Quickpost: Fee Free Visa Gift Cards – AAA Members Only

I was reading a bog-standard post on Staples gift cards on TPG (which failed to mention that portals will most likely not pay out on gift cards anymore) and in the comments section I found this little gem:

I’m still shocked I haven’t seen this posted anywhere else. Maybe it just isn’t that widespread, but AAA in Indiana is selling Visa gift cards for NO FEE right now. Not sure when the promotion ends, but I was told they do this regularly a few times a year. I already picked up about $8k in NO FEE $500 Visa gift cards. Just call the number on the back to set the PIN and load them up as debit into Bluebird at the Walmart Money Center kiosk. Just did it yesterday. Works great. Enjoy! 

 

The Offer

• Visa gift cards can be purchased fee free from select AAA locations. You’ll need to enter your zip code and then navigate to the gift card section to see if this deal is on or not. Just add the following to /Banking/VisaGiftCard after your location specific URL, for example Mid Atlantic would be http://midatlantic.aaa.com/Banking/VisaGiftCard

The Fine Print

• Valid until June 30th, 2014
• Must be an AAA member to purchase
• These cards are issued by MetaBank and can have  a PIN set by calling the number on the back of the card
• Only available in select areas (let us know in the comments what works for you):
  • Available: Mid atlantic
  • Not available: Southern California, Ohio, Texas

Our Verdict

This is only available in selected locations, but is offered multiple times per year. If you live in these locations this is a great deal if you want to do some manufactured spending, it’s easy to unload these cards via Bluebird/Service & Walmart or Evolve Money. As always we recommend starting small and only doing amounts you feel comfortable with.

F.A.Q’s

Does this code as a cash advance or purchase?

AAA reps will tell you that it codes as a cash advance but we’ve only heard reports of it coding as a purchase. If you’re worried about this we’d suggest getting your cash advance limit set to $1 or $0 by calling your card issuer.

What category does this code as?

They will probably be coded as “ASSOCIATIONS / ORGANIZATIONS” which means that most cards will code this as an everyday purchase. But this will code as a 3x purchase for the Bank of America AAA credit card.

Got another question?

Read this 22 page thread on flyertalk about this deal from last year if you do.