I received an email offer to open a minimum 3-month $2,500 CD and receive a free $25 Discover Gift Card (I have a Discover credit card, and I used it only once for a balance transfer). I am pondering the hassle of it all because Discover Gift Cards are not universally accepted like Visa or MasterCard. How useful are Discover Gift Cards?

SinbadS said:How useful are Discover Gift Cards?

About 80 points.

please send me the gift card, along with your name, address, SSN, mothers maiden name and bank account.

i will then determine how useful it is.

I'd pay up to $24.50 for one, assuming no transaction costs.

You should be asking about how much would you lose on a lower interest CD. For example, if you have a choice between 6% 3-month $2,500 CD with no gift card and 4% $2,500 3-month CD with $25 gift card, then you'd lose $50/4 = $12.50 in foregone interest, but gain $25 in gift card, so the gift card deal is better. Of course, if there are more hoops to jump through to get the gift card, one may well opt for the higher APY w/o gift card deal.

faw169 said:I think it is equivalent to $25 cash.

SinbadS said:I received an email offer to open a minimum 3-month $2,500 CD and receive a free $25 Discover Gift Card (I have a Discover credit card, and I used it only once for a balance transfer). I am pondering the hassle of it all because Discover Gift Cards are not universally accepted as Visa or MasterCard. How useful are Discover Gift Cards?

I'm sure you'd be able to find a grocery store or gas station that accepts Discover.

SinbadS said:I get 4.39% for a 3-month Discover CD, but 5.35% (5.5% APR) at Umbrella Bank through the end of this year (promo rate). Also, at least 7-10 days could be lost in transition to open and close a CD and move money around. Net will be less than $20, which may NOT worth the hassle.

So I think it is a good consider you can still get 4.39% from this promo.
Can you open several CDs and recieve several Discover Gift Cards? If so, the hassle
factor will be lowered since the hassle cost per CD will be lowered.

That is additional 1% and 4% annualised if you go with minimum.

SinbadS said:SantaLink said:SinbadS said:I get 4.39% for a 3-month Discover CD, but 5.35% (5.5% APR) at Umbrella Bank through the end of this year (promo rate). Also, at least 7-10 days could be lost in transition to open and close a CD and move money around. Net will be less than $20, which may NOT worth the hassle.

So I think it is a good consider you can still get 4.39% from this promo.
Can you open several CDs and recieve several Discover Gift Cards? If so, the hassle
factor will be lowered since the hassle cost per CD will be lowered.
It is a $2,500 minimum Money Market Account or CD. I believe you get a one-time $25 GC.

/me cries in despair about the state of human evolution in this new century.

perception and common sense arent used often at FWF