The Simon gift card was discussed somewhat extensively on the finance forum of fatwallet.com. One can do a search there to dig out the threads. The conclusion appeared to be that it was impossible to cash out these cards.

Purchase of money orders at the post office require a debit card WITH A PIN. Not all debit cards come with PINs.

maybe it was said in here, but just call in the visa to do a cash advance deposit to your USAA bank account!

then, unless you pay bills from that checking acct, you simply transfer the money to another bank and write a check to your CC. If you wish, you could even leave some of your money in an INGDirect bank account and earn some interest. I think it is 2-2.5% on your funds? then transfer it later and at least earn a few pennies in there for the month you have to pay off your CC.

If anyone needs to know what ING bank is, well, I could mention referrals where we both get $$$ if you join up, but I will let the masses simply PM me on that one. (ha ha ha--for those who recall old issues and the fun we had with CO, you know me: I just had to bring that part up on this thread--I just HAD to!! I'll leave it at that. People have their own choices to make)

Anyway, Those who use Simon cards should be very very concerned with their fees and fine print rules. If not you could get a bit burnt on this one. I have been searching for other options and so far the fees outweigh the benefits.

MM