I hear this question pop up every now and then in discussions amongst gift card enthusiasts. “Can I use my Visa gift card to withdraw from an ATM?” Bayo asked as he sipped his cold bottle of beer. I felt honored that he would ask me instead of Mr. Know all, “Oga Google”. I gulped down my glass of beer, cleared my throat, and rubbed my palms. He looked at me with curiosity on his face as I said “I thought you would never ask”.
Like Bayo, your curiosity is about to be fed and satisfied. I will start this explanation exactly where I did with Bayo, what is a Visa Gift Card?
What is a Visa Gift Card?
It is an open-loop prepaid card that can be used to purchase items from merchants that accept Visa debit cards. Visa gift cards are accepted worldwide due to the international acceptance of Visa debit cards. They come with different prepaid amounts, for example, a $100 Visa gift card. The amount loaded on the card is your spending limit.
What is A Visa Debit Card?
A Visa debit card on the other hand is connected to your bank account. Your spending limit is connected to how much you have in your bank account. They are used to make payments through POS machines, withdraw money and check account balances from ATMs.
By this point Bayo was catching the drift, a Visa gift voucher is made primarily to redeem items and services. While Visa debit cards are to enable human-machine banking.
So How is a Visa Gift Card Different from a Visa Debit Card?
The following features differentiate the two types of Visa payment cards.
1. Functionality
They both function differently as has already been spelled out above. Generally, Visa debit cards are for payments and most importantly; cash withdrawal. Visa Gift cards are basically for redeeming items or services, not for cash withdrawals. BUT… yes there is a “but”, there is a way to make your Visa gift card cash or even cryptocurrency. You can do this by creating an account on a safe gift card trading platform.
2. Spending Limitations
Visa gift cards come with different amounts of money loaded on them. For example, a $100 Visa gift card will only allow you to buy items worth up to $100. For Visa debit cards it is how much you have in the bank account connected to the card that you are allowed to spend.
3. The Bank Factor
Visa inc. originally does not make cards or set card rates, all they do is present businesses with Visa payment products.
That being said, most of the company’s debit cards are issued by banks and gift cards by gift card-producing companies like Vanilla Gift and Giftcard.com.
These are the major differences between the two types of Visa cards. By now you should know what Visa card to give a loved one as a gift and which one to check your bank account balance with.
