Input requested: UPromise.com
Does anyone here participate in UPromise.com rewards? I've never looked into it until recently and was considering signing up since invariably at least a few of our children will be going to college for one reason or another.
We don't have a credit card (thanks, Dave Ramsey!), nor do we use our debit card regularly (and I'm not so sure I would want to input that information anyway), but I was thinking of earning points when I use my shopper loyalty card at CVS, Kroger, and Walgreens. Is it worth it? Are there strings attached? If I signed up now, in 18-25 years what kind of savings can I expect to have earned? Anyone have any input? Also, do you know if this money earned can be put towards any type of higher education (correspondence courses, distance learning, etc.)?
We don't have a credit card (thanks, Dave Ramsey!), nor do we use our debit card regularly (and I'm not so sure I would want to input that information anyway), but I was thinking of earning points when I use my shopper loyalty card at CVS, Kroger, and Walgreens. Is it worth it? Are there strings attached? If I signed up now, in 18-25 years what kind of savings can I expect to have earned? Anyone have any input? Also, do you know if this money earned can be put towards any type of higher education (correspondence courses, distance learning, etc.)?
posted by Crystal Paine at 5:11 PM
16 Comments:
My mom uses Upromise and has earned quite a bit of rewards. It seems user-friendly enough and I can't see any negatives.
I signed up for UPromise. We don't get very much money at all but, then again, it doesn't cost anything, either. I gave a one of the key tags to my inlaws and they use it when they go to Publix, too. We don't have credit cards and our debit card doesn't count because it is a Visa card, not a Master Card. Just don't count on it paying for your kids' education. And, just like with coupons, you have to be careful not to spend more money buying the qualifying items than your normal brand.
Suzy
We earn about a thousand dollars a year on it. Our parents have registered there cards too, so that is not all us. :) We do make all of our purchases with our UP credit card and pay them off at the end of the month. We also have our debit cards and grocery store cards registered too. Century 21 also gives U Promsie rewards, so we are considering using them when we sell our house next year. Certain hotels give you rewards, so when we travel we try to use those if they are a good deal. Like Suzy said, it won't pay for your kid's education, but if you can get a little extra money towards college, why not? We have a 529 account set up for our daughter. We went around in circles trying to decide between prepaid tuition in our home state of Virginia or a 529. For various reasons, we decided on the 529 (there are pluses and minuses with both), and UP feeds into her 529. College savings is so complicated! My husband and I were both blessed to not have college debt, and we want the same for our kids, though we do not want them to have to do it the way we did . . . long story there.
Good Luck to you!
Over the last few years I have recieved several hundred dollars. Not only do they have a system for freqeuent buyer programs but they also have specials when you order from online vendors. When you enter the store via the Upromise website a portion of what you spent is added to your account.
FYI Suzy I use no credit cards only debit cards and they are Visas and the purchases have counted.
Theresa
I signed up with Upromise with all the grocery stores and other stores like CVS. There is a whole lot of online stores that participate like Target (if you order things online). I've had it for about two months and made about $6.50. I think in the long run it can help pay for books and materials, but not necessarily tuition. Since it is free (we all like free ;-) ) I say why not? It takes sometime to research, but there are many stores/places that participate. I'm pretty sure you can use it for higher education and distance learning, but it's worth researching further into.
The other perk is that you can get family members to join. Since it's linked to your grocery store cards, it's pretty easy to use and the transaction shows up pretty fast. Items are usually marked with the Upromise logo.
Like I said, once you do the research and link all your gorcery cards ect., it becomes very easy!
:-)
Hope that helps
Aisha
Hi Crystal,
We have a UPromise account and I love it! Brooke's college has already been taken care of by my very giving parents as a gift to her when she was born but Mike and I know we will have other costs (books, living exp, etc.) so we signed up for Upromise to help out.
We did input our information and haven't had any issues thus far, I did alot of research before signing up and everything looked secure.
I do have a Citi Upromise Card to go along with the account so I earn a percentage everytime I use it and when I use it at the gas stations and/or other stores that offer a percentage back I earn even more. I don't ever go out of my way to do this but it's free money so I take advantage if it's a close store.
We just signed up at the beginning of May and we already have a little over $40.00 in the account. I think that's pretty good and it could add up over the years, hey free money is always welcome here.
You can also invite your friends and family to help add to your account via their purchases as well which is nice. Another nice thing is you randomly receive coupons in the mail from Upromise (I got some today) :)
Good Luck to you!
Kim
P.S. Suzy - you may want to check your account because my Visa Debit/Check card does work so maybe it was just a glitch...
Crystal,
Thanks for sharing about ways to save money! We are Dave Ramsey fans around here too. I wanted to comment to thank you for sharing what you know about coupons and shopping. I downloaded your coupon e-book a few months back, but was too overloaded with the new baby to get into it much.
Well, last night I went to CVS and got $49.00 worth of stuff that we needed and use for $11.00 after coupons and extra bucks! And I'm just a beginner!
I was so excited I had to write out the whole breakdown with a picture on my own blog before I could go to bed.
I now definitely understand how this frugality thing can become addicting! :)
We haven't made much but I do not go out of my way to purchase the upromise brands either. My mom and my sister are also doing it for my kids since my sister has no children (and cannot have any) so is signed up under mine and so is my mom. I do use my debit/credit card (from my checking account) only because checks are so expensive and I am not comfortable carrying cash around all the time. We do use credit cards but we pay them off each month. Do not expect it to pay all the expenses of college but every little bit helps!
Crystal, could you please post this for me? I am a young mother who will be returning to work soon. However, I still feel my home and family are my top priority. I have loved seeing the "household logs" (binders) of you and the other ladies. Does anyone have one and also work outside the home? I really need help with my organizational skills if this is going to work. How do I need to go about household chores with my limited time? Blessings.
I wanted to let you know I have passed on to you the Blogger Reflection Award. :)
The post about it is here:
http://barbarah.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/blogger-reflection-award/
How do you leave a comment on a post when no one else has yet???
We signed up for Upromise to help pay off my husband's student loans (deferred while in seminary). In 4 years we've earned $556.29. However, 513.95 of that has been from Citibank by signing up for the credit card (paid in full each and EVERY month). $25.00 from New York Life for life insurance (which is what we originally started our Upromise account with). Choose carefully when first signing up for Upromise, depending on which company or site you go through you receive an amount. The rest has been through various businesses and grocery purchases. Like others I don't go out of my way to purchase these products. Kellogg's fruit snacks and Kimberly-Clark (Huggies diapers, Huggies wipes, and toilet paper) are the only 2 listed that are over $1.00. And that's in 4 years!! My fear is in a few years they'll call this quits and/or change policies and everyone will be stuck. BUT it's "free money" for very little time or effort on your part. They keep track of everything.
Jennifer
We use it. I don't earn a WHOLE lot using it, but hey, every little bit helps! ;-) I get the most rewards when I shop online and go through them.
I opened a UPromise account and it grows slowly, only a couple of hundred dollars in a few years. Maybe I don't shop enough! ;-)
As to some of your questions, I'll try to answer (I'm a CPA and homeschooling mom). Upromise wants you to transfer your UP earnings into a 529 college savings plan. The money invested and the earnings are tax free if used for college expenses (tuition, room and board, etc). That'a a huge benefit of 529 plans. Learn more about 529 plans at Collegesavings.org.
I did meet a young man in his 20's that was out of college and using a UPromise account (unmarried, no kids, etc). He was accumulating $ in his UP account and then requesting a check to be mailed to him instead of moving the $$ into a 529 plan. In the fine print, I did read that UP will do that. Amazing! I have not tried it myself. Of course, you're eating your future college savings, but this young man wanted cash in hand today, not in the future.
Carol, CPA
www.HomeschoolCPA.com
I opened a UPromise account and it grows slowly, only a couple of hundred dollars in a few years. Maybe I don't shop enough! ;-)
As to some of your questions, I'll try to answer (I'm a CPA and homeschooling mom). Upormise wants you to transfer your UP earnings into a 529 college savings plan. The money invested and the earnings are tax free if used for college expenses (tuition, room and board, etc). That'a a huge benefit of 529 plans. Learn more about 529 plans at Collegesavings.org.
I did meet a young man in his 20's that was out of college and using a UPromise account (unmarried, no kids, etc). He was accumulating $ in his UP account and then requesting a check to be mailed to him instead of moving the $$ into a 529 plan. In the fine print, I did read that UP will do that. AMazing! I have not tried it myself! Of course, you're eating your future college savings, but this young man wanted cash in hand today, not in the future.
Carol, CPA
www.HomeschoolCPA.com
I signed up for UPromise years ago...at that time they actually said on their website that you probably won't earn enough to put your child through college on just your UP earnings, but it does add up when combined with regular 529 plan savings.
I made sure to invite my folks to contribute through UPromise as well, which helps. If you have family members or friends who contribute it's handy, but even without that, every little bit counts. We don't use credit cards, but I do have our debit cards and grocery cards, etc enrolled in UP.
The other nice thing is that you can designate percentages to be split between children. You can put it at 75/25 if you have an older child who will make it to college first, or you can do 50/50, etc.
As far as I'm aware of you can use the 529 money for pretty much all higher ed expenses, and if the child you originally designated the funds for doesn't want to use them (say they decide on apprenticeship or the military instead of college) you can always transfer it to another child or even yourself. Kinda handy for when the kids leave the nest and Mom or Dad want to go back to school.
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