For one day last month, Target had an online sale where you could buy $100 gift cards for $90. I was able to get 16 of them after they limited people to only 10 cards (they allowed me 16 for some reason, lucky eh?). While Target giftcards are definitely useful, I was mainly buying them to help meet the $10,000 spend requirement on my Amex Gold Business Rewards card I got a while back. And once the bill came due, I wanted to get the cash back out to pay it. I could have sold the gift cards for approximately 92% via PlasticJungle or ABC Giftcards, but I decided I wanted to see if I could do better. I had read about a product similar to the Amex Prepaid card called the Amex Prepaid for Target that was more or less a branded version of the Amex Prepaid card we know and love. I went to my local target and found them near the registers.
They normally have a $3 setup fee, but there was a coupon on the front waiving the fee. I was able to use my Target Giftcards to pay for it, which converted my Target Giftcards into Amex for Target giftcards, usuable anywhere Amex is accepted. The kicker is the cards also offer ATM access with one free withdrawal per month (and $3 for each additional). I bought 2 of these cards, entered my personal information at the cashier, and then received the permanent card in the mail in about two weeks which allowed ATM access. I then took one of these cards back to Target and reloaded an additional $500 on it with a $3 load fee. I was then able to take 3 withdrawals of $400 from the cards, and will use the balance at the grocery store. My costs will be a $3 ATM surcharge since most banks charge an ATM fee, but that is really about it. So the overall Target deal from beginning to end breaks down like this.
- Bought $1600 in gift cards for $1440
- Upgraded $1500 of those gift cards to Amex for Target cards
- Cashed out $1200 at ATMS
- $288 left on Amex for Target Prepaid
- $100 left on Target Giftcards
A grand total of $1588 in value for only $1440. Yeah it isn’t the thing that is going to let you retire, but if you are trying to meet a stiff $10K spending requirement like I am, then any amount you can spend without actually spending is welcome! And don’t forget the 1440 Membership Rewards Points I will get for the spending. Comparing this to the $1472 I would have gotten by outright selling the gift cards, I think it was worth the extra trouble for an additional $116.
