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Simon Malls will be offering $1 off on Visa Gift Card activation fees when you purchase cards in a denomination of $400-$500 between October 1-31, 2018. That brings the activation fee down to $2.95 per card.
The Deal
- $1 off the activation fee when you buy Simon Gift Cards in denominations of $400-$500 between October 1-31, 2018 (dropping the fee to $2.95 per card)
Key Terms
- While supplies last
- Valid on select Visa Simon Gift Cards purchased at Simon Guest Services or the Mall Office
- Valid October 1-31, 2018
Quick Thoughts
Reducing fees is a good way to decrease your cost per point if you’re manufactuing miles. Doctor of Credit reports that this will not be automatic – you’ll have to request the reduced fee. No word as to whether properties will invoke a maximum, though the fine print of the screen shot at DoC clearly uses the plural cards, so I would expect this to be repeatable (while supplies last, whatever they take that to mean).
For more information, see our Manufactured Spending Complete Guide and Best options for buying Visa and Mastcard gift cards.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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[…] check and you may end up getting 2 or more miles per dollar, which could be worth it depending on how cheaply you can complete the […]
to save a drive/trip to there, do folks know if citi cards accept SMVGCs? TIA
i know simon mall def wont work for new card spend with amex. will this work for AU new card spend? for example, i have offers to spend $500 on new AU for delta amex. will buying these gift cards likely also not count towards the min spend for that bonus?
I wouldn’t recommend doing Simon for any Amex spending bonuses — new cardmember or AU.
What about a SPG “spend x get y extra points” offer? I’m wondering if that will be clawed back
That’s a spending bonus. I wouldn’t recommend Simon for an Amex spending bonus unless you’re willing to risk it getting clawed back. Personally, I’d rather earn a guaranteed 2%-3% (or the rewards points of your choice) over a possible 0%. If it gets clawed back, you’re flushing money on the activation fees and liquidation costs. It might not get clawed back — but Amex has shown us that even if something was not previously clawed back (i.e. multiple synced Amex Offers), there is no telling when they may decide to claw something back retroactively. Since they’ve shown a willingness to do it with new cardmember bonuses based on Simon purchases, it doesn’t seem like a stretch for spending bonuses at Simon to get clawed back also.
If you have no other way to meet the spend, it might be worth the risk to you…but I would recommend things like paying your taxes, using Kiva, paying bills with Plastiq, etc over Simon for any kind of Amex spending bonus.
Anything related to MS should come with a warning you’re not entitled to points for buying cash equivalents and potentially subjecting yourself to account closure. I know very well about a Chase shutdown.
In addition , in asking an attorney if I should push the matter, he (federal criminal defense attorney) said a decent argument could be made you are violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is a crime.
If you think it’s impossible (albeit unlikely) a prosecutor would take the case, then you don’t know any federal criminal defense attorneys. I was told not to press the issue with the bank.
I’m not making a judgment on others doing it, but be warned . What was odd was Chase starting the closure by sending me a letter telling me to close a bank account that had $60,000 in cash in it at 0% for months.
It took 2.5 years to get another Chase card and they still reject some of my apps for “previous unsatisfactory business relationship”
I’m sure my level of MS paled in comparison to others.
Thanks for the thumbs down. Really.
This isn’t Reddit ; I don’t gather satisfaction from having people agree with me.
My mall manager mentioned this a few days ago. I’m thinking with all the tightening screws on MS, like WM limiting transactions, finally seriously cut the sales volume. I hear as much from my local mall managers. They said most of the “gamers” have barely been showing up 🙂