We’re all trying to figure out how to go forward now that REDbird can’t be loaded with a credit card directly. Naturally, we’ll turn to buying Visa/Mastercard gift cards with a credit card and using those to load Bluebird/Serve/REDbird. Here’s a little tip that may help some.
A while back we reported that $400 Visa gift cards were being spotted at Target for a cost of $406. At the time, we wrote this wasn’t too interesting because:
- It’s only a $400 denomination. For the same $6 fee, you can buy a $500 Visa gift card at your local supermarket.
- The cards are issued by Bancorp. Vanilla Visa gift cards issued by Bancorp are known to have problems functioning as PIN-based debit cards in Walmart.
- Use REDbird. If you have a convenient Target nearby, chances are that you have a REDbird card or an Amex for Target card, and you’re able to run enough Target spend that way.
Under the new circumstances, the game has changed considerably. Now, buying Visa gift cards at Target sounds like an awesome way to meet minimum spend requirements. You can buy the Visa card in Target, pay with a credit card, and then use it to load your REDbird. While Bancorp/Vanilla cards don’t work well at Walmart, they’ve been working fine at Target.
It’s still cheaper to buy a $500 card in the supermarket, but the other two factors we mentioned don’t apply anymore. And since you’ll be doing the loading in Target, many may prefer to just pay a little more and buy the $400 card in Target so as to save themselves a trip to the supermarket. Target is often coded as a supermarket with Visa and Mastercard so you can use this option for maximizing a credit card which has grocery as a bonus category.
Another small benefit of buying gift cards from Target versus your local supermarket is that your credit card issuers are already used to Target charges so they won’t give you fraud alerts. 🙂
You may also be able to find other types of prepaid cards in Target, such as GreenDot or MyVanillaDebit, though I haven’t seen those in the Target stores I’ve been to.
Note that prepaid cards purchased at Target won’t earn 5% with the Target REDcard. They also can’t be purchased with a Target gift card; the system won’t allow it.
Also note that while Target is fully stocked with prepaid cards, these particular $400-denomination cards are less ubiquitous. It may not be worth making a trip to Target relying on finding these cards, but give a quick look when your shopping in Target anyway. The Visa gift cards are usually found near the checkout.
