Prepaid Gift Cards - All You Need to Know

Gifting plastic money for the pleasure of shopping is the new way to put its receiver in the driver’s seat to make his/her choice.

The Prepaid Gift Card, which is pre-loaded with a certain amount of money by the one gifting it, works like a Debit Card. It can be used to make online purchases or for shopping at physical stores that accept the card. You can read more on what is a Gift Card here.

The person receiving the Gift Card does not have to be a customer of the issuing bank. However, the one gifting the card may or may not require to be the issuing bank’s customer.

How to buy a Gift Card?

Someone who is not a customer of the issuing bank, has to visit a bank branch, fill out a Gift Card application form and submit a cheque or demand draft of the amount that is to be loaded (inclusive of fees, if any) to obtain a Gift Card. However, existing bank customers have the convenience of obtaining a Gift Card via fund transfer, net banking or even phone banking.

The form asks for the following details:

• Name & address of the one purchasing the Gift Card
• Name & address of the receiver of the Gift Card
• The amount of money to be loaded in the Gift Card
• Account details (for existing customer)
• Cheque or demand draft details (if not a customer of the bank)
• Purpose of gifting

A non-customer will also have to submit a filled Know Your Customer (KYC) form, identity proof and address proof.

After the bank gets the form and the payment of the required amount, it issues a Prepaid Gift Card in the name of the receiver. The bank also generates a PIN, which is then sent to the receiver. The PIN enables the Prepaid Gift Card holder to use the card and also check the balance on the card. The card is activated as soon as the money bank credits the money.

Charges

Banks do not charge any additional fee from their existing customers on purchase of a Prepaid Gift Card. Banks also do not charge anything on using the card. However, checking the balance in the card at any ATM may attract a small fee.

How does a Prepaid Gift Card work?

Once received, the recipient of the Prepaid Gift Card can use it to make online purchases or swipe the card in stores that accept payments from the card’s network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). The preloaded amount of money keeps decreasing with every spend, until it is all over! Note that money cannot be withdrawn using a prepaid debit card.

Conditions

• The card can be used only in India.
• You cannot withdraw cash using a Prepaid Gift Card.
• The amount loaded in the Prepaid Gift Card is limited. HDFC Bank limits it to INR 10,000.
• The Prepaid Gift Card is a single-load card, cannot be reloaded again.

Looking to apply for a e-GiftPlus Card? Click here now!

* Terms & conditions apply. GiftPlus Card approvals are at sole discretion of HDFC Bank Ltd