CVS Reminder: *HOT* $50 Extrabucks Reward for Buying PayPal Debit MasterCard for $4.95 & Loading $150 (+ Reader Tip!)
Have you been able to snag this *HOT* deal?! 😀
I just wanted to remind all of you CVS shoppers about this rockin’ deal! Just head on over to your local CVS store where they are offering up a $50 Extrabucks Reward just for purchasing a PayPal Reloadable Prepaid Debit Mastercard for $4.95 (and loading a minimum of $150 on the card). This offer is limited to 1 per household and valid through November 27th only.
NOTE: Please note that this deal may be regional…. so be sure to check your My CVS Weekly Ad to see if it’s advertised in your area.
What a *HOT* buy since you are basically making a little over $45 (when you subtract the $4.95 fee) to spend at CVS. And as you know, based on all of the great weekly deals, $45 can go very far at CVS! Even sweeter, check out this comment left on the previous post…
[h2s_box]When I went to activate my second card, it asked me for a referral code to get my bonus. It says, “For every friend you get to sign up, activate and load $10 on their card, you (and they) will get $5.” To get yours – login to your account at https://www.paypal-prepaid.com and then click on “My Account” and then “Refer a Friend.” If you have a friend you coupon with, this is a great way to “cover” the activation fee and the monthly fee (mine was debited automatically when I activated it).[/h2s_box]
I’m annoyed because here in ny they have been out of this for a while due to a warehouse issue. They won’t swap it out for another card either! ;(
I found that out yesterday after I went to 3 Buffalo stores. Disappointing I know 🙁
I live in Buffalo also and I was told at CVS that this card was “illegal in NY” do to the monthly fee :-/ I dont know if that is true but bummed that it was in our online ad for our area.
Maybe what CVS told me is true i found this online:
New York law prohibits applying service or dormancy fees prior to the thirteenth month of dormancy, and requires the terms and conditions to be clearly and conspicuously disclosed on the card.
I’m told to activate it you must register it online and give your S.S#, is this true because I’m not going to do it then.
You have to give your address and SSN. I won’t do it either because of that. And for me, it would be hard to spend $50 ECB all at once. Plus, people are talking about spending all of the $$ on the card within 36 hours to avoid the monthly fees – I’m not keen on that either since they have your SSN, they could decide to report you to the credit bureau if they wanted (granted, I have not read any legal clauses related to this card), just something I’m leery about.
You dont need to give your SSN or any personal info. I did mine without giving anything. I asked if the law requires for my ssn, she mentioned that i will miss on some features -.online payment and atm etc. it can only be used in retail stores. I am fine w th it.
Giving your SS# has to do with the Patriot Act. This won’t be reported to the credit agency:)
Still no need for them to have it if it is a prepaid card!
Jeff, you can request “limited access,” which doesn’t require a SSN. This allows you to use it in store and request cash back.
FYI the second $4.95 fee (monthly) is debited very quickly. In my case it was less than 24 hrs after activation. So it’s really about a $40 mm, but still a great deal.
This is true. $50 goes down to $40 the next morning.
I was charge the $4.95 monthly fee also but called and qfter being in hold 1/2 hr they refunded it :)!!
I tried to do this AND THEY REFUSED TO REFUND THE CHARGE. They went so far as to say, “If anyone is telling you they are getting a refund for this fee – it isn’t true!” Terrible. They also told me I have to wait 3 days to close the card. I called twice just to make sure.
I activated my card and withdrew the entire $150 within an hour with no issues.
how do you withdraw the money?
I have an AMEX Bluebird account I use to send money to my son. No load fees of any kind. I highly recommend it for students. I went to Walmart and loaded the AMEX with the PayPal card using it as a debit for the full amount.
Wondering the same thing, can you put it in your paypal account??
I got my 150 off
You can go to walmart, buy a 10 dollar gift card and ask for remaining cash abck. Simple 🙂
do they not have cash back limits?
My Walmart cash back limit is $100. So I got $50 Walmart GC and $100 in cash back.
My experience was the same. Limit of $100 cash. Bought $50 g/c.
Yes, $100. You can do 2 transactions if you want though.
I went to get this deal today, it was listed in my regional online ad that it was a valid offer for my area. Upon arriving I asked the cashier if the deal was good, before I could even finish my question, she said that it was a mistake and the ad will be pulled tomorrow and they will not honor it. I called CVS corporate and asked them about this, they reinstated the fact that it is a mistake and a email went out to all stores informing them to not honor this.
Think you meant “reiterated”, not reinstated…
Wow, you’re good! Thanks for that!
I was able to get 2 with my card!! I bought one activated it and then bought a second one using the first card I purchased! I received 2 $50 rewards!
Hi Ferann,
How do you activate it? Is it activated @ the store or do you have to get home and do it online or phone?
TIA
Meg
You can activate it either way. It’s easier to activate it online.
This will only cover the cost of the card or the activation fee but not both. Or am I missing something? PS sure glad a new post was started! There were over 400 on the other one lol!
Is the money not available at all if not activated? The Paypal site says you just cannot reload, transfer funds, or get a PIN without activation. I plan on a single use right away, so doesn’t seem necessary.
If you do not activate the card you will be unable to use it as a debit card therefore tying up the funds. You cannot cancel the card unless you have a 0 balance.
Well that’s how I interpreted too. I feel like it is “activated” when u buy it so if u want to use it right away (as a credit card, because as a debit card you need to punch in a PIN which can only be gotten when activating it online) maybe someone can try it by turning around and buying another card and see if the whole $150 is still available. I also think when u activate it online, that is when they snatch that $4.95 fee. So maybe someone can try buying one then using it right away to buy another by using it as a credit card and let us know? The only thing is, if it doesn’t work, and u need to activate it online (like the directions say lol), the cashier has already scanned your cvs card and u may not get your $50ecb if they cancel the transaction and u go back to do it later after u activated the first card online. OMG!! I hope that made sense!!! Lol!! I just came back from buying my 2nd card. Will post in a bit about that.
I probably wouldn’t attempt to buy a 2nd card with it, however, it should be at least able to use as a credit/gift card in any retail store without issues…if the only concern is not wanting to provide a SSN. Also, if you don’t provide that information, how would they charge you a $4.95 fee?
This is from their site: When you purchase the temporary card at a retail location and make an initial value load of up to $500, you will have the use of a temporary card with limited functionality: the temporary card cannot be reloaded with additional funds and it will expire 120 days from the date of purchase. In order to have access to more features of the card account, including receipt of a personalized card, access to the Virtual Account feature, and the ability to make additional value loads, you must activate the card following the instructions shown above or those that accompany the temporary card.
There is also a 4.95 monthly maintenance fee that is deducted from the balance on the card.
I tried speaking with the rep, and she waived one for me 🙂
For those of you that had your husband get a card as well or got two cards, have you been able to link both to your paypal account?
CVS cards are one per household so I don’t know how people’s spouses can have different cards.
How are some people getting 2 cards? It says on my reciept the deal limit is only one?
Are you serious?
The deal is 2. Also, just because CVS policy states 1 card per household doesn’t mean people abide by that.
Sorry I forgot people don’t follow rules.
people have their own, then they get married… so now their family has two. is that too hard to understand? we each had our separate lives before we got married… lol.
Are you talking to me because if you are don’t tell me people aren’t signing up for multiple cards on purpose to take advantage. It’s not my business people can cheat I was wondering how people could do this deal 3 or 4 times I thought it was only one per household.
I’m sure axhilli your presumption is correct and its not all these couples who supposedly each had their own cards before getting married and now they have two. Maybe all these couples met at cvs? Lol
I was just told that PayPal backed out and the sale is no longer valid. They will not honor it, at least not in the northwest suburb area of Illinois.
So what happens to the $150 we have sitting on the cards?
Just went to my local CVS and got the 50 Rewards… bought my items earned $22.00 more in rewards and bought enough Covergirl products to earn my Free Movie Ticket for Catching Fire! Awesome Day!
yee-haw!!!!
Not available in Southern California. But if they do require a SSN, I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable to do it anyway.
I just looked up the ad using my zipcode from Rancho Santa Margarita and the deal comes up in the ad with the zip of 92688, So Cal.
im in southern calie (la to be exact) and was able to do the deal.
The deal is valid in SD also according to the online ad! I just need to run to CVS!!
If they are out ask if they will substitute. My local CVS did just that and they also printed me out 2 ($25) extra care bucks so if there is a problem with it printing ask if they can give you 2 smaller ones that total $50 instead of one. BTW I didn’t ask for two he said they had to do it that way.
Oh that was nice! What did you get instead??
American Express Serve Card, it was free to buy the card so I only paid $150. I don’t need to activate it I can use it immediately but haven’t tried to use it yet. I’m sure if I want a pin to use it as a debit card then I’d have to register it.
You may want to keep the AMEX card. There are no fees to load and no monthly fees. I have the AMEX Bluebird so I can send my son money for free. You can create sub accounts and your child can have their own card. The money in the primary account cannot be used by the sub account. Only what you transfer to the sub account. This keeps his spending to what I put on the card. I immediately went to Walmart and loaded the PayPal onto my AMEX Bluebird with no problems.
axhilli, i just read in the above comments where you replied to someone and said “CVS cards are one per household so I don’t know how people’s spouses can have different cards” and then in the same conversation you replied and said “Sorry I forgot people don’t follow rules”. I feel that just because someone at CVS would substitute, dosent mean its right. Before you go trying to call people out on their ethics, check yourself first!
The store told me they were substituting so check yourself, I don’t make up the store rules. I am not understanding how people are going and then their spouses are going to do the deal cause I was told it was one per household.
You might have been misinformed. Several people have reported on here that they were able to do the deal twice on their cards, even though the online ad said limit of 1. That was my experience; limit was actually 2.
How did the comment sorry I forgot people don’t follow rules offend you. It was a statement it wasn’t directed at anyone so if it hurt you that I said it then look in the mirror and figure out why.
That comment didn’t bother me at all 🙂
Let’s give thanks and have a Merry Christmas!
Just got back from wasting two hours of my time and gas. I checked my CVS ad online and my region is participating but got to the store and they claimed they have never carried them in this region. Then tried to purchase a few items and my manufacture coupons were denied for no valid reason. When I asked to speak with a manager, she said I’m the assistant, and refused to manually enter the coupon even though it was the right item. I said forget it and left my stuff on the counter, and then called corporate in front of the store. They didn’t do much but take my complaint. Totally opposite of the experience I had last thanksgiving shopping at this store. Guess they’ve turned on couponers. I’ll stick to rite aid after this.
I live in Reseda, CA and had a similar experience. The person ringing me up was a supervisor of some sort, didn’t have a name tag & wasn’t in uniform. When I handed her my coupons, another employees, who decided it was a nice day to not work, but just stand around, stood behind her and said about the $4 visine CVS coupon “oh, we don’t accept that coupon anymore, do we?” and asked me where I got my sparkle paper towel coupon and told me my children’s advil coupon for $1.50 was higher than the value of the advil… which it wasn’t, the children’s advil was $2+… anyway, in short, they questioned me on all three coupons and were trying to give me a hard time. I don’t see why CVS puts out a CVS coupon, then says they aren’t accepting them “anymore.” I guess they are jealous that they aren’t reaping the savings, so they try to give us a hard time. Sucks for us 🙁 someday coupon fraud will end so that they stop badgering us about legit coupons.
With all the negative comments and problems I cannot take a chance of doing this deal and losing money.
My couponing buddy and I did this deal yesterday and it worked great. My buddy went back today and CVS had pulled all the cards.
amen sister..the whole walmart deal was enough hassle..holding out for a legit deal that a store WONT actually back out of! 🙂 More deals to come!
If anyone would like to use my referral code, it’s 3808291188! I just used someone’s from the previous thread and it worked great! Thanks in advance.
Merry Christmas! I used ur referral code! 🎄
Thanks Abby!!!
My referral code is 3743111779 in case anyone else wants to Pay It Forward. Thanks guys!!
Abby, love Paying It Forward.. I will use yours when I activate mine. 🙂
Thanks Heather!!!
I used yours 🙂 I didn’t see a referral code when I activated mine. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Abby! – I used your referral code (twice!). Here’s my code in case someone else wants to continue to pay it forward: 4709535087 . Thanks!
Carmen, I paid it forward on ya! 🙂 If anyone would like to pay it forward for moi, my code is 5483268882 – thanks guys!!
carmen i am using your code. Someone please use mine. Thanks 8433579147
Hey Abby I used your code. I would love it if someone used mine. 2892815968
It was listed in my ad online, but no cards in store! Called corporate they confirmed the deal is good, but there was nothing they could do. Also had my coupons refused by the manager for my other items. Finally just left, a total waste of my time and gas!
Oops, just saw my first comment posted, so see above for more detail.
I went in today and there werent any on the display so I asked the cashier and she had some in boxes, I showed her my weekly ad online so we tried it and it didn’t work, the manager said it had not been printing the ecb so they pulled them, I was able to get a refund.
im in socal
What part of so cal? I’m in sd and have not done the deal but want to.. I hope it will work…
Why didn’t they just manually print the extracarebucks for you instead of giving you a refund. They could have printed your extrabucks.
Do you have to upload the money on a card the the 50 ECB or can you just buy the card through it away and the 50 ECB?
Ladies…it’s not as scary as you think. I got the card yesterday. Went online to activate it. There are first couple of screens where you enter the card info, name, address etc… just to activate the card..so that it can be used with online merchants. Once it is activated, it asks you to register the card (essentially to your paypal accounts). Only then it asks for SSN etc. You dont have to register the card if you plan on ending the balance and avoid the extra monthly fee. I simply went to one of the atms listed on the website and withdrew $140. It charged in a fee of $1.95. I immediately spent the rest $8.05 on gas and was done with it.
basically spent $4.95 + $1.95 = $6.95 to get my $50 ECBs.
Thank you!! I hate the mob mentality 🙂
Thanks for the tip!!
I did the same thing. 🙂
Very easy. I registered mine, then bought a Publix GC online for $150. I already called and talked to a rep, once the Publix transaction clears tomorrow, I can call again and cancel the card. Since I am showing a zero balance, I will not be charged a fee for three months. Easy peasy.
Worked perfectly for me in ohio, we’ll almost… I was the last customer of the night & the cashier was in a hurry & forgot to scan my cvs card so no ecb printed. So the cashier called over the manager & she manually printed 2 $20 ecb & a $10 ecb. Love my cvs:-)
Great idea to the readers who shared referral codes. If anyone needs a code ($5 each for you & me), you can use mine: 7970722133. Thanks much & happy thanksgiving!
Planning to go get mine today and will use your referral code, thank you!
Thank you, susyq!
Do you have to link this card to a paypal account?
No you dont have to.
I love this deal but it taught me how much I hate Paypal. $4.95 to activate and then they took another $4.95 within 12 hours! Who would ever give this as a gift or use it?! You buy someone a $25 gift card on December 24 (not that us Hip2Savers would wait that late) but when you give the gift on December 25 it is only $20.05! What a terrible gift! I still coming out $40 ahead but I am just saying this experience with this card has not made me like it…it has made me realize what a rip off it is!
It states on the package “This is not a gift card.” These aren’t intended to be gifts.
How do you cancel the card? Or do you have to if there is a $0 balance?
Great name, by the way! 🙂
Yes, you have to cancel the card. I was just on the phone and asked this. They WILL keep charging you the $4.95. I asked how they would get this if the balance is $0 and she said it would deduct next time you put money on the card but I am not sure that would be the only place since when you activate the card it links it to your Paypal account, I think they would try to get the money that way, too. So if you have a credit card or bank account liked to your Paypal, they might try to get the money that way. So BE SURE TO CANCEL!! 🙂
You can cancel your account online or by phone. If you don’t have a $0 balance they charge you almost $6 to have a check sent with your remaining balance.
How do you cancel online?? I have been on hold on the phone for 10 minutes.
Here’s my referral code, if anyone wants to use it, You get $5.00 and i get $5.00 covers the fee.
Here’s my referral code too! 5184053148
It will give you $5 in your account.
Thank you!! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
oops it didnt paste 6816189349
Has anyone in Louisiana gotten this deal? I don’t see it in our ad and hate to waste money if you don’t get anything in return. TIA
what are the referral codes for??
When you activate your card you can add a referral code from someone who already activated their card and each person will get $5 added to their card. It makes up for the $5 that you spent to purchase the card. Mine is 2337686316 if you try it, Good Luck!
I use one of the referral codes on here, so if anyone wants to use mine I would also be grateful. We both receive $5. My referral code is 5297568372.
CAN I link this card to my paypal account or is this similar to a straight up Visa gift card? I am very confused. I also think it is very poor customer service of CVS to potentially not honor this deal. It is a printed deal in the paper! Seems like false advertising/ bait and switch.
It’s a Prepaid Paypal Mastercard and you can link it to your Paypal account.
Thanks, Shelby. I went up to my CVS to do this deal and I did not see it in the circular nor did I see it with a tag advertisement here in Richmond, VA. However, I see it advertised in my area on the website. Decided to print out the webpage which states that it is available in my store. I’m going back with that in hand in case there are issues.
oh, i see now! how long does it take for you to get the referral code on the account??
I try to pay with my card.she said it not activated.what do I need to do.when I called the no. It asks me for my SSN#.pl help
FYI – even if it is not in your local ad.. does not mean it is not apart of the deal. It was not in my local ad but I decided to do it anyways and it worked. 🙂 Hope Mills/Fayetteville, NC
The limit is 2. I got one and showing “1 toward next rewards”. I got another one this morning and showed “offer limit reached”.
My CVS in Columbus had them all over the store with the $50 ECB yellow sign stuck to them! So easy! I’d like to use mine to get cash back…when I do the “ATM finder” it only lists stores, not banks. Does this mean these stores have an ATM in them? Or I have to buy something and do cash back?
I used an ATM at 7-11 and it worked fine!
I’m trying not to freak out here… I made a typo with my SSN and now it won’t let me activate the card, and the customer service number doesn’t work. It says you have to enter the card number, and when I do, it says it’s not valid. I don’t know what to do. Does anyone have a different customer service number other than the 1-866-753-6440 number?
The same thing happened to me. I pushed one for lost or stolen card because I couldn’t use the automated system either. I was on hold for about 12 mins and then like 35 mins with rep and in the end she activated it for me free over the phone and I didn’t have to give my SSN. She said I can’t use it at an ATM, but I can get cash back
I finally got through, but was given different information. I have to fax my social security card and drivers license, so they can process it, or wait 20 business days for a refund check.
Wendy, those were the two options I was given, also. But then when I asked for a supervisor, the rep offered me the “limited access” option–can only use in-store, not online or phone. I took it, then immediately went to walmart and bought a $50 g/c, and took $100 in cash.
18663975639
Can I buy it just to get 50 EBC and never use it?
Sure, but you would loose $150! If you are not going to use the $150 you put on the card, you should not do it.
For 50 EBC you have to pay $154.95 ($4.95 for the card and $150 to load)
that is a rip off! Why would I buy a card for that amount when I can just use good old cash??
to get $50 EBCs, money maker of $40 after the fees
To me if was going to buys stuff why go through all this (pple are having problems), when I can use my my debit/credit card. To me EBC are not money back because it can only bee used at CVS.
Jeff, it is like someone handed me $50 for a shopping spree at cvs.
Why are you commenting so much on this thread then?
our cvs is doing it until the 30th and we are allowed 2 each
Can you transfer the balance to your paypal account then cancel the card? If that is the case then you can just transfer the money from your paypal account back to your bank account.
I’d like to know this also.. It would be awesome if someone tried this and it works!
Beware, this has been a nightmare. I bought the card and got the ECBS no prob. When I tried to activate the card online it told me “there is a problem with your account please call.” So I did. I was on hold for almost an hour. Then the operator gave me this song and dance about since I was a new customer I needed to fax them my SS card and driver’s license and I would have access to my $ in 8-10 business days! WHAT??? HECK NO!!! I ripped her a new one. I told her that was unacceptable. She FINALLY said she could activate it now and it would only work like a gift card i.e. I couldn’t reload it. It was a horrible experience and I told her so.
What if you don’t have an ssn? Will I be able to still register it and withdraw the money from an atm or use it as a debit card? Thanks!
If anyone wants to use a referral code to get their $5 and help me out, here is my code – 3956841887 🙂 Thanks in advanced!
To maximize savings, you can spend paypal money on purchase of gift cards at a discount sites (raise.com, cardpool.com, etc).
Plus entering a referral code when activating, adds $5 to your account.
If you need a referral code, mine is 8525349197
I used your referral code, Susan.
Could someone please use my code?
9193291912
So if you have to have a zero balance to cancel, how am I going to get the .05 off the card? I have a balance of 140.05 (the referral code didn’t work for me) so I plan to buy 140 in Target gift cards but what about the last nickel?!?! Thanks!
145.05 that is. 🙂
Ok sounds crazy, but here is how you can get it off…use it as a debit card at a gas pump and get 5 cents worth of gas. 🙂 I had an odd amount remaining on mine too, and this is what I did. Since it is prepaid, when you scan it outside at the gas pump, it will electronically query the balance and authorize your gas purchase up to that amount. So a .05 gas purchase it is lol
Thanks so much! They will think I’m crazy but who cares, right? 🙂
lol they will never know if you do it from outside at an automated pump with a credit/debit card reader like I did 🙂
You could buy $150 of gift cards at Target by using 2 methods of payment: empty the PayPal card ($145.05) cash or a credit card for the remainder ($4.95).
I tried something like this first but it didn’t work. I guess the trick is to use the cash or credit card first, then use the paypal prepaid. When we tried to use the paypal prepaid first, it kept rejecting transaction…it didn’t automatically take of $145.05, then ask how I wanted to pay the balance. Instead, it said “transaction unauthorized.” I tried it at 2 separate stores.
I was able to get this deal and I did not activate the card. What I did is transfer all $150 into my existing paypal account. I did just that and I did not get charged for activation fee.
I think the card will expire for 120 days from the date of purchase.
How did you transfer the money without activating the card? Did you go to your paypal account first then add the card?
Katie, would you mind sharing the link from which you were able to accomplish this? Thanks!
What I did is I went to the Paypal Cash website (written at the back of the card), then logged in using the Log In With Paypal Access button.
Then I clicked on the Load Funds Now on the upper right hand side of the page, scratched the silver area for the 10-digit PIN and then entered it to load to my Paypal account. I already have an existing account so it did not need to verify my information anymore.
My cash card is now $0 so I don’t know if they will still charge me. I have read up on the FAQs that temporary cards (bought from retailers) just expire after 120 days.
You should cancel the temp. card right away. They may tap your PP acct. for the monthly fee if you don’t. I think the way you did is is a good idea, but I’m worried a bit about them having access to my PP acct.
How did you transfer it to your PayPal account?
Can you then transfer from the paypal account to your bank acct that you linked to paypal?
Katie, how did you do this without activating the card?
My card does not have a silver area on it to scratch. Do the rest of the cards have this?
I’m completely confused on this one…so if you buy this card for $4.95 you will get $50 in rewards back?
No, you buy it for $154.95 and get $50 ECBs. You’ll have $150 on the card to use elsewhere.
Until they snatch the $4.95 fee (which happened overnight for me GRRR!!) and then u will have $145.05 left.
If you don’t understand this deal, you might want to be careful about doing it. There are fees on these cards, you have to link to your PayPal account, you have to provide your SSN, etc. Sounds like people are having a tough time with customer service, too, so be careful. HTH!
You also have to load the card with $150.
Sierra, you need to buy this card ($4.95) and “load it” with $150 to get the $50 ECB. Essentially you’ll grab it, head to the register and fork over $154.95, and in return you’ll get a prepaid Mastercard with $150 on it and $50 ecb. Hope this helps!
I was charged $4.95 when I bought it and nothing else has been deducted…yet. I’m hoping this doesn’t turn out to be more trouble than it’s worth. So far it seems that I have to cancel after I reach a 0 balance or I’ll be charged more monthly fees? I’m planning to spend it quickly or see if I can transfer it to my PayPal account. Anyway, thanks for all the tips. And if anyone wants to use my referral code: 8985290267. Happy Thanksgiving!
Please come back and let us know if you’re able to transfer! Much appreciated =)
If it’s possible, I can’t figure out how yet.
I tried transferring the funds to PayPal for awhile and couldn’t figure it out either- finally gave up and bought $150 walmart giftcard to spend on gas just to get the card wiped clean so that they can’t take any fees out. 🙂
Has this worked in Atlanta/Decatur Ga
Yes it works. Just tried it at CVS on Candler Rd. 🙂