Simon Gift Cards

One of the best ways you can MS is using Simon gift cards. This method used to be much easier but lately has become a bit more difficult, but there are people who are still having success with the techniques taught. The general idea is the following:

1. Buy Simon Mall gift cards with a credit card that provides a good cash-back return.

2. Take the gift cards to a place that is selling money orders

3. Take the newly purchased money orders and deposit them into a bank

4. Pay off your original credit cards, circling the process to generate points, then repeat

Let’s go a bit more into the entire process, and I will provide you with some important suggestions that should help.

Signing Up With Simon Mall

To get started, you are going to have to get registered with Simon Mall. You can begin the process online at the Simon Mall Volume site (not the regular gift card site): 

https://www.simon.com/volume/register

When you register, you will be told you must then go to one of the malls and make a purchase. You can do this at any Simon Property that sells gift cards; usually located at the information desk at the mail. You can locate the closest property to you by searching here:

https://www.simon.com/mall

I suggest you call first to make sure that they have gift cards for sale and when they will be available.  

When you arrive at the Mall they will be either selling the cards through the guest services information desk or at the management office. Go to the correct place, and you can make your purchase. Be aware that when you make this purchase, you will be filling out a form and providing your ID. Also, the minimum purchase is $4,000, and the maximum is $10,000.  

Also be aware that when you make this mall purchase, some card issuers will block the transaction (CHASE and Amex for example) and Simon Mall will not allow you to make a second attempt with that same card if denied, so it is advised to call your issuer and tell them you will be making a purchase for “X” dollars and get the pre-approval. You can however use up to 4 different cards to split up the overall payment amount as oddly of an amount as you can; we recommend this. After this first purchase is complete you can buy them online, saving a trip to the mall.

Pro-tip: I would suggest that you may want to start by purchasing a single $500 consumer gift card and attempt a purchase at your desired money order location to confirm that you are successful.  

Purchasing Money Orders

You must set the PIN for the cards. To do this you can call:

1-800-325-6238 

You will have to enter the card information and then follow the directions to “Reset your PIN” (choice 5 as of writing)

Set something that is pretty easy to type on the keypad. 3322, 1122, 1112, or similar.

Once you have your gift cards, it is time to buy Money Orders.

Ideally, you want to get $1,000 money orders and subtract the purchase fee from this to equal $1,000 such as this example ($999.15 money order amount and an $0.85 fee). There are some sellers that will only sell $500 money orders, but often you can purchase two of them at a time with the same order.  

The first time you go to a purchase location just try to get one money order to confirm that you can.  Then you can build up on future visits. You want to be friendly with the person selling, and if possible, don’t draw attention to the card you are using. This card can only be slid and is not a chip or touchless so slide it when the teller is not really paying attention. When you purchase gift cards I recommend that you also get a card that looks similar to one of your debit cards. Like the following:

If you keep your hand over most of the card when you slide it and put the card back in your pocket that has the bank debit card, if asked, you can pull out the bank debit card with your name on it from that pocket.  

If you have found a place where you can purchase, find all of the same chain’s locations near you and you can make a visit to each one to attempt at their location as well. 

Note that many large chains owned by Kroger and Safeway have already blocked gift card purchases so you need to aim for other options.  

Once you have obtained your money orders, you can deposit them into your bank. I suggest that you only deposit them into the outside ATM and ideally only use a small credit union, Wells Fargo, or Navy Federal Credit Union may be more lenient.

PRO TIP: Note that Bank of America frowns on money order deposits, so do not attempt to do so with them they will close your account. 

Keep trying new places and see where you can liquidate the gift cards and build up your relationships with the staff. Usually, the store directors are harder to deal with and will shut things down if they don’t understand what's going on so be transparent, and look at badges to know their position. Be friendly and draw the conversation away from what you are doing unless their body language shows concern then let them know you are creating points for a free plane trip with your family.  

As a final hint, make sure you have a good answer if asked what you are doing. If it is the first time seeing you saying “I need it for a rent deposit,” is fine, but honestly can be the best policy in many cases to help eliminate fear and for the management to know you aren’t a bad person doing anything malicious. 

Good Luck, and God Bless!!!

Credit Counsel Elite teaches business owners how to get up to $500k every 6 months at 0% interest. Check out CreditCounselElite.com or CLICK HERE to learn more.