Visa Gift Cards (https://www.gospendit.co.uk/)

Fingerbobs

OK, I acknowledge that this query is only loosely related to Stoozing, but I suspect this is the forum where I'm most likely to find the target audience, so here I am :-)

Before I waste £53.95 on an overpriced car windscreen ice scraper, can anyone confirm whether these Visa Gift Cards can be used to deposit £50 into an NS&I Direct Saver account?

These are the Gift Cards that can be purchased in various shops around the UK, including Tesco and Argos among others. The idea is that you pay £53.95, and effectively get a pre-paid Visa card containing £50 to spend anywhere where Visa is accepted.

While they claim to be usable anywhere where Visa Debit Cards are accepted, I believe there are actually some restrictions on where they can be used, and the web site won't let me view the Terms and Conditions or FAQs unless I already have a card (which seems a bit weird, but that's another discussion).

Thanks in advance.

Ben8282

Why bother? Why not just go and pay £50 into the NS&I direct saver account and keep the £3.95?
I assume the connection between this post and stoozing is that you want to buy a large quantity of these gift cards using a 0% purchases card.
I have never heard of being able to pay money from a card directly into a bank account.
I assume that you realise that £3.95 for a £50 card is the equivalent of a 7.9% balance transfer fee!

Fingerbobs

Ben8282 wrote: »

Why bother? Why not just go and pay £50 into the NS&I direct saver account and keep the £3.95?

There is a reason, which I won't go into, that this might be useful for me. If it works I'll report back, but won't post details publically.

Ben8282 wrote: »

I have never heard of being able to pay money from a card directly into a bank account.

NS&I Direct Saver allows you to deposit funds by Debit Card.

The_Urbanite

That route has long since been hammered to death by points collectors, slow stoozers, other manufactured spenders and money launderers. NS&I will block the transaction and Blackhawk have a load of institutions specialising in financial services on their banned merchant list. After all, they probably don't make anything on cards which are completely emptied in one fell swoop.

You'll have to be a bit more creative to achieve your aims!

Fingerbobs

The_Urbanite wrote: »

That route has long since been hammered to death by points collectors, manufactured spenders and money launderers. You'll have to be a bit more creative to achieve your aims!

I believe I have come up with a creative path to free money, but it does require depositing a Visa Gift Card into a bank account of some sort, hence my original question.

I used to pay mountains of the old "3V" gift cards into NS&I, until they put a stop to it :-(

EDIT: Possibly worth adding that my idea is 100% legal and does not involve breaching the terms and conditions of any product! I never, ever, ever do anything remotely naughty. I just believe I've found a path that hasn't been over-exploited yet and may still work.

The_Urbanite

Fingerbobs wrote: »

I believe I have come up with a creative path to free money, but it does require depositing a Visa Gift Card into a bank account of some sort, hence my original question.

I used to pay mountains of the old "3V" gift cards into NS&I, until they put a stop to it :-(

If there are any that do work, fees will eat into or wipe out profits - and use of hundreds of prepaid cards will result in compliance checks/shutdowns from just about anyone except .gov.uk websites!

Fingerbobs

The_Urbanite wrote: »

NS&I will block the transaction and Blackhawk have a load of institutions specialising in financial services on their banned merchant list.

Are you sure of this, or are you making assumptions?
I don't see why NS&I would block the transaction, but I can see Blackhawk may.

Fingerbobs

The_Urbanite wrote: »

If there are any that do work, fees will eat into or wipe out profits - and use of hundreds of prepaid cards will result in compliance checks/shutdowns from just about anyone except .gov.uk websites!

With the greatest of respect, you are making a lot of assumptions here.

The_Urbanite

Fingerbobs wrote: »

Are you sure of this, or are you making assumptions?
I don't see why NS&I would block the transaction, but I can see Blackhawk may.

You're welcome to try it yourself, or check popular frequent flyer forums/points blogs where there are a plethora of posts on now defunct schemes, including the one you're asking about. If they didn't get the hump with people depositing dozens of them and withdrawing several thousand pounds immediately, the processing fees and risk of being used to launder money would. The T&Cs also require deposits to be made with a debit card issued by a UK bank, which does not include any prepaid card.

Fingerbobs wrote: »

With the greatest of respect, you are making a lot of assumptions here.

You're asking how to manufacture spend using cards that carry a 7.9% fee - assumptions aren't really necessary!

Fingerbobs

The_Urbanite wrote: »

You're asking how to manufacture spend using cards that carry a 7.9% fee - assumptions aren't really necessary!

No I'm not. I am asking if it's possible to pay £50 into NS&I from a prepaid Visa gift card. That is the only question I asked.

You've assumed everything else.

The_Urbanite

Fingerbobs wrote: »

No I'm not. I am asking if it's possible to pay £50 into NS&I from a prepaid Visa gift card. That is the only question I asked.

You've assumed everything else.

Perhaps I have.

Your question has been answered, best of luck with your endeavours.