Just Saved over $400 using Disney gift cards purchased at Target!

[littlelovebug]

And as long as it has a Target logo, it is a Redcard. I have a VISA, which they no longer offer, but you can still get a Target credit or debit account.

 

[Amanda999]

Hi everyone!
Just an FYI: I bought $2,500 worth of Disney gift cards (in one day) using my Target credit card and the pharmacy reward coupon (stacking them, as described on disboards). Got a call the next day from their fraud department, asking to confirm that I made the purchases. (I did, of course.) Then, a couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from Target saying that it appears that I used the card for a business purpose and, if I do so again, there could be an investigation and I could have my credit card account closed.
I of course did not use the card for business purposes (I don't even work!) - I'm personally going to Disney and using the cards for that trip. I just wanted to alert other people to this.

 

[Crew-JTA]

Hi everyone!
Just an FYI: I bought $2,500 worth of Disney gift cards (in one day) using my Target credit card and the pharmacy reward coupon (stacking them, as described on disboards). Got a call the next day from their fraud department, asking to confirm that I made the purchases. (I did, of course.) Then, a couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from Target saying that it appears that I used the card for a business purpose and, if I do so again, there could be an investigation and I could have my credit card account closed.
I of course did not use the card for business purposes (I don't even work!) - I'm personally going to Disney and using the cards for that trip. I just wanted to alert other people to this.

Wow! How did you even get that much in one day? I can't find a Target with denominations higher than $50. You must have gone to several stores. Hmmm. Thanks for the challenge. Now I have a mission! I'll just try to stay under the radar!

 

[Amanda999]

Hi Crew-JTA: I bought about $800 per transaction (the pharmacy reward coupon is good for one entire day - they give it back to you after you check out), and kept going back (I figured they'd stop me at some point, but didn't). One cashier said that was the most he'd ever seen be bought at once, but the others didn't care at all.

$2,500 is apparently over both the fraud phone call level and the 'we might close your Visa card account" level, so I'm not sure it's a goal worth attaining. (I really don't want my Target Visa account closed - I shop there all the time.)

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

My Target has the cards pre loaded for $25 and $50. I bought $500 worth when we went on our cruise for OBC and tips, it was great! I have been getting $100 a month and applying it to our trip every month !

 

[dlinne]

Couple of caveats.

1) You're not going to be able to buy $4,000 in Disney gift cards the first day you receive your card. I think the first day limit is about $300. Then your limit increases as you use your card. I've heard of managers overriding and allowing the discount if you if your red card won't allow you to buy as many gift cards as you want and you need to use your credit or debit card. But I wouldn't count on that kind of pixie dust.

Similarly, I've heard instances of cashiers not even ringing up the cards, because they say gift cards are excluded. However, that's not the case with Target cards. They're classified as entertainment cards, not gift cards.

2) If you or your spouse is employed by the Federal Government, and your insurance is under the Federal Employee Plan, you cannot use the pharmacy rewards. Under Federal law, pharmacies cannot give special rewards to people using federal insurance. At first, everyone thought this was Medicare. But the way the law is written, it means all Federal insurance. Several years ago, Walgreens had to pay a multi-million dollar fine for giving gift certificates to FEP holders who moved their insurance to Walgreens.

I'm a Federal employee, and it bugs me to no end. Still, I use my Red Card, and I've saved several hundred dollars in tickets.

I'm sure it doesn't always happen this way, but I opened a Target Red Card (credit) account yesterday and was able to immediately charge $2050 in Disney gift cards. The customer service rep called electronics and they told her the cards are "gift cards" and aren't included in the 5% off but she was willing to try to ring it up for me. We did a test first and I bought 1 $50 card--it worked with the 5% off so I bought $2000 worth in the next transaction.

Then i shopped for a baby shower gift and the card had been shut off so I paid cash. I had a phone message at home--called Target customer service and they had stopped to card to prevent possible fraud. It's back on now.

I wish I could have also got the pharmacy discount but we don't have any prescriptions

 

[dlinne]

I also lucked out and got a very nice lady on the phone at Disney who spent 20 minutes adding $2050 worth of gift cards (in $50 increments) to my package. So nice!

 

[doggydoc]

Wow the fraud alert thing explains a lot. Several months ago I too purchased 50 $50 Disney gift cards at Target with our RedCard and Pharmacy discount. I saved $243.75! I purchased them all at once.

Unfortunately a week later, after having paid the balance, my wife attempted to use her RedCard and it was declined. She was embarrassed and upset and asked for an explanation. A manager was called over and that made things even worse. He apparently was informed by Target credit services that the card was frozen for possible fraud(I am assuming this after reading this thread). He began to accuse my wife of fraud, threatening to call the police despite her providing ID matching the name on the card. She stood her ground and told him to do so. He fortunately backed down and she paid for her purchase with an alternate payment method. When she called Customer Service they had no idea why her card was denied since it had a zero balance and until I read this thread we had no clue why this all happened as the Target manager would provide no info at all. She of course let them know exactly how she felt about the manager's behavior.

Perhaps in the future it might make things easier to call Target and inform them of our plans either before or shortly after to avoid these misunderstandings.

 

[dlinne]

I have other cards (Visa and MC) that have stopped my cards because of unusual activity. They are concerned about fraud. Once we were in Europe and I couldn't use my Visa card--embarrassing and very inconvenient. Since then I have taken to notifying my credit card company whenever I am traveling, even within the states.

 

[plumsiren]

Wow, amazing tip! I hope this can still be done once I'm ready to seriously hunker down with my planning!

ETA: told my BFF about this and she said there's no pharmacy rewards program in NJ. Bummer! 5% off is still fabulous, though! (Wow, I can't believe those words came out of my mou-- err, fingers - and I actually meant them!)

 

[disneylove69]

Wow the fraud alert thing explains a lot. Several months ago I too purchased 50 $50 Disney gift cards at Target with our RedCard and Pharmacy discount. I saved $243.75! I purchased them all at once.

Unfortunately a week later, after having paid the balance, my wife attempted to use her RedCard and it was declined. She was embarrassed and upset and asked for an explanation. A manager was called over and that made things even worse. He apparently was informed by Target credit services that the card was frozen for possible fraud(I am assuming this after reading this thread). He began to accuse my wife of fraud, threatening to call the police despite her providing ID matching the name on the card. She stood her ground and told him to do so. He fortunately backed down and she paid for her purchase with an alternate payment method. When she called Customer Service they had no idea why her card was denied since it had a zero balance and until I read this thread we had no clue why this all happened as the Target manager would provide no info at all. She of course let them know exactly how she felt about the manager's behavior.

Perhaps in the future it might make things easier to call Target and inform them of our plans either before or shortly after to avoid these misunderstandings.

Off topic but they called a manager because the cashier thought I was buying too many 17cent notebooks. They were for charity. She thought there was fraud. REALLY?? Stood my ground and received apology from mgr and $3 off. I will call corporate as the cashier is a trainer. You need to call upper manager.

 

[dhardawa]

Wow! How did you even get that much in one day? I can't find a Target with denominations higher than $50. You must have gone to several stores. Hmmm. Thanks for the challenge. Now I have a mission! I'll just try to stay under the radar!

I bought $1650 Friday and could have easily picked up 3-4 times that just at the front registers. The cashier didn't bat an eye. I came home and used the really slow and crappy Disney website to pay off my trip. Yay! In all, I saved a little over $200 on this trip using Target discounts.

 

[ElizabethG]

I have other cards (Visa and MC) that have stopped my cards because of unusual activity. They are concerned about fraud. Once we were in Europe and I couldn't use my Visa card--embarrassing and very inconvenient. Since then I have taken to notifying my credit card company whenever I am traveling, even within the states.

We call now too. We were actually using our Target Visa in WDW two years ago and it was declined at about the third transaction. We called and they said it was for suspected fraud because it was so far from where we live. Last year we called prior to the trip and it was never a problem.

 

[jls886]

1) You're not going to be able to buy $4,000 in Disney gift cards the first day you receive your card. I think the first day limit is about $300. Then your limit increases as you use your card. I've heard of managers overriding and allowing the discount if you if your red card won't allow you to buy as many gift cards as you want and you need to use your credit or debit card. But I wouldn't count on that kind of pixie dust.

I believe that initial limit you are referring to is only the case if you get the debit card, not the credit card. The credit card will give you an assigned limit from the beginning just like any other credit card, and in many instances that limit is well over $300. The debit card does start off with a lower limit and it increases with more frequent use.

We use this method to stockpile GCs to pay for tickets, dining, DVC annual dues, you name it. Anytime we get a pharmacy coupon I go stock up on GCs because we always seem to need them for something. I have bought over $2000 worth at a time without any problem, it is just much easier if you get a friendly cashier. It is just such an easy discount I can't resist!

 

[Sagginit]

wait can you enter them yourself to pay it off online? i have been debating using giftards but am not sure for our balance amount if its worth the hassle.

also it is very common when someone steals a credit card for them to head to a store and max out the card buying giftcards. these giftcards can later be sold or used to buy goods the person wants and at that point they have gotten rid of the stolen card. so yes it is a hassle when your card gets declined, but for a retailer buying a few thousand worth of low denomination giftcards in one transaction is a red flag. i would just suggest planning ahead and buying in batches.

 

[verleniahall]

We had budgted for the 50 gift cards at target and buy 200 a month. what is left from the 100 that we saved goes into our disney fund anyway, but it goes as extra money for shopping or a special dinner

 

[sunlover13]

I just got back from my local Target and they had tons of $50 gifts cards. I was able to buy 45 of them with no issues at one time.

 

[Catrinabeach]

Does anyone know if this works for the Canada Targets too ? I know we have the red card here but not sure if we bought a disney gift card here if it could be used there.

 

[IndyDisneyFan]

If you use the target debit redcard (it is linked directly to your checking account), it takes several transactions several days apart to build up your "credit" limit. The most I have purchased in one transaction is almost $1200. Also, if you are a target employee, you can use your team member 10% off and then use your redcard for an additional 5% off Disney gift cards (for a total of 14.5% off!). I educate cashiers every time I buy the gift cards because even they don't know you can do that. I have used the gift cards to buy park and party tickets, cruises, future cruise deposits while onboard (just take the cards to the future cruise desk), resort reservations, even paid off the resort charges balance on our account the day before we checked out. Love saving money on Disney!

 

[momminnie]

Can you apply the GC to your balance online yourself? Is there a certain amount that you can use at once online?