[Updated 9/4/15]
Upromise 10% Match
Sallie Mae offers a high-yield savings account which is available for anyone and currently offers an interest rate of .8% APY. The main reason to want this account is because you’ll then be able to become eligible for the 10% bonus on all the earnings you got through the Upromise shopping portal. You do need to make monthly $25 deposits into the savings account or maintain a $5,000 balance to be eligible for the 10% bonus.
$10 and $100 Goalsaver Bonus
Upromise has now has a Goalsaver savings account which offers a bonus of $10 and $100 for Savings account customers. This is aside from the 10% Upromise bonus.
- Receive a $10 bonus at your anniversary if you make  monthly deposits of $10 or more into the savings account regular deposits. (You are allowed to miss 2 out of the 12 months and still receive the bonus.)
- Receive $100 bonus at your 3-year anniversary so long as you reach a $5,000 balance by the time of the third anniversary. (You also need to maintain at least $.01 the whole three years.)
Bonuses will post within 60 days of the anniversary date.
Our Verdict
This offer isn’t too enticing for someone who otherwise has nothing to do with Upromise, but if you’re interested in the savings account for the 10% Upromise portal match, then you can get a $10 bonus annually by making deposits of $10 per month. You can automate this very easily by sending a monthly recurring transfer of $10 from your regular checking account.
The $100 bonus is likewise great; all you have to do, apparently, is top up your Upromise savings account to a $5,000 balance on the day before your third anniversary and you’ll receive a $100 bonus. Be sure to mark on your calendar a few weeks before your third anniversary to transfer the funds over and get this easy bonus. The terms sound like you can pull the money out immediately – it just has to be there on the date of your third anniversary.
This account is no longer listed as a Upromise transfer option and the webpage (upromisegoalsaver.com) shows a maintenance page. Anyone have any idea what’s up?
They are getting rid of it. Anyone who has an account will be switched over to a smarty pig account on June 30 and they will no longer be able to transfer upromise earnings into the account. The website (upromisegoalsaver.com) is still working for me.
The Upromise website no longer lists this account as a transfer option and the account’s page (upromisegoalsaver.com) shows a “maintenance in progress” page. Anyone know what’s going on?
Hey
Chuck I’m wondering.. Do you think you can open this account.. and keep it at a 0.01 balance.. and a few days before the 3rd anniversary.. transfer $5,000 into the account for the $100 bonus? lol I’m genuinely curious if I am understanding it correctly. Because even with a three year wait time.. it seems like this would be an easy $100
Thanks
Danny, heed anthonyjh21’s advice above carefully. UPromise customer service is awful and while your idea seems legit per the bonus language, I’m guessing the $100 bonus won’t automatically post.
I have had to make NUMEROUS calls to UPromise Customer Service about the $10 GoalSaver bonus which didn’t post automatically despite me following the terms. I also am unable to get my 10% Upromise match as well for 2017. As I noted above, I think they changed their terms on this without telling anyone. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a screenshot to back this up). With that said, I can’t really tell you why I’m still wasting my time for a few bucks. 🙂
YMMV whether you get the $100 bonus or not. My advice would be give it a shot if you have $5,000 to spare and don’t mind wasting your time making numerous calls to Customer Service when you don’t get it.
I think you are exactly correct. Both years I’ve had to contact them to get the $10 and 10% match for my account. They won’t give my wife her $10 or 10% bonus this year because they changed the terms and now the transfer has to be initiated FROM your Upromise account.
Of course, none of this matters anymore since they are changing everyone over to a smartypig account at the end of June.
I’m trying to find out when they first offered this account because I think they are switching before they have to pay anyone the $100 bonus on their 3rd year.
Seems like a bait and switch to me.
It’s important to note the GoalSaver is NOT FDIC insured.
What do you mean? It says FDIC insured multiple times right on the front page: https://www.salliemae.com/banking/goalsaver/
Yeah, I was reading the fine print and got confused. I think they mean the Upromise account isn’t FDIC insured.
Chuck,
It appears like you are confusing “Sallie Mae” with “Upromise”. The HYS account is from Sallie Mae, not Upromise. Am I correct that if I am already doing the $25 auto transfer all I need to do is add $5K a few weeks before the 3 year anniversary? Also, what is the 3 year anniversary of exactly? I’ve already had my Upromise account for longer than that.
I’m starting to think that this Goalsaver account may be something different than the standard Sallie Mae account, so it could be that the SM account isn’t eligible for these bonuses. Not sure.
Maybe you can close out the SM and open the Goalsaver? Have to look into this more.
Yeah, I received an email about this the other day. I didn’t get a chance to analyze it but I’m guessing it is unrelated to the Sallie Mae HYSA.
Both products are backed up by Sallie Mae, so I think it’s mostly a rebranding — but would love to get the $10 and $100 bonus without opening a new account!
@Will/Chuck, please do contact Upromise to ask them about what happens with SallieMae HYSA holders. Nothing in their FAQ about grandfathering.
Yeah, I think you hit it on the nose. It appears to be an alternative to the standard HYS account and not complimentary.
Also, I’ve found nothing that informs me whether or not I can only have one or the other (or both). The HYS account gives a 10% yearly matching bonus on all funds fed to it by Upromise. I have my Sallie Mae cc points go through Upromise, which are then fed into the HYS. It would be great if I didn’t have to sacrifice the value here and possibly have both the goalsaver and the HYS.
Unfortunately I’m not counting on their support to accurately explain the details of the program. If they’re using the same outsourced support as Upromise, you’re looking at week long email turnaround and mediocre at best phone support.
I had the HYSA and was able to open the GoalSaver account when it became available in Sep. The benefit of having both accounts was the difference in terms of the bonus. HYSA would award the bonus on all posted Upromise transactions, regardless of whether they were subsequently deposited. GoalSaver’s terms say the 10% bonus is on Upromise money deposited into it. So for a while it was possible to get a 20% bonus on Upromise by having those 2 accounts. Sadly the party ended on Jan 1, 2016 when the match for the HYSA also became based on the amount of money deposited, not just posted to Upromise (see https://www.salliemae.com/faqs/savings-and-cds/?dtd_cell=UPCSGSDCZPPEOTOTOTHOTHRN010012#savingfaqs_12). In addition it is no longer possible to link the HYSA to Upromise. So GoalSaver is the only account worth getting now for the 10% Upromise match.
Sorry, I posted my response to the wrong person. Will repost shortly.
Good for emergency savings, for college savings I would probably still use a 529 account.
I’ve had a Sallie Mae account for probably close to 2 years now. Where can i look to find my anniversary date?
I currently have the Sallie Mae savings account linked to my Upromise account. Is this promotion tied to needing to open a different account to link to Upromise?
Yeah, I’m wondering the same thing. It looks like we can fund the account with any checking or savings account so I’m unclear as to what benefit the traditional High Yield Savings account by SM provides here. To be honest it’s all pretty confusing right now.
I’m ridiculously exhausted but I definitely need to look into this further as I have the SM credit card, HYS and Upromise so I’m always interested in other parts to the puzzle that extract further value w/ SM/Upromise.
Hi Doctor. I don’t see the language that the $25 monthly transfer can trigger the 10% match for the GoalSaver account.
It says it there right on the page, and in the fine print over there as well
https://www.upromisegoalsaver.com/
My point is they do not specify the minimum of the transfer while the High Yield Savings requires a minimum of $25.
Ah, okay. I just assumed it’s the same as the terms here https://www.salliemae.com/banking/hysa/
but I could be wrong about that.
As you noted, it doesn’t say the $25 minimum on the goalsaver page.
Chuck,
I’m not sure how often you look at old posts, but this probably should be updated. It appears that SM changed their language regarding the 10% UPromise bonus match. Per the fine print on the website (https://www.upromisegoalsaver.com) the monthly $25 minimum transfer is no longer an option. Now you have to have a $5,000 balance in order to qualify for the 10% match.