My sister (the one with the twin toddlers) directed me to UPromise.com and asked for me to sign myself and my mother up so that my niece and nephew can get money towards college.
Sounds cool to me, but before I go entering all of my credit card numbers, I was just wondering if anyone here has any experience or friend’s cousin’s stepmother-type anecdotes to share, either good or bad.
Perhaps it’s too new for anyone to have taken advantage yet . . .
I do. Have been since October. Everythings been fine and smooth so fat. If I need help and can’t find it on their site, they have good people on their 1-800 line to help out.
I’m a member, and have no negatives to report yet.
I presume it’s a way for stores and brands to build loyalty and look good in the process.
We started the whole upromise thing but I dont shop enough at the right stores to make much for my daughter. Right now my big problem is there is only one type of plan to put the money into and the literature for it says they have had staggering losses for the last few years… Not that most things arent in the same boat but give us a little choice!
Thanks for the input. I went ahead and signed up yesterday, but my mom hasn’t done it yet (she’ll need my help). Tanookie, I noticed that there were “investment options” there, but because I was signing up mere minutes before the end of my workday, didn’t have time to read that part very carefully.
I talked to a friend yesterday who wonders if the program will still be in existence by the time the twins are college-bound.
I guess we’ll see . . .
I signed up last fall as well. The money trickled in based on my infrequent purchases of the right products, but a couple months later I signed up for the Upromise Mastercard and since then my account has gone up dimes and quarters at a time instead of pennies and nickles.
I think it is a pretty good deal to get a little something back on products I am buying anyway (though it is a little Orwellian to view my account details and see the exact date that I bought two cans of Minute Maid orange juice).
About how much do you get back? I see “up to” 10% but what is typical?
Also, the “remind-u” feature for on-line shopping. Does anyone know how this works? Will it slow down my browsing? thanks
This is going to sound stupid, but I’ve looked around the site and without registering, I saw no answer. If none here can help me, I’ll ask them (and post the answer here). Can you take advantage of this even if you don’t currently have children? I mean, it costs me no money out of pocket, and my wife and I are currently working on the ‘baby-making’ process, so I figure a few months head start couldn’t hurt, and if by some chance we don’t have kids, we are still not out anything.
LlamaPoet, I was wondering that very same thing. I mean, you do have to enter the kid’s name (which may be difficult if you haven’t even conceived yet), but heck, if you already have a nice, unisex name in mind . . . 
I was also wondering what happens if one of the children you’re signing up to help (you can enter several names) doesn’t go to college? Does all of the money go to the other kid(s) on the list? Can you designate how much you want to go to each kid, or do you have to divide it evenly?
Hell, I’m registered, and wasn’t able to find out anything about that, but I’ll keep trying . . .
I’ve had a UPromise account for a couple of years. There’s currently almost $300 there. I haven’t opened a college account yet because I was waiting for better choices (recently a Vanguard managed plan was added). A lot of the money in my account comes from using amazon.com. A lot of big companies participate in this program (McDonald’s, Exxon, Kroger).
auntie em, Your sister may have already selected a college plan, and all you have to do is point your earnings to that plan.
LlamaPoet, You can set up a UPromise account and accumulate savings without specifying a college plan. For lots of great information about various college plans, see http://www.savingforcollege.com