OneVanillas, Bluebirds and Walmart: What’s going on?
Update 8/17/2014: The One Vanilla cards are now only working periodically and payment is frequently getting declined. My suggestion would be to stop trying to use them at this point as there’s been a number of suspicions raised at Walmart as a result.
Update 8/5/2014: Another register update at Walmart this week is allowing OneVanilla Visas to work at some Walmarts, some without the change payment workaround. As always, test first to make sure this new change works at your Walmart with a small amount of cards.
Update 6/21/2014: Last week, another register update has caused Vanilla Visa and OneVanilla Visa cards to stop working again at Walmart with the Change Payment workaround failing as well. Metabank cards purchased at grocery stores or prepaid cards purchased at Staples still work.
I previously wrote about loading your Bluebird at Walmart with prepaid debit cards. With Vanilla Reloads no longer available at CVS, this has become the recent go-to method for buying prepaid gift cards at drugstores/grocery stores/office supply stores and using those to load Bluebird at Walmart. This allows us to earn miles for buying those gift cards (frequently with a category bonus specific to the merchant) and then to just proceed to pay our rent, utilities, loans and other bills from the Bluebird card. The typical process has been to buy OneVanilla gift cards at CVS as these have been the easiest to deal with. They can then taken to Walmart to use the last four digits as the PIN having the OneVanilla serve as a debit card.
Lately, people have been reporting a few problems both buying gift cards at CVS and unloading them at Walmart. Luckily. I managed to take a quick spin around the CVS/Walmart circuit over the weekend when I happened to be out of town in New Jersey. I successfully unloaded my OneVanilla cards, though with a workaround, and I am going to report on my process and progress. I also caught up with my good friend Marathon Man on the issues at hand and will be sharing his sage advice.
OneVanilla Visa Cards at CVS
As far as buying prepaid gift cards at CVS, this is very much a case of “your miles may vary”. Ever since CVS issued a memo with a number of prepaid and reloadable cards going cash only, we’ve been limited on what we can buy at the chain. One thing to note is that OneVanilla and Visa gift cards were not on the list of cards going “cash only”. Although some stores will sell OneVanilla and Visa gift cards with a credit card no problem, others were more draconian in their new policy interpretation and will say “cash only” for any card whatsoever. I know I have one store in my area that will only take cash for any card you bring to the register. On the other hand, if I go a few blocks away, then I can buy as much as I want up to the $5000 daily limit. I can fully confirm that I bought OneVanilla cards at CVS with a credit card as recently as Friday night.
A piece of advice I can give is not to generalize. If one CVS doesn’t take credit cards, that doesn’t mean another one won’t. There are also plenty of other drugstore chains (Longs Drugs, Walgreens, Rite Aid) where people have been able to buy gift cards… as well as Staples, grocery stores and gas stations. Keep an eye out for opportunities.
Loading Bluebirds at Walmart
Notice the title of the post has a question mark at the end and that’s there for a reason. While I can share my personal knowledge and experience at the Walmarts I visited, there are numerous variants of technology changes across the country. I cannot 100% demystify what exactly is going on. Partially because policies and technology vary across states, stores or even cashiers. With some good advice from Marathon Man, we were able to try out a few things and put together some information. Again, this may not solve every problem or work completely across the board, but hopefully, it will be useful to some.
Changes Affecting InComm Issued OneVanilla and Visa Prepaid Cards
Some Walmart locations changed their register POS systems just as a routine upgrade.This is now causing prepaid debit cards issued by InComm to be processed as credit cards as a default and, as a result, not to work when loading Bluebird. There is a workaround I mention below that may work for some people, but again, I can’t guarantee success everywhere.
Other (non InComm) Visa Prepaid Cards
Other (non InComm issued) Visa prepaid cards still work the same and can often still be used to load Bluebird even when the InComm issued OneVanilla and Visa cards don’t. Sadly, most drugstores will only sell InComm issued ones. Marathon Man has had no issue using these other cards for money orders and these still work exactly the same.
Loading Bluebird at the Money Center ATM
Debit card processing at the Money Center ATM to load Bluebird still works at my Walmart no problem despite upgrades at the register. Other than these frequently being down or simply non-existent, I haven’t heard many new problems with these in recent weeks. I was able to load multiple Bluebirds yesterday at the MoneyCenter ATM by just using the “Bluebird” option.
A Quick-Handed Workaround for OneVanillas
At the same Walmart I loaded the Bluebirds at the Money Center ATM, I bought a few money orders. My OneVanilla prepaid cards were being processed as credit cards initially due to the register upgrade, but I came prepared. With some prior guidance from Marathon Man, I was able to get them through with a workaround.
When I swiped the OneVanilla card, I saw a yellow button come up for a just a split second that said “Change Payment” and I pressed it. It comes up very very briefly (less than a second) and you have to be very quick to press it. I was able to get it, but apparently a few of Marathon Man’s companions just couldn’t do it in time – it’s kind of like a video game. The issue is that immediately after you swipe the debit card with your right hand, the option comes up and you have to immediately press it with your right hand again. You really do have to be quick-handed and I have to do it before the cashier presses Enter. I couldn’t take pictures of the screen, of course, but I tried to draw it in paint.
Anyway, once Change Payment is pressed, there are a few options for payment type such as Check, Debit, etc. I pressed Debit and everything else went according to plan. I was asked if I want cash back and entered my PIN and the card was approved.
Fortunately, this worked for me. Again, every register may be different and I have no idea what may be going on in other parts of the country. Just make sure to try it out for yourself and not buy lots of prepaid cards assuming it will work exactly the same.
Final Advice: Always Have a Contingency Plan
Unfortunately, in this game, nothing is certain. Any drugstore can stop selling prepaid cards tomorrow and any Walmart can stop working to unload them. We cannot rely on any one method and we have to be prepared to look for contingency plans quickly. Don’t get stuck with more Visa prepaid cards than you cannot handle floating. In the worst case, keep in mind there are more ways to liquidate them. If you have $1000 in prepaid cards, you can use it for regular spending, get cash back when you shop to liquidate slowly or send the money to friends via Paypal (there is a 3% fee for this method, but can be used as a last resort). I am fairly risk tolerant and resourceful. I also have enough of personal backup funds so that, if I end up having to float funds for a month or two, I am in a position to do so. It goes without saying that those not in a similar position need to make sure to be careful and not get themselves into trouble.
Your final advice is spot on. As we are more dependent on Wal Mart this method will eventually close and I anticipate a lot of people will be burned. Start thinking of a plan B.
Yes, Marathon Man is a goof friend. Him and Kabul Abdul.
Thanks! Fixed the typo :)
When you see the yellow change payment option, you can also press the yellow button on the keypad. It does the same thing. I found it easier than the one on the screen.
Good tip! It really is hard to get the one on the screen quickly :)
This is another YMMV case. This morning a physical button did not work for me, but the one on the screen did.
US Bank gift cards from Simon Mall work like normal. No work around needed.
Thanks, and I now can confirm. Even better than the VRC, there’s only a $2.95 service fee for the Simon Mall VISA gift/debit card, for up to $500.00 Happens my local Simon Mall (in hoo’ville) is close to a WalMart. (though one without a Kiosk) Took the Simon Debit/Gift card to WMT and loaded it to BlueBird at a check out line. Checker knew just how to handle it. Worked smooth. Nice to have this “contingency plan.”
Can Simon Mall gift cards be converted into debit cards with a PIN?
Update: as of today (or yesterday, according to some other posters), NO gc can load to BB unless it has your name on it. No USBank, MetaBank, Simon, Vanila, nada. zip. : (
late to the party here, but this is not true of course
It’s only Bancorp issued cards are affected. Metabank and US Bank work just fine. Also, I canceled my Bluebird and switched to Serve with ISIS. Works much better, and you can do 8k per month instead of 5k.
Yugi, if you have a Serve and can pay a mortgage or utility bill with it, how does that benefit you? If you can buy a gift card with a credit card, you get miles or points, depending on the card. So do you just keep loading the Serve with gift card loads and do a workaround to make it a “debit” card?
Also, can you buy money orders witha Serve card?
Serve is the same as Bluebird, just much better. See my other post about it here. No need to load with gift cards, but you can do that as a last resort.
Yogi, thanks 4 ur reply. I really am a novice here and am a retiree trying to figure out how to benefit my retirement travel and current reward miles and travel points. The other day, I bought a min. $20 OV prepaid Visa card at CVS w/my Plat Amex card 4 a $4.95 activation fee at CVS & was told that I would not have a reload fee. (It is an Incomm card.). While I can figure that I can buy $ orders 4 an additional fee & put back cash in the cycle, I do not understand how reloading a Serve (Amex product) that I got with no fee (on a CVS promotion) that I paid 4 w/ $20 min. cash load is going to benefit me for points or miles since u cannot reload Serve w/an earning credit card – to my knowledge.
We cannot, apparently, pay our mortgage with Evolve or other programs – would love to know more about that – and prefer to pay set bills with bank draw to avoid late or missed payements so the bill paying deal is not attractive. Since I do not want to load a lot of debit fund & not use them, what an you advise me to do to max travel benefits?
Any advise you would have would be appreciated. I will keep on plugging & digging 4 info.
Have fun in life & inI travel, Leslie
I hit the cancel key on the keypad immediately. I then scan the VGC again, and hit the cancel key on the screen. I then get the option on the screen to select debit. Works every time. I also go to the same cashiers every time and tell them “We are NOT going to let this computer beat us, are we!”
I ended up doing the same thing. I went to a Walmart that had a cashier working the Money Center (no ATM). Apparently they do a lot of money wiring there. Kind of like a bank teller. When the OneVanilla went through as a credit she told me to re-swipe and then hit Cancel. After that it gave me the option of using debit.
Why do you write only about Bluebird but never about buying money orders for bank deposit to complete minimum spending?
I did write about money orders in this post. :) Until Vanilla Reloads disappeared from CVS, I did not buy money orders frequently at all as it took so many steps and visits to different places – I now do when I stop at Walmart to load Bluebird since I am already there.
For min spend, use the credit card to prepay utilities, cable, newspaper, insurances. You get it back with no fees by not having to make payments for many months.
The only issue I had was using multiple cards to pay for one item (i.e. 2 OV cards @ $500 each to buy a $1000 money order). System always went to credit even with the work around. I was able to do straight $500 transactions (Used to do 2 $1000 money orders with 4 OV cards and $1.40 cash!) MoneyCenter ATM for Bluebird reloads – no issue (my Walmart in Rancho C normally has a working maching!)
I tried using a US Bank issued Simon Mall gift card and it didn’t work–got the same issue as with the InComm cards. And the work around method doesn’t work in South Florida. I’ve tried it at a few different places. Fortunately I’ve been able to find working money machines at some Walmarts and have been able to use those with no problem.
Long post sorry.
Like a gas station intersection, I have a Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS on 3 corners. I usually hit all 3 at one time. At CVS, they scan my drivers license every time over $1,000, paranoia much? Next at Walgreens, they only do $500 per 24 hours – “you have to come back tomorrow, we get too much fraud”. Every clerk has to call for manager approval every time. He said to me “can you believe there were people in hearing trying to buy $2,000 of these GC at one time!” Uh yes, I can believe it. Next I go to Rite Aid where the 2 clerks I have dealt with have no concerns, never check my ID even though I suggested it, they said “no need”. Granted one of the guys is very kickback, Hoboken transplant to San Diego with a great thick Jersey accent. So post of point is true, don’t generalize. Difference is normal.
Like others I have been successfully loading VGC either through cashiers or kiosk when working. Done the workaround as mentioned here with no problem, vanilla gift cards, in San Diego.
I will make this point as well. At the kiosk, I read, you cannot typically load more than $1999.99 within a short period of time. I thought I would try it, loaded $1,500, then attempted the last $500 VGC. It locked the machine and asked for mgr approval. She came over, no big deal, unlocked and walked away. I did the last transaction, no prob. Now just 3 days ago, I go to the same WM in San Diego and there are 2 guys in front of me already using the kiosk for money orders. One of them is schooling the other in the fine art of money orders, gift cards and BB. I hear one say to the other “you really come here at 8:50pm to load BB twice?” The other guy looked proud and nodded. BB days start over at 9pm PST. Anyway, they do a few transactions, get money orders and walk away. I’m saying crap and wondering if I can load the $1,500 I have brought. Do the first $500, no prob. But the second locks up the machine because of the combined loads of me and the guys before me. I call the manager. After 15 minutes she comes over, unlocks it but instead of understanding how limits work on the software of the kiosk, she suspects fraud and asks to see my debit card. I quickly show her but she has fast eyes and begins to lecture me how “no vanilla!”, “you cannot load gift cards, not allowed!!” Two other asst managers come over who have no idea what she is talking about and listen in. I say fine and leave. She resets the machine. I’ll be back. The kiosk still accepts them and every cashier I’ve used does as well. Will never do more than $1999 though and will wait about 10 minutes or so if someone else is using the kiosk before me. Adjust from your experiences.
Nearly everyone trying to meet spend or do MS will have a negative experience at some point. Don’t be bullied. Don’t let one person who wants to play tough, scare you away for good.
For the kiosk, you can load $1500 at a time(in 3 separate transactions). You then have to wait 10 minutes before you can start loading again. I learned this from experience and from reading this on other sites.
You can actually load $1999.99 most of the time ;) It also seems to be “less than $2000 every 10 minutes”. That is, when loading $200s, it’s slow enough that I don’t typically need to leave the machine.
I’ll have to try that next time. I’ll gladly forgo 1 cent to avoid aimlessly walking around Walmart for 10 minutes!
I live in central Los Angeles and WM’s are limited here. The closest location does not have the ATM to do the automated BB load, sadly. I wish it did as I don’t like standing in lines with those trying to do their Western Unions and Government Checks. But it is what it is.
I too had to adjust from my experiences. While driving up from Anahiem this past weekend I thought I’d try to unload a few OV’s but the ATM was down and the clerks at the MC were not taking my OV’s.
I’ve learned that just being patient helps.
One good tip to save time is that any cashier should be able to load Bluebird. You don’t need to go to the Money Center if the ATM is down. Also, to load multiple Bluebirds, you can just visit multiple cashiers ;)
Professor,
Can you explain how Amazon Payments would help here? Especially where WM is not an option to unload GC?
I never really got into Amazon Payments so can’t help in that respect. Sorry :(
Which Walmart in NJ do you usually go to? Do the staff give any problems when you load BB? Have you tried loading BB at the Walmart at Valley Stream? Thanks.
I generally don’t like to post specific locations as it’s unfair for people who already go there and drawing extra attention to a particular location may skew their experience in a case a number of additional people end up visiting. I don’t talk to the staff, however, when loading Bluebird and just do it at the MoneyCenter ATM. But you can usually do it at any cashier. I have not been to Valley Stream so can’t comment on that one!
Poor, poor Bluebird users! I don’t have BB anymore, no need to buy VGCs and go to Walmart.
Ok, I’ll bite. What are you using for MS?
I’m using Serve with ISIS. It’s so much better!
Can you use your American Express Credit card to load it and get points
You cannot load with credit cards. Only debit cards with a PIN.
You can load it with non amex-issued credit card, like FIA Amex and get points. You can also load it with Visa, MC and Discover online, you can load it with debit Visa or MC card online (all of the above must be on your name). You can load it with different reloads, you can load it with debit (gift) cards at Walmart.
Sorry for all the questions but I’m new at this. Would Hilton Surpass amex be considered a non amex issued card?
But you cannot load it at the MoneyCenter ATM ;)
So if I understand correctly you can use a credit card to load serve with Isis online or load gift cards at a money center ATM. You can then use serve with Isis to pay your mortgage?
Also with reloads. You can pay any bill like with Bluebird. Bluebird uses the same platform as Serve. Serve was before BB, but they upgraded it last year significantly.
I’m looking to pay my mortgage and get points for it. It seems the easiest way would be to load serve with Isis with a credit card and then use serve with Isis to pay my mortgage. Can it be that easy?
CC loads are 1500 per month. You can load another 5000 with reloads and 1500 qith debit.
Thanks for all your help and sharing your knowledge. I’m determined to travel more than once a year! Have a great weekend.
I am new to this card business. I bought a One Vanilla gift card (minimum $20 ppurchase) with a credit card – activation of $4.95 – at CVS. I get the idea of maxing amount and multiple cards, then buying money orders to get your cash back. However, I bought a Serve card at CVS for cash (min. $20) activated for no charge on a promotion and cannot figure out how I can use it to earn miles or points. They do free reloads but not loaded with a credit card. Can you explain?
Yes, MP, Serve can be loaded at money center ATM.
Can you make your IRS income tax payment with Serve; and if so, how do you accomplish this? is there a fee charged to do so?
It doesn’t matter what you pay for with prepaid card. You should load and unload it every month.
I tried at 2 locations of Walmart to load the OV card and was still unsuccessful. The cashier said that it has to be regular debit card and not debit/gift card like OV. Did Walmart change their system to reject OV reload? .
It seems the OneVanilla cards are having issues again with yet another register update and the workaround stopped working. I am going to catch up on the reports and post an update soon!
CVS and Walgreen do not take CC, they said cash only. I managed to get one at RiteAid, they do accept my CC.
I tried another Walmart location, loading to Bluebird and buying MO with OV does not work, even with your workaround of ‘Change Payment type’.
It’s the end of Bluebird. But I don’t care, cause I have Serve.
When you load the Serve with a credit card, does the CC company charge you cash advance fees?
no.
Thank you, yugi. I am switching to Serve.
yugi: I have a Chase Rapid Rewards card & an Amex Hilton Surpass card. I called both and was told I cannot fund the Serve card with either. The lady at chase didn’t sound real sure but said if I did it would be considered a cash advance. I’m tempted to have my cash advance limit put to $0 and try it with $20. Any thoughts.
I currently fund with Citi and Paypal debit and have no problems. Both show up as a signature purchase. Other people reported Chase is working fine. Even Amex is working fine, but don’t award points/cashback.
I think you can load BB online like the serve even now. The limits are same for both cards when using the debit (gift) cards. $200 per day; and $1,000 per month.
You can load BB with a debit, but not with gift card, and it’s $1000, and not $1500. You also can’t load BB with a CC online.
The OVGC are can be used as debit cards for loading online. And if that can be done I won’t change from BB to Serve!
Try it on BB at least 3 times, and see what happens
I did go to a couple of walmarts, tried the ATM or the Money Center, and got denied multiple times, even with the Cahnge Payment yellow button. seems like most walmarts or all are out of reach. Need to find a new way :) thanks for the update.
V.
Hi guys, i wonder why CVS checks my card number when i purchase one vanilla at CVS?
I asked today, but he said ” just security purpose”… i am really curious and wonder.
Please answer anyone.
Thanks
They generally want to ensure the card you used to verify ID is the same one you used to purchase the cards. They may have had issues in the past with people showing them one card for id purposes and then swiping a different one.
Hi, Mile Professor~ :)
Thank you for your answer,,, and just one additional question~
They are not just looking at my card, they are actually typing something from my card,,, i think it is the four or three security number on card?… is it going to report if i purchase excessive amount of gift card like $3000? per day?
I am definitely not an expert and, from my understanding, these things report as drugstore purchase, grocery purchase, etc. But if you spend way above your income on your card, it’s possible you may end up getting a financial review, especially if it’s Amex.
At CVS, they input info from my credit cards and swipe my drivers license (magnetic strip) and I’m happy about it. More protection for me.
Don’t forget US Bank cards from grocery stores and VISA cards from Simon malls and outlets. Metabank cards are fine, too.
To. Jerry
what kind of things are U.S bank card and meta bank card that is available to buy with credit card?, could you please explain it more?… However, is it like fixed amount gift card such as $200 gift card with $6 activation fee?…
Metabank cards are Master Card. US bank cards are VISA. Look in grocery stores for gift cards loadable to $500. Do NOT get AMEX cards. The packaging tells how to get a PIN for each card to convert from gift card into debit card.
Hi, Jerry, i saw couple things on walmart and grocery stores, some store says ” only cash for every gift cards” and some of it looks like charging monthly fee and transaction fee, is it what you are talking about?…
No. Walmart is cash only for gift cards and they don’t have the right kind. The $500 loadable MC and VISA cards ** in grocery stores** have no monthly fees. Only the one-time fees. I have never seen a cash only policy in any grocery store. Maybe, you got an untrained clerk at the service center.
oh,,, jerry, how you cash out the lodable MC or Visa from grocery stores?
and i saw it on CVS too. is it allowed to order money order from wal mart?..
Nathan-I wrote it several times. Follow folder instructions to get a PIN.
Could you please let ,me know which bank issued for the visa gift cards that you used for relaoad serve at walmart?… the one vanilla visa gift card was issued by bankcorp. and when you swipe your visa gift cards, do they ask if that is a gift card or prepaid card or need to do further action to process the transaction such as change the method and click the debit button and put pin number and no cash back such thing?..
To all. Your questions have been answered many times. READ the comments instead of asking the same things over and over. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about all the problems and confusion about Bluebird, Serve, and Amazon. Buying money orders for bank deposit in Walmart and grocery stores is so much simpler and faster to meet minimum spending. Pay off credit cards and other bills with bank online bill pay service.
For Jerry Mandel: how do you set up a bank online bill pay service?
1. Your bank or credit union website. 2. Stop by a bank branch. 3. We hardly ever write a check. 4. After it is set up, manually pay bills including credit card bills. 5. Also, set up for automatic payments with your utilities, insurances, car or mortgage payments by calling them with your bank or credit union routing and account numbers show on your checks.
Any cost effective options to “easily” liquidate OV if BB loading does not work and AP is gone next month?