Can gift cards be deposited?

[AMandM]

I have been given two Visa gift cards totalling about $500. I could use them for my usual purchases like groceries, but I'd rather use my credit card and get the rewards. Is there a way to deposit the gift cards to a bank account or otherwise harness their value without spending them?

[nalor511]

Sometimes. Contact the card issuer and ask. There's a number on the back.

[reeshau]

Look at the rules on cash / ATM use for the card.  If it says no ATM, then I doubt you could arrange a bank transfer, either.

They make money on these from two things: the fees merchants pay when it's used, and interest from the money value sitting on the card.  The ability to get cash from the card works against both of these.

Speaking of that: if it is allowed, check the fees that might be attached.  Cashing in a $100 gift card for a $5 ATM fee would likely negate any value of getting CC points.

[chemistk]

Visa gift cards are very annoying.

Most of the time I've not been successful in my attempts to convert them to cash. These days, and especially if they're virtual gift cards, I'll add them to my PayPal as payment forms and use them for any purchases normally made with PP. When the balance gets low, I'll use the 'split payment' feature to use the remaining balances.

[patchyfacialhair]

My wife gets a few decent VISA gift cards each year. She just gives them to me and I use them for groceries until they run out. No need to think about it much. I'm sure the free money on the gift cards outweighs your credit card rewards :)

[snic]

My wife gets a few decent VISA gift cards each year. She just gives them to me and I use them for groceries until they run out. No need to think about it much. I'm sure the free money on the gift cards outweighs your credit card rewards :)

Not really. When you use credit card points to transfer to airlines for first or business class tickets, you get far more value than the standard couple of percent cash back. Using a $500 gift card for groceries would waste anywhere from 750 to 2500 points (depending on the card and rotating reward categories). That is not insignificant when a business class ticket to Europe costs around 100,000 points. Which is one reason why I can't stand gift cards that don't allow you to get cash, which is true of most of them. The other reason is that I just cannot fathom the stupidity of paying a $5.95 fee to give someone money. Why not just give them, you know, money, for free? Checks, dollar bills, hundreds, fifties, pennies, wire transfer, zelle, venmo, paypal -  I don't care, just ANYTHING other than a gift card.

[Paul der Krake]

The time spent on this thread isn't worth the rewards you are trying to save. There are ways to get it deposited that you could learn, but that would most definitely become a deeply negative ROI for a measly $500. Just spend the money at stores and forget about it.

[sonofsven]

I just spend them on groceries, but it does annoy me as well as I like all spend on cc's.
I only really care about cc sign up bonuses though, not rewards for spending. More bang for the buck. There are ways to manufacture spend on cc's if needed, like opening bank accounts that allow a cc for the opening deposit (and that doesn't code as a cash advance!).

[AMandM]

They are not valid at ATMs. I take your point, Paul. There are better ways to use my time. Thanks, all!