Remember if you don’t have a Discover It Card, use our link to sign up for an exclusive 18 month interest free period!
Discover Card is having a promotion through Sept 30 where they are giving you 5% cashback on all gas purchases up to $1500 in spending.
I sold my car to travel full time back in February so I’m not spending much on gas, but I found a creative way to maximize this bonus! This process is:
- Make sure you are registered for the bonus on Discover’s web site
- Find a gas station that sells gift cards
- Buy $1500 worth of visa gift cards or Vanilla Reload cards
- Convert those gift cards into cash by using BlueBird or Money Orders
1. Make sure you are registered for the bonus on Discover’s web site
Log onto your account at Discover’s web site, then click on Cashback Bonus Program then 5% Cashback Bonus Program.
Click on sign up now then it should look like this!
2. Find a gas station that sells gift cards.
If you click on this link, you will see a list of stores and gas stations that sell Visa gift cards. While it isn’t 100% accurate, the second gas station on the list near me (A Daily’s market inside of a Shell gas station) had this gift card rack:
3. Buy $1500 worth of visa gift cards or Vanilla Reload cards
I was surprised to see both OneVanilla Visa and Vanilla Reloads at this location, but figured one or both might be cash only. 
Well, lo and behold, when I went to the cashier, they confirmed that I could buy BOTH with my Discover card. I bought two Vanilla Reloads for $503.95 each ($500 for the card plus a $3.95 fee) and one Vanilla Visa ($500 for the card plus a $4.95 fee) and paid using my Discover card.
4. Convert those gift cards into cash by using BlueBird or Money Orders
I loaded both of the Vanilla Reload cards onto my Bluebird card, then did an online billpay to Discover. Since Walmart recently updated their systems to not accept Vanilla Visas as debit cards, I took it to Kroger instead and bought a money order using the gift card as a debit card with PIN.
Conclusion
Total Cost: $1513.54 (2 VR @ $503.95, 1 VV @ $504.95, 1 Money Order @ $0.69)
Total Benefit: $75 (5% of $1500 in Discover Cash Back)
Net Profit: $62
Having a Discover It card is a no brainer. They have great 0% balance transfer offers if you ever need them (including an 18 month one through our link), they have promotions like this one where you can make a profit, and they give you a free credit score each month on your statement! All that and there is no annual fee!
