Is it possible to use my pre-paid American Express gift card

[DawnM]

to pay down a credit card?

I have $300 in AmEx gift cards and would like to use them to pay my CC bill this month.

Is that possible?

Thanks,

Dawn

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I don't know if you can, but here's what I do with those cards. If I want to use the money for something in particular and I can't use the actual card, I spend the card on groceries or something I would have bought anyway. Then I use my grocery money to buy something else. Last year, I had a $150 Visa gift card and I wanted that money for my vacation fund. I used the card for groceries, then put the $150 I would have used on groceries into my fund. So, if you can't pay the bill directly, maybe you can find another way to convert the card into cash.

 

[Marionnette]

to pay down a credit card?

I have $300 in AmEx gift cards and would like to use them to pay my CC bill this month.

Is that possible?

Thanks,

Dawn

I'm thinking that the answer will probably be no. But I wonder if you could use it to buy a money order and then pay it that way?

 

[DawnM]

Well, I don't want to pay a middle man in the process.

Dawn

I'm thinking that the answer will probably be no. But I wonder if you could use it to buy a money order and then pay it that way?

 

[DawnM]

That will probably be what I will do.

I did use one $100 GC at Walmart last week buying food and buying items for the boys for camp.

Now, since you have had one before....do you have to use it all at once or can I use $10 here and $10 there?

I ask because I got a $50 Visa gift card and noone told me it was a one time use thing.

Fortunately, I used it for about $45 the first shot, but when I went to get the remaining $5 off of it the woman behind the counter told me "it must be one of those one time use things." I was so mad. Nowhere on the card did it state that.

Dawn

I don't know if you can, but here's what I do with those cards. If I want to use the money for something in particular and I can't use the actual card, I spend the card on groceries or something I would have bought anyway. Then I use my grocery money to buy something else. Last year, I had a $150 Visa gift card and I wanted that money for my vacation fund. I used the card for groceries, then put the $150 I would have used on groceries into my fund. So, if you can't pay the bill directly, maybe you can find another way to convert the card into cash.

 

[jessica52877]

The visas I have had experience with you had to know the exact amount left on the card or it wouldn't work. I wasted a $5 one from a meat promotion because I had no idea how to use it and my total was always over $5. When I got a "real" visa one it had instructions on it and I assume most are that way.

 

[LilyWDW]

That will probably be what I will do.

I did use one $100 GC at Walmart last week buying food and buying items for the boys for camp.

Now, since you have had one before....do you have to use it all at once or can I use $10 here and $10 there?

I ask because I got a $50 Visa gift card and noone told me it was a one time use thing.

Fortunately, I used it for about $45 the first shot, but when I went to get the remaining $5 off of it the woman behind the counter told me "it must be one of those one time use things." I was so mad. Nowhere on the card did it state that.

Dawn

It shouldn't have been a one time use if it was a basic Visa gift card. Now, if you used $45 on it, the next transaction would have required it to be run for exactly $5 (or less) or it would decline it. So, if your total was $10, you would have had to tell them there was only $5 and they would have had to do a split transaction.

 

[DawnM]

Ah, well that is what prob happened.

Dawn

It shouldn't have been a one time use if it was a basic Visa gift card. Now, if you used $45 on it, the next transaction would have required it to be run for exactly $5 (or less) or it would decline it. So, if your total was $10, you would have had to tell them there was only $5 and they would have had to do a split transaction.

 

[MrsPete]

It shouldn't have been a one time use if it was a basic Visa gift card. Now, if you used $45 on it, the next transaction would have required it to be run for exactly $5 (or less) or it would decline it. So, if your total was $10, you would have had to tell them there was only $5 and they would have had to do a split transaction.

Did you spend EXACTLY $45, or are you rounding up when you say that? Here's what I'm getting at:

I had a Discover gift card last summer, and I had no idea that it was important that I know EXACTLY to the penny how much I'd spent . . . so let's say I had $50 and I spent $44.50. I have $5.50 left, but the store people can't know that . . . so if I say, "I have about $5 left", they're going to put in $5 and I'm going to lose my fifty cents (NOT okay in my book!). Yeah, YOU'D THINK they could run it through, take the last penny, and then say, "Your balance is ____", but the technology won't allow that.

The thing to do is to keep a Sharpie in your purse, and when you use the card WRITE ON IT -$44.50 or, if your brain works this way instead, $5.50 remaining.

 

[LilyWDW]

Did you spend EXACTLY $45, or are you rounding up when you say that? Here's what I'm getting at:

I had a Discover gift card last summer, and I had no idea that it was important that I know EXACTLY to the penny how much I'd spent . . . so let's say I had $50 and I spent $44.50. I have $5.50 left, but the store people can't know that . . . so if I say, "I have about $5 left", they're going to put in $5 and I'm going to lose my fifty cents (NOT okay in my book!). Yeah, YOU'D THINK they could run it through, take the last penny, and then say, "Your balance is ____", but the technology won't allow that.

The thing to do is to keep a Sharpie in your purse, and when you use the card WRITE ON IT -$44.50 or, if your brain works this way instead, $5.50 remaining.

Well, I was just being simple with my numbers because I am lazy .

For some reason, the systems can not read how much money is left on the card like you can for their own store specific gift cards. I figure it has to do with the technology and how the computers read those things.

But yea, you have to be exact as to how much is left. If you had $4.49 left, you could not run it for $4.50. It would decline as not having enough funds.

 

[scrapquitler]

Well, I don't want to pay a middle man in the process.

Dawn

A money order costs less than $1 at the Post Office or Walmart.


How about taking the American Express Gift Card to your bank and asking them if you can deposit the balance of it into your checking account? I know that when I had a visa rebate card from Verizon, I had the option of doing that.


Then write the check to the credit card company. If in doubt, call the 800# on the gift card, and ask them if there is a way to do what you want to do, they will know for sure.

 

[cglaura]

When I had a Visa Gift card you could go online and register a pin, then you could get the money out of an ATM & deposit in your bank.

Does this have that option? It might be a small fee though.

Otherwise, I'd use it to pay whatever else you can (cable bill online, phone bill online, groceries.) Then just use your would have paid cash and pay down the credit card bill.

 

[sylvenmaid]

I like using mine at Wal-Mart since I can have a $30 total and they will apply whatever is on the card when swiped. Then I can pay the rest however. I just got a $25 AMEX from a tire rebate a couple of months ago. I plan on using mine at Wal-Mart this week for some thermal lined curtains. Hopefully this will help lower my electric bill some more.

 

[DawnM]

Thanks all.