(Update: App Might Work After All) Cashback For College: New App By CardCash & Gift Of College Which Sells Gift Cards

Third Update 11/12/20: Gift of College commented below clarifying the process:

Hi Everyone,

We apologize if there was any confusion in utilizing the Cashback for College App. You must first have a GiftofCollege.com profile and a 529 account connected to it in order to direct funds to a 529 account via the Cashback for College App. We have noted this requirement in several places within the App.

As a first step, App users are asked to enter their email address and there is a note that says:

“Please sign in with the email address associated with your Gift of College profile. Don’t have a Gift of College profile? Visit GiftofCollege to learn how to get started.”

In the Help section, the following is explained:

“If you do not already have a GiftofCollege profile, register for one at GiftofCollege” In this same section, there is further information about selecting a 529 plan, if you do not already have one, and connecting it to a Gift of College profile.

We will work with the App developer to determine if there is a way to make these reminders more prominent. We apologize that we were not notified of your questions and were unable to provide prompt support. We have requested that contact information for GiftofCollege be added so that users and potential users like you can contact us directly with any questions or concerns.

Please reach out to us at [email protected] for any support you may need.

Thank you!
Nadine, Chris and Lisa
Gift of College

Second Update 8/25/20: As per Slim’s comment below, the email address on your Cashback for College (i.e. CardCash) account needs to exactly match the email address on your Gift of College account. That’s apparently how they’re linking accounts on the back end, so I’m not sure what happens to your cashback if your Gift of College and Cashback for College email addresses are different.

Update 8/25/20: After downloading the app and publishing this post, I reached out to CardCash to find out how to connect a Gift of College account in the app. Here is the extent of their reply:

Hello,​
​​
Thank you for contacting CardCash Customer Service.

I apologize for the inconvenience. Please reach out to Gift of College to further assist you.

We look forward to serving you again.

Er, you didn’t serve me.

That was just passing the buck because the app was created by CardCash, not Gift of College. Seeing as it’s the app that’s not letting you connect a Gift of College account to it, there’s nothing Gift of College would be able to do their end to fix that issue.

I therefore replied to that email stating this and this is their full reply:

Hello,

We sincerely apologize but there is nothing more that we can do.

​We appreciate your business and apologize for the inconvenience.​​​

Methinks they lie about appreciating our business.

The Cashback for College app therefore appears to be worthless in its current format as its entire purpose – funding a Gift of College account – doesn’t appear to be possible. I’ve no idea why they’d bother releasing an app with this fundamental flaw, but I’d give it a miss until – or even if – they actually fix it.

~

CardCash and Gift of College have teamed up to launch a new app called Cashback For College. This app sells gift cards and offers cashback which is paid into a Gift of College account.

It’s only just been announced and so I’ve only had a little bit of time to play around with it – here are my initial thoughts.

How To Download Cashback For College

Cashback For College is available in both the App Store and on Google Play.

How To Log In

If you have a pre-existing CardCash account, you can log in using that. If you don’t, you’ll need to create an account which, presumably, you’d also be able to use on CardCash’s own website.

What Gift Card Brands Are Available?

Cashback For College has a good selection of brands available in the app. That includes high value brands like Best Buy, Walmart and eBay, all of which are offering 1% cashback.

There are all kinds of other restaurant, retailer and travel gift cards available ranging from 1% cashback all the way up to 20.4% (at the time of writing).

Do They Sell First-Hand Or Second-Hand Cards?

CardCash is a little like Raise in that it has a marketplace for second-hand gift cards, but they also sell first-hand gift cards.

Unfortunately they haven’t made clear what type of gift cards they’re selling in the Cashback For College app. The FAQs in the app are very limited, but I suspect they’re selling brand new (i.e. first-hand) gift cards as there’s no mention anywhere of their 45 day guarantee which is the limited protection they provide for sales of second-hand gift cards.

Can You Choose The Value Of The Gift Cards?

In some cases, the denominations are fixed. In other cases though, you can buy a specific amount (e.g. $27.91) which can be helpful if you’re at the checkout in a store.

What Are The Cashback Rates Like?

If these are indeed first-hand gift cards, some of the rates are pretty good. There are very few retailers/apps that offer cashback for Best Buy gift cards, so earning 1% is actually a fairly decent deal.

L.L. Bean is at 12.4%, Express is at 8.4%, Cabela’s is at 8.4%, Nintendo (presumably Nintendo eShop) is at 6.8%, American Airlines is at 4.4%, etc. While some of these brands go on sale at larger discounts at times, these are some fairly solid rates for first-hand gift cards available instantly whenever you need them.

How Do You Link Your Gift Of College Account?

I’m not sure! If you click on your initials in the top-right corner of the app, that’ll take you to the menu where there’s an option for ‘View your Gift of College account’.

The thing is, all this seems to do is take you to the Gift of College website with the app acting as a browser. Although you can log in to your account, it doesn’t seem like it actually links your Gift of College account with your Cashback For College account. I don’t have a Gift of College account though, so it’s not something I can verify.

Is It A Good Idea To Use Cashback For College?

Depending on how disciplined you are, my initial impression is that Cashback For College could be a great way of saving for your child’s education.

The cashback rates for many of the gift card brands are solid, although you can sometimes get better discounts elsewhere like via Raise, grocery stores when they run promos, MyGiftCardsPlus, etc.

The good thing about Cashback For College though is that the cashback you earn is funneled directly to your child’s college savings account – once you can work out how to link your Gift of College account in the app! If you’re having a hard time putting money aside for your child’s education, Cashback For College could be a good tool for that if you’re unlikely to take advantage of the savings you make when purchasing discounted gift cards elsewhere.

Question

What are your thoughts? Do you like the idea of Cashback For College? Let us know in the comments below. Also let us know if you manage to work out how to actually link a Gift of College account in the app!