Amazon has released a new feature called Amazon Allowance, the idea is that you can give somebody a once off or recurring allowance which is added directly to their gift card balance. This can be incredibly useful for people that need to meet minimum debit or credit card transactions. A lot of high interest checking accounts require you to make set amount of debit card transactions to receive the higher interest rates and credit card like the AmEx EveryDay & AmEx EveryDay Preferred require you to make 15/30 transactions a month respectively to receive a bonus of 20%/50%.
You can use three different frequencies: once off, weekly & monthly. As with all Amazon gift card purchases, you must set an allowance of at least $0.50 per period. This isn’t a game changer, but it means it’s now much easier to automate the purchase of Amazon gift cards. You can also currently give yourself an allowance as well.
Before an allowance goes live, the person receiving the allowance (even if it’s you) needs to accept it. If they don’t already have an Amazon account they will be required to create one. Just be careful as if you make too many $0.50 gift card purchases, Amazon might freeze your account.
Hat tip to reader Vikas
