If you’re anything like me, you’re likely getting a handful of Visa gift cards every year, typically during the holiday season. However, sometimes I don’t want to use them for shopping. Show I’d like to transfer the gift card balance to my bank account. So, how do I do it? There are simply no direct ways of doing it. But here are the best methods and workarounds.
1. Add Visa Gift Card to Your PayPal Wallet
PayPal is arguably the best option for transferring your Visa gift card balance to your bank account. Digital Banking Apps Worth to Know About
Current: Best for Early Direct Deposit
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As a mobile banking app affiliate, I get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to sign up through my links There’s a good chance you already have a PayPal account. If that’s the case, you need to simply link your gift card to your PayPal wallet. After that, you can either use the gift card to fund your PayPal purchases or transfer the funds to your linked bank account. Let’s start from the beginning. How to open a PayPal account. If you already have one, simply skip this step. To open a PayPal account on a computer, follow the steps:
On a mobile phone:
You can upgrade your personal account into a business account at any time by going to the settings and filling out your details. READ ALSO: 19 Side Hustle Ideas (How To Make $1,000+ in Extra Income) Add the gift card to PayPal
You can add a gift card, debit, or credit card to your PayPal account by going on a computer and doing the following:
However, you can also easily do this on your mobile phone, using your PayPal mobile app:
Now that we added the gift card to the PayPal account, we can use its balance to pay for items and services with PayPal. 2. Transfer Visa Gift Card Balance to Cash App
Cash App is a widespread financial app that lets you send money to friends and family, but also invest in Bitcoin and stocks. You can also use it to add our Visa gift card to the app. But first, how do you open a Cash App account? Here’s how:
To add a gift card to Cash App:
You should be able to transfer the gift card balance to your Cash App balance. You can then use the app to pay for stuff in-store or online or to transfer it to your bank account. But first, how do we add a bank account to Cash App? Follow these steps:
After you add your bank account or debit card to Cash App, transfer the money to Cash App and then you can Cash Out your balance. READ NEXT: 12 Apps That Can Make You Money (How To Boost Your Income) Digital Banking Apps Worth to Know About
Current: Best for Early Direct Deposit
For Free Thinkers and EntrepreneursAs a mobile banking app affiliate, I get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to sign up through my links 3. Add Visa Gift Card to Venmo
If you haven’t heard of Venmo, it’s a popular mobile payments app owned by PayPal. We can utilize it to transfer the Visa gift card balance to our linked bank account. Apart from Visa gift cards, Venmo supports debit, credit, and prepaid, network branded (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) cards that are registered under your name. To open a Venmo account:
Now that we have a Venmo account, we can proceed to add our gift card. At this time, some cards may be declined either by the card issuer or Venmo. It could be for two reasons – for funds availability or for fraud prevention reasons. To add your gift card, or a debit or credit card:
You can now choose to transfer your funds from the gift card via Venmo to your bank account. To add a bank account or a debit card to Venmo, follow the same steps outlined above. You can choose from a standard money transfer that will take a couple of days and is free and an instant transfer that will cost you 1.75% (with a minimum fee of $0.25 and a maximum fee of $25) of the transfer amount. READ ALSO: Can You Use QuadPay (Zip) On Cash App? (Guide) 4. Sell Visa Gift Cards Through a Website or an App
We have several options for selling our unwanted gift cards in exchange for cash. CardCash is a somewhat popular gift card marketplace that lets you buy and sell gift cards. Here’s how to trade a Visa gift card for cash:
It’s a straightforward and quick method that generally takes one business day. However, it can be very expensive. The cost for you is a minimum of 10% of the gift card’s value! Plus, the fees and rates for gift card exchange vary from company to company. You can get paid by check, ACH deposit, or by PayPal. Apart from specialized websites, there are also plenty of apps that can help you sell gift cards for a fee. One of them is also Prepaid2Cash. You can choose from instant transfers that cost 15% + $1.50 fee and next business day transfers that take a 7.5% processing fee and also a $1.50 deliver fee. To sell your first gift card with the Prepaid2Cash app:
You have two ways of adding a bank account to receive your gift card’s cash – easy, using Plaid and manual, by inputting your account and routing numbers. READ NEXT: Does Cash App Have Buyer Protection? (A Reason to Worry) 5. Trade it in at a Gift Card Exchange Kiosk
You may have seen an ATM-like machine in your shopping mall or a big box retailer. Did you know that you can use it to sell your gift cards for cash? Simply swipe your gift card and see what the offer is. Same as with websites that buy gift cards, the fees are steep and you may not like the deal that the exchange machine gives you. ConclusionIt’s somewhat easy to transfer money from your Visa gift cards to your bank account. However, as we showed you, the methods do include added steps that may or may not be acceptable to you. You can link your gift card to PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App and forward the money to your bank account. This is the cheapest way to exchange gift cards for cash. The more expensive ways include selling the gift card on a specialized website or mobile app, or even an exchange kiosk in your mall. Sometimes, the most cost-effective option is to use the gift cards as intended – to buy stuff in-store or online.
Adrian Volenik is a fintech enthusiast who loves testing and reviewing digital banking apps and financial products in general. How many digital banking accounts can one man have? Not enough, if you ask Adrian. As his wallet will soon explode if he doesn’t cut back on the number of cards. |