Target debit card question

[Letsgo2DW]

I am going to give it a try tomorrow morning before work. We will see how it goes with my very first transaction. I am wondering if I will have better luck doing one large transaction or breaking it up into 4 or 5 $500 transactions....I hate getting embarrassed with a decline when I know I have the funds

I will let you all know how it goes.

 

[Callie]

True, but I don't know that the effect on my credit would be worth the hassle in the name of saving $100 on GCs.

I just wish there was a easier way to know what to expect going in. I feel bad confidently going up the cashier with the cards I want to buy and then making her life miserable because of transaction problems.

Opening a new card should only help it. Also, if you aren't planning on buying a car or house within the next 2 years, the inquiry will be gone.

 

[brucerob62]

Opening a new card should only help it. Also, if you aren't planning on buying a car or house within the next 2 years, the inquiry will be gone.

opening up a new cc will drop your score temporaririly, but use if wisely by paying it off every month and if will.gradually go up

 

[Lisa71]

We do not get a discount in the gift cards where I live and I have used mine many times and large amounts . We average 400-600 a month at target and no problems.

 

[thorphin]

I am going to give it a try tomorrow morning before work. We will see how it goes with my very first transaction. I am wondering if I will have better luck doing one large transaction or breaking it up into 4 or 5 $500 transactions....I hate getting embarrassed with a decline when I know I have the funds

I will let you all know how it goes.

I think cashiers understand that a whole host of things can happen in the age of electronic payment. I wouldn't worry about getting embarrassed.

Anyway, thanks for hitting the ground tomorrow to see what happens! I wonder, specifically, what success you'll find with a larger transaction (>$1000) and how much you can buy in either large or small (<$500) transactions before they cut you off.

Good luck!

 

[Letsgo2DW]

We do not get a discount in the gift cards where I live and I have used mine many times and large amounts . We average 400-600 a month at target and no problems.

Oh my....something else to stress about as I check out tomorrow - does this mean that some Targets do not allow you to purchase the Disney cards and get the 5% discount??

 

[Lisa71]

Yes!

 

[jt8595]

I just used my red debit card in conjunction with the pharmacy reward to purchase $1000 in Disney cards last week.

 

[thorphin]

I just used my red debit card in conjunction with the pharmacy reward to purchase $1000 in Disney cards last week.

Good news! One transaction?

 

[Letsgo2DW]

Ok here's what happened this morning....

I attempted to purchase 45 cards with my new Target debit card. It DID give the 5% discount but declined the transaction. A receipt printed with a phone number for me to call. I called and the person on the phone said it was because I had not used the card enough to build a history with them since they don't get their money right away. She said it was a store decision if they wanted to let me use my bank debit card and still give me the discount. She spoke to the cashier and the sweet cashier did let me! She rescanned all 45 cards and found a way to do the discount so I was able to save 112.50

Hopefully it will work when I go back to purchase for my daughter and my sister....

 

[jt8595]

Yes, one transaction.

 

[kimk2230]

So excited just bought my first Disney gift card for our trip in April. Saved 5% every little bit helps. So thankful for this thread.

 

[Janell]

When I was in Target the other day, a guy who worked there, said as long as you show your Red Card, you get the discount. I dont have a Red Card so I cant verify that. Has anyone been able to do that?

 

[PrincessTiannaLove]

I also signed up for the debit card to get the 5% & the pharmacy rewards. Was planning on buying $4500 worth in the next 2 months (land & sea total costs). I went on Friday, was going to buy $1650 worth of gift cards & the transaction declined. The CS lady took me to the front desk & called the 1-800# for me & the lady on the phone said yes, I had only used my Target card once so I have to build up a history with them. She said if I pay with the account linked to the Target account, she would immediately credit me back the 5% off. SO....I did, and then my card (Chase) locked me out. I said, hold on, went to the ATM, printed out my balance ledger which proved I had $8000.00 in the account (I was MORTIFIED) and then figured it was my fraud alert on Chases end (it was). So I ended up paying for the cruise right with my debit card. Anyone know if I go back & get the GC like I had planned, can I call DCL & have them reverse the charges & use the GC to pay? My PIF was Saturday....

 

[thorphin]

Intriguing! Sounds like you were at the cash register the whole time? Glad that you got the discount, though! I've seen one other similar report on the DIS. I imagine it depends heavily on your cashier.

I feel like when I approach the register, I'm going to have to tell anyone that comes up behind that they might want to move to a different register because I'm possibly going to be a troublemaker! Or, maybe I'd just take the cards up the Customer Service to begin with...

 

[YEWDVC]

Thanks for the heads up using the Red Card to purchase Disney Gift Cards. I only need about $500 worth and will buy a couple at a time because my trip is not until July.

 

[ktrask]

I only got my card in 2012, and just called to find out what I'd be able to do at a time.

She wasn't able to give me an exact limit. She let me know that they aren't in direct communication with the bank. She said they usually flag anything over $1000 on a purchase, but my history even though over a year old isn't with any large purchases. She says that she can see I use it frequently (a couple of times a month), but since there are no big dollar purchases she couldn't be sure.

I asked if I split it up into $500 purchases and did those purchases over time would that work and she said it should. So I'll try a $500 at the end of this month (when bonus money comes in) and see what happens!

 

[madge]

I'm not sure there's any rhyme or reason to the Target Debit card, LOL ... I have used mine pretty much daily throughout the holidays (including the purchase of 2 iPads) and at least weekly since then. I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago & the register kicked back a purchase of $200. Made no sense at all, considering the available balance in my checking account. LOL

I monitored the account online & saw nothing suspicious. Used the card at my local store last week with no problems.

My store doesn't have a pharmacy ... anyone know if I can still use the pharmacy coupons, if I get them?

 

[Ginny Favers]

I just got the 5% pharmacy rewards and was thinking about this...

So how do you use the 50 gift cards to pay? Do you stay on the phone with Disney for 3 hours giving them all 50 #s?

Also, where in Target do you get these cards? I've never seen them before! And I'm thinking that though they may have 10 or so, no way will they have 50 available when I go to buy...

It's by far the best deal I've seen but it does seem a little inconvenient. I wish they'd sell them in bigger increments!

 

[JB2K]

It doesn't come out instantly, infact they take a couple days with my bank before I even see the pending charge in my account. So my guess is that even though it is a debit card they are in a sense extending you credit until their system pulls the money from your account.

The Target Debit Card is a debit card only in the sense that eventually, it will debit your everyday checking account for an amount of money you authorized a day or two earlier (this happens via the Automated Clearing House/ACH system -- a lot of utilities/merchants also use this system to debit bank accounts to pay recurring bills).

The fact that Target owns their own in-house bank (for card purposes) enables this to happen (and is the reason why their chief competitor does not offer a similar product). In fact, Target is the only national retailer of any sort who still owns their portfolio of store cards (the rest contract their card functions out to others, such as GE or Citi).

Debit cards, as the mainstream public knows them, is a card with a PIN or MC/Visa that instantly debits your bank account as soon as it is "swiped" (or the PIN keyed-in).

As far as "credit" goes, it's not really credit, per se -- it's just having (good) history with your card, which means Target will become more liberal with your daily/single transaction limit -- as always, YMMV.