UPromise

[elf]

I was wondering if any of you have any thoughts on the Upromise program (or similar). I am attracted to the basic idea, but deep in my soul I wonder what the catch is. Will my name and shopping data be sold? Is the account that you get kept someplace with high maintenance fees? Is it really possible to accumulate serious amounts of money in the account so it's worth the trouble and any risks?

I would love to hear from anyone with some experience with the program.

[brubeck]

Yes the money is 'free'. No, there are no maintenance fees. It's not too much trouble once you have set it up.

The catches:

[li] You are encouraged to buy the products/shop in the stores that give you Upromise benefits.

[li] They try to suck you into investing in their 529 plan. If you don't, you get no interest on the money you earn.

[li] You really don't earn a lot. I've been doing this for 2 years and I have about $60. The vast majority of that is from TRU/BRU/KRU and they don't participate in the program anymore.

[li] If you want the rewards from the online merchants you have to shop through the link on their website. That means you can't use EBates or some similar thing.


We are happy with the program though. Amy might get one textbook out of it when she goes to college. :-)