Maybe some free miles from Rite Aid
 

I was in Rite Aid today and I saw this rebate. It is #76 on the list following:

https://riteaid.rebateplus.com/Rebat...s=all&from=cat

March 2009
Rebate #76
Valid from 03/01/09 to 03/28/09
$9.95 Rebate
Green Dot
Purchase One (1):
• MasterCard or Visa Prepaid Card
Excludes Nascar Visa
Offer valid 02/27/09 - 03/26/09 in select California stores and 03/01/09 - 03/28/09 in all other stores.
LIMIT ONE (1) $9.95 REBATE

The card costs $9.95 and you get a $9.95 rebate. And since Rite Aid does its rebates online, you don't even need to mail it in.

I have no idea how much you can put on the card. Naturally the more you can put on it, the more you'd get. I figured the more savvy could let us know if it works.

Nice find OP! This could be a good one - I'm off to Rite Aid tomorrow!

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Am I missing something here? Whatever miles you may earn when funding the Green Dot card are miles that you won't earn when you thereafter use the Green Dot card to purchase things that you could otherwise have charged to your mileage-earning card. Or is there a way to pull cash out of the Green Dot card after you fund it?

I don't think you miss anything. Almost everything comes with a fee. The rebate offer only saves you activation fee. Why would you get a pre-paid card that you have to pay for monthly maintenance ($4.95) and reloads?

See their fee schedule:
I think I'll just stick with my miles/points/cashback CCs. ;)

Rite Aid puts this card FAR periodically.

Really the best deal i've found it to purchase non-credit card gift cards (at face value - no add on) and earn 5% Citibank Thank You Points back (Citibank AMEX card). You earn 5% cash back at drug stores.
The Rite Aid I frequent has a sign prohibiting the use of checks to purchase gift cards, but not credit cards to purchase them; For now

I suppose that if you can use the gift card to withdraw a significant amount at an ATM, or have Rite Aid cash it out at a register, then it would be a VERY good opportunity. Else, I do not see the point of purchasing said gift card :confused:

California law requires stores to give you cash on request for gift card balances with less than ten bucks on 'em.

But ... I don't think I am going to Rite Aid to get the ten bucks as it ain't worth it. Leaving aside the probability that it would take a couple of days to find a Rite Aid employee who knew anything about the law or how to give me my ten bucks.

Still, kudos to OP for keeping his or her eyes open. ;)

My guess is his:

Buy FAR (free after rebate) items at Rite Aid and Walgreens. Use coupons to make up for the taxes, and apply online for the rebate.

This will not get you a lot of miles, but every bit helps.

Don't forget that this is also a clever way to "cash out" from an FSA account, assuming the rebate items are FSA-eligible (e.g., medical supplies). Theoretically, you could evade income taxes by increasing your FSA deduction from your paycheck (the money is pre-tax) and recovering it through drugstore rebates.

I've seen these green dot visa cards with the rebates at Rie Aid quite a number of times and thought they would make great 'cash' gifts for people I would be giving cash gifts to anyway. However, upon closer inspection and reading the miniscule writing in the T&Cs I didn't think they were worth it after the $4.95 monthly fee - it's not fair to expect someone to use the entire value immediately or to have them lose value by using the $ over a couple of months.

Not sure if this is the same thing but when I searched for "Green Dot" this is a thread I found so figured I could post to this one.

Is it possible to purchase a Green Dot Moneypack via a rewards card to fund Paypal (Paypal lists this as an option and says WalMart issues up to $1,100 a pop for $4.95) and then withdraw the funds to your bank account to pay of the CC? Paypal does say a limit of $250/year at first but if you fill out the form they have then limit is $2,000 per month. Not a ton, but 24K a year and a cost of about $110 (unless WM fees have changed). Yes, I know, not the best price for miles but could be a way to augment to some degree.

Thoughts?

cash only for "green dot". Any different experiences ?

I was looking into this & thinking the same thing. Going to look for one of these in Walmart & see if I can go to a register and load one with a CC. I would bet you can since I think all GCs sold in stores can be loaded with a CC.

As was mentioned, the max is 2000 a month but that's still 24k miles...definitely not bad.

If you do a search you will see that the money cards from walmart can no longer be churned for rewards.