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Gobank by Greendot - online banking with debit card

Old Jun 28, 2013, 3:20 pm
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Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
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Do NOT let Rite-Aid scan the GoBank barcode. You will be charged, but your funds won't load. It is a PIA to get your funds back.

Want to stay active? Be sure to only load when your balance is at or close to 0. Continuing to load when you have funds in there seems to be a no no. Swipes are recommended, but there are folks active that don't swipe.

Lots of $200 loads can get you shutdown. GoBank does not like paying load fees on low denomination loads. Two $500 loads is better than five $200 loads.

Shut down reports:

Please list your load/spend/billpay details (in a single statement/lifetime?) e.g.,
type of load, number of loads, denomination of your gc or mp, amount of your billpay, any actual swipe/dd?

lad2 (closed) - May: $2.7K 9 loads 5DDs - June: $5.5K 5 loads 6DDs - July: $4.6K 6 loads 1DD - August $9.9K 19 loads 1DD - no swipes

TheDapperDon (open) June $4.5k 5 loads. All GCs. 1 swipe. Everything else BP to CC. 1500 most loaded in one day .July - $3489 5 loads. All GCs. Several swipes. No load until below $20 or so remaining.

raghu455 (closed) May $2k 4 loads, june $7k all GCs. All BP to CC.

drdrew450 (closed) 17K in loads, unloaded all through bill pay, less than a month

cuebert (closed) $4.5k in 9 MP loads, BP out. That was fast.

sgideons (closed) May $7k 17 loads, june $17k 27 loads, july $5k 6 loads, september $3.5k 4 loads. Unloaded 90% ACH pull, 5% PP to self, 5% bill pay tool. Closed on September statement date.

MDWCommuter (closed): June only, $8k in 60 loads, all GC. $2k is most loaded in one day. Wrote 2 BP to CC checks, no ATM, no MP loads, no ACH pull, no DD, always carried at least a $1k balance

ArtemK (closed): 1st month - 5/21 - 6/21 - loaded $6,700, 6/21 - 6/30 - $4K loaded, all via GCs. Unloaded all via BP to Citi and Chase. No ATM, no MP loads, no ACH pull, no DD, no swipes.

rdover1 (Closed): 1st month - $23.6k loaded (WM GC), ~$1k spend, rest bill pay (mostly to CC)
rdover1 2nd card (closed): Closed mid cycle, survived 1st month. No bill pay, only MO. Never loaded over ~$4k. Total activity ~$12k.

T3pleShot (closed): 7k in loads at WMT, 10 loads, mostly $500, some $200, $4k billpay to CC, 5 swipes totaling about $25.

ctbarron (open): Month1 - $3.8k loaded, all bill pay out, 1 swipe; Month2 - $3.7k loaded, all bill pay out, few swipes and an ATM WD; Month3 - $4.2k loaded, all bill pay out, few swipes and an ATM WD. Zero membership fee, usually a balance of under $150.

americanindian (closed)- closed after 3 months today. had about 7.5k deposit each month, with lots of small value(<$20) purchases each month. liquidated mostly using bill pay.

rodsren (closed)- the dapperdon warned me. I was closed today after less than 5,500 or loaaing in less than 3 weeks (was going to try to keep it to 7,500 - 10,000 but didn't luck out.)

binnycode (closed, re-opened) - 7x $200 loads + 1x $700 load + 3x $500 over 2 days got me shut down. Called CSR and they re-opened my account, letting me know that "direct deposit would reduce my number of trips to walmart" lol!
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Gobank by Greendot - online banking with debit card

Old Mar 5, 2013, 9:20 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: PDX
Programs: United, SPG, Hyatt
Posts: 167
Is anyone else having systems trouble with Greendot yesterday and today? Yesterday it wouldn't let me reload my PP account (but it works today), and today I cannot load up my GD Visa (generic error message when I try). Hope it's just temporary and nothing specific to my account.
julp is offline  
Old Mar 5, 2013, 10:26 am
  #32  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 301
I guess this is a sign of GD locking you down, hopeful I'm wrong here.

Originally Posted by julp
Is anyone else having systems trouble with Greendot yesterday and today? Yesterday it wouldn't let me reload my PP account (but it works today), and today I cannot load up my GD Visa (generic error message when I try). Hope it's just temporary and nothing specific to my account.
tonyflyer is offline  
Old Mar 5, 2013, 9:59 pm
  #33  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: PDX
Programs: United, SPG, Hyatt
Posts: 167
Originally Posted by tonyflyer
I guess this is a sign of GD locking you down, hopeful I'm wrong here.
Sure enough, called the number and they put a hold on my account due to an irregular reload pattern. They said I cannot load any more funds onto the account using MoneyPaks, but will be able to take the remaining money out ($0.02) after the unlock has processed.

As a data point, I had loaded $5,000 into the account in January and February via MoneyPaks (spread across both months). Moved $3,999.99 onto Bluebirds at Walmart, and cashed out $999.99 via one check to my wife. Guess that was enough to set off the alarm bells over there.
julp is offline  
Old Mar 5, 2013, 10:25 pm
  #34  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
Originally Posted by julp
Sure enough, called the number and they put a hold on my account due to an irregular reload pattern. They said I cannot load any more funds onto the account using MoneyPaks, but will be able to take the remaining money out ($0.02) after the unlock has processed.

As a data point, I had loaded $5,000 into the account in January and February via MoneyPaks (spread across both months). Moved $3,999.99 onto Bluebirds at Walmart, and cashed out $999.99 via one check to my wife. Guess that was enough to set off the alarm bells over there.
seems like this is not a good venue to use for BB loading consistently over time.

also, probably fitting regular spending onto these cards may help your cause.

thanks for sharing your data point for others to learn from (guess you are not their intended target ).
shoreline is offline  
Old Mar 5, 2013, 10:37 pm
  #35  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Southern California
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, HH Gold, SPG Gold, National EC Executive, AA Platinum
Posts: 606
Originally Posted by piecerate
My I ask which specific card you were loading onto? Was it a Green Dot issued card or a third party card like the Rush card -- a card not issued by Green Dot.
I'm so sorry I just saw your question. I only used the green dot issued cards.
poptarts is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2013, 5:14 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 14
Interesting read from today:

http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/...-dot-moneypaks
Luckycharms is offline  
Old Mar 8, 2013, 10:26 pm
  #37  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New England
Programs: DL PM, HH Gold, the rest come and go
Posts: 313
Could someone with a Gobank account PM me?
sgideons is offline  
Old Mar 16, 2013, 11:45 pm
  #38  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 15
Well, just got shutdown by greendot today (the usual 'unusual loading pattern' spiel).

Unfortunately it seems to basically be a full on ban from being able to use moneypaks period (no more loading serve, gobank, account now, etc.)

Anyone else in the same boat? Any workarounds?
ouip00 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2013, 12:27 am
  #39  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 13
Originally Posted by ouip00
Well, just got shutdown by greendot today (the usual 'unusual loading pattern' spiel).

Unfortunately it seems to basically be a full on ban from being able to use moneypaks period (no more loading serve, gobank, account now, etc.)

Anyone else in the same boat? Any workarounds?
How much did you load, what frequency, spending habits, etc?
cowsclaw is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2013, 9:53 am
  #40  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Sweet Home Chicago
Programs: Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 646
Originally Posted by Luckycharms
Here's the important bit:

Were setting up systems to identify when a prepaid card is getting several reloads via PINs followed immediately by cash coming off the card, especially when its in a foreign country, explained Terry Maher, general counsel for the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association. That would trigger an alert and the card could be blocked".

Slow and steady. I think there is no reason to load/unload even in the same week. If you run down the hallway screaming with your arms over your head, someone's going to notice you. Of course, if even slow and steady behavior results in a shutdown, then it was never going to be a long term play.
MDWCommuter is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2013, 1:01 pm
  #41  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by cowsclaw
How much did you load, what frequency, spending habits, etc?
Didn't do massive amounts. About 1k-1500 a week. I believe my mistakes were unloading too quickly and not putting any other transactions on there.

I'm making sure to swipe the cards for various purchases now with my wife's card and unloading a bit slower. so far so good.
ouip00 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2013, 5:55 pm
  #42  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 546
Originally Posted by ouip00
Unfortunately it seems to basically be a full on ban from being able to use moneypaks period (no more loading serve, gobank, account now, etc.)
How do you know that it's a full on ban. I have been cut out by GD but I can still use Moneypaks to load my Netbank account.
aegt123 is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2013, 6:15 pm
  #43  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 15
I'm not 100% sure on the ban yet but I have not been able to load a moneypak onto anything when I tried last week. Will try again this week and see.
ouip00 is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2013, 6:54 pm
  #44  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: AA PLT 2MM
Posts: 2,026
Originally Posted by aegt123
How do you know that it's a full on ban. I have been cut out by GD but I can still use Moneypaks to load my Netbank account.
GD can't 'block your moneypaks' from funding any prepaid accounts, but, they can block 'specific' prepaid accounts from being funded by moneypaks.

When GD shut down my GD Prepaid card, I started loading MPs onto Serve. Thought that since GD was out of GD's control, all would be well -- wrong. GD obviously maintains a database of prepaid card numbers, and amount funded. After loading $3K over the course of 3 months, GD prevented me from loading to my Serve account. Serve account itself was fine (at the time), but, GD simply blocked my ability to fund it using their product. I could use the MPs on other prepaid cards (for a while) if I wanted, or, probably would have worked to AMEX and say my Serve card was lost/stolen and gotten myself a new card number. Of course all this just adds extra effort... Thus MoneyPak spending is not very scalable in comparison to VR.

Not saying GoBank is a bad means to manufacture spending, but, it is GD and they have EXTREMELY low tolerance thresholds as to what they count as 'intended use' of their products.
thehawk75 is offline  
Old Mar 22, 2013, 5:05 pm
  #45  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 15
Well, wife's account is out as well now. I'll echo the notes in them having a very low tolerance, her account had a good mix of swipes vs bill pay and still got shutdown. Oh well, onwards I guess.
ouip00 is offline  

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