FT2013

Went into Walmart today to load DW's and my Bluebird accounts. This is the first time I tried to do this with both of our cards, but I figured 4x $500 gift cards + 2x Bluebird accounts = no problem, right? The first three cards loaded fine at the money center ATM machine, then on the fourth the machine said I needed to wait for a supervisor. Someone finally came over, entered his ID and password and a screen popped up. He click through it quickly without reading it, but I caught a glimpse and it said something about "Customer may have passed compliance limit..."

Has this happened to anyone? I've seen posts about people loading their husband/wife's and their Bluebird with the full 10K (5K x 2) each month so I don't see how this should have been a problem. One of the cards had never been loaded before and the other had been loaded with 4K so far this month.

Anyway, once he clicked through I was able to finish my transaction with no problem. Should I expect this to happen every time I do this in the future?


PS - I was doing 4 separate transactions, one for each gift card. Is there a way to load two $500 gift cards in a single $1000 transaction?

Thanks!

sam_goh

Read the thread about GCs and debits. What you're describing is not uncommon. Load at the service desk with a split tender for 1 $1k.

Alcibiades

you can only load from 3 cards at the machine with 3 separate transactions. On the 4th, you will have the problem you experienced

blitzen

Btw is there any way to search which Walmart has a money center ATM

thegasguru

Actually, you can swipe FOUR cards without a problem. It's the FIFTH swipe that sets off an internal alert at Walmart - this is true for both the ATM machine AND the cashiers. Remember that swiping your Bluebird card counts as one of the swipes - you then get 3 more swipes for GC/debit cards. For money orders, you aren't swiping your BB card, so now you get to use all 4 swipes for gift/debit cards.

Alcibiades

Yeah, that is more clear. But I dont think the 5th swipe with a cashier also sets off an internal alert; it just fails ?

sparkzone

this is common for those who swipe $500 gc. for some reason, atm consider multiple $500 gc are for the same bb even though they are not. lower gc like $200 has no issues at all.

toocool17

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...rd-kiosks.html

thegasguru

Well, I meant the "internal alert" is such that it won't allow a 5th swipe - only 4 swipes per transaction. If it happens with a cashier, yes it sets off an alert, and the transaction fails. If at a kiosk, it sets off an alert, only since it's unattended, it requires a manager to come and "reset" the machine. Although the wording you saw said "compliance", I don't think that sets off any kind of reporting to a government agency, if that's what you're worried about. I believe the wording of that warning is simply an internal Walmart thing.

thegasguru

I don't have any problems with either $500 OR $200 gcs. The problem occurs if you attempt a 5th swipe in a single transaction.

wcj

I'd offer this data point. My first compliance mistake at kiosk looked like this: BB1, $500 GC, BB2, $500 GC, BB3, $500 GC. No problems so far. I meant to do BB4, but reached in the wrong pocket and did BB1-- compliance alert. Was told to go the CS, so I finished loading there. If Im understanding the number of cards theory correctly(which admittedly is not guaranteed), then I should not have been able to load BB3, correct? Or, is it regardless of number of BBs,they only count as one swipe? I thought it was just $1500 load limit, but multiples of four BBs loaded at a time would work better for me.....

ddavid1101

I had the same issue earlier this week. Had 3K to load to 3BB cards...
Got the alert/override requirement when I attempted the 4th GC on the 2nd BB account.

I wonder why the machine would think you are the same person since clearly you are using 2/3 different BB account/card to load on to.

Rep was very friendly, and went through it on 2 more GC on machine and I did last load at her terminal. She said she should charge a commission.

teammjs

So, the simplist work-around going forward is to log-out at the kiosk after *each* BB card is finished loading, correct?

vagrants

Data Point:

GoBank loading @ a WM kiosk
First load $4xx.xx, got a receipt for OK (US bank VISA GC)
Second load $9x.xx, got a receipt for OK (PrePaid)
Walked the store for 5 - 10 min
Third load $9x.xx, got a receipt for OK (another PrePaid)
Forth load $9x.xx, error (another PrePaid)

The transaction failure appeared at the kiosk level since there was no record of the transaction on the PrePaid web site (started wonder about 'decline' fees...I still may get hit at the statement date though).

shel

Looks like WM kiosk enters alert mode after 3 transactioins of the same type. So it doesn't matter whose accounts or what amounts--as long as 3 transactioins of the same type, it prevents you from doing the 4th same-type transaction.

I wonder whether it will reset after some other transaction type, like ATM cash widthdrawl?