Gift cards are a good tool for payments but it is not every time that you can shop freely at a store or online using the gift card you have. Therefore, many cardholders wish to know about alternative means that can make the funds on a gift card more accessible. A common method is to transfer the money from gift card to bank account but you need to be aware of the right means to get this done.
Once you have the cash in your bank account, you will be free to spend it as per your liking. This is a huge advantage because gift cards may not be accepted everywhere you go but cash is the supreme currency!
Can You Transfer Money From Gift Card To Bank Account?
To address this question quickly, I would just let you know that it is definitely possible to transfer money from gift card to bank account through various third-party services.
However, what you do need to consider is whether you want a fee-free transfer or you are okay with paying the charges.
For example, Square app, when used for money transfer can incur 2.75% fee to up to 3.75% fee. Other than that, you can also sell the gift to a merchant but that, of course, would mean subtraction of certain value from the card since no one would buy it at full cost as you had purchased.
You can always opt for fee-free options instead that include using third-party apps like Venmo or PayPal. Most of these platforms do not charge a fee for money transfer unless you want to send funds instantly.
Note that this method can take longer time, up to 5 days in some cases, but there are no charges.
What Are Some Things To Consider Before You Send Money From Gift Card to Bank Account
As mentioned before, you can send funds to your bank account from a Visa gift card but this transfer comes with a bit of pre-requisites. The most ones of these are:
- Check that the card amount is not non-transferable. As much as you would dislike this, there are cards that do not support transfer to any other account.
- Confirm that you have the amount in your card that you wish to transfer as well as funds that can cater to additional fees and charges that some transactions incur.
- Then check the expiration date of the card. If, unfortunately, the card has expired, you can not send money to your bank account by any means.
There is another important point to note here especially for gift card holders who have not used the card in a while. Inactivity results in dormant gift card. This means that if you have not used the card because you wanted to transfer funds elsewhere and the card was just laying in your closet for over months, the company would inactivate it.
Dormant gift cards can still be used for immediate money transfers but you have to pay a certain fee beforehand in order to activate the card.
Visa Gift Card To Bank Account Via PayPal
In addition to buying gift cards with PayPal, its transfers are also easy and straightforward so you can use this platform as mediator to send money from gift card to PayPal and then to bank.
- Create a PayPal account if you don’t have one already.
- Sign in your account.
- Click to open “Wallet” at the top of the page.
- Then click on the option “Link a Card or Bank”.
- Click on “Link Card”.
- Transfer funds from the card to PayPal account.
Then you simply have to send the money you receive on PayPal to your bank account. This would not incur any extra charges and should be done within five days.
Card To Bank Through Venmo
Venmo is another option which can be utilized to move funds to a bank account from your visa gift card by acting as a mediator for the transfer.Conversely, you can also Venmo yourself using bank account.
- Download the Venmo app.
- Create account on Venmo and sign-in.
- Open your account and look for the option “Add Gift Card”.
- Provide the details for your bank account.
- Press the transfer button.
There are no fees when you use Venmo for this type of transfer unless you choose to send the funds instantly in which case you would may 1.5% of the amount as transfer fee.
Visa Gift Card To Bank Through Square App
If you are okay with paying a little sum of fee at the time of money transfer from gift card to bank, Square app can be used as well.
- Visit the official website for your visa gift card to activate it.
- Log in and follow on-screen instructions till you complete the activation process.
- Check the balance available on your Visa card.
- Decide the amount of money that you wish to transfer.
- Then open the Square app.
- You need to create an account here if you have no done so already.
- After you log in, connect your Square app profile with the bank account and note that this can take up to two days.
- Now use the app to send money from the card to bank account easily.
Visa Card To Bank Account Via Moneygram
For a fast and reliable transfer of money from your gift card, Moneygram is the way to go!
- Create an account on Moneygram.
- Verify your email ID before your can continue.
- Then open your account and click on “Send Money”.
- Enter the amount of money that you wish to transfer, source of funds, etc.
- Provide the details of your bank account.
- Choose “Next” to proceed with the transfer.
Moneygram charges you $1.99 for transfer less than $200 and $1.99+1% fee for transfers above this value.
There is also a cap on the amount that you can transfer using Moneygram. It is set at $10,000 per transaction. You can send more but that would require you to visit their store physically and request the agent there for assistance.
Is There An Indirect Methods To Use Funds on Your Visa Gift Card If Not Transferred To Bank?
No luck so far trying to find the method that fits your need?
Luckily, there is a way around that you can try and which does not involve any type of money-transferring protocol.
You can use your Visa gift card to purchase other gift cards on stores like Amazon or Walmart. In this way, you would be able to use the newly bought card to buy the stuff you need which means it would serve as a good replacement for cash.
Before You Go!
Gift cards are not about store-specific shopping anymore. Visa gift cards are quite flexible and therefore, popular, for transferring funds as well as shopping in-store and online. However, since most people are not comfortable carrying an extra card in their wallet, they tend to transfer the amount to bank account for safety and easy accessibility.
You can follow different methods discussed above to get this done. If luck is by your side, the transaction should be quick and without any issues. If you do experience any obstacle, we recommend you get in touch with Visa gift card support team for help.
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Miriam Caldwell is a dedicated & expert freelance writer to educate people about personal finance management and budgeting. She shared her knowledge and published the articles at TheBalance.com, GOBankingRates, and BlissfullyDomestic.com. Many financial institutes pick Caldwell as the brilliant source for educational personal finance content.
