UPromise is mainly a cash-back online shopping mall like eBates that deposits money into a 529 college savings fund. If you haven’t opened an account already, now may be a good time to do so if you were planning to do some shopping at the stores below anyways – They are offering a $25 bonus if you are a new sign-up and make one purchase at a qualifying cash-back store before 12/31/07.
Non-eligible retailers are: Amazon.com, Avis, Bed Bath & Beyond, Butterfield Blooms, Budget, Cryo-Cell, Eddie Bauer, Eddie Bauer Outlet, Florist.com, Flowers U.S.A., FTD.com, Gift Sense, RedEnvelope, Ross-Simons, Sharper Image and Upromise Cruises.
Qualifying retailers are the rest, with some popular ones being Target.com, Walmart.com, eBay, Travelocity, CircuitCity.com, Nordstrom, and JCPenney. Lots of smaller ones too.
I’m not a huge fan of UPromise myself, having only earned about $5 since joining the program. I do link my Safeway Club card so each time I buy my nectar of life (Diet Coke) I get a few pennies back.
If you don’t like the idea of your money being swept into their 529 (no kids?), you can fill out this withdrawal form, mail it in, and have a check sent to you. Instructions are on the form. You need a signature guarantee if it’s more than $200, which is free at many banks and credit unions.
Update: You can also get a $10 bonus from eBates.
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Unfortunately, Coke products are no longer part of the Upromise program. A nice change is that the Citi Upromise Credit Card gives you 10% (11% if you include the normal 1%) at the restaurants that participate in the IDine program.
I used to be a Upromise member but decided to request a withdrawal. It was only $69 but it was money I got for buying what I would usually buy anyway.
I still am a member and have been for over 5 yrs. Have accumulated close to $1000 in that time which have been invested in the Vanguard 529 plan I signed up for.
It’s kinda fuzzy to me. They say:
Register your store cards
with us, then buy any participating product in
those stores and get
Upromise college savings.
If I get this right, you register your card for e.g. safewaycard, You shop online or in store and cash back will automatically go into our upromise account? It is not clear to me 🙁
Darn! Too bad i’m already a member.
Doh!
member since: 03/2005
total: $25.47
$1000 wayne? How?
No more Coke? Ah well, c’est la vie.
The thing about iDine is that most eligible restaurants are either 10% overpriced already or are 10% worse-tasting 🙂 At least for my tastes. I’m pretty picky about restaurants.
To wayne: $1000 is pretty good! I am member 3 years only and have cca $35. Can you give any advices?
I’ve been a member for 3+ years and have earned about $190, and most of that has been in the past year and half.
I earn some through the dining program and I have found that a few of the restaurants I frequent are on their list, but it helps to live in a metro area.
But the best way to earn that I have found is through shopping online, almost every major retailer is on there and most give around 3% back, with some as high as 5-8%.
Is there a reason the page linked to in the article is blank?
I just signed up; the link will automatically fill in the promotion code ‘hollidaypromo’ on the account setup page if you navigate to the main upromise website using the links.
Well, there’s two ways your can participate — either by registering your current credit cards with upromise, or by getting a Citi Upromise Card and then charging everything with it. That’s actually what I do on a monthly basis — it’s only 1% cash back, but it goes right to my daughter’s 529 which is not bad. Some purchases give you more than 1% (up to 10% for certain items), but mostly I’ve earned just about 1%. I have other rewards cards that are better for certain things — like gas (3% and 5%), so sometimes I use those for gas purchases. But in general I use my Citi Upromise for everything else. I have also accumulated close to 1,000 dollars with the card, but that includes a promotion that I won accidentally (We won $250 during a Upromise promotion when my husband bought gas at Mobil).
We spend lots on our credit card every month — I’m not sure that this is the best rewards program, but it’s all set up, so I go with it!
Link went blank for a while, now it seems to be back up. Also found an updated link to eBates $10 bonus.
I have been a member since 2004 and Upromise has paid down one of my own private education loans by about $1400 to date!! Mainly this is with the Citi Upromise credit card, which gives 1% back on everything and additional rewards on the groceries, restaurants, and exxonmobil gas etc. Essentially it’s what most people do with cash rebate cards, but I’m doing it to pay down loans. I use my citi card for all purchases and pay some bills that way. There is a limit of $300/year rebate on the 1% deal but no limit on the additional credits (and now they have a 2nd option for credit card that has no limit, I believe – that’s new). They transfer the rewards quarterly. Family and friends can enroll and contribute on your behalf – they have saved me $250 of the $1400! And consider I would have been paying 8% interest on that loan (at best). It’s not the most user-friendly system to understand at first, but the credit card works like any rewards card – that’s easy and works without a hitch.
FYI, there is a Fidelity card that gives 1.5% on all purchases to a 529, better deal IMHO. YMMV.
Ive been a member for close to 4 years and have over $1250 mostly from citi credit card. Get 1% plus an extra 10% on grocery’s that participate in the program. In addition, you can get a bunch of savings from linking to internet sites, usually around 3-5%.
Thanks for posting the link to the withdrawal form. I only have earned $18.22 so far, so that wouldn’t really do much for us in a 529 fund. I was going to cancel my upromise membership, but I wasn’t aware that I could just withdraw the funds. My 8-month-old has his own WaMu Savings, so I’ll just put the upromise money in that. (He was really bummed when it went down from 5.0% to 4.75% though.) 🙂
one good thing about upromise for those of us without kids (and who dont plan to have them) is that you can link your student loans to your account — everytime you accrue 25 bucks , it is used to lower the principal of your loans. nothing major but helps for money you spend anyway — i get 25 cents or so everytime i fill up at exxon with linked speedpass
I have been a member since December and have done very well. I buy things I would normally get anyway. I am also a member of Office Depot’s life work program. I buy a lot of computer paper. When I go through Upromise, not only do I get 10% back from office depot through their program, but also get 2% back from them for upromise. I can select to pick up in the store so I don’t incure shipping. I would have to spend the gas to go there anyway