<p>Just got one of these in the mail for $20. I assume that it was for some electronics that I bought some time ago. Anyone familiar with these and are there any gotchas with them?</p>
<p>It appears that you’re supposed to select CREDIT when making a purchase and there’s a fixed amount of money on them. The total amount is even embossed on the card. These seem to me to be a waste of money - why not just send a check which is just paper?</p>
<p>I got a couple of these from Verizon. I followed the instructions (selecting “credit”), and was successful in one transaction; subsequent transactions were declined. They don’t send a check because it’s more likely that you will forget to use the card, or become frustrated, and not get the rebate. At least with the Verizon one, the attached paperwork indicated that you can go to any bank and get cash for the card, which is what I intend to do as soon as the great flood of 2010 ends in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Cool. That sounds like the best way to go. I have to deposit a dividend check and will deposit the card at the same time.</p>
<p>I hate these cards. Basically the cashier has to ring as credit but if the amount is over the twenty dollars it comes back as declined. So you use it on a fifteen dollar purchase and odds are you never use the remaining five. If you are lucky enough to get a smart cashier you can tell them to split the purchase between two cards. Charge twenty to the first prepaid card and any balance to your personal card. That way you are sure you will use the whole twenty.</p>
<p>They count on you either never using the card, or not being able to use the whole amount. Just like how they make you jump through hoops to get the rebate in the first place.</p>
<p>I have always been able to use them if I remembered. I have always used them for the exact amount they were worth, to avoid the other problems. Even if there is an amount remaining, you have to know exactly what is is to use it, otherwise it will be declined. Meaning if you spend $15.35 on a $20, unless you request $4.65 as your remaining payment, it will be declined. So I try to use the whole amount at one time. </p>
<p>The worst time was when S, H & I all got new phones and we each got a $50 rebate card, but the pin #s were our phone #s. Stupidly, I didn’t realize that until I had separated them from the papers which indicated which one they were. So I had to try multiple pin #s until I got to the last one. </p>
<p>Like any gift card, they figure a % of recipients will not use the funds or not use all of them or misplace the pin or something like that.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that I can just get cash from the debit card from my bank. I just had a look at a story on Verizon switching over to Visa debit cards from another kind. I think that these work like regular credit cards where the bank (Citi in this case) gets a fee from the merchant for using the card. If you could bring it to the bank and get the face value, then Citi wouldn’t collect the fee.</p>
<p>One other caution: I saw a story where a man used it at a restaurant and then left the card with the waiter. The man, many months later, received a bill for $157. It appears that someone used the card afterwards even though it didn’t have any money on it and these charges were the responsibility of the person that the card was issued to. It appears that merchants are supposed to verify that there is money on these cards but many places don’t bother to do that anymore for purchases under $25 or $35. The man was able to get the bank to cancel the fees but it took a fair amount of effort.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at some bank earnings articles and banks are looking forward to making a fair amount of money on debit cards for their bottom line. The news that the Federal Reserve is going to restrict fees on debit cards sent the share price of Visa from $81 to $67 in four days last week. So I guess that Visa and Mastercard and the banks were looking forward to cleaning up on these cards.</p>
<p>My current plan is to use it the next time I need to get gasoline. I will bring it into the store and have them take $20 off of it and then pump the gas. I will also keep the card and then destroy it when I get home.</p>
<p>There’s nothing like the simplicity of a check.</p>
<p>I use mine at the grocery store. I ask the clerk to put $50 on this credit (rebate) card, then the rest will be on a separate card (usually my debit card). They can do this easily, it has always worked out fine.</p>
<p>I had 3 of those from Verizon ($100 rebates from phones). Used all 3 at Walmart - those cashiers have seen everything :-).</p>
<p>I also use up the entire amount at one time & pay any balance on a credit card. Have never had problems using it up. (I am also NOT a fan of ANY gift cards.)</p>
<p>I used the card up yesterday to get gasoline. I had put it in my wallet and it just sat there for almost three weeks because I’m used to using my Discover Card for gasoline. So it appears that the concept that people won’t use the card is correct - you have to deliberately remember to use it. The debit card company also captures the discount amoutn - with Discover I get cash back; with the debit card, nothing. I think that the Fed has announced limits on the fees charged on debit cards which means that the banks are going to make far less on them than they thought that they would.</p>
<p>The banks are ratcheting up checking account fees in response. Bank of America is going to roll out big fee increases in checking accounts in three states and then to the rest of the country later.</p>
<p>I’d rather just get a check for a rebate.</p>
<p>I also think some cards deduct a certain fee (service charge) each month that you don’t use it.</p>
<p>I should probably check the online statement balance a few times to make sure that I’m not billed for having a zero balance too. I guess that I’d really like to just disable the account completely.</p>
<p>With the rebate cards from Verizon I was able to move the money directly into my checking account. I also received one from Bausch and Lomb which did not have that option. I used that one at a restaurant where I specified to use exactly the card amount and then put the balance on my regular credit card - had no problems with that.</p>
<p>I agree–I use the entire amount at one time & pay any balance with my other credit card. I would NOT pay anything if I was sent a bill for someone using the account after I had spent it all as it would have been unauthorized and not my problem. So far, have only had problems with KayBee toy store, when we forgot to use the card over a long time & fees deducted made the balance go to zero. Never shopped at that store again.</p>
<p>I try to use up my gift cards–HATE them!</p>
<p>It’s funny how used to things we get. People here are complaining that they want a paper check for the rebate. I want to go back to the time when a discount was a discount - no checks, no rebates, just a reduction in the price at the time of purchase! But just as merchants assume that a certain percentage of people will forget to use the card, they also assume that a certain percentage of people will forget to send in the rebate.</p>
<p>The thing is that someone that sells products would ideally like to sell them at the price of value to the individual. This means that I might sell it at one price to one person, another price to another person, etc. Some people might not bother with the rebate processing because they are fine with the price without the rebate. The rebate, etc. models are better at getting the most out of each consumer depending on how they choose their actions.</p>
<p>Some people can get huge discounts by going to the store at 3:00 AM after Thanksgiving. I’d rather sleep and just pay the higher price.</p>
<p>I recently received several rebate cards. Instead of having to keep track of how much I’d spent on each card, I used them to buy Amazon gift certificates for the total amount. Then I shredded the cards so no one else could use them.</p>