I talk about Upromise a lot in my posts, and I know you’ve seen it talked about other places. Do you know what Upromise is? Just in case, I thought I’d explain this wonderful program and how you can start saving money too!
Upromise was created as a way for family and friends to use their purchases, both online and in-store, to earn cash back that is placed in a special savings account to be used for college savings. It’s the easiest, most user-friendly way to save that I have ever seen, and now you don’t even need to save for a child’s college- you can request a check of your earnings to use for any purpose you like. The upcoming holidays are perfect for upping your savings!
It’s so easy to start the process of saving with Upromise! First, please gather all of your credit, debit (with Visa or Mastercard logo) and store loyalty cards. You’ll need these when you enroll to get your savings with Upromise.
After you’ve gathered your cards, it is time to begin the process of enrollment! It’s exciting because not only can you and your family use your cards to earn savings, you can get others to help. If you have a young child, this is the perfect way to start a college savings account. For those of us without children, we can choose to save for someone else who will eventually attend college or we can choose to get our savings in the form of a check.
In order to begin the enrollment process, go to the Upromise home page. This just takes a second, especially if you have Roboform downloaded because it’ll automatically fill in that information. Just choose your username, email address and other personal demographics. There is an optional field for you to fill in a recipient if you are saving for college for anyone.
After you submit the enrollment information on the Upromise home page you’ll be taken to a page that will offer you the ability to sign up for the Upromise credit card. For those of you who use your cards responsibly and pay them off each month, this is something you should consider. You get an EXTRA 10% on your grocery and drugstore savings! If you used this card specifically to buy your groceries and drugstore purchases, and paid it off every month, you could ramp up your savings without much effort at all. This is a great offer because they also give you an additional $25 after the 1st qualified use of your card.
I’m going through this process with you because it is easier for me to explain this way. Now, Upromise is offering a $5 gift card to Target.com, CVS Pharmacy or Barnes and Noble. Visit upromise.com and click through to a participating store. Then make an eligible purchase to get your gift card or a deposit into your Upromise account!
The next screen is the Restaurant screen. You get savings for dining out at select restaurants, including tax and tip! This is called the Preferred Diner program, which is FREE to join. All you have to do is register your credit/debit card and you get 8% savings when you dine out.
Once this is done, you’re almost ready. I recommend you go ahead and click on the “My Account” tab at the top of the page, and then click on “add credit and debit cards”. Register all the cards you have that qualify because you can earn major rewards. Once thsi is done, click on “Add Grocery Cards”. The store cards they accept depend on your zip code. You’ll enter that, and then you can choose which cards to enter. My area I just have CVS. I entered the nearest big city to me for more choices, and Publix and Winn Dixie and Bi-Lo also popped up, which we do shop occasionally. I recommend this so you can maximize what you earn for savings and you can enter AL of your cards!
Got gift cards for McDonalds or Sunglass Hut? Enter those because you can earn savings on their redemptions. If you anticipate eating at McDonald’s through the year, why not purchase a gift card for $25 or more so you can register it and earn savings on the card? It’s almost crazy not to if you eat there often.
The first thing I recommend doing is downloading the Upromise Turbosaver, which is just a tool bar. When you’re shopping online, this will enable you to earn your savings while still using cash-back sites. They also have coupon codes they’ll give you for shopping, and they will alert yo u of those with a bar across the top of your creen when youre on the site. You won’t have to go to the Upromise site every time you want to shop, unless you need to find a Upromise eligible site. They have over 500 sites where savings can be earned so I’m sure most of where you’d shop will be covered. This is the list of the stores where you can earn savings.
Now, you’re going to want to download e-coupons. You can stack these e-coupons with paper manufacturer’s coupons becuase the savings are going into an online account, so when you save $.50 with a manufactrer’s coupon and there’s a $.15 Upromise coupon, you really HAVE saved $.65! You just don’t get the Upromise savings immediately. Download those e-coupons to each of your store cards so that when you shop, you’ll save! Just enter your zip code and you’ll be presented with a list of stores in your area. DO the same as I recommended above to get a larger list for when you shop in larger cities. The values of these e-coupons are often pretty high, as well. For instance, the value of a Bounty coupon that is available right now is $2 off of a 6 count or larger. How often do you get a $2 Bounty coupon?
The other coupons and discounts offered on Upromise are on this page.
Getting your savings
Once you reach a point in your account where you want to withdraw your savings, all you have to do is click on “Use Your Earnings” at the top of the page. You have a few Upromise options which I will explain below. It’s very easy, and there’s no reason in the world you shouldn’t use Upromise.
You can pay down a loan. There’s Upromise Loan Link®, a free service that lets you automatically transfer $25 or more each quarter from your Upromise account directly to your eligible Sallie Mae® serviced student loans.
Also you can put your savings in a flexible, tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan that gives you professional management, account control and much more.
