Citi Upromise Credit Card (Citigroup)

Pros: Nice combination of convenience and value, plus forced college savings
Cons: No immediate cash savings; better savings out there if you work at it

CitiCards has entered into a partnership with Upromise to encourage parents to save money for their children’s college education. It has issued the no-fee Citi Upromise card, which gives rebates to parents, via an account with Upromise, that must be ...

Pros: Lower percentage rate, automatically tied into my Upromise account.
Cons: None.

When I was a youngster, I used to be a teller at a bank. It was one of those banks that started out as a small entity and then continued to be swallowed up by the big boys.

By and large, my experience with banks is that they are evil...

Pros: Cashback on everything. Great customer service.
Cons: Possibly slightly higher APR.

Summer 2004 Update There are now even more reasons to use the card. In response to some competitive pressures, Citi/Upromise are now running various specials. In the last few months they have offered an extra 2% back on gasoline, and an extra ...

Pros: Easy to earn education savings with normal shopping activity. Easy to redeem earnings when needed.
Cons: High APR (for those who carry a balance). Better cash-back programs available elsewhere.

Like many parents, we are continually aware of, and planning for the enormous cost of our children's eventual education. While we do not anticipate paying for their entire college education, we do plan to give them a hand to help them avoid huge loan ...

Pros: No annual fee; 1% savings on all purchases; grocery/ gasoline tie-ins for additional savings
Cons: Contribution limit lower than competitor programs; APR may be slightly higher; 20-day grace period

Program Summary This card provides rebates that are deposited into a linked Upromise account (see Upromise - The Way to Save for College on Epinions for details and reviews of the Upromise ...

Pros: Great website, lots of options, universal %1 cash back through Upromise
Cons: Somewhat higher APR than the normal CitiBank card I switched from

When I first signed on with CitiBank for a credit card, it was one of those offers in the mail, except it was a good offer, unlike the others. Some time later, I was browsing their very-well-designed website (http://www.citicards.com) and found the...

Pros: Automatic saving in your Upromise account
Cons: High APR. Customer service

I had recently opened the account. I have been a member of Upromise.com for about 7 years, and I have seen Citi Upromise Credit card offer a long time. I was always thinking about it,but never applied up until now. Well, this card is for someone who pays ...

Pros: Great way to save for college and get discounts at the same time.
Cons: Rewards generally add up slowly but there are some big rewards available.

I recently registered with Upromise and signed up for the Citi Upromise Mastercard. I didn't realize how great an opportunity Upromise was until after I had signed up and started exploring all the ways to save. The Citi Upromise card is great for ...

Pros: You feel like you're doing something good,
Cons: and it turns out not to be as good, or easy, as they said.

I just received an email from them that said something like, "now you've been with us 5 years, and we'd like to review your account info." OK.

The site made me try to log in, but it didn't work. I reset the password twice, and it still didn't work.

I called customer support, and the guy tells me that this happens a lot. I think that this is bad.

He and I reset my password, and I tried to change the temporary password he gave me into a permanent one - and it failed, again.

Mind you that I checked our progress a few months ago, and we'd saved less than $80. That's less than $20/year.

And for this aggravation I get the privileged of giving them my financial information in return for less than $20 per year.

Don't do it. Get a 529 on your own terms.

Pros: does help save for college
Cons: mediocre 529 plans linked, paltry 1%, horrible customer service

I've had this card for 3 yrs now and stopped using it one year ago. There is a great hassle in monitoring contributions to upromise. They are NOT always credited to your Upromise account, and good luck trying to convince the horrible customer service rep at upromise otherwise. The connected college funding plans are average at best. Upromise used to have Fidelity, but Fidelity dropped out. If that is not enough to disway you, then there are the maximums. 1% on each purchase and max $300 / year for Upromise. The card deposits quarterly to the connected account. Good luck also trying to withdraw money for use in another college plan, it will take as many as 12 weeks.

Pros: website and card have lots of features
Cons: none I've encountered

I have the Citibank Upromise Mastercard. So far, I'm pretty impressed. The card gives 1% toward Upromise, which I can use for my student loans (in addition to the normal Upromise rebates). It has no annual fee and low APR. The customer service, unlike Citibank's banking customer service, is quite responsive and quick.

The website is pretty friendly, although the menus are somewhat dense. The navigation is still good, and certainly better than the Citibank's online banking. The click to pay feature is great and free, and works as well as Discover's (also free). The one huge plus is that the website allows you to do all kinds of things on the site that you often can't do on other credit card sites (e.g. credit line increases, adding authorized users, balance transfers, etc.).

Also, Citibank offered me a free AM/FM Curve Radio as a perk that wasn't previously mentioned, which was nice of them. As I said, their customer service is quite excellent. They check up on you after you get the card, and they make sure you take advantage of their free balance transfers, etc. I could go without the repeated offers of the credit protection feature though.

Pros: Upromise card is a great concept, but competing cards surpass it in most important regards.
Cons: 1% reward rate vs 2% on competitors card. 20 grace period; 25-days on competitors.

I had the Upromise card for about a year. I have four kids and recently spent a lot of time looking into the different "college savings credit cards" to find the best. I have even put up a website on the subject www.529Rewards.com. The Fidelity/MBNA 529 card pays 2% on all purchases with a $1,500 annual earnings limit (Upromise is 1%/$300). If you pay your balance each month, the rewards from the Fidelity card will be much greater than Upromise. The BabyMint card comes in second place (1%, no earnings cap). Don't get me wrong, the Upromise program is great (you don't have to have the Citi Upromise card to belong), but for college savings credit cards, there are better options.

Pros: Always got the best credit card transfer, purchase rates
Cons: None

I have read all of the best credit card reviews on CitiCard and have to agree. I have used their card for a number of years now and have always been satisfied with their rates and presently owe 0 balance on their card. I use it mainly for vacations and pay it off each time I receive my statements. Their interest rate on purchases is one of the lowest. I also have MBNA Worldpoints card, which is presently 5.90% on purchases, balance transfers, etc. They also have a great program. Look into this one for all your purchases. I presently am enrolled in the Upromise college program for my grandkids and almost transferred to their Citicard Upromise credit card, however after reading the various reviews, I will be looking into the 529Rewards.com program, which offers a greater return.