Save with Upromise

Do you have a Upromise account?  Do you know what Upromise is?  I set up an account a while ago but haven't paid much attention to it ... until now.  I'm committing to logging into my account once a week to be sure that I'm taking advantage of my savings potential.

  Upromise is a way to turn everyday spending into college savings. 

There are several ways to save for college with Upromise. 

Shop online and earn 1 - 25%

If you're going to be shopping online anyway, start at Upromise first.  Find the retailer you want to shop with and click through Upromise to the retailers website.  For example:  Shop at Barnes & Noble through Upromise and 3% of your purchase will be added to your Upromise account.  Old Navy pays 5%, eBay 2% and JCPenny pays 3%.  These percentages may change so these are just examples.  There are pages and pages of stores that all pay you varying percentages.

Earn up to 8% when dining as a Preferred Diner

Going out to eat?  Check the Upromise site for restaurants in your area that reward you with Upromise Savings when dining there.  All of the restaurants in my area pay 4% except one that pays 8%.  Sign up with Upromise Preferred Dining and earn an extra $5 for every $50 you spend at participating restaurants now through March 30, 2010.

Save when you Buy Groceries

Upromise pays you for buying a whole list of thousands of participating products.  Products like Charmin, Marzetti, Snyders and Domino Sugar to name a few.  I bet there are plenty of items on the list that you buy often.  Upromise also offers eCoupons that can be loaded on to your stores shopper card.  These work a little different than the coupon concept we're most familiar with.  Instead of the Upromise eCoupon savings coming off your total bill, it is added into your Upromise balance instead.  I earned $2.00 yesterday by loading a Bounty coupon and then purchasing Bounty Paper Towels.  Available eCoupon offers change monthly. 

So many ways to save .... but how does Upromise know where I've shopped and dined out?  The online shopping savings is earned simply by clicking from Upromise to the retailer you are shopping.  The tracking for the other savings comes from info you enter when setting up your account.  Part of the registration process is entering your store shoppers card numbers, credit card numbers and debit card numbers.  I know some people may be uncomfortable with entering credit/debit card info online.  I have added mine and had no problems.  At the very least though set up your account with your store shoppers cards ... Kroger, CVS are the ones I have ... be sure to enter all of yours. 

Friends and Family can help add to your college savings too.  Another part of the registration process is adding beneficiary and allocating your saving between those beneficiaries.  Talk to Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles & Friends without kids of their own to save for ... ask them to add your kids as beneficiaries for their Upromise account.

What do you do with your savings as you earn it?  There are several options.  Use the savings to pay down a student loan.  Save and invest it in a college savings plan.  Transfer your savings to someone you know who needs it to pay for college.  Request a check to use the funds the way you want to use them.

There is a Upromise credit card that offers greater percentages of savings.  Be careful though.  Credit Cards that offer earnings aren't a benefit if you don't pay them off every month.  Interest will quickly cancel out your earnings.

I'm sure there are things about the program that I haven't learned about yet.  If you know something that I don't .... leave a comment and I'll update this for others.

Set up your Upromise Account and start saving today!

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