I owe a lot of money in student loans. A lot. I’ll take nearly any help I can get paying them down. Upromise to the rescue!
Because I have some loans serviced by Sallie Mae, I can transfer my Upromise account monies to my loans. I’m pretty sure it works like this:
- Open an Upromise account
- Link your credit cards to your Upromise account
- Shop at stores that contribute to Upromise accounts
- Small percentages of your purchases get put into your Upromise account
- Transfer your Upromise account money to your Sallie Mae-serviced loan
- Repeat steps 3-6
See, free and simple. You can also get your friends and family to sign up so that percentages of their purchases go to your Upromise account too. Thanks, family! Mine came out like gangbusters and signed up right away. Let me know if you have no loans and no one else to support via Upromise; I’d love to get a piece of your shopping too. 
Upromise is good for people planning to go to school too, but I don’t know all the details there.
Oh, I almost forgot. Upromise partners with restaurants and bars too. That’s right. 4% of what you eat out or drink can go to your savings account. Woot! Ann Arbor restaurants and bars include aut bar, Arbor Brewing Company, Leopold Bros., and Scorekeepers. There are more, but that’s a start. Again, woot!
noor
January 16, 2008
Does this work with federal loans or just Sallie Mae?
libbyh
January 16, 2008
It works for all loans serviced by Sallie Mae or one of their subsidiaries. The list of lenders is here: http://www.salliemae.com/content/landing/upromise/lenders.html?register=off
My first year of federal loans while at Michigan are serviced by Sallie Mae, but the remaining years are serviced elsewhere. Sallie Mae offers consolidation loans, so that’s another route too (not a recommendation, just information). Sallie Mae bought Upromise, so I think they’re the only loan-servicing company that partners. Apparently there are other programs such as Baby Mint and Little Grad, but I have no idea whether those help you pay off existing loans or just save for your offspring. I looked at Baby Mint, and there you can choose rebate checks, so that might be an option if you have loans but not through Sallie Mae.