topic Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment? in Credit Cards

rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

MojaveMoon — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:23:06 GMT

Just received a $ 50 rebate prepaid debit card issued by Citi for a Verizon cellphone purchase.

Is there a way to apply this toward payment of one of my credit cards ?

Is it possible to deposit this into a USAA checking account ?

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

Hogue69 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:31:41 GMT

My capital one account allows me only to pay straight from a bank account, I need to enter my account and routing number to make my payment, so if this stands true for all CCCs, I wouldn't think so.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

lithium78 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:43:02 GMT

Sorry, I think you have to use it to purchase something. There's no way to withdraw the money from the card to put toward a credit card payment.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

laboi_22 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:03:13 GMT

You may check with the bank. Some pre paid cards like those used for payroll etc have a routing number and account number like a checking account. You can treat it as a checking account.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

MojaveMoon — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:13:34 GMT

Thank you! I appreciate everyone's replies.

I guess I'll apply this then as payment to one of the utility bills when I'm ready to pay one of them over the phone.

Luckily this rebate card comes with instructions that say that at checkout that though

"this is not a credit card, ... always choose credit when purchasing goods (even though you're using a prepaid card)"

I guess I don't know enough about these prepaid debit cards because that sounds counterintuitive to me. I would've tried to pick the "debit" option.

And I'll check into laboi_22's suggestion with USAA.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

RyVision — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:11:48 GMT

lithium78 wrote:
Sorry, I think you have to use it to purchase something. There's no way to withdraw the money from the card to put toward a credit card payment.

Lithium78 is very correct on this, every rebate debit card I've ever received has stated in small print that it could not be used for cash or to make a credit card payment.

Just so others looking at this thread know the answer. If curious, the answer can be found in the small print of the rebate or attached paperwork with the card, if not there, on the website they reference to check the balance.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

MojaveMoon — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:25:22 GMT

RyVision wrote:
Lithium78 is very correct on this, every rebate debit card I've ever received has stated in small print that it could not be used for cash or to make a credit card payment.

Just so others looking at this thread know the answer. If curious, the answer can be found in the small print of the rebate or attached paperwork with the card, if not there, on the website they reference to check the balance.

After reading your response, I checked the envelope again -- Good grief, there's also a two page document with legalese in tiny print from top to bottom.

And then in even tinier print than that on the back of the paper that the debit card is pasted to is a disclosure that a $ 3.00 account maintenance fee kicks in after twelves months. On top of that, the front of the rebate card has an expiration date of eleven months from now.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to Verizon and Citi to just print a check that I can take to the bank instead of printing all these legal documents and disclosures and printing a debit card (the debit card even has my name on it) ? There are a total of four separate documents.

On a side note, this was sent from a city with a neat-sounding name: Conshohocken, PA

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

creditnocash — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:23:30 GMT

maybe you can cash advance at a bank?

just a thought.

the thing with these are that once you buy something its so hard to spend because if you dont know the exact amount you can never use the whole 50. unless its all in the first purchase.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

ajh5408 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:37:04 GMT

MojaveMoon wrote:
RyVision wrote:
Lithium78 is very correct on this, every rebate debit card I've ever received has stated in small print that it could not be used for cash or to make a credit card payment.

Just so others looking at this thread know the answer. If curious, the answer can be found in the small print of the rebate or attached paperwork with the card, if not there, on the website they reference to check the balance.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to Verizon and Citi to just print a check that I can take to the bank instead of printing all these legal documents and disclosures and printing a debit card (the debit card even has my name on it) ? There are a total of four separate documents.

Checks are cheaper, but the debit cards are harder and/or more inconvenient to run down to $0, so I'm sure they make a bundle on leftover balances that cardholders effectively forfeit. :smileyhappy:

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

RyVision — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:27:13 GMT

I think they somewhat count on a lot of people getting to the point the monthly fee kicks in.

I tend to spend the entire thing right away, whatever the amount is that goes over what's on the card I just pay.

I've had rebate debit cards from 10 to 200 dollars and have always read all the paperwork. Then I use them within a week of activation. Nothing I hate more than getting cheated on rebates!

Ok, there are a lot of things I hate more, but as far as rebates go, I hate to get cheated out of a single dime on them :smileylol:

There are a lot of other things you can pay with them, insurance, phone bill, gas purchase, groceries etc.

Re: rebate debit card - use it as credit card payment?

lithium78 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:48:45 GMT

ajh5408 wrote:
MojaveMoon wrote:
RyVision wrote:
Lithium78 is very correct on this, every rebate debit card I've ever received has stated in small print that it could not be used for cash or to make a credit card payment.

Just so others looking at this thread know the answer. If curious, the answer can be found in the small print of the rebate or attached paperwork with the card, if not there, on the website they reference to check the balance.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to Verizon and Citi to just print a check that I can take to the bank instead of printing all these legal documents and disclosures and printing a debit card (the debit card even has my name on it) ? There are a total of four separate documents.

Checks are cheaper, but the debit cards are harder and/or more inconvenient to run down to $0, so I'm sure they make a bundle on leftover balances that cardholders effectively forfeit. :smileyhappy:

Bingo. Verizon probably has a contract with the debit card provider in which they get a cut of the leftover money from those cards. The best thing to do is use it for groceries or clothes shopping or something where you will use the entire amount in one go.