Let’s face it: many of us are slowly losing money in this economy. Inflation hummed along at over 3.5% in August, and some of the very best secure deposit accounts out there are barely paying 1% APY. That means most people are losing about 2.5% on their investment, once you factor in inflation. It is possible to get more of a return for your investment than the standard APY, if you factor in bonuses and special offers. If you find two comparable accounts with (relatively) the same APY offer, which account bonus should you choose: cash or a different type of reward? That depends on you, your spending habits, your current needs, and what kind of things you value.

Generally, you should only take a merchandise bonus if you know for sure you will be using the merchandise (either for yourself, or as a gift). For example, if you’re already in the market for an IPod, a bank offering free IPods for new accounts may seem very enticing—and it could be a great deal for you. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if the type of bonus—cash or merchandise—exceeds $20 in value, it’s generally taxable. So, is it better to receive an IPod valued at $200 and pay tax on $200, or is it better to take a $200 cash bonus, find an IPod on sale for $150, and use the extra $50 to pay the tax (and pocket any extra)? The answer may not be as cut and dry as you think.

If the cash-bonus bank and the IPod-bonus bank are equal in all other ways (including fees, convenience, and so forth), you could clearly get more value for the $200 bonus if you can simply buy the IPod yourself on sale. However, if it takes you an hour (or more) to research IPod prices and drive to the store (or pay for shipping on something you ordered online), you could be losing money by doing it yourself. There is value in convenience. If you’re already pressed for time or just don’t want to deal with the hassle, the IPod merchandise bonus could be a great way to go.

The same reasoning applies to banks that offer airline miles as bonuses for opening deposit accounts. If the particular airline miles offered are something you are going to use for certain already (and the bank account, itself, meets your banking requirements with little or no fees), then it’s certainly a nice perk. However, it’s important to match the bank bonus to you and your lifestyle—not the other way around.

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It’s all over the news: banks are raising fees and good banking deals are harder to find. However, if you’re one of the lucky few who have excellent credit, there are still good deals to be found. Banks may be implementing fees for debit-card use, but there are some great free credit cards out there that pay you cash back for each purchase. As long as you can afford to pay off the balance each and every month, it’s a good alternative to paying debit card fees. An excellent one to consider is the Capital One Cash Credit Card.

This card has no annual fee and offers 1% cash back on all purchases. Additionally, until September 2012, it has a 0% Purchase and Transfer APR (after that, it’s a 12.9% to 20.9% variable APR). The cash back and the no-annual-fee feature alone make this card enticing, but this card offers some nice extra perks.

Ever year, the card will give you a 50% bonus on the cash back you have already earned for that year. So, if you earn $240 in cash back over the course of a year, you’ll get an extra $120 bonus at the end of the year. You will also get an additional one-time bonus of $100 once you spend $500 in the first three months. If you are using this card to replace debit-card spending, that bonus will be very easy to achieve. So, if you spend (and pay off) approximately $2,000 per month on your card (earning you the $240 annual cash-back bonus in the above example), you will earn $460 your first year in cash-back rewards and bonuses. Your cash rewards never expire, and you can request your earned cash as an account credit, as a check, or as a gift card. There is also no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn.

However, as previously mentioned, this card is only for people with excellent credit. What does “excellent credit” mean? According to Capital One, you must meet all of these requirements:

• You cannot have been more than 60 days late on any credit card, medical bill, or loan in the last year
• You can never have declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan
• You have had a loan or a credit card for three years or more with a credit limit above $5,000

Although Capital One doesn’t mention a credit score, generally “excellent” scores are considered to be mid-700’s and above.

In this economy, it may be hard to meet Capital One’s requirements due to circumstances beyond people’s control, like job layoffs. However, if you can meet the requirements, this card is a great way to put potentially hundreds of extra dollars a year into your pocket. Why pay debit card fees when you can have a bank pay you instead?

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We all know it’s best to pay cash for things, unless you can pay off your credit card bill every month to avoid being charged extra interest fees. One of the easiest and safest ways to “pay cash” is by using your debit card. A debit card takes money directly your checking account, it typically offers fraud protection, and you can instantly download your transactions into budgeting software like Quicken. Merchants pay less on a per-transaction-basis for debit card payments versus credit card payments; consequently, many vendors encourage debit card use whenever possible. As of today, merchants will pay even less. New financial regulations that went into effect October 1, 2011 cuts the merchant transaction fees for debit card payments essentially in half: from an average of 44 cents per transaction, to 24 cents per transaction. This is great news for merchants. However, depending on which company you bank with, it may not be great news for you.

This is because banks lose income when debit card transaction fees are lowered, so banks will typically try to make up the money in other ways. If they can’t make up the money by charging merchants, they will try to recoup their losses by charging customers. Bank of America has indicated the lowered debit card transaction fees will cost them approximately $2 billion annually, MSNBC reports. As a result, Bank of America will soon be charging all of its customers (except high-value or premium account holders) $5 a month, each and every month their debit card is used.

Customers will only pay the fee for months in which they use their debit card, but that means if you use your card just one time in a month to buy a $3 coffee, that $3 coffee just became an $8 coffee. This change will cost BofA customers up to $60 a year to use debit cards pay from their bank account—rivaling the annual fee of some credit cards. Of course, debit cards still won’t charge interest like credit cards do, but why pay fees when you don’t have to?

If you’re an affected bank customer, the solution may not be to leave your bank altogether since The Seattle Times reports that other big banks, like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan are following suit with the increased customer fees. Additionally, it can be a hassle to change everything over from one bank to another bank if you have things like direct deposit and automatic payments set up. So, as long as your current checking account isn’t paying you much—if any—of an interest rate for the amount of your average daily balance, you may want to check out some online-only banks.

Since online-only banks have lower overhead costs, many are still offering free checking, free debit cards, free checks and free online bill pay. Several also offer additional benefits, like a percentage cash-back each time you use your debit card without typing in your PIN. In many cases, online banks also allow you to transfer money electronically between other banks for free, so you can keep your primary bank account and just transfer money as needed to your online bank account for debit card purchases. Banking this way can also be a great budgeting tool. Since you will still have your main account set up with your direct deposit and your regular bill payments, you can only transfer to your debit card bank account exactly what you would like to spend on debit card purchases each month. This can prevent you from draining your main bank account by purchasing excessive $3 coffees. Of course, you’ll also have the added benefit an extra $60 a year in your pocket since you won’t be paying debit card fees.