas prices so you can determine the best place to fuel up before you head out. I personally like to use Gas Buddy, but GasPriceWatch and AAA also have pretty good gas price monitoring websites. For more information about these sites as well as a couple others, check out this article from Yahoo! Finance.

On a related note, I came across this video about increasing your gas mileage the other day. This guy claims that adding nail polish remover to your fuel tank can result in an increase of 10 miles per gallon. I’m pretty skeptical, however, mainly because the only “proof” of this method consists of a guy typing increasing numbers into an Excel spreadsheet.

“…and then I added Kool-Aid mix and, as you can see (types the number “75″ into spreadsheet), my mileage increased to 75 mpg!”

Watch the video and draw your own conclusions.

The Hole - video powered by Metacafe

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Getting a great rate and the lowest fees on loans and mortgages often requires a FICO credit score of 700+. Walecia (sweet name) posted a tip to help boost your credit score if it’s below 660.

Pay down the cards that are maxed or almost-maxed first. Naturally, lenders are weary when they see credit cards that are maxed or close to being maxed. You get a black mark on your record if you have a balance on your card that’s over 50 percent. For some supplemental reading, check out Flexo’s Raise Your FICO Credit Score.

3 steps to boost your credit score [Bankrate]

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Keep your lines of credit small. Unless it’s for a Bottle Opener Batman Visa Card.

The number of open accounts and lines of credit affects your credit score. There’s no end-all, be-all equation to calculate how much is too few or too many. No calculation will be applicable to all borrowers and all accounts.

A dozen of open accounts and credit lines is looked at differently for a typical working employee compared to an entrepreneur. It’s expected for the self-employed entrepreneur to have more lines of credit than the typical working employee.

Too many open accounts with high balances lowers your credit score (and thus lowers your borrowing power when you need a car loan or a mortgage). Don’t have an absurd number of open accounts and lines of credit and you’ll be golden.

How Many Credit Cards Are Too Many? [American Chronicle]

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Bankrate has a neat calculator that estimates your FICO credit score. You answer 10 questions about your credit history and it spits out a range of what your FICO score would be (give or take 50 points). They ask simple questions such as “What’s the balance on your credit cards?” or “Have you applied for a loan or credit card within the past year?”

I bought my FICO credit report recently and it pegged me with a credit score of 753. Bankrate’s FICO credit score estimator said that my credit score is between 730-780. That’s damn accurate if you ask me. Be honest when you’re answering the questions or the estimation won’t be as accurate.

FICO Score Estimator [via Consumerist via All Financial Matters]

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What’s the difference between $10,000 sitting in a regular old bank account and $10,000 sitting in an online savings account? Give up? The money sitting in the online savings account earns a couple hundred dollars extra a year.

Online savings accounts like such as the ones offered by ING Direct or Emigrant Direct offer high-yielding interest rates on your money. If you put $10,000 in an online savings account that yields 5%, they you’re scoring yourself 500 bucks a year without doing any work. It’s infinitely better than the average bank account which gives you a paltry less-than-half of a percent.

If your money’s going to sit there anyways, it might as well earn you some cash. Plus, when you bank online you don’t have to drive to the bank. Score.

[Photo Credit]

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