Her card issuer notes the frequency of these transactions and that the amounts are always the same. Jane has a card that earns five points per $1 at office supply stores, so she buys a $500 prepaid debit card there every few days and earns 2,500 points each time.This is a savvy way to earn 1,000 points, and it’s unlikely to set off any alarm bells with his card issuer. Jim shops at Whole Foods anyway, so he picks up a $100 gift card twice a month at an office supply store, where his card earns five points per $1.So what’s considered gaming the system and what’s not? That’s all up to the discretion of the card issuer, but here are two examples to illustrate the difference: If the card issuer believes that you’re gaming the system, it can close all your accounts and blacklist you from ever opening another account with them in the future. One important thing to know about buying gift cards with your credit card is that you shouldn’t overdo it just so that you can earn more cash back or travel rewards. Otherwise, they could deny your bonus or claw it back later, which means they remove the bonus amount from your account. With their cards, it’s better to stay on the safe side and reach the spending minimum without gift card purchases. Once again, American Express and Wells Fargo are notable exceptions. Just check your card’s terms and conditions first to verify that there’s no language prohibiting this. If you’re short on the minimum spending for a sign-up bonus, you can buy gift cards to make up the difference. This isn’t a problem with most card issuers. Using gift cards to meet the spending minimum on a bonusĪnother question you may have is whether gift card purchases apply towards the minimum amount you must spend to earn a new credit card’s sign-up bonus. However, although it is not expressly prohibited by many card issuers, they may still block you if it seems as if you are abusing the system. Wells Fargo includes the same language for its credit cards. The terms and conditions for some (but not all) American Express cards state that gift card purchases are not eligible for rewards. Quite a few card issuers don’t have any language in their terms and conditions prohibiting this, but there are exceptions. Check the terms and conditions to see if they mention gift card purchases not being eligible to earn rewards. Whether you earn credit card rewards from gift card purchases will depend on the card that you have. Do gift card purchases earn credit card points? It seems like a smart way to earn more points. Or, you could buy a $100 supermarket gift card for yourself at an office supply store and earn 500 points. You could use that card for a $100 purchase at the supermarket and earn 100 points.
Let’s say you have a card that earns five points per $1 at office supply stores and only one point per $1 at grocery stores.
The logic behind this strategy is that many credit cards earn a higher bonus rate at specific types of stores, so you could buy a gift card at a store where you’ll earn bonus rewards, and then use the card elsewhere. For those who think a little outside the box, this can lead to the idea of buying gift cards to earn more rewards. Gift card purchases could be a great way to score extra rewards points, but it depends on your credit card.Įveryone who has a rewards credit card wants to maximize what they earn back.
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