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Big ups to Jeff over at the Sustainable Life Blog for including my post, “Brother, can you spare a swipe? Contactless card reading guitar unveiled,” in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.

My post, which details a wireless, touchless credit card accepting guitar by Barclays, is nuzzled into the ever-popular theme of Labor Day. Because what says Labor Day more than a raggedy bum asking for change and strumming “Like A Rolling Stone” in the corner of a busy intersection? Well … maybe that’s not the best example.

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Alexi Giannoulias’ bid to take President Obama’s former seat in the U.S. Senate got a boost Thursday when a federal report concluded politics played no part in how the failure of his family-owned bank played out.

“Nothing came to our attention to suggest that FDIC officials or the FDIC examination, enforcement action, or closing processes were subject to any political or inappropriate influence,” said the report issued by the inspector general’s office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

A leading Republican, Rep. Dan Issa of California, had asked the FDIC to investigate the April 23, 2010, closing of Broadway Bank in Chicago.

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Have you ever had the strong urge to give your hard-earned money to someone strumming “Dust in the Wind” out of key at a vacant intersection? Well, neither have I. But London-based issuer Barclays hopes our apprehension will disappear with its new approach to street charity: a wireless, touchless, credit card accepting guitar.

The financial institution unveiled the instrument Thursday, Aug. 26, in London during a publicity stunt promoting its “contactless technology.” People passing by a street musician — known as a “busker” in the UK — were handed prepaid cards loaded with £5 and were instructed to wave it near the head of the guitar.

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Despite officially starting June 1, hurricane season is about to kick into high gear.  While meteorologists have scaled back their predictions a wee bit, there are still some major storms coming our way, according to Reuters. There is double the chance this year that a hurricane will hit the U.S. Northeast Coast, making the area just as risky as Florida and the Gulf Coast.

The Weather Service International has predicted that we will see 18 named storms, 10 of which will go on to become hurricanes. Five of those are expected to be category three or higher (111 miles per hour or more), says Reuters. Full article…

A credit card reward is a benefit provided by credit card companies to their customers. Credit rewards usually comprise points that one can gather every time the credit card is used. There are several forms of credit card rewards such as cash back rewards, reward points and other incentives. The extent of the reward is dependent on the usage of the card. Most credit card companies offer rewards for every single time the card is used within the time period of the offer.

The idea behind such offers is to motivate credit card holders to use their cards more often. Of the various reward schemes, the most useful of a customer is the cash back reward.

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