Anyone had any success cashing out visa gift cards?

[dioxide45]

Really? All of mine do - I have them all on autopay to my Chase Rewards, and then I pay them off each month.

OP - I tried to cash in some Visa gift cards once and my bank specifically told me that it is not allowed. Very, very restrictive, which is why I won't buy them anymore.

I've lived in two different states (Ohio and Florida) and none of my utilities (trash, water, electric) could be paid on a credit card. Some places would provide bill pay services where you could use a credit card, but there was an additional service or processing charge. Cable/satellite TV and phone service was always able to be charged to a credit card, but not water, electric or trash.

 

[Minnesota!]

I've lived in two different states (Ohio and Florida) and none of my utilities (trash, water, electric) could be paid on a credit card. Some places would provide bill pay services where you could use a credit card, but there was an additional service or processing charge. Cable/satellite TV and phone service was always able to be charged to a credit card, but not water, electric or trash.

Interesting - I wonder why that is? My house is in MN but my lake place is in WI and I can pay utilities at both with credit cards. My WI electric place does charge $4.95 processing, so I just threw like $200 on it the first time I paid it this year and then each month is just a credit. Just paid my card this morning for the water bill that was charged to it yesterday.

But, water, trash, Xcel, Verizon, Comcast, and...there is one more?...get autopay with credit each time they come through. Very strange.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our water bill is from the town, any town bill charged on a credit card has a fee. If not paid from escrow through your mortgage, property taxes charged to a credit card would have very large fees, we pay over $1000 a month.

 

[dioxide45]

Interesting - I wonder why that is? My house is in MN but my lake place is in WI and I can pay utilities at both with credit cards. My WI electric place does charge $4.95 processing, so I just threw like $200 on it the first time I paid it this year and then each month is just a credit. Just paid my card this morning for the water bill that was charged to it yesterday.

But, water, trash, Xcel, Verizon, Comcast, and...there is one more?...get autopay with credit each time they come through. Very strange.

I may have misspoke, I should say it is possible to pay by credit card, but there is a "convenience fee". The fee wipes out any credit card reward benefit of using a credit card and in some cases is actually through a third party bill payer. I don't like paying more money for nothing.

 

[kdonnel]

I may have misspoke, I should say it is possible to pay by credit card, but there is a "convenience fee". The fee wipes out any credit card reward benefit of using a credit card and in some cases is actually through a third party bill payer. I don't like paying more money for nothing.

I can pay my power and water bill with a credit card, no convenience fee.

My natural gas provider charges a convenience fee.

I have never understood the convenience fee. Yes the merchant pays a fee to accept credit/debit cards but that fee is much less than what they pay to accept a check or an in person cash payment.

 

[nw6675]

Our water bill is from the town, any town bill charged on a credit card has a fee. If not paid from escrow through your mortgage, property taxes charged to a credit card would have very large fees, we pay over $1000 a month.

Same here.

 

[Minnesota!]

I may have misspoke, I should say it is possible to pay by credit card, but there is a "convenience fee". The fee wipes out any credit card reward benefit of using a credit card and in some cases is actually through a third party bill payer. I don't like paying more money for nothing.

Ah! Yeah, my Wisconsin power bill is the only utility that charges that fee, but I just pay it 1x a year and don't worry beyond that. Monthly is ridiculous, though.

 

[eticketplease]

I have never understood the convenience fee. Yes the merchant pays a fee to accept credit/debit cards but that fee is much less than what they pay to accept a check or an in person cash payment.

Very true. It costs much more to process the check/cash with employees manually updating the ledger and then taking the money to the bank and then with a check the business has to hope that it doesn't bounce.

 

[eticketplease]

Ah! Yeah, my Wisconsin power bill is the only utility that charges that fee, but I just pay it 1x a year and don't worry beyond that. Monthly is ridiculous, though.

Yes mine all charge fees as well so I always pay more so that I will be earning more in rewards than the fee. Even with the fee this way I come out ahead as opposed to mailing a check or using online bank bill pay where I earn no rewards. On top of that, although minute, I will earn a little interest as the money stays in the bank longer as then you wait for the credit card statement to come.

 

[soccerdad72]

I've lived in two different states (Ohio and Florida) and none of my utilities (trash, water, electric) could be paid on a credit card. Some places would provide bill pay services where you could use a credit card, but there was an additional service or processing charge. Cable/satellite TV and phone service was always able to be charged to a credit card, but not water, electric or trash.

I'm in Ohio - my electric (First Energy) and Water are both paid via credit card (with no fee).

Trash is included as part of our city taxes.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I hate Visa gift cards! I’m a teacher and students have given me a few as gifts over the years. One card I’ve been struggling to use for 3 years. It didn’t work to buy a meal at Mission BBQ, a fast casual restaurant. It didn’t work when I tried to buy something online. I added it to my Venmo account and tried to use it to pay people, didn’t work. Ugh! I called the number on the back and waited an hour on the phone to make sure it was working correctly. It was. They are just nearly impossible to use. The lady suggested using it at grocery stores.

Finally I got them to work at the grocery store when I was on vacation! Success! I hope I never receive a Visa gift card as a gift again!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I hate Visa gift cards! I’m a teacher and students have given me a few as gifts over the years. One card I’ve been struggling to use for 3 years. It didn’t work to buy a meal at Mission BBQ, a fast casual restaurant. It didn’t work when I tried to buy something online. I added it to my Venmo account and tried to use it to pay people, didn’t work. Ugh! I called the number on the back and waited an hour on the phone to make sure it was working correctly. It was. They are just nearly impossible to use. The lady suggested using it at grocery stores.

Finally I got them to work at the grocery store when I was on vacation! Success! I hope I never receive a Visa gift card as a gift again!

I've never had an issue using a visa gift card at places that accept visa like the ones you mentioned (I used to get them all the time and liked that).

What I did use to run into when I worked in retail is that you do have to know exactly how much is on it. If you only have $25 on it but your total is $30 it would need to specifically rung up as $25 with you paying the remainder $5 on a different method. Otherwise it would decline the whole transaction. That's at least how it was back then. Do you think that's what you were running into problems with at Mission BBQ and when you attempted to buy something online?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I've never had an issue using a visa gift card at places that accept visa like the ones you mentioned (I used to get them all the time and liked that).

What I did use to run into when I worked in retail is that you do have to know exactly how much is on it. If you only have $25 on it but your total is $30 it would need to specifically rung up as $25 with you paying the remainder $5 on a different method. Otherwise it would decline the whole transaction. That's at least how it was back then. Do you think that's what you were running into problems with at Mission BBQ and when you attempted to buy something online?

Yes, that was probably it. The cashier may not have run the card as a partial payment.

 

[Living42Day]

If you go into the store, you can just tell the cashier you wish to pay the full amount of the card and then the rest of the amount due on another form of payment. That's the easiest way I've found to spend on VISA.

 

[lucas]

I have four of these gift cards. But, I always forget to try to use them.

Maybe I am not understanding... I can use my gift Visa (debit) card to buy an Amazon gift card on-line and then apply it to my Amazon account?

Soooo, I would I check off that it is a new debit card? And then it asks for the name on the card. Mine say "Gift Card Recipient" or "A Gift for You." Amazon would accept that as a name on the card?

ETA
Never mind, I answered my own question. It is very easy to do!
I just "reloaded" a previous Amazon gift card on my Amazon account and used the Visa gift card to do so.

 

[luisov]

I've actually been in a similar situation before. When I had gift cards that I wanted to convert to cash, I found that buying money orders from places like Walmart or my local grocery store worked well. I would then deposit the money orders into my bank account. Another option that might work for you is to use the gift cards on sites like PayPal. You can link them to your account and then send money to yourself or others. Sometimes, splitting large amounts into smaller transactions can help bypass authorization issues.

 

[GinPower]

Sometimes they can be tricky to use directly for transactions like Venmo transfers because they're often considered prepaid cards rather than debit or credit cards. What worked for me in the past was using the Visa gift cards to buy something directly at a store, or if possible, load the balance onto a digital wallet like PayPal. That way, you can transfer the money to your bank account or use it for online payments more easily. Also, check the terms on the myprepaidcenter visa Card website for any restrictions or special instructions on using the card for digital payments. Calling Venmo support sounds like a good idea—they might have specific insights into why the transaction didn't go through.