Update 10/29/24: This opportunity didn’t last long in its original incarnation. When it went live a couple of days ago, Giftcards.com wasn’t charging the purchase fee of $5.95 and was offering 2% back in Giftcards.com Rewards. Both of those positive features have been reversed – possibly. The $5.95 fee is now being added and Giftcards.com had advised that these cards shouldn’t be earning Giftcards.com Rewards. Despite that, when adding a card to my cart it says that if I sign in I’ll earn 400 points (i.e. 2% back). I (Stephen) don’t need to purchase these and so I haven’t tested this out, but be aware that you’re apparently not supposed to be earning 2% back, so if it is still working I suspect it won’t last much longer.
That changes the value proposition a lot, but it might still be worthwhile for some people. The purchases can still be stacked with shopping portal rewards and 4% back from the Citi Offer which more than offsets the 2.98% fee if buying a $200 card, not to mention the credit card rewards you’ll earn on the purchase. It’s just sadly not as rewarding as it was for ~24 hours.
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GiftCards.com is currently offering $200 Gift of College savings gift cards without an activation fee (H/T to GC Galore). This is a great deal for anyone saving for college or paying off student loans as there are some ways to stack this and come out a little bit ahead while saving for the future. There is also a Citi Merchant offer that could get you an extra 4% back (up to $32 back).
The Deal
- GiftCards.com is offering $200 Gift of College gift cards
with no activation fee - Direct link to this deal (our affiliate link, but alternatively go through a shopping portal to stack more rewards)
Key Terms
- Note that the card Terms and Conditions list a $5.95 activation fee, but GiftCards.com is not currently charging this
Quick Thoughts
We have a Miles for College guide showing how to use these cards to fund a 529 College Savings plan. I believe that you should also be able to pay student loans from a 529 plan, which means that you could potentially take advantage of this even if you’re beyond your college savings years and into your college repayment years.
Until now, the best option for buying Gift of College gift cards has been to find one of the limited grocery or gas station chains offering $500 physical gift cards. Those gift cards come with a $5.95 activation fee, which represents about 1.19% of the value of the card. Given the best category bonuses for grocery and gas, one could easily come out ahead of the fee if you have a nearby gas or grocery chain with these cards. Unfortunately, the options for buying $500 cards have been highly geographically limited.
While there have always been options for buying $200 eGift cards online, the purchase fee long made purchasing a $200 eGift card unattractive. However, GiftCards.com is offering these cards without an activation fee. While GiftCards.com probably won’t trigger a category bonus on most cards, there are some potential stacking opportunities.
For starters, if you join the GiftCards.com rewards program, you’ll get 2% back in rewards from them. Stacking on top of that, some Citi cardholders currently have an offer for an extra 4% back at GiftCards.com up to $32 back, which could sweeten the pot a bit more yet. Furthermore, GiftCards.com appears on shopping portals. Current best rates at the time of writing including 2 points/miles per dollar in some programs or as much as 4% back. We’ve seen targeted Capital One Shopping offers for 12-20% back recently — if you’ve got one of those, that could make these a fantastic deal.
It’s worth noting that we don’t know how long this will last. The card terms and conditions still note a $5.95 activation fee, but that isn’t currently being charged. Also keep in mind that most portals say that you will earn rewards on a maximum of $2,000 in orders per month. In my experience, some portals will allow rewards for multiple orders, but only up to a maximum of $2,000 in purchases per order. GiftCards.com will also likely limit you to no more than $2K in gift cards per rolling 48 hours.
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