WOXOF

On line order to mailbox was 4 days but I did not have a serve account to deal with

TheBOSman

Neither did I. I think they simply did one huge first batch, I'm guessing new cards would show up faster now (since it has my name on it so it was not premade or anything like that).

QL_714

They sure are premade. Mine has your name on it also!

TheBOSman

Please accept my apologies, I feel bad if someone is stuck with my name! Does everyone you meet who has to read it butcher my name too like they always have for me?

leftpinky

Guys--Got an interesting call from Chase Business today. They asked why I started making OD purchases all of sudden in large amounts ($1k). I said I needed some stuff, they asked what. I said office supplies mostly and they asked if I could send them the receipt bc they were making sure people were not abusing the benefits. I asked what that meant and they said gift cards and such. Didn't mention reloads, but must be what they're thinking.

I said I didn't have the receipt and was not trying to abuse the system. We shall see how this progresses.

DL172

Please keep us posted. Some of us have a lot more than just a few $1k purchases.

nwflyboy

leftpinky, can you give us more details about what your spending has been like on this card, specifically...

1. What your typical monthly spend has been (ballpark) on that card prior to the advent of vanilla & bluebird
2. How much (total) you've pumped through the vanilla reloads at OD since vanilla/bluebird (you mentioned "large amounts ($1k)" - is that $1k total, $1k per store times how many transactions, etc.) - in other words, did you draw this scrutiny for purchasing two $500 vanilla reloads once, or $1000 worth every day for 2 weeks at a dozen different OD locations?
3. How long you've been doing the vanilla harvests
4. How long you've had your card (I'm assuming this is an Ink card you're using - correct?)

Also, how did the conversation with Chase end? You said sorry, don't have a receipt you can send, then what did they say? Did they indicate what would happen next?

This should be interesting for those who have been wondering "how much is safe?" and "how much will get me smacked down?". It appears you are somewhere in between (already).

Clearly, Chase is watching.

Please *do* keep us updated on how this goes...I'm sure a lot of folks will be keenly interested (to put it mildly!).

leftpinky

I've had the Ink card for about 6-8 months, been a Chase customer since 1998, active since 2006 or so.

My ink spending is around $700-800/mth normally. Dish, cell phone and in laws cell phone, internet is about it. So not huge, but not insignificant. Never used it at OD before that. Also used it in Africa and London this summer somewhat, so maybe another few thousand there.

My Shappire spending has been about $1500/mth, which isn't bad for a secondary card (main is SPG, of course). So overall Chase spending is about $2k-2.5k per month. Decent, I'd say and probably slightly above median for most Chase users. Rarely, if ever, used AP or anything similar on Chase (a few thousand UR points just don't do it for me since they are so easy to get with sign up bonuses).

I did buy one Van reload for $500 to try it out and see if it loads (if I got the right card) and two for $1k. They didn't mention the $500, but did mention the $1k. They didn't really say much to end the call, just that they wanted to see what's been going on. No threats or anything to close my account (yet).

As posters have mentioned above, both times I purchased from OD, the manager called in and did an address verification. Maybe that triggered something, but not sure. The two managers both said OD requires them to do verification if over $100 on gift cards.

joesmoe

Wow thanks for the heads up!

TheBOSman

Thanks for the heads up. Fortunately for me, OD likely won't be more than 30% of my spend on the card during the $10k for 3 months. Might just stick with the closer store instead, I'm not planning to use beans for anything other than meeting spend bonuses, can't justify putting nonbonused spend on Ink after the spend bonus just to make beans look more insignificant.

nwflyboy

Thanks, leftpinky - very intriguing details. Yours is the first report I've heard of someone getting that kind of scrutiny - the way some people are surely hammering these, I'm sure it won't be the last.

My credit card spend is not terribly different from yours, I guess: I have a large number of Chase cards (most, but not all of them), have been with them 15-20 years. My heavy spending switches from one card to another, typical spend on the cards I use regularly is anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand per month, sometimes more, often less. I've had my Ink Bold since last spring. Have used it lightly since making the initial spend, but I try to use every one of my cards at least a little every month. Recently I've switched my monthly cell phones, internet and Dish payments to Ink Bold, but for the past few months on this card I've probably had under $100 each month (always pay off every card each month). FWIW I also have a home mortgage with Chase - whenever I call them, they greet me warmly by name and ask "what can we do for one of our very best customers today?". Just closed a home refi with Chase 3 days ago. So we have a long relationship.

This week I saw the Vanilla cards at a local OD. I bought one for $500 on my Ink bold, to test the waters. I also threw on a few other small items I needed so the total charge would not show up as $503.95, which (along with its multiples) I'm guessing has got to be an obvious magic number to trigger scrutiny.

I was going to be out at a different OD tomorrow, was going to look to see if they had the vanillas, too. Wasn't planning to buy any more, just curious about supplies long-term. I want to stay on Chase's good side, so I'm going to take it easy with this - was thinking one, maybe two $500 vanillas a month (mixed in with other spending). That adage about pigs & hogs comes to mind.

So, just to clarify - I think you're saying you bought one $500 vanilla on one day, then on another day you bought two $500 = $1000. Right?

Same OD location or two different ones?
How many days apart were these two transactions?
How long after you did the second transaction did it take to get the call from Chase?
Did you buy anything else there, or only the Vanilla card(s) - so were your purchases were exactly $503.95, and then $1007.90?

FWIW, in my (admittedly limited) experience - I've bought one $500 vanilla card - the OD cashier never asked to see anything - didn't even ask for ID or check to see if the name on my credit card matched anything, no address verification, just had me swipe my credit card - he didn't even look at it. This was 2 days ago.

This will be interesting to follow.

sonofzeus

Don't the merchant agreements specifically prohibit requests for ID when the signature on the back of a MC/Visa/AMEX matches the signature on the sales ticket?

alpen1

No Bluebird for the Virgin Islands or even Puerto Rico even though they have Walmarts... missing out...

TheBOSman

Visa and MC do prohibit it. AMEX does indirectly, I forget the specifics of it.

Preacher7

They really are serious. They want you to think that the BB is your new checking account that you carry around in your wallet. And I am!