buying vouchers with a credit card

mcdermott_c

thought i'd heard somewhere that if you buy vouchers e.g. for argos or tescso, hmv etc.. these are classed as cash advances and therefore you are charged cash advance fee ? is this true ?

thanks

LittleVoice

A lot of credit cards now have that sort of thing in their T&Cs. However, if you buy a Tesco voucher, for instance, at the till in Tescos together with your groceries, I don't think there is any way this would be picked up by the card issuer.

Check the T&Cs of the card(s) you hold.

lisyloo

I bought John Lewis vouchers at Waitrose and my husband bought Argos vouchers at Argos and they were purchases, but can't give you 100% guarantee I'm afraid.

jonesMUFCforever

lisyloo wrote: »

I bought John Lewis vouchers at Waitrose and my husband bought Argos vouchers at Argos and they were purchases, but can't give you 100% guarantee I'm afraid.

Which card were you using?

simongregson

A few cards are doing this, but currently there is no way for them to differentiate between purchasing gift vouchers and other purchases, so although the ability to charge these as a cash advance is in the terms and conditions the change in reality is yet to be implemented.

It is difficult for card companies to justify this change, as gift vouchers are not really 'cash substitutes' like traveller's cheques or money deposited onto a gambling site, as they can't be exchanged for cash at face value.

zappomatic

I can say for sure that if you buy gift vouchers in John Lewis they go through the till as goods - they even have their own stock number, the same as a duvet cover would.

disneymum

I have bought M & S vouchers with my Amex and it went through as a normal goods transaction. Same with Gap vouchers

mcdermott_c

thanks for all your replies guys. I was looking for a way to maxmise tesco points and thought by buying gift vouchers id collect points on gift vouchers and also points when i spent the vouchers but turns out you dont earn points when buying gift card or vouchers doh !

oh well