Simon mall sells $500-1000 VISA gift cards (in stores and online) and has been commonly used by the credit card churning community to meet the sign-on bonus requirements for the new credit cards.
Unloading these gift cards requires a compatible Western Union Kiosk inside the big grocery stores. The Western Union typically charges 89 cents for every $500 money order. This method is the cheapest way (you will lose ~$6 for every $1000 gift cards or $12 for $500 gift cards) to meet large spending requirements. For example, if you are trying to meet a 30K spend on a Venture X business card you will lose only $180 (if getting 1K gift cards) to $360 (if getting $500 gift cards), but earn over 210K points (150K bonus + 30K x 2 points from the spend).
Simon mall gift cards are typically issued by Pathward (MetaBank) and serviced by BHN. In 2022, BHN developed a system in conjunction with Western Union to restrict the use of gift cards to obtain money orders for no more than $470-480 per day. This ingenious software also restricted back to back use of gift cards for at least 30 minutes, so spitting two $500 cards to obtain a larger money order was no longer possible (the machine will say “unauthorized”). There have been system errors even after driving to a second Western Union location on the same day.
New Simon Mall Gift Cards
All these issues resulted in multiple user complaints and after losing a lot of revenue from declining gift card sales, Simon mall finally changed the issuing bank to Sutton Bank, serviced by InComm. These new cards have no Western Union compatibility issues compared to the BHN based cards discussed earlier.
Can you get $1000 gift cards in Simon Mall physical locations?
Several Simon mall physical locations are selling both $500 and $1000 gift cards for $3.95 activation fee. Some stores may limit the $1000 gift card sales to corporate clients only (e.g., with business accounts). The $1000 Visa gift cards only come in one color (see image below).
Can you get $1000 gift cards on the Simon Mall website?
Simon mall allows you to get $1000 gift cards on their web page, but only after a workaround. You must first register for “large-volume gift card purchases” under either as a consumer (https://www.simon.com/volume/register-consumer) or a business owner (https://www.simon.com/volume/register).
Simon Consumer Account Registration
For consumer accounts, you can mention “Manufactured Spending” as the reason for reason for intended use of cards.
Simon Business Account Registration
If you are registered as a business, you may not purchase gift cards for the purpose of Manufactured Spending or personal use with a business account. For successful approvals, you must list “employee incentives/bonuses” as the reason for intended use of cards.
This version requires your business details, Tax ID number and company website URL. You can mention “N/A” in the company URL space and can still get approved for sole proprietorship business.
Applying for Tax ID/EIN is very quick and easy from the IRS webpage (EIN application) and you can get approved under your own name as a sole proprietor. You will receive your EIN information instantly after the application. You don’t have worry about filing for business taxes since you are not making any direct profits doing manufactured spending.
Simon Account Approval Process
- All new account registrations are reviewed Monday – Friday from 8am-5pm EST.
- After the initial approval, you must visit one of the Simon Mall offices to purchase gift cards (minimum of 2K; maximum 10K) in person for verification.
- The activation fee for the verification purchase is waived after showing the registration email to the agent.
- You must email Simon Customer Service after the purchase has been made at a local mall office.
- Once your account has been activated, you will get initial approval limited to $5k daily purchases, which can be increased to 10K limit after five orders.
- You must reach out to customer service for $1000 VISA gift card purchase approval to be able to see the option on their webpage.
Simon Account Approval Delays
- There could be a significant delay in account activation after you send the email to Simon Customer Service (after initial purchase at a physical location).
- You may see the following message when you try to log-in or the previously stored log-in details may not work anymore.
- You are basically at the mercy of Simon’s customer service and keep on emailing or leaving voice messages until the approval comes through (they never pick up the phone).
- I was able to get approval from the Simon Mall manager at the store location for the business account one week after the online application. He was able to manually verify the account and I have been purchasing $1000 gift cards from the store. My online account still shows the same message “under review”, but I didn’t bother to reach customer service since I don’t purchase online.
Should you buy Simon Mall gift cards online or at store locations
- For online Simon Mall Gift Card purchases, the cheapest shipping option is $15 with a $10 processing fee.
- Purchasing gift cards online is still worth the shipping fee, if you are ordering them in bulk and able to unload easily.
- If you are within driving distance of Simon Mall, I recommend getting the gift cards in person.
- Simon Mall Stores (e.g., Florida) carry the $1000 VISA gift cards, but some of them restrict sales to business accounts only.
Procedure for unloading Simon Mall gift cards in Western Union
I have covered this procedure in greater detail in an earlier post but will briefly summarize here (https://awardcracker.com/churning-credit-cards-to-earn-points/).
- Once you buy $1000 gift cards you must find local grocery stores that offer Western Union money orders and also take bank ATM cards (not just cash) for the service.
- You have to find a Western Union that accepts gift cards for large amounts. For example, Western Unions in most Walmart and Publix stores recently updated their computer systems to decline gift cards for over $50 (the machine will say “unauthorized”).
- Ask for a money order for an amount that is less than the gift card total, so it would cover the service fees (typically 89 cents for each $500 money order). for example, asking for a $998 money order will cover the $500 x 2 service fee with one swipe.
- To complete the payment, you will need to use a gift card just like a bank ATM card (swipe instead of inserting since there is no chip) and key in the last 4 digits of the gift card number as the PIN code to complete the transaction.
- This method is the cheapest way to meet large spending requirements. You will only lose ~$6 for every $1000 gift card and you can easily meet the Hyatt Globalist status by spending 120K on a business Hyatt card (https://awardcracker.com/meeting-50k-spend-on-chase-hyatt-business-card/). You will lose <$1000 in fees but earn 120K Hyatt points plus Globalist status which is absolutely worth it for frequent travelers.
- You can pay with 2 gift cards to cover larger money orders (e.g., ask a Western Union agent for a split payment option and use two gift cards). Most Western Unions have a limit of 3K in money orders per person per day, but rules vary from store to store.
- Western Union money orders have recently started printing “not for mobile check deposits.” It is best to do the deposit in person to avoid any cancelled or errored checks due to lighter ink printouts of the dollar amount.
Summary
After almost a year of money order issues with Simon mall gift cards, the company changed issuers and it is a welcome development. One should always be prepared for the worst and only purchase gift cards in small volumes just to meet the spending requirement. A large volume of credit card purchases to obtain status with airlines and hotels (e.g., Hyatt Globalist) should be done cautiously. Amex credit cards SHOULD NOT be used to purchase Simon Mall gift cards since you, since the company no longer issues MR points for the purchase (https://awardcracker.com/dont-use-amex-to-buy-simon-mall-gift-cards/) and the purchases do not qualify towards the sign-up bonus spend.