Jun 22, 2013, 10:42 am
Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
There is a new thread for 2017: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1819569-pin-available-now-visa-mc-prepaid-debit-cards-2017-a.html
Federal Reserve interpretation of Dodd-Frank financial reform regulations has resulted in Visa/MC gift cards getting PINs as of April 1, 2013.
Setting PINS
At Walmat, many MCs default to credit(and fail) and require pressing a button to change the payment type to debit. Here are the workarounds:
Old POS systems (monochrome black on green terminals and replacement color terminals):
1a. Screen shows "Insert or Swipe Card Quickly" with "Espanol" button in lower right (note if your screen blinks)
1b. Swipe card
1c. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..." with with working animation in lower center and "Cancel" button in lower right
2. Press "Cancel" on the screen or red button on pad (if your screen blinks, do not hit button until after blink)
3. Press "ATM/DEBIT" from upper left
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5a. Enter PIN
5b. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..."
6. Cashier hits blue (not green) Debit button on their side.
New POS systems (color terminal):
1. Swipe GC
2. Press "Change Payment" on screen (Yellow button on pad should also work, but screen works better for some. Timing is critical.)
3. Press "DEBIT"
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5. Enter PIN - Screen showing another 'Waiting for cashier...'.
6. Ask Cashier to hit blue color Debit button on the screen
When splitting transactions among multiple cards at a Walmart register, make sure to have the cashier hit the debit button on their physical keypad. If they hit the debit button on the touchscreen, it will not work. If your transaction got declined, try having the cashier hit 'Debit' using the physical keypad on the right of the screen.
As of 6/19/2014, Walmart rejects Debit attempts above $49.99 on all cards issued by InComm/ITC Financial Services, namely all Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla. There is no workaround.
Error Messages
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Not enough funds available to cover whatever amount was typed in, or most likely NOT typed in.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again.
Federal Reserve interpretation of Dodd-Frank financial reform regulations has resulted in Visa/MC gift cards getting PINs as of April 1, 2013.
Setting PINS
- MetaBank VISA or Sunrise VISA -use the last four digits of the card number (or to set personal PIN call 888-524-1283)
- US Bank VISA and Mastercard - Newer cards come with a PIN printed on cardstock inside the package. To set/reset PIN, call 866-952-5653. One person reports: VISA that has pre-set PIN locks PIN on first use if not previously reset; always call to set PIN before use. If you forget to reset the pin and you can't unload the funds to your BB, call the toll free # and ask rep. to "reset" the card and they will do some magic and you should then be able to unload the funds at WM.
- Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla(not MyVanilla, etc) - selection of 4 digits on the first transaction becomes the PIN
At Walmat, many MCs default to credit(and fail) and require pressing a button to change the payment type to debit. Here are the workarounds:
Old POS systems (monochrome black on green terminals and replacement color terminals):
1a. Screen shows "Insert or Swipe Card Quickly" with "Espanol" button in lower right (note if your screen blinks)
1b. Swipe card
1c. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..." with with working animation in lower center and "Cancel" button in lower right
2. Press "Cancel" on the screen or red button on pad (if your screen blinks, do not hit button until after blink)
3. Press "ATM/DEBIT" from upper left
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5a. Enter PIN
5b. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..."
6. Cashier hits blue (not green) Debit button on their side.
New POS systems (color terminal):
1. Swipe GC
2. Press "Change Payment" on screen (Yellow button on pad should also work, but screen works better for some. Timing is critical.)
3. Press "DEBIT"
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5. Enter PIN - Screen showing another 'Waiting for cashier...'.
6. Ask Cashier to hit blue color Debit button on the screen
When splitting transactions among multiple cards at a Walmart register, make sure to have the cashier hit the debit button on their physical keypad. If they hit the debit button on the touchscreen, it will not work. If your transaction got declined, try having the cashier hit 'Debit' using the physical keypad on the right of the screen.
As of 6/19/2014, Walmart rejects Debit attempts above $49.99 on all cards issued by InComm/ITC Financial Services, namely all Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla. There is no workaround.
Error Messages
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Not enough funds available to cover whatever amount was typed in, or most likely NOT typed in.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again.
PIN available now for Visa/MC prepaid debit cards(2013-2016).
Aug 26, 2013, 12:40 am
#2236
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: MR,UR, UA, BA, AA, Hotels
Posts: 581
I have a system so I know what cards are used and which one is not. I keep the activition stickers on the cards, and once I get the approved screen and the BB is loaded or MO is printed, I take the sticker off. I also have one pocket I have the cards in, and the other pocket I placed the used cards. So once I get home, I shred the used cards. This has cut down on any confusion of what cards are used and not.
Aug 26, 2013, 4:02 am
#2237
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: DL DM Hub Captive, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, PC Plat, and other stuff.
Posts: 904
Once I've got the M.O., the money is mine. I throw the GCs in the trash can on the way out the door. Any GC problems at that point are someone else's (or some other corporation's) problem, the way I see it. The M.O. is cash.
Aug 26, 2013, 4:16 am
#2238
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
I have had one or more of these take place. It is not pretty (but over a period of a few months and loads of paperwork and faxes--and I hate faxes--you do get most of your money back)
Aug 26, 2013, 6:42 am
#2239
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Chitown, TVC
Programs: Too many.
Posts: 56
As someone who has been subjected to numerous tax audits, I want to be able to prove that what will be an extra 6 figures in annual deposits are not really income should the need arise. I wrap the gift cards in the store receipts, along with a copy of the deposit slip, and store them in the quarterly tax files. Overly cautious, perhaps, but you never know....
Aug 26, 2013, 8:11 am
#2240
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
Am having a lot of trouble with one US Bank issued $500 loaded visa gift card. It was bought at Kroger with the "the Perfect Gift" front packaging. I have done tons of these exact cards in the past with no trouble. However this one craps out on me with invalid pin at multiple stores. I have tried calling in to reset the pin but still the same error message. Called customer service who were useless. Anyone else experienced this and found a fix?
Aug 26, 2013, 11:55 am
#2241
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: IAH
Programs: CO, AA, UA
Posts: 88
Am having a lot of trouble with one US Bank issued $500 loaded visa gift card. It was bought at Kroger with the "the Perfect Gift" front packaging. I have done tons of these exact cards in the past with no trouble. However this one craps out on me with invalid pin at multiple stores. I have tried calling in to reset the pin but still the same error message. Called customer service who were useless. Anyone else experienced this and found a fix?
Aug 26, 2013, 3:16 pm
#2242
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: SPG Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 223
I too had the same issue with 2 cards (also out of hundreds) a while back. No amount of PIN resettting helped. I just used them to make an estimated tax payment.
Aug 27, 2013, 8:38 am
#2244
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: DL DM, AA PlatPro, Hilton DM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 1,532
Anyone have any current issues with loading US Bank visas? (mygiftcardsite.com)
My gf purchased two $500 ones at Smiths (Kroger) and can't get them to load at WM onto BB. Tried multiple cashiers. Was successful purchasing a small item on card with PIN at a gas station, so know it works...
If I can't get these to load what's my option to liquidate? I assume a MO would be the same but maybe I could get a MO at a grocery store? (Never done MOs before...)
My gf purchased two $500 ones at Smiths (Kroger) and can't get them to load at WM onto BB. Tried multiple cashiers. Was successful purchasing a small item on card with PIN at a gas station, so know it works...
If I can't get these to load what's my option to liquidate? I assume a MO would be the same but maybe I could get a MO at a grocery store? (Never done MOs before...)
Aug 27, 2013, 9:29 am
#2245
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 784
I would hazard a guess that she said she wanted to load $1k to BB and cashier did not split properly, for whatever reason. Id retry with different cashier and be very clear that you are doing $500 at a time. If not, load $500 at cashier and then do $500 at CS. I like to load on different cards so that the clerk is only ever doing $500 at a time, if I have any suspicion that she is less than adept.
Aug 27, 2013, 1:07 pm
#2246
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Houston
Posts: 21
PIN available now for Visa/MC prepaid debit cards.
I also had an issue with my Kroger GC at WM. At my usual WM the machine was down (surprise, surprise) so I went to the cashier to load $500 & when she swiped my card she told me I needed to go to guest services. That's never happened before. There was a huge line so I decided I'd try a different WM. At WM #2 (on a different day) I tried to load at CS but this time it said "debit transaction declined". She tried again but same thing. That's never happened before. I'm hoping its just a bad card!
Aug 27, 2013, 1:13 pm
#2247
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 375
I haven't had any problems yet with the Kroger variable VGC. Have you guys tried calling US Bank?
Aug 27, 2013, 3:21 pm
#2248
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
I loaded 2 onto BB at a register today. No problems, other than the cashier wasn't listening to me. I smiled at her and was nice and we got through it fairly quickly.
Aug 27, 2013, 3:43 pm
#2249
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,363
Data Point: Went to Staples today to load up on some visa gc. I also picked up some of their great back to school deals and added 4 $200 GCs. I went to the register and nicely asked if it would be possible for me to use my staples cash cards to pay for part of the purchase (ones i got from the mastercard promo a few weeks back). they had no problem and used the staples gift cards to pay for part of my purchase.
Aug 27, 2013, 4:07 pm
#2250
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: Whatever you have, I have too.
Posts: 377
Data Point: Went to Staples today to load up on some visa gc. I also picked up some of their great back to school deals and added 4 $200 GCs. I went to the register and nicely asked if it would be possible for me to use my staples cash cards to pay for part of the purchase (ones i got from the mastercard promo a few weeks back). they had no problem and used the staples gift cards to pay for part of my purchase.