Gift Card Guides
How to Check a Target Visa Gift Card Balance
The prepaid Visa card you bought at Target is not a Target GiftCard, is not checked in the same place — and is better protected if you lose it.
Opens Target Visa’s official site in a new tab. Your card details are entered there, never here.
Short answer: A Visa or Mastercard prepaid card bought at Target is checked at mybalancenow.com or on 1-877-867-4873. An American Express card bought at Target is checked at balance.amexgiftcard.com or on 1-833-792-5087. None of them can be checked on target.com — that page is only for Target GiftCards.
This is an independent guide. We are not Target Visa and have no affiliation with it. We never ask for your card number or PIN — enter those only on Target Visa's own site, app, or phone line, all linked below.
- Under two minutesBalance in seconds
- Retailer tools onlyNever entered here
- Online, phone or storeFour ways to check
- Terms most guides skipExpiry, reloads, limits
What you need before you start
Every balance-check method except the in-store one asks for two things. Both are printed on the card itself — on the back of a physical card, or in the email for an eGift Card.
Method 2: Check online (fastest)
- Work out which card you have. A Target GiftCard has the Target logo and a bullseye; a prepaid card carries the Visa, Mastercard or American Express logo instead.
- For Visa and Mastercard, go to mybalancenow.com — the site Target names in its own help pages.
- For American Express, go to balance.amexgiftcard.com instead.
- Enter the card number, expiry date and security code. The balance appears on screen.
Copycat sites using the mybalancenow name exist on other domains. Type mybalancenow.com in yourself, and check you are on that exact address before entering a card number.
Opens Target Visa’s official site in a new tab. Your card details are entered there, never here.
Method 1: Check by phone
The automated line reads your balance back to you.
Method 3: Check in a Target Visa store
Target stores cannot look up a prepaid Visa, Mastercard or Amex balance — the cards are run by the card networks, not by Target. Guest Services can only help with Target GiftCards.
Target Visa gift card rules worth knowing
Most guides stop at the balance check. These are the terms that actually catch people out.
- Lost or stolen
- Replaced, free. Target states that if records show value remains, Visa, Mastercard or American Express will cancel the card and refund the available value as a new card, with no replacement fee.
- Expiry
- Target states the balances on these Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards never expire.
- Purchase fee
- There is a fee at the time of purchase. Target states it starts at $4 and rises with the value of the card.
- Activation
- Physical cards may have a delayed activation period. Digital cards are active when the eGift email arrives.
- What you cannot buy
- Target states these cards cannot be used to buy Visa, Mastercard or American Express cards, Target GiftCards, or other prepaid cards.
- Where they work
- Anywhere on the relevant card network — not just Target.
This is the quiet oddity worth knowing: the prepaid Visa card Target sells is replaced free if you lose it, while a Target GiftCard is only replaced if you still have the original receipt.
Avoid fake balance-check sites
A card number plus its PIN is everything needed to spend the card. There is no password, no account, no verification step. Anyone who collects those two fields can drain the balance in minutes, and because a stolen balance is not replaced, the money is simply gone.
Search results for gift card balance queries are full of look-alike pages that host their own entry form. A legitimate guide — this one included — sends you to the retailer's own site to type those digits. If a page asks you to enter the number and PIN on that page, close it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Target Visa gift card the same as a Target GiftCard?
No. They are separate products with separate balance checkers, separate rules and separate lost-card policies. Check the logo on the card.
Can I check a Target Visa balance on target.com?
No. The target.com balance page only handles Target GiftCards. Prepaid Visa and Mastercard cards go to mybalancenow.com.
Does Target replace a lost prepaid Visa card?
Target states the card network will cancel it and refund the remaining value as a new card, with no fee, provided records show value still on it.
Why was I charged a fee?
Prepaid Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards carry a purchase fee, which Target states starts at $4 and increases with the card value. Target GiftCards have no purchase fee.
Can I buy a Target GiftCard with a prepaid Visa?
No. Target states these cards cannot be used to buy Target GiftCards or other prepaid cards.
Do Target prepaid Visa cards expire?
Target states the balances never expire, though the plastic carries a printed date.
Other gift card guides
- Check your Sephora gift card balance
- Check your Ulta Beauty gift card balance
- Check your Macy's gift card balance
- Check your Target gift card balance
- Check your Nordstrom gift card balance
- Check your DSW gift card balance
- Check your Kohl's gift card balance
- Check your Old Navy gift card balance
- Check your Starbucks gift card balance
- Check your Best Buy gift card balance
- Check your Lowe's gift card balance
- Check your Vanilla Visa gift card balance
- Check your American Express gift card balance
Sources. Card terms summarised from Target Visa's own published gift card pages: mybalancenow.com and gift card terms & FAQs. Terms change — always confirm current terms with the retailer.