Update 1/8/25: Available again (ht dentchurn)
Update 11/18/24: Available again.
Contents
The Offer
- Check your Citi Offers for 10% back at the CVS. Works on up to $250 in spend. Limit to one use, valid until October 31, 2024
Our Verdict
Good for personal use.
Hat tip to DDG
Is it possible to register and then lock an in-store purchased VGC to prevent theft?
You can’t register vanillas. You can set the pin, and it barely works anywhere online anyway.
Thanks,
Bockrr. I don’t know why I bought this thing; never again. I learned that you’re absolutely right about it barely working online… it’s now been refused by two different bills when I tried to make payment. Ugggh.
I got stuck with one once. Tried several times to use it online. Ended up using to buy gift cards in store. Think it was at Costco or Sam’s.
You can use it to make income tax payments online
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/a-complete-guide-to-paying-your-taxes-with-a-credit-card
Thanks,
Celia 🔗 and 
cak145 . That’s what I’m headed to do right now – make a tax payment.
You’ve had success with which processor? I initially bought mine to pay my state taxes (ACI-powered) and that’s where I ran into the first issue of not having the ability to register with name and address. I didn’t try with fed taxes but would be interested to know which processor works for the future.
I was not able to make a federal tax payment with either processor, Pay1040 or ACI Payments. 😥
You’re probably seen other comments documenting that federal tax payment processors are no longer accept Vanilla Visa gift cards:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/a-complete-guide-to-paying-your-taxes-with-a-credit-card/#comment-1947916
I’ll try Sam’s Club next.
Sorry, I was mistaken. I thought that it was Vanillas that I used to make tax payments but it was some Pathward cards from Kroger. I have been able to pay my garbage service bill online with GFL and my Dish Network satellite bill with Vanillas recently. I also am able to use them to buy money orders at Walmart.
It’s ok. I finally used the whole enchilada on T-Mobile Home Internet. I’ve prepaid 10 months, LOL. Good to know about Walmart MO in case there is a next-time.
That’s good. Off Topic, but how do you like the TMobile Home Internet? I have Verizon Home Internet and am satisfied with it, but can’t pay with credit card.
I LOVE it! So far, I could not be happier – but I only activated on January 3. I had been with AT&T for 20+ years (AT&T DSL/UVerse, as AT&T fiber not available in my area). AT&T saw fit to raise my rate three times in 2024 – probably a push to get Uverse customers to move to their new “AT&T Internet Air “, as I read they are moving away from copper wire and so they price you out to get you off the older service – hey, it worked for me. My last rate was $73/mo.
I signed up for the $50/mo T-Mobile home internet, comes with a price-lock guarantee, $250 cashback from Capital One Shopping and $300 cashback in form of a prepaid debit Visa (yes! another one of those!) from T-Mobile. The upload/download speeds are great – so much better than I had with AT&T. I am very, very pleased so far.
T-Mobile gives a $5 discount for paying by bank or debit card but it is well-documented on Reddit that you can make a manual payment via credit card before the autopay comes around and it won’t destroy the discount.
The only places I can recall successfully using them online is Amazon and for medical/vet bills. But they do generally work ok in person, you probably got 10%ish cashback on it and can now just substitute it in for groceries or whatever general spend you would normally earn less than 10% on. It’s no biggie.
The real best way to use them is to load them back into a bank account for slightly less than the full amount (Discover or the Amex one…Serve?). But if you don’t have that ready it’s not much use I suppose.
They will (probably) add back in the registering feature someday as they are the most ubiquitous gift cards around and it’s a frequent complaint. I can only imagine they are like that due to it cutting down on fraud problems.
Thanks,
Bockrr. Although I get a huge thrill out of most parts of churning, I don’t think I’m cut out for this part of the game. The worry about funds being stolen really got to me, and I don’t have that much available spend (bills).
I think I got more than 10% back on this card: 6% back from Citi Custom Cash (they offered me an extra 1% cashback this quarter, plus the 5% for drugstore highest category), then the 10% for CVS.
Received: $500.
Spent out-of-pocket: $507.95 – 30.48 – 50.00 = 427.47.
427.47/500.00 = 85.5%, so ~14.5% discount if I did the math right.
But I gave up 5% cashback on T-Mobile home internet payments:
$500 * .05 = $25. Ugh.
I need to get better at this part of the game if I’m going to keep playing. 😁
If they would add a registration feature, which would subsequently allow it to be accepted at more vendors, that would be a game-changer.
Ha! Top category is topped at $500/mo. So I won’t even get 5% cashback on the whole $507.95. So many ways to get tripped up.
Just put $492.05 on the card if you’re concerned about missing out on 40 cents.
It doesn’t matter – I’m not worried about forty cents – and I did realize that could be done because I saw someone comment something like that a few days ago, but it’s just funny to me how many nuances there are to getting this game exactly right.
Opened up my sock drawer and dusted off the Custom Cash. 1 $500 VGC purchased in store. $66.50 net gain
received $50 statement credit within 5 days.
Update: spent 500$, got 50$ statement credit within a week and 25$ points. Sweet double dipping.
same boat. $8.95 activation fee for $500vgc. $25.45 in rewards points + $50 statement credit = $500 spend for $433.50. I’ll certainly take it.
How long does it take to post the 50$?
Perfect, thank you.
Anyone knows if the online VGC ecard is coded as CVS or 3rd party?
Thank you!
If you follow the link from CVS for VGCs, it goes to thegiftcardshop.com, and the sale should reflect that, so buy in the store.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to liquidate a Mastercard GC? Does Citi Bill Pay over phone or anything else work? Thank you.
US post office to buy money order?
I might try this. Apparently with this card, I have to first establish a PIN during the first purchase. After that, use the PIN to purchase a money order. I know at Publix you can only use GC’s that have a PIN to purchase money orders.
Yay, got 10% off upto 50$
Out of curiosity. Will the CVS inside of target, carry GCs? And does it ring up as CVS?
Just curious I hardly go to target since they ruined the red card and circle.
No, it does not, you have to go to a CVS store.
Had 10% last month on CustomCash. Only seeing 5% this month on DoubleCash & CustomCash. Good to take advantage of if you use CVS for prescriptions – buy CVS GCs now then use them for prescriptions later.
Get ready for fraud hell if buying $500 in gift cards in store. I made it through but pack your patience because Citi fraud IT still sucks. Have your phone ready and have time for the failed texts and calls lol. I eventually cleared it and got my purchase through. While I was expecting some fraud kickback from such an odd purchase Citi’s level of incompetence surprised even me, I’m not certain it was worth the hassle…
I bought 491$, so the total was just below 500$. No fraud alert.