Upromise – Save Money For College The Easy Way

Upromise is a loyalty program designed to help families save for college by doing the things you normally do – shop, and eat out. You get free college money that get invested into a 529 savings plan to help pay for college expenses.

When you sign up for a free Upromise account and shop online through its site (it redirects you to hundreds of other name-brand sites like Target and iTunes),  a percentage of your purchase is refunded to your Upromise savings account. Then, you can move those refunds to a 529 plan (any plan you want, though it can be a bit easier if you’re in a 529 affiliated with Upromise.) You can also earn refunds based on where you eat out and what you buy at the grocery store. It costs nothing, and it makes sense for every single person in the U.S. who has a child or grandchild to enroll.

Savings 101 -How to get the most savings for college with Upromise

Every time you make an eligible purchase, Upromise partners return a portion of that money back to you. Those earnings accumulate tax-free in your Upromise account until you decide to use it to invest in a 529 plan, help pay down eligible student loans or assist with college expenses.  There are a few basic ways to save:

1) Shop online through Upromise.com. Get 1%-25% back from eligible purchases at more than 600 online retailers when you shop through Upromise.com.  It’s a good idea to browse Upromise’s entire shopping network to locate any online retailers you frequently buy from. That way, you’ll know exactly where to find them on Upromise’s site once you make any purchases.  Or you can download the Upromise TurboSaver tool which highlights retailers who participate in program.

2) Dining out at Upromise participating restaurants. Get up to 8% back from more than 8,000 restaurants as a Preferred Diner when you pay with a registered credit or debit card.  There is no fee for this program, and no slips to maintain.  One of my favorite breakfast places that overlooks a golf course rebates 8% – so I like having business breakfast meetings there whenever possible.

3) Gas, grocery store or drug store. Get 1-3% back on thousands of eligible items when you scan a Upromise registered grocery or drug store card at checkout.

Savings 201 – Really working the Upromise system

There are a few tricks to really getting the most savings from the Upromise program.

1) Download the Upromise TurboSaver Tool. Who has time to memorize 600+ online stores?  TurboSaver is a shopping assistant that makes sure you get your college savings, even if you forget to go through upromise.com.  TurboSaver highlights Upromise partners in Google and Yahoo! search results.  Upromise Members who install TurboSaver (formerly the Upromise Toolbar) save an average of five times more than members who don’t.

2) Divert credit-card rewards into the 529 plan. Citibank has a card with Upromise, and American Express offers an especially lucrative card that puts 1.5% of every purchase into a Fidelity 529 (you have your choice of a few state plans, since Fidelity manages a handful of them on behalf of various states).

3) Add Family and Friends. You can have your family and friends enroll in Upromise and ask them to designate your child’s account for their savings.  That way you get a multiplier effect of having multiple people’s shopping habits fuel your account.

4) clip e-Coupons. Actually, there is nothing to clip, but by participating in this program (which ties your grocery or drug store loyalty card to certain coupons that you select) you can save up to an additional $25 a month.

At a minimum, I suggest you sign up, download the tool bar, and then just “set it, and forget it” and let the rebates roll in.  If you choose to be more aggressive with chasing the savings, you can really do well with Upromise.

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Tagged as: 529 plan, College Savings, credit card, savings, savings account, Savings Accounts

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