Make Money on Your Tax Rebate Stimulus Check

Eager to take your rebate money from you, there are a few retailers willing to give you a percentage bonus if you trade in your rebate at their store for gift cards.

Here are the few I know so far:

Sears will give you a 10% bonus on your rebate if you trade in your tax stimulus check for a Sears gift card. This includes KMart and Lands Ends stores as well. So for example if you have a $1200 check, if you would get a total of $1320 on a Sears Gift card. ($1200 rebate + $120 10% bonus). Definitely a good deal if you are going to by appliances or a large ticket item

According to this Press Release you just need to take your rebate check to a Sears or KMart cash register to redeem the rebate check for a gift card. You must redeem the entire amount of the rebate check into a gift card to get the 10% bonus. This promotion lasts from May 14 to July 19, 2008

The Kroger Grocery Store Chain is also giving customers a 10% bonus for redeeming their tax rebate for gift cards. The program allows Kroger customers to exchange their tax refund or economic stimulus checks for a Kroger gift card with an extra $30.00, $60.00 or $120.00 added to it. Here is how they are dealing with the issue if your rebate check is not in a $300, $600, or $1200 increment.

Amounts that differ from those outlined above will be turned into gift cards in $300.00, $600.00 or $1,200.00 increments with the bonus amounts added on and the remainder returned to the customer. For example, if a customer has a tax refund or stimulus check of $415.50, the customer will receive a Kroger gift card valued at $330.00 and the remaining $115.50 will be returned to the customer.

Kroger customers who are interested in exchanging their refunds or economic stimulus checks should present their check and customer loyalty card at their local store’s Customer Service center from May 2, 2008 through July 31, 2008. The program is limited to one offer per household with a limit of $1,200.00.See Kroger’s Press Release for more info.

So if you were planning on spending that rebate check anyway, this might be an option if you are willing to spend it all at one store, cause hey, in the end this is free money on top of free money!!! Please beware of the gift card polices in your area as some may expire or lose vale over time. I imagine that many other stores will be offering something like this as many do for tax refunds in April every year. I will try to update as I find more. Please leave a comment if you know of any large retailers that are offering this bonus for your tax rebate check.