good point on the state ID... maybe the Cu will accept the fact that someone litterally just moved there and the only reason for the state ID or DL is to confirm you are a legitimate person who can hold a bank and can be found in some state or US card that may reference who you are and your SSN, etc.

Surely if you just moved somewhere, that ID would still be the old address.

As for the use of gift cards, I found they had several uses beyond just paying insurance, mortgage, rent and other things a CC cannot always pay for.

one is that you are able to earn extra miles merely by spinning your funds thru legally financed means.

the other is for people who may not always have the ability to totally pay off a full CC balance in one month! If you owe, say, $3,000 this month and the bill is due in 4 days, but the statement already cut 2 weeks ago, you could order 3k worth of GCs now, cash them out and pay the bill of your CC and then just owe the new charges in the next statement period.

To cash them out, you could get money orders or also even maybe consider a cash advance at any bank that takes a visa.

it goes on and on...
definitely worth a shot for those who like extra miles.
MM