Please note that I was compensated by Upromise for the content in this post. However, all opinions expressed below are my own, based on my personal experience with Upromise.
Upromise MasterCard: Every Little Bit Helps | brokeGIRLrich
I’m a big fan of little things creating a big change. You don’t suddenly nail a bunch of frugal skills and get rich or magically find one big thing to get rid of all your debt (usually – I mean, someone’s got to hit the lottery, but I’m not holding my breath it will be me).
But bit by bit and small change by small change, you suddenly find that you have more money available than you used to. It’s really satisfying to throw a large chunk of money at a debt and see the balance drop drastically, but in reality, most large debts are paid down bit by bit over a long time – especially school loans.
That being said, there’s no reason to not do everything you can to reduce that loan amount, whether it’s a terrific travel rewards card like Aviator MasterCard or an amazing program like Upromise by Sallie Mae is a terrific program to do just that!
Upromise by Sallie Mae lets you start socking away cash back rewards in college savings plans or use that cash back to pay off eligible student loans through Sallie Mae. The program is great because it capitalizes on what you are already spending!
With their program you can shop through their cash back portal at more than 850 retailers,and at certain restaurants and earn cash back. You can also book travel through Upromise.com at sites like Expedia and earn even more. They partner with companies like Travelocity, Orbitz, Hertz and many more stores you probably already use to maximize your cash back earnings.
But the real way to maximize your Upromise by Sallie Mae cash back rewards is to sign up for their Upromise MasterCard, which provides 1% cash back on all purchases – and that 1% increases to 2% cash back at certain department stores and movie theaters – and that 2% increases to 5% when you use the portal to shop online, eat at participating restaurants or book travel. That’s on top of the up to 5% back you’re getting through the Upromise program – for savings up to 10%!
Current college students can really rock the spring break savings by signing up for this card 
and booking everything using it. If you book on St. Patrick’s Day, you can get up to 10% cash back on your travel plans –whether it’s booking a rental car through Alamo for an awesome, week long road trip or flights to the Caribbean through Expedia, Upromise by Sallie Mae has a lot of travel partners.
The Upromise MasterCard even has a $50 cash back bonus after making your first transaction within 90 days of opening the account. I don’t know about you, but $50 was a pretty big deal to me in college.
So without even really trying, you can start putting tiny dents into the loans you already owe or you can start adding to the pile of savings to send your kids to school!
It’s easy to pish-posh $100 or even $1000 of savings considering the cost of attending school, but when it’s actual cash you have to part with, you’ll be happy for every penny you don’t have to spend.
I’m going to have to do a little analysis, but this card seems like it could be a good idea compared with the current card I use for rewards. Hey, I would rather have the payment towards loans than the gift cards or cash back. Thanks for sharing with us…gives me some things to ponder.
Definitely! And if you’re still on the fence about the card, you can start by using the Upromise rebates center – it works like eBates.
Interesting program! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Catherine Alford recently posted…This Is What Happened When I Spent $1,500 on Food
Thanks for the reminder! I had heard of Upromise but had not remembered to check into it. Only 12 short years before we’re we have to fund college tuition, and every little bit helps Little Bit’s future.
Emily @ JohnJaneDoe recently posted…Six Weeks of Saving Gets a CleverKeet
Yikes, definitely! Maybe some education cost reform will happen by then too.
Sounds like a great idea for those in college or preparing to go as well as their families.
Gary @ Super Saving Tips recently posted…Finding Good Cheap Wines to Fit Your Budget
I’m trying not to use credit cards while I get out of debt, but sounds like I may need to reconsider! I’ve heard of Upromise but never really looked into it. It’s only Sallie Mae loans that the cash back can be applied to? My Sallie Mae loans transferred to Navient so I wonder if they’re still eligible. I’ll have to look into it!
Michelle recently posted…Budgeting 101: Predicting the Future
I’m pretty sure it can only be used on Sallie Mae loans – so maybe not an option in your case.
Works with Navient! I’ve been signed up with UPromise for years, but not realizing the full potential of savings. Now I’ve added the UPromise credit card to the arsenal and pay every monthly bill i can with that card. 1% goes to my student loan automatically. Every little bit helps! Last year I didn’t use it that much, and still earned the equivalent of 2 months of student loan payments. That’s 2 months i didn’t pay out of my pocket, just for using a website portal to do my online shopping.
We actually nailed our creditcard debt with a program comparable to this one, works like a charm. It was not really cashback, but a card with which you automatically saved 1, 5 or 10% of your weekly spendings on a separate savings account.
You don’t feel these tiny amounts, but they add up faster than you would think!
Mrs. CTC @ FromCostToCoast.com recently posted…It’s Money Week! What are we telling the children?
I signed up for my current credit card (Citi ThankYou Preferred) because it offers student loan rebates as part of its cashback/rewards program. I wait for the minimum cash back amount ($25) to accumulate and I cash out. My sister has a similar card but waits until her points have totaled $500 before cashing out. I’m all about making dents in that loan and not having a compounding interest effect!
Now that I have a card with a student loan incentive, I am never tempted by any of the other offers like gift cards or regular cash back. My student loan rebate is mailed to me by my credit card and the check is made out to my lending institution. I’ve probably paid about $500 over the last few years towards my loans using these credit card points.
This card seems like a great deal if your loans are financed through Sallie Mae. If I was in school still, I would be charging everything (tuition, books, auto insurance, alcohol… haha, etc.) to rack up those points! 😉
Miss Thrifty recently posted…Lessons learned from my millionaire parents
This sounds like a great idea if you have a loan with Sallie Mae and are open to the idea of a rewards card. It seems like a win win scenario if you want to pay off student loan debt faster!
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