Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Jan 5, 2013, 1:56 am
#5161
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,059
^
Jan 5, 2013, 6:52 am
#5163
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Jan 5, 2013, 7:34 am
#5164
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SDF
Programs: UA, HH
Posts: 692
Jan 5, 2013, 9:00 am
#5165
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Sweet Home Chicago
Programs: Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 646
I had same issue last week. I concur that Incomm was professional with courtsey. Here's the tip. The first time the issue surfaced, I called immediately. I was instructed to fax the copy of receipt with GC (front and back). I was told that it woudl take 3 to 5 days for them to activate the cards. After 6 days, I still had issue so I called them. They were swamped with the amount of submitted documents via fax. They had to find my copy after 10 minutes on phone and started the process to activate them within 5 to 7 days. They were activated after 4 days. The poitn is that you may want to follow up with them to see if they recieved your submitted document.
It's good to hear that I'm not alone!
Jan 5, 2013, 10:28 am
#5167
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SDF
Programs: UA, HH
Posts: 692
For the last few days, since it's getting harder to do a direct conversion $->VR->$ I started thinking on how much I can spend and if it's worth it... Here is what I think, correct me if I am wrong... Right now I am using Ink and Citi card as examples.
I am also currently not working on meeting any spending requirements, so I am not counting that either.
Since UR points as well as TYP have pretty direct relationship to real money - ability to book travel and buy gift cards, I look at them as an example. Personally, I think UR points are even more valuable, if one counts business class award tickets vs. ecenomy, but for now I am looking at base value - 10,000 TYP for $100 gift card (or $125 in airline tix) and similar deal with UR.
For 1x points it's clearly not worth it. We are talking about paying 80 cents for $1 worth + chance of devaluation. Might only work if small amount of miles needed to get a ticket or meeting spending requirement.
With 5x points it's a totally different story. Everybody knows that direct conversion is no longer there. But even with 3 iterations - $->GC->GC->GC->$ with $3-$4 fee every time is still like paying 50 cents for $1 worth of gift cards, tickets, etc.
The OD situation also, IMHO, helped to reduce the number of people in the game, so it should last longer.
Comments are welcome and happy VR hunting, everybody.
I am also currently not working on meeting any spending requirements, so I am not counting that either.
Since UR points as well as TYP have pretty direct relationship to real money - ability to book travel and buy gift cards, I look at them as an example. Personally, I think UR points are even more valuable, if one counts business class award tickets vs. ecenomy, but for now I am looking at base value - 10,000 TYP for $100 gift card (or $125 in airline tix) and similar deal with UR.
For 1x points it's clearly not worth it. We are talking about paying 80 cents for $1 worth + chance of devaluation. Might only work if small amount of miles needed to get a ticket or meeting spending requirement.
With 5x points it's a totally different story. Everybody knows that direct conversion is no longer there. But even with 3 iterations - $->GC->GC->GC->$ with $3-$4 fee every time is still like paying 50 cents for $1 worth of gift cards, tickets, etc.
The OD situation also, IMHO, helped to reduce the number of people in the game, so it should last longer.
Comments are welcome and happy VR hunting, everybody.
Jan 5, 2013, 10:51 am
#5168
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,708
But then you have the driving around time involved. So factor in how convenient it is to purchase and redeem. For me it is very worth it for meeting minimum spend, and is allowing me to get cards I would not be able to meet spend on otherwise, but I don't see it as worth my time once minimum spend for bonus is met. If you could do 10k each trip it would be worth it, but if you need to make a special trip for each 1k, not so much.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:00 am
#5169
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 543
For those paying student loans I think it is important to know if your loan provider is giving you an interest rate incentive for auto-debit (most federal loans have a 0.5% deduction in interest rate if you use auto-debit). Depending on your loan balance and monthly payment using bluebird may or may not make sense for you (that is an individualized decision). As an example if I have 90K in loans and monthly payment is around $500 a month, the 0.5% lower interest rate saves $450 a year (at least the first year, this number would go down yearly based on loan balance) if you use auto-debit. If you use bluebird and are able to get 5x points, the best you could hope for would be 30000 points or miles ($6000 in loan payments a year x5) + fees of a little under $50 for 12 vanilla reloads. So if 30K points/miles +$50 is not worth $450 to you then paying student loans with bluebird doesn't make sense.
Been doing this for a few months now.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:15 am
#5170
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
But then you have the driving around time involved. So factor in how convenient it is to purchase and redeem. For me it is very worth it for meeting minimum spend, and is allowing me to get cards I would not be able to meet spend on otherwise, but I don't see it as worth my time once minimum spend for bonus is met. If you could do 10k each trip it would be worth it, but if you need to make a special trip for each 1k, not so much.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
For me, i pass multiple locations daily, but only stop a few times a month.
Can one of our math whizzes layout the comparison of using the INK for OD/GC >>CeeVeeSams versus direct INK for CEEVEESams?^
If you would like to throw in another card that's not terribly risky, feel free.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:20 am
#5171
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Basically depends on how far your OD is, what GCs they still sell, and if the drugstore easily accepts GCs. Without those factors, any math analysis is fairly useless, and it would be semi-difficult to quantify those.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:27 am
#5172
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
Let's say OD GC's or prepaids in $100 and $200 increments and yes drugstores accept them.
I have seen some of the Geddes (spelling may not be correct) Vanilla cards for $20-$500.
Edit: Nevermind, no math whiz needed. I layed out my own comparison, it was a silly question.
Last edited by shoreline; Jan 5, 2013 at 1:23 pm Reason: ect=etc.; nevermind added.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:37 am
#5173
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 447
But then you have the driving around time involved. So factor in how convenient it is to purchase and redeem. For me it is very worth it for meeting minimum spend, and is allowing me to get cards I would not be able to meet spend on otherwise, but I don't see it as worth my time once minimum spend for bonus is met. If you could do 10k each trip it would be worth it, but if you need to make a special trip for each 1k, not so much.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
I'm just a little dog. I don't shop like Sarah.
10k might be pushing it, but some may have that kind of patience. Personally I find OD TSAs to be a lot more stringent than the manager Sarah crossed swords with regarding VRs.
I just go on a Bean Run (BR > MR ^) one day of the week and it is good enough for the month.
Jan 5, 2013, 11:43 am
#5174
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NYC
Posts: 398
Jan 5, 2013, 11:43 am
#5175
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
You've found VR cards at Rite Aid stores? They aren't even on the list of stores that carry them.