Upromise: Free Money for College

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

Upromise is a very easy way to save money for college. There are several ways in which you can save money, and the great thing is that, you don’t even have to think about it. Once you sign up and register your credit cards (don’t worry it’s safe), you just go about your normal spending habits and save money.

Here’s how it works. Basically you register your credit cards, shoppers club cards, etc., for any company that is part of the Upromise program. When you buy certain products or eat at eligible restaurants, a portion of the purchase price will be deposited into your Upromise account. It’s that easy.

Amy and I have been doing it for probably about 6 years and we have $300 in our account. Now maybe you were expecting more money, but again, we signed up 6 years ago and I forgot about it until I received a recent email statement. The great thing is that I haven’t done anything different in these last six years to try to help Upromise. In fact, I should probably have a lot more, because for about half the time I forgot to update Upromise with my new debit cards we receive routinely from the bank.

Another great feature is that you can have family and friends sign up as well. For example, your parents can create their own Upromise account and pass their savings on to your little one.

What if you don’t have a child yet? Are your kids already through college? Doesn’t matter, you can still start saving now, and then when you do have kids or grandkids, you can move that savings into a 529 plan that can be used for their college expenses.

I’ve spent probably about 1 hour on the last six years on Upromise signing up, and registering new cards. That has earned me $300. I suppose if I spent a little more time actively finding places to spend my money that support Upromise, I’d have much more, but I like the idea of not having to do anything extra to earn free money.

Check it out – it will certainly be worth your time.

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