Saving Money Using Dealpass

Dealpass is a unique program which for a monthy fee (usually around $20) you can join various clubs that allow you to purchase gift cards to your favorite stores at 20% off the face value. You may purchase them in $25 incriments... so a $25 gift card will end up costing you $20. How it works is that you pay the full amount for the gift card, then at the beginning of the next month they credit you back the 20% - so for instance you purchase $125 worth of cards from Target... you pay $125 then usually within the first few days of the following month they will refund your credit card $25.

In recent months the clubs have changed to only allow you to purchase 5 cards a month per store, or $125 worth. Not this is per store, not total - so if there are 5 stores you want to purchase cards for in your program then you can get $125 worth from each store during that month.

So for example I'm a member of Home Works Plus (abbreviated HW+). This includes 3 stores I shop at regularly - Target, Home Depot, and Lowes - so every month I am a member I buy $125 of each since I know I will eventually spend it, for a savings of $75. Then there are stores I occasionally shop at such as Sears, Amazon.com, and Bed Bath and Beyond that I purchase as needed so I typically save about $100 a month on cards for the $20 membership fee.

There are tons of different clubs offering different gift cards each. Today's Espapes offers gas cards from Shell and Sunoco which is nice if you have one or even better both near you. Passport to Fun has alot of restuarants like Olive Garden, T.G.I.Fridays, Wendys, and Panera. So depending on what you want to save on you should run down the list of cards available for each club.

What can even sweeten the deal is sometimes when you call to cancel you will be offered a years memebership for the cost of a month! I know this is very common with Passport to Fun+, kind of hit or miss with the others.

Click here for the HUGE thread over at Fatwallet. I hope you are ready for a good read because there are almost 5000 posts in it - if you just want the just of it read the first page for a great overview as well as a list of all the programs offered and the cards available for each.