frozyn

Always add an extra day to whatever BB says - the receiving entity needs time to process the payment.

CFFrost

Yea, I understand that. My other banks process payments faster, I think. I usually have a confirmation e-mail from the recipient by the time I wake up the day the payment was set to be delivered.

FederalFlyer

I suspect that a small minority of maniacal people like us may actually be good for business. Several friends of mine have signed up for cards after watching me collect points, only to never follow through like we do, carry balances, and be all around very profitable to the banks. Maybe, just maybe, gamers like us help push their product to the masses who think 'I can do that too' and then don't.

farbster

I just back from Office Depot and they have a new policy that says you can only use a credit card for the first $200 of a gift card purchase if you are trying to get the Blue Prepaid Amex card. So you could do $500, but the balance of the $300 needs to be cash. The one I'm talking about is the one that you then convert to the Permanent Prepaid. They have a sign up that went into effect today.

I can post a pic of the new sign if requested.

crimsonAA

So this does not apply to other prepaid Visa/MC cards? Just Prepaid Amex?

iahphx

Yeah, I'm also not completely comfortable with the way BB pays bills. I'm just more comfortable typing in things like routing numbers than relying on a written description of the business I'm paying.

So far, I paid AMEX (I figured they could pay themselves) and I've paid a US Airways (Barclays) card. For more obscure recipients, I think I'll send a small "test" amount first. I don't want, say, $1000 to go missing.

farbster

Yes, just the prepaid AMEX. We are paying someone overseas and wanted to use the Amex blue card because you can use it overseas. Most of the other cards cannot be used overseas I believe.

crimson12

In general you're right, even very large corporations aren't omniscient, but in this particular case, the airlines and banks know what's up. When Citi unveiled the new Hilton card, they hosted a reception and invited bloggers. Why? Because they know bloggers drive people to their cards, and people are applying to earn/churn miles and bonuses. What I think is ridiculous is the idea that somehow we are all being secretive (hey, news flash, did you know FlyerTalk is on this thing called "The Internet" and is searchable on Google?!), and that if we talk really quietly no one will find out.

I absolutely agree that blogs can kill deals, etc., but it's not because Amex/Chase/Office Depot "learned" about the deal from the blog -- it's because the blog increased traffic so much that the status quo became less profitable. There's an important difference there.

gpeso8

Well said, I 100% agree.

ingy

I found 11 Vanilla Reloads at the OD in TVC today, took them to the register and they would not activate. the register would not price them out for cash or credit card.

caGALINDO

I found a straggler. Same thing, the cashier could scan it it gave an error and then manager came and said they no longer sell em'. I told him that is the only way I load my Prepaid and he said he's sorry and that he has no news on any alternative that is coming.

He gave me this things and said "you can call the number and complain that you can not reload your card in the store"



Now what to do with the other stragglers...

TheBOSman

I'm honestly surprised they didn't do that when they were pulled.

tkarrade

Ok, so after a few weeks of using BB I felt obliged to share some thoughts with the community.

First, the billpay is dodgy as others have mentioned, but everything I have attempted has completed successfully. It may take anywhere from 3-6 days for certain things to post, but if you're methodical about setting up the payee you can be fairly confident it will go through. I've paid my electric bill, gas bill, three student loan servicers, a car payment, home equity, mortgage*, and auto insurance. I tried $50 to start but everything posted fine so I'm using full amounts from here on. I use my account # in the payee description if available as well as adding it as a 'memo' to the actual payment. (if they are not in the list.)

* There was a bug with my mortgage lender which prevented it from being used even though it was on the list. Amex fixed that already it seems. Payments worked through their 'list' as well as the manual payee I added myself.

My biggest complaint is that the phone service has gone waaay downhill in the last few weeks. When I first got my card and reported problems, I was on hold for maybe 5 minutes. Today it was almost an hour, and when I did get through to someone, their computers were down.

The reason I called today was because there did not seem to be any Moneypass ATM's nearby which were actually working! Wal-mart is 0-3 for functioning ATM's in my area, and when I tried to get cash from a teller they told me that it was coming back as 'cash back not allowed'. I'm not surprised, but you're going to get some consumer push back if they're going to advertise this as a debit card/checking account alternative and you can't actually get cash anywhere within 20 miles of your home. (without paying atm fees that is.)

Anyway, this is sure to get buried quickly in this fast moving thread, but I thought someone might find the review helpful if they were considering this card.
-TK

Edit: I can also confirm that CVS is now selling these and you can pay for credit card, although the cashier may not know that. They thought it was a gift card and didn't think it would work, but it rang up fine on CC.

crimsonAA

Does anyone else see that Vanilla Reload picture as taking up their entire screen?

caGALINDO

Nope

Oh and I have insider info from pharmacy store employee: If register says cash tender only, and the cashier runs your credit card anyways, it will work but that will show up on the closing report at night and the cashier gets in trouble.