Vanilla Visa Gift card is among the various gift cards you can use to buy goods at the various stores throughout the country. Gift cards are cash alternatives. Instead of giving someone cash as a gift, you give them the card loaded with money. Therefore, they can go shopping for goods they wish. Sometimes you may want to get cash from your card to use in other transactions, and that is why I want to show you how to get cash from a Vanilla Visa gift card.
Most payment cards allow you to get cash out of your account from ATM points or over the counter. These include debit, credit, and prepaid ones. That makes them very convenient to use for your everyday shopping experiences and makes them better than gift cards. Even though there are ways to get money out of gift cards, the methods are sometimes not readily available. But when talking about the above cards being easy to use at ATMs to withdraw money, you should be very careful with credit cards because they charge high fees.
Gift cards do not come with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) when purchasing them, and thus you have to get yours before using them to purchase goods at the specified outlets. That leaves them a bit vulnerable as if they get lost, anyone may use them to buy things other than the intended person. Like many payment cards, you play with the cards at the Point of Sale, swiping or tapping at the register.
How to get a Vanilla Gift Card?
The company sells gift cards online, and thus if you want one, you have to visit the Vanilla Gift cards website to start registering an account. At the top left, you will see options to Sign In or Create an Account. As a new user, you will have to create a new account.
Once you create a Vanilla account, you can purchase your card. You can choose from the various denominations depending on your financial capability. Vanilla allows you to customize your plastic Gift Card with your photo or logo! Upon receiving them, one can even choose from different stamps, colors, and patterns to make the beneficiary smile.
You can pay for your card using payment cards such as debit and credit cards. A bank account can also work, although you cannot transfer money from the gift card to a bank account as you can transfer money from a debit card to a bank account. You can only use credit, debit, and charge cards approved for general purpose reloadable prepaid cards to make purchases on the site.
Can’t you use single load cards such as gift cards to pay for your card. You must understand that the Vanilla gift cards are not available for sale to Hawaii residents. Again, Vanilla does not accept payment methods from Arizona or New Mexico addresses for orders equal to or larger than $1,000 within a 24-hour duration.
How to use a Vanilla Gift card?
After choosing the best card that suits your demands, you can use the card for various payments. Just like credit and debit cards, you can add the gift card to your mobile wallet for contactless payment in stores. Also, the gift cards allow you to pay online by selecting and entering the card details as you would do with a credit or debit card.
When purchasing online with a gift card, you must ensure that the balance is always more than the purchase price (including taxes). And by the way, when using my gift card with a mobile money wallet, I can indirectly transfer money from my Vanilla card to my bank account.
Are Vanilla gift cards secure?
The cards are secure to use online since they have added layers of protection to use online. Remember that you require a PIN to make purchases with the card, and thus no one else can use your gift card without your permission. Secondly, when using the card online, the communication with the servers is encrypted to prevent third parties from interfering with your communication and stealing information concerning your payments.
Moreover, money in the Vanilla Visa Gift cards is secure because the cards are issued in collaboration with FDIC insured banks, including Inc., MetaBank®, TBBK Card Services, N.A., or Sutton Bank under a license from Visa U.S.A, Sutton Bank, Inc., and MetaBank, N.A.
And by the way, Vanilla also issues Vanilla MasterCard debit cards and Vanilla Discover® Gift Cards. The Bancorp Bank, Member FDIC, issues vanilla Discover® Gift Cards. Vanilla Mastercard Gift Cards are from The MetaBank, Bancorp Bank, N.A., or Sutton Bank under license by Mastercard International Incorporated.
Can I get Vanilla eGift cards?
Vanilla Gift cards allow you to purchase eGift cards. The cards allow you to use them online instead of in physical stores. When gifting someone eGift cards, you only give them the card details to pay online or add them to mobile wallets. You need to understand that an eGift card operates like a virtual debit or credit card. It has the card number, the expiry date, and the CVV.
When managing your card online, you only need to enter the above details to sign in. To find your card details, you need to find your Virtual Account Number, Expiration Date, and CVV. This information is in your original email. Again, the original email contains the link you need to manage your card account.
With the online account, you should always sign in to check your balance before making any purchase to ensure that your balance is sufficient to cover the expenditure. The cards are convenient, quick, and secure.
Therefore, you can keep your credit and debit cards aside and use your Vanilla eGift card for online purchases instead. You can also transfer money from a gift card to a bank account by linking the card to PayPal then transferring the money to a bank account.
How to get cash from a Vanilla Visa Gift Card
Getting money out of your Vanilla Gift card and any other gift card may not be that easy, but it is still possible. There are various ways you can exchange your card for cash. They include the following.
1) Add the card to PayPal
As I have mentioned above, PayPal accepts Vanilla gift cards, and you can add your card to PayPal and then transfer the funds to your bank account, where you can proceed to withdraw the money over the counter or at an ATM.
2) Pay bills with your gift card
You can pay for your internet, water, or rent with your gift card. Paying bills with the card is the same as converting them into cash. Therefore, you do not need to carry money to pay your debts in the service provider’s offices since the cards work better for that purpose.
3) Add the card to Venmo
Venmo works like PayPal, and you can easily add your gift card to Venmo and transfer the funds to a bank account or use the Venmo debit card to withdraw money from an ATM.
4) Visit the Gift Card Exchange Kiosk to trade the card in
Various exchange kiosks are available in malls and major shopping centers where you can exchange your card for cash. However, you have to part with some fees since those are businesses. You can even use those kiosks to transfer the Amazon Gift Card balance directly to a bank account. You first exchange the card for cash, then deposit it to a bank account.
5) Sell your Vanilla Visa gift card through an app
It is possible to sell Visa gift cards through an app as numerous apps do business. You get the cash that you can use for various kinds of transactions in exchange for the gift card. An excellent example of such an app is Raise, which takes 15% commission.
6) Sell the card to others
You can also sell the card to other people willing to give you money. Once you do so, you have to give them the card’s PIN to carry out transactions with the card. You can also give them the online login details to access the card’s account.
Can I transfer money from one Vanilla gift card to another?
We all know that you can transfer money from one debit card to another or one prepaid card to another online. However, currently, there is no way to transfer money from one card to another when it comes to gift cards. You may have to use indirect ways to acquire cash from the gift card then use the Cash to top up another card to meet some demands.
Bottom line
Gift cards are payment cards that allow you to buy goods from specific stores. Vanilla Visa gift cards allow you to purchase goods and services online by adding them to mobile wallets or using the card details such as the card’s number, expiration date, and the CVV. You can have a tangible gift card or an eGift card. For eGift cards, you can only use them online. You can get cash out of your gift cards as well at various places.
