Part two of my “Save While You Earn”series covers a new site called Save Up that has the potential to reward you for adopting good financial behavior (paying down debt, saving money, etc.) These are all things we need to be doing anyway so it’s kind of cool that there is a site out there that offers a possible incentive to you for meeting these goals.
The site is making a splash and has been covered so far on TechCrunch, Huffington Post, ABC News, and also Parents magazine.
How does it work?
This is one of those sites where you do have to register some of your accounts with them (debts you pay on and your savings accounts) so that they can see when you pay down debt and/or add money to savings. I’ve done this before on other sites like Mint.com with no issues, but if you aren’t comfortable doing it I totally understand. A lot of people aren’t.
Anyway, once you’ve connected your accounts to Save Up, you will then receive credits for paying on your debt and depositing money into your savings accounts. You can use these credits for chances to win all kinds of prizes. Yes — I was disappointed that these are not redeemable for things like gift cards and that all you actually get is a “chance to win.” Currently they have little “scratch-off” tickets, monthly jackpots, and also weekly drawings.
It’s additionally possible to get more credits by being active on the Save Up site. They have daily challenges you can participate in and also ways you can help others save money.
What kind of prizes can you win?
Save Up adds new prizes every week, but currently they have gift cards from popular merchants, consumer electronics, home or wardrobe makeovers, luxury vacations, cars, and even a $2 million grand prize.
Bottom Line
I will be honest, I love the idea of getting rewarded for saving and paying down debt! Any incentive to do those things is great. But I would be a lot more excited about Save Up if the credits you got were useful for more than just a chance at winning. Giving the credits a cash value or being able to redeem them immediately for a guaranteed reward when you reach a certain threshold would be better 
Still, I do think they are on the right track! What they have is a great idea, but could be improved upon.
If you’d like to try out SaveUp, you can sign up here.
