jrivers010

Is buying a visa gift card with a CF at Walgreens for the purpose of paying off medical/traffic ticket fees ok? or will it somehow get flagged due to the nature of the institution?

In addition, how much are the purchase fees associated with VGC generally? I will be getting 5% rewards at walgreens for using CF. So i am assuming if its a flat fee for a VGC purchase, the bigger the better right?

Thank you

radonc1

If your medical provider or traffic court takes VGCs, then by all means it is feasible for you to pay them with the cards. With that being said, I don't know many practitioners or legal entities that will accept gift cards (but YMMV). As to cost, that will range from $0.00 for those special weeks where OD/OM are selling them at cost (in essence) all the way to $8-9 per $500 card in various stores.

In my experience, most medical and legal entities these days take CCs so why add the additional step (and expense) of adding a VGC to the mix?

Chasepoints

This quarter I am buying $500 OneVanilla/Vanilla Visa gift cards from Walgreens with a $4.95 fee for each card using my Chase Freedoms. I buy these to pay two different hospitals that I have bills for. I register my zip code for each card and then pay each hospital using their online portals. So, for each card purchased I get ~2,524 UR points.

shadow520

He said it right in his post. Freedom 5% bonus category this qtr vs. 1% using the CC @ the dr/court.

cruisr

jrivers010

Awesome thanks for the information!

radonc1

Remember that I started off my comment by saying that if your providers took GCs, then go ahead and use them.

But with that being said... I'll still bite.
Chase Freedom 5% CB for the first $1500 will get you $75. The cost of 3 Visa GCs is $12 (rounded) at SM or $21 at GC Mall. So lets say $15 average drugstore cost.
That nets us $60.
I have a 2% CB card that nets $30 for the first $1500 and has no limit on spend (just in case your medical or legal bills exceed $1500 in a quarter). That nets me $30 for a difference of .................$30 (for 3 months.)
Finally, if you are spending so much on medical bills, won't you need to pay for your prescriptions (which these days may easily exceed $1500 in a quarter) at the pharmacy with your Freedom card?

So sure, make your fortune every quarter but for me, I prefer NS flights over connections. I would like to limit my exposure to some of the experiences seen in these threads about GCs gone bad when I don't need to.

jrivers010

Thanks for your point of view/explanation.

but I have also done the math in my case. which isnt specifically the same to the one described by you

first, i only have a discover it, a crappy wellsfargo cc, and my CF. so, unless i am using for rotating categories, most i get is 1%.

the vanilla vgc i bought (more to be elaborated down below) had a purchase fee of 5.95 (which sucks.. since its higher than the $4 ones at SM you just pointed out) so $18 rounded up. $1500 5% back 75. net 57.

with my 1% cards for a $1500 is $15 back. difference of $42.(elaborated below)

No. that assumption is not correct. i dont have any prescriptions/drugs i have to take. i was partaking in practicing MSing (soon to be elaborated down below on this as well) and realized I can do the first $x as an organic spend on my current medical and traffic fees i have/had. So using a GC for this purpose is (hopefully) a 1 time thing.

So for all the "elaborated below" notes i made. I agree with you 100% on this metaphor/statement here. But, i get a profit of $42, with a wallgreens that is on the drive home from work (literally on the road that i take). And, I am new to MSing. this gives me an opportunity to learn on something thats solid. I have done alot of reading and asking questions (to alot of peoples anger on reddit) and got tremendous help on this forum. I want to get a hang of this before I start doing it when it really counts (i.e. MSing to meet min spend for bonus. MSing to get the bonus rewards for buying GC at staples, etc. basically the hot deals i always read about).

But unfortunately, i may have to stop this at this particularity Walgreens. the only VGC they have are vanilla. and from my understanding, WM doesnt accept anything vanilla brand. and i dont have a DG or FD store near me.

radonc1

I think that if you are going to participate in MSing, one of the first things to do (besides reading ) is to get the best CC you can afford to obtain CB or miles. This of course requires more reading of various blogs and even Reddit in order to determine which one is appropriate for you.

May I make a suggestion that you simply buy one WG's Vanilla VGC of low denomination and see if your provider will take it as payment for your medical/legal bill. If so, then you can continue on your way as originally planned. If not, you can use it organically with experience and knowledge gained. BTW, as long as your MO at WM is less than $49.99, you can also use it at WM for MOs. (just not practical or very profitable.) Read up on this as well since certain Vanillas are also a no-go at WM.


I never said not to do it. I just think that the money earned is not worth the time and effort, but YMMV. For experience, it is certainly worth doing. I wasn't trying to belittle your efforts either.
I do use my Discover and Freedom 5% CB when the category fits. However, the 3 month amounts are so low that they can be met with organic spend for my family so I do not need to use any special technique to get the bonus.