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It seems that Office Max has these deals periodically, where they are essentially giving away free money, with discounts on prepaid Visa cards.  Last time it was $20 off of $300 in prepaid Mastercards, and this time it’s $15 off $250.  Hat tip to Maximizing Money – the deal starts next week.

You can see it on page 1 of their sneak peek weekly ad, good for 3/2 – 3/8.

officemaxvisacardsAssuming that this is similar to how it worked last time, here is what I did.  Purchase $500 in Visa gift cards. Last time you were able to combine the “Limit 2 offers per customer” into 1 actual purchase, and if that still holds true, then you’ll likely need 3 cards, because I believe the highest denomination that Office Max sells is $200.

We’ll have to check the fine print on the fees, but if it’s the same fee no matter what kind of card you get, then since you have to get 3 cards, you might as well get 3 $200 cards.  The fees on that were (if I remember correctly) $6.95 / card so the math would work out as:

3 – $200 Visa cards

3 – $6.95 fees ($20.85 total)

MINUS $30 (2 $15 offers)

Your total purchase should be $590.85 ($10 more than last time).  Like I said, check the fees on the lower amount gift cards – if your fees are less on a $100 card, then it may make sense to buy 2-$200 and 1-$100 card to get to $500 exactly (but I doubt it will be worth it)

Best would be to get a Chase Ink business card, since those give 5x at OfficeMax and all office supply cards.  So your $590.85 purchase would net you just shy of 3000 Chase Ultimate Reward points.  Do that twice, and you have enough points for a roundtrip ticket to New York on British Airways (among other things).

Planning on taking advantage of this next week?  I only wish there were more conveniently placed Office Max stores around here….


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