Amex has sponsored Small Business Saturday for the past few years, wherein Amex cardholders get a statement credit for patronizing small businesses with their Amex card(s) the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Citi has taken a look at Amex’s program and cried out, “Me too!”
Meet Big Business Tuesdays. Technically it’s called “Citi Tuesdays”, but I like “Big Business Tuesdays” better. Here’s the marketing pitch:
So it’s $10 for a $100 purchase. Here are the details:
- “Limit one gift card per Citi credit card, per Tuesday, per purchase of $100 or more.” There are six Tuesdays left in this promotion, so this is potentially worth $60 times the number of Citi cards in your sock drawer.
- No registration necessary. As per the website, you just need to pay $100 or more in a single transaction with a Citi card from now through Tuesday, December 17.
- “Purchase may not include gift cards, pharmacy, tires, photo, customized, or personalized items.” Will Citi follow through on its gift card rule? You have to purchase through walmart.com, and I’m guessing Walmart will supply that data to Citi. But then again, this is Citi, so they may let it slide. Your guess is as good as mine.
SPEAKING OF WALMART: Walmart is expanding its line of prepaid cards. The primary changes are to its Money Card product, which will now have three flavors:
Walmart MoneyCard® Basic: Available to purchase for $3, the Basic card is designed for the customer who wants a low-cost, basic prepaid debit card to use for paying bills, shopping online or safely storing cash.
Walmart MoneyCard® Plus: Available to purchase for $4, the Plus card is designed for the more frequent prepaid debit card user who is looking for advanced functionality above the Basic card. Those features include a waived monthly service fee in any month when more than $1,000 is deposited, debit card reloading, free online bill pay, person-to-person transfers, and the ability to customize a card with a picture for $4.95.
Walmart MoneyCard® Preferred: Available to purchase for $6, the Preferred card is a full-service reloadable prepaid account with the following functionality above the Plus card: Rapid Payroll Direct Deposit, which allows customers receiving recurring direct deposits the ability to access their funds early (if their employer provides pre-notice of deposit), free Walmart Rapid Reload™, a waived monthly service fee in any month when more than $500 is deposited, an online vault for setting aside funds for later use, an online budgeting tool, and the ability to customize a card with a picture for free.
If there’s good news for credit card aficionados here, I’m not seeing it. According to the website, rapid reload requires cash or check to add funds. The press release does go on to say that all of the new products can be loaded via the Green Dot Network, in case anybody’s got a way to do those with a credit card.
SPEAKING OF GREEN DOT: The AARP prepaid debit card offers 2% cash back on gas purchases through March 2014, which is an unusual benefit for a prepaid debit card. It makes me wonder if gas stations take prepaid debit cards for the purchase of MoneyPaks…
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