Multiplying Your Tax Rebate

With rebate checks soon to start showing up in people’s mailboxes, retailers are eager to see us spend the money in their stores. For a limited time, several are offering to add 10 percent to the value of your tax rebate if you use the full amount to purchase gift cards at their stores. The financial blog Five Cent Nickel highlighted offers from Kroger and Sears.

The Kroger offer is good at any of its nearly 2,500 grocery stores nationwide that operate under a variety of names. See the above Kroger link for the names of all of its stores. Kmart and Lands’ End, both owned by Sears Holdings, are also offering the 10 percent incentive.

This is a value-added twist on the more common practice of retailers offering to cash your tax refund check in the hope that you’ll spend the money in their store before getting back to your car. The 10 percent bonus may be worth it if you don’t already have other plans for the money (like paying down debt or building savings) and if you would spend the money in such stores anyway. But keep in mind that spending on plastic – even gift cards – tends to make us spend more than we would otherwise. So, if you’re going to use your tax rebate to buy groceries at Kroger, just be sure to stick to your normal shopping practices such as using a list, using coupons (you do use a list and coupons, don’t you?), and buy what you would normally buy.