Ask I Heart Publix – What Is Upromise?
May 11, 2011
I have received a bunch of emails asking about Upromise and how it works. So, instead of the multiple questions we usually do for Ask I Heart Publix, today I am going to just answer this one in detail. Hopefully it will help you see what a valuable program this is and how it can be a nice way to accumulate some moolah!
So what is Upromise? It is a totally FREE program where you turn your everyday spending into money that you can use to pay down a loan, save for college or just spend on anything you would like!
They have several ways to earn money.
Anyone can sign up for a Upromise account! You do not need to have kids to enroll! While Upromise earnings can be used to pay off a loan or save for a child’s college fund, you can opt to request a check and then use it on whatever your heart desires!!
So far we know that it is a free program and you can use money on whatever you want. Now let’s talk about how easy it is to earn money through Upromise.
Since we are all about Publix, let’s talk about how to earn money just by shopping at Publix.
The first thing you will need to do is join Upromise. Then, next time you are shopping just go to the customer service desk at your local Publix and request a Upromise card. Log in to your Upromise account and register your Publix Upromise card (plus any additional grocery and drugstore loyalty cards)
Then you can click on the eCoupon page on Upromise and load the eCoupons. I always load all of the coupons since I never know what deal I might find. Then, all you have to do is shop as you normally would. When you purchase items that correspond to the eCoupons you will get that coupon amount deposited into your Upromise account! How easy is that. No paper coupons to manage and nothing to track–it is done for you!
My second favorite way to earn is through Upromise Dining Rewards. This is another easy one as all you do is log in to your Upromise account and register your credit and/or debit cards. You can then check the list of participating restaurants and when you pay the check with the registered card you get a percentage of your spending deposited into your Upromise account. The percentage amount will vary by restaurant. But again…you really do nothing beyond the initial set up.
For all of you who shop online, you can get cash back at a ton of participating retailers! I will be honest… I usually check Upromise, Shop At Home and Ebates to see who offers the highest cash back. If you can’t remember to check Upromise before you shop you can install the TurboSaver toolbar which will automatically find deals for you when you search online.
You can also sign up for a Upromise credit card to get savings on all your purchases made with the credit card. I really can’t comment on this feature since I don’t do credit but it is an option that I thought I would tell you about.
If you want to earn even more money you can get family members to join and help you save. My parents have all of their cards registered on my account so the boys earn even more money!! The more folks who accept your invitation the more money you can earn!!
As you can see the hardest part is just signing up. Once you have your account the only thing you really have to do is load your eCoupons each month and then you just shop/dine out as your normally would. I always post the new coupons on the 1st of the month as a reminder to myself to load the coupons 
I would love to hear how you guys make the most of Upromise? I have earned a nice little chunk of change for the boys with almost no effort! That is my favorite way to make money –tee hee!! I am due to transfer some money as I am up to almost $300 right now!!
How long did it take you to earn all of that? I heard that it takes a really long time for things to add up.
That is my question, too. Our son will be a senior in high school next year, is it even worth signing up? If it takes forever to build a decent balance, it may not do us much good – but would be great for new parents just starting out.
Have you seen Swagbucks? If you have a couple of minutes each day to spend on the site, you can quickly save points up and redeem them for things. The best, in my opinion, are the Amazon gift cards because they cost a small amount of “swagbucks” and each card is worth $5. These add up quickly, and they are great for buying textbooks and school supplies on Amazon. I think it took me about a month or two to get $15 worth. Every little bit I can save on textbooks is worth it!
The money you save can also be used to pay off/down student loans. It is never too late to start!
It would be good for any future college debt. Text books are hefty and also the money can be used for other things. I am enrolling tonight for my college expenses not cvd under Financial aid, etc.
We use to do it years ago but it took to long to earn anything and the small % i earned we could have just put away ourselves plus when I signed up it was only on certain products you bought at publix, not sure if its changed or not
We love Upromise. I’ve had an account since 2000 when my daughter was born and we’ve managed to save up just over $800. We have friends and family that contribute with their savings cards and we even got a nice chunk when we bought our home in 2006 using a real estate agent referred to us through UPromise.
We’ve used Upromise for years and have been able to put almost $3,000 in our sons 529 accounts. You spend your money anyway, why not get something back for doing so.
I have been signed up with Upromise since November 2010 (almost 6 months). I registered my Publix card, CVS card, Winn Dixie card and our debit cards for our two checking accounts. I also have the Upromise credit card that I charge all of our groceries and incidentals to and pay it off every two weeks when I get paid. (I am very diligent about paying off our credit card every two weeks as I do not like being in debt. There are 2 reasons I charge: (1) to get the rewards money from using the Upromise credit card and (2) to keep our credit score at a decent level.) My account currently has approximately $135.00 in it accumulated since November 2010. I have also earned money for using TurboTax through Upromise to file our taxes and ordering birthday party supplied through Oriental Trading. I have been very happy with Upromise’s rewards. We do not eat out much, so I have not accumulated any monies from the dining rewards. Also, because I am member of Upromise, I received an e-mail from E-rewards in February inviting me to join the E-rewards survey. You cannot just join the E-rewards survey, you have to be invited. The only way you can be invited is to be a member of Upromise. Not sure how they select who will be invited, but I have already accumulated an additional $24.96 in my E-rewards account. I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Michelle for advising her readers about Upromise. I am so glad I read about it in November. Thanks again Michelle.
Just checked my Upromise account and I actually have $179.00 in it. Whoo hoo!!
Will you lose the money if you don’t transfer it out to another account? Or can you let it stay there until you build up x amount of money.
No, you can just keep saving up as much money as you would like. If you do not want to, or can’t, transfer the money into another account, you can actually request a check.
Upromise is awesome. I have the credit card and shop on-line a lot so in one month I have accrued $47.00. They also gave me a 0% rate for the first 12 months. It is a great program and allows me to save for my kids college without having to put any money away. If you don’t have a upromise account you should really consider opening one.
WOW!!! I have had a upromise account for almost 5 years and barely have $20!!! I do add all the ecoupons to the account but have not added my debit/ credit cards. I wish I could accumulate that much money.
Try signing up with E-rewards and do online surveys. I make about $50 a year in my Upromise account just doing the surveys. Otherwise, I’d be like you and only have a few bucks in mine as well.
I love ERewards but didnt know you can move it to Upromise. How do you do that? I have approx $27 right now in my account on ERewards and wouldn’t mind transfering it to get actual cash for my student loans, etc instead of picking a magazine, etc.
Once you’re logged into your e-Rewards account, go to the “Rewards Center” and see if uPromise is one of the sponsors available to you. I got an invitation to join e-Rewards once I’d been registered with uPromise for a short time. In fact, uPromise rewards are the only ones I’m eligible for – I guess because I got invited through them. Anyway, I’ve found doing the e-Rewards surveys to be the fastest way to rack up money in uPromise because I don’t have the credit card and and don’t dine out all that much.
Be aware, though, that cash in e-Rewards doesn’t equal actual cash – you have to earn a certain amount in “e-Rewards currency” (the payment for the surveys) before you can transfer a real amount to your uPromise account. For example, once you have $30 in e-Rewards currency, you can transfer $5; $60 gets you $20 to transfer; and $120 gets you $50. I usually wait until I have $120 in e-Rewards currency and then request the corresponding “real money” be transferred to my uPromise account, which takes about 12 weeks. Once that money has transferred to uPromise, then I request that uPromise cut me a check for that money plus whatever else I’ve accrued through the eCoupons and online shopping; they only cut the checks once a calendar quarter….it’s slow as molasses, y’all, but it’s free money so I can’t argue too much!
(Sorry for this volume – hope it wasn’t too confusing!)
WOW! I have got to get a Upromise account. I’m spending the money regardless, I like the idea of getting a reward for doing it.
One question: do you have the cashier scan your Upromise card every time you shop? Guess I am a little confused about that! Thanks for all the great information!
Can you stack the UPromise coupons with actual coupons for $$ off an item? Or can you only use one or the other?
Ok..so instead of receiving the coupon value off your purchase, you get the value of the upromise coupon credited to your account?…
Guess I’m a little dense..lol…or is it because it’s tuesday?…
another question that I have is as follows…
Has anybody been told by their publix store that they will not double bogo coupons?..I have been told since I buy one item and I’m getting the second item for free, they will not double it, since that would make both items for free.
That did not make any sense to me, because any other coupon will double up to 50 cents and if that item is 1 $ that would make that item free also.
I have encountered a different policy every time I go to publix lately…one day you can buy whatever you want, three days later, limits are set…it’s been so crazy lately and I wish they would have one policy that every store have to abide by…
so the only way to add $$ to your upromise account is to use the ecoupons? I have been a member since 2006 & I remember back then we got paid just for buying stuff on “the list” I gave out a bunch of the green key hangtags to my family but if the only way they will make $$ is from the coupons loaded then it won’t really work. My 75 year old aunt is not going to load qs from the internet!