Bank Offers Two-for-One Money

You know the daily deal phenomenon is out of control when you can get 50 dollars in cash for 25.

Area 224 loves a deal as much as the next guy. But is this headline, from an email we received from daily deal site “The Got Spot,” TGTBT? (Too Good To Be True?)

“Free Money from MB Financial”

If you’re new to “social commerce,” you are buying, in effect, options to receive a product or service at a discount. Most of the time, sites like Groupon and Gilt Groupe are selling you something at a discount. You’ll pay $25 for $50 worth of food and drink at a local restaurant, or get a $500 retail Lauren suit for $99. (They sold out of that one, I’m on the waiting list.)

Bringing us back to the bank’s offer. Read the fine print and it’s a Master Card Gift Card, with $50 in value, on sale for $25.

Limit one per household; somehow, I just purchased ten.

What’s in it for the bank? Well, I’m sure they’ll try to sell me something – so they’re calculating that spending $25 to acquire “eyeballs” (or foot traffic, since I have to visit in person to claim my gift card) is worth it.

But this is trackable marketing – they can tell what it costs to get me in the bank, and whether or not I convert. So…probably not a bad idea on the part of the bank.

Now we’ll see if they let me cash in all ten.

UPDATE: As of 10/14 at 3:00 p.m., The Got Spot has refunded me $225 from my original $250 purchase, saying that I can’t buy more than one coupon. They did this without me asking or complaining.