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T-Mobile Visa Prepaid - Bluebird Competitor for MS! (May not load w/CC)

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Old Jan 22, 2014, 3:27 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: XP1
Warning: The T-M website contains an apparent Bill Pay function. Attempting to use it to pay credit card bills, or probably any significant $ amount bills of any sort, will get your account frozen. Ditto large scale ATM or MO withdrawals. The one method of unloading likely to keep you under the radar is small scale WM BP. Also likely to get you shut down, according to consensus reports, is running much more than $5K a month thru your account. You ignore this advice at your own risk.

SUMMARY

1. FAQ's
2. Free to use for TMo customers.
3. Issued by Bancorp
4. Load at T-mobile store (Registers are HARD CODED not to accept anything other than cash.)
5. or Reloadit, (find a grocery store that sold reloadit cards with a cc)

List Stores hard coded for cash or Credit Card accepted
T-Mobile (cash only)
Home Depot (cash only, hard coded)
Harris Teeter - Bought with CC on 2/16/14, hard coded denied CC on 5 APR 2014
Winn-Dixie - Hard coded for cash (debit may work, untested) as of Oct-2015
Meijer (Cash/Debit including VGC)
Giant Eagle/GetGo (Cash, Debit including VGC )
Safeways/Vons/Pavilions in California - most only Cash
Food Lion - Manager override now required. Many stores cash or bank debit only, but registers are not hard coded.
Save-A-Lot: Hard coded cash only
BigY: At least some stores have gone cash only as of 1/8
Acme in PA: Hard-coded cash only (Source)

Note on ReloadIt Cards
These come in two main flavors, up to $500, and up to $950 (there are ones that go up to $50, too). Both are $3.95 load fee. The older grey cards, have CASH ONLY on them. Even if the cash register is coded to accept it, many cashiers will be hesitant to even try, or get shut down by manager.
The maximum value reload will be $2,500.00. There is no maximum number of times you may value reload your Card Account per day; however, the maximum dollar amount of value reloads you may make to your Card Account in one day is $2,500.00. We will accept direct deposits larger than $2,500.00, but any direct deposit value reloaded to your Card Account will count against the $2,500.00 daily limit.
Value Reload Fee: Each time you value reload $300.00 or more to your Card Account in a single transaction, you will receive a credit for any fee you paid. If you are a T-Mobile Wireless Customer and value reload your Card Account at a participating T-Mobile Wireless location, you will receive a refund at the register (and will pay no fee for your value reload). If you value reload your Card Account for $300.00 or more via another method, we will issue a credit to your Card Account in the amount of the fee you paid.

In practice, a ReloadIt >= $300 loaded via the safe will receive credit for the fee. However, the terms formally state "Please note: Value reloads made from Reloadit Packs that have been placed in the Program Manager’s Reloadit `Safe' are not eligible for any fee credit." so this is not guaranteed.

The Limits:
Daily limit: $2500 during a rolling 24 hour period
Monthly limit: ?
Annual Limit: ?
Max Bill Pay (per transaction): = $5000 (tested March 6th, can do 'at least' a second for the same amount to the same payee momment later).
Daily ATM limit: $500 (rolling 24 hr rather than calendar day)

Total monthly bill pay limit: ?
The maximum value of your Card Account is restricted to $10,000.00

T-Mobile Prepaid Customer Service Email: [email protected]

If you need to escalate to the FDIC, Bancorp's registered FDIC# is 35444.
If you want to try to open an FDIC complaint or investigation you can send one in electronically at
http://www2.fdic.gov/IDASP/DIRSInfoRequest.asp

Alternative FDIC link to file complaint
https://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp

FAQ
  • My fee did not get refunded. Has there been a policy change? ReloadIt Fees are processed overnight and could take 24 hours after you reload the card. As of 9/2015, ReloadIt cards added to the safe prior to loading on T-Mobile will still get the $3.95 refunded.
  • What is a safe transaction amount? There is no definite safe or unsafe amount. However, starting the last week of Jul 2015, people have been reporting the account frozen after transactions larger than $1K.
  • Can I use the BP Feature? It works well for some people. Many have reported getting shutdown after using it. A few have reported having the payments lost. Like all MS activity, use at your own risk.
  • Should I mix in some regular spending to make it look like this is my primary card? If it makes you feel better, go for it. However people who do this still get shutdown.
  • I can't log in. Did I get shutdown? Possibly. But more likely the website is having technical issues. Call in, o try to make a swipe purchase and test it out.
  • If I pay my taxes with this card, will I get shutdown? Large purchase raise red flags. Taxes are no different and there are reports of people being shut down for doing this.
  • What is a T-Mobile wireless customer? A qualifying T-Mobile wireless customer can be either a postpaid or prepaid customer. Source: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24790705-post3703.html
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T-Mobile Visa Prepaid - Bluebird Competitor for MS! (May not load w/CC)

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Old Mar 25, 2015, 12:38 pm
  #3451  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Originally Posted by JednaNad
I am not a T-Mobile customer, yes I have been getting refunds when deposited through the safe. All my reloadit packs are $500.
^ Me too.... My packs are all $495.00
Brugge is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2015, 10:27 pm
  #3452  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 15
Did anyone have success loading reloadit from the safe lately? I haven't been able to load them in the last 5 days. The pack was successfully transferred to the safe but could not be applied to T-Mobile card. It always says the site having technical issues. Any suggestions?

Last edited by codenameXXX; Mar 26, 2015 at 10:49 pm
codenameXXX is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2015, 11:04 pm
  #3453  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 186
Originally Posted by codenameXXX
Did anyone have success loading reloadit from the safe lately? I haven't been able to load them in the last 5 days. The pack was successfully transferred to the safe but could not be applied to T-Mobile card. It always says the site having technical issues. Any suggestions?
Worked for me this evening. Usually I have to wait around 2 hours from loading the pack into the safe until I can successfully load my card.
mnCO is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2015, 11:44 pm
  #3454  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 15
That is really weird. I bought these packs more than a week ago. They were loaded into the safe, but it gave me an error every time I tried to transfer the balance to my T-Mobile card.
codenameXXX is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 8:24 am
  #3455  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 166
TM card info stolen and drained!

Guys, please use caution. Maybe this whole "safe" thing is really as unsecure as we think. I just used safe this last 2 weeks and now my card has been drained of all its money by some crooks in NY. It could be a coincidence or not. I was in NY last year and it possible that my card info was some how stolen.

The crooks got 5K in a single day in Target
hokiegl is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 8:33 am
  #3456  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Originally Posted by mnCO
Worked for me this evening. Usually I have to wait around 2 hours from loading the pack into the safe until I can successfully load my card.
We always load the money to the T-M card immediately after transferring it to the safe. Never had a problem with that.
Brugge is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 9:55 am
  #3457  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 186
How long did it take you guys to get the permanent card? It's been a few weeks for me.
mnCO is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 10:20 am
  #3458  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SAN
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 428
Originally Posted by hokiegl
TM card info stolen and drained!

Guys, please use caution. Maybe this whole "safe" thing is really as unsecure as we think. I just used safe this last 2 weeks and now my card has been drained of all its money by some crooks in NY. It could be a coincidence or not. I was in NY last year and it possible that my card info was some how stolen.

The crooks got 5K in a single day in Target
I've never used the safe and had $300+ in transactions in single day in AL despite my using the card here in SAN earlier in the day. File a dispute/investigation immediately, I had to do this over the phone and then complete and email a form. This happened at the end of Jan. and actually just got a letter last night that investigation was complete and temp. credit to my account was made permanent. After reading these forums long enough I had tempered my expectations for BHN but aside from taking almost 2 months to resolve, it wasn't as terrible as I had imagined.
BHArt is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 12:23 pm
  #3459  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: ANC
Programs: AS, UA, IHG, HH,
Posts: 171
Originally Posted by codenameXXX
That is really weird. I bought these packs more than a week ago. They were loaded into the safe, but it gave me an error every time I tried to transfer the balance to my T-Mobile card.
There is a hold on your Tmo card, you have to call reloadit customer service who will open a ticket and give you the reference number. Tmo will then contact you about removing the hold.
BoeingOrNotGoing is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 12:49 pm
  #3460  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 253
Originally Posted by BoeingOrNotGoing
There is a hold on your Tmo card, you have to call reloadit customer service who will open a ticket and give you the reference number. Tmo will then contact you about removing the hold.
In my experience, this is inaccurate. Reloadit can tell you if there is a problem on their end (i.e. it relates to the activation or redemption process for the RL card itself), but they have nothing to do with the pre-paid debit cards to which the funds are loaded. It makes no sense for Reloadit to open a ticket if the cause of the pre-paid load failing is because that card issuer is rejecting the load attempt.

I have multiple Reloadit accounts and had a problem ("We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. . . .") moving money from the safe on one to a T-M card, but was able to move money from a different safe to the same T-M card minutes later. Now, this could mean that Reloadit is somehow throttling card loads or imposing its own limitations on a per-account basis; or it could mean the technical problem was solved coincidental to me trying again from a different Reloadit account.
ronnyk is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 1:33 pm
  #3461  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: ANC
Programs: AS, UA, IHG, HH,
Posts: 171
Originally Posted by ronnyk
In my experience, this is inaccurate.
Just giving you my personal experience, technical difficulties obviously means a lot of things to reloadit but if you are getting that message for more than a day then something is up. In my case the card I was trying to load to got shut down.
BoeingOrNotGoing is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 4:05 pm
  #3462  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
Originally Posted by hokiegl
TM card info stolen and drained!

Guys, please use caution. Maybe this whole "safe" thing is really as unsecure as we think. I just used safe this last 2 weeks and now my card has been drained of all its money by some crooks in NY. It could be a coincidence or not. I was in NY last year and it possible that my card info was some how stolen.

The crooks got 5K in a single day in Target
Did you use it at Kmart in Sept./Oct.? They had a data breach during that time period and pretty much every single Buxx or T-Mo card I used there during that time period has had fraudulent activity originating from NYC or LA.
ILGfly is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2015, 4:49 pm
  #3463  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: California
Posts: 264
Originally Posted by Brugge
We always load the money to the T-M card immediately after transferring it to the safe. Never had a problem with that.
Without the Safe, recently we had to wait 2-3 hours after buying a reloadit before it could be loaded to a card. With the Safe, do we need to wait 3 hours between buying the reloadit and adding it to the Safe? Or the 3 hour wait is still between buying reloadit and loading to card, and it can be added to Safe at any time (which could make it look like a wait is needed between adding to Safe and loading to card even if that's not the real requirement)?
sbft77 is offline  
Old Mar 28, 2015, 3:43 am
  #3464  
jk2
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,516
I wonder if ReloadIt people can tell if the card I would like to load accepts Reloadits or not. I still have my old Vision Premier card and I was able to use ReloadIts until February, after which I always got a "technical difficulties" message. I even called Vision's support, who told me that account is OK, but we had trouble in communication - they claim ReloadIts are not the option for reload, while their website clearly shows this option. Vision Premier is even listed on ReloadIt website. Anyway, I cannot reload the card for 2 months. I tried to call ReloadIt, but was on hold for 30 minutes for CSR and gave up. I was able to add a Vision Premier card into a Safe, so I guess this card still supported by ReloadIt, right?
jk2 is offline  
Old Mar 28, 2015, 9:10 am
  #3465  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 190
Originally Posted by mnCO
How long did it take you guys to get the permanent card? It's been a few weeks for me.
Would like to know this as well. I applied on 3/7 and still have yet received the card. The email about card been shipped was received on 3/11!
jackiesyu is offline  


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