Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Oct 27, 2012, 7:05 am
#781
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: On the Lake USA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Hilton Diamond because they have nothing higher
Posts: 523
I made my way to my local OD for another bean run, this time with my SPG, and noticed they were out. A week ago they had like 10-15 left, so I at first thought the Bird had scooped them up. But having read threads in the past, I took my time looking at all the gift cards...and what do you know, but beans were hidden behind another stack of gift cards. Two treasure beans were scooped up by SPG today. Ink will be writing my John Hancock in about 2 weeks. Enough time for it to dry so my Ink will always be available.
Might not do much for me but they all sure are damn friendly at least.
Oct 27, 2012, 7:44 am
#782
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 244
Is the account number on the direct deposit information the same number that is on the card?
I haven't gotten my physical card yet but would like to go ahead and feed my account beans if possible.
I haven't gotten my physical card yet but would like to go ahead and feed my account beans if possible.
Oct 27, 2012, 7:52 am
#783
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: On the Lake USA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Hilton Diamond because they have nothing higher
Posts: 523
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.
I said I didn't have the receipt and was not trying to abuse the system. We shall see how this progresses.
Something sort of similar happened to me but they did not mention what I bought or anything about gift cards. I went to one OD and they only had 1 card so I went to another one and they had some so I bought two. Well next was the gas station to fill up and the card was denied. When I called them they said because of two large charges. I laughed and said I have been a customer for years and routinely make large purchases. They agreed and simply said the purchases just triggered a fraud alert. They apologized and removed it.
Two days later I had used the card 8-9 more times for misc. and decided to try to buy one more card to load my new BB. Well I got greedy hearing about all the short supply situations of the cards and grabbed 3 and the card didn't go through at the counter. The manager called it in somewhere from a binder with phone numbers and when asked he said he had to call the bean factory. It then did go through but of course 2 hours later during lunch I get the Chase Fraud Fang Woman calling. Again very nice and removed it but a definite red flag. I am going to go slow with regular spend for a couple weeks before I try to buy more beans
I echoed others includiing the bloggers sentiment on this topic that the Cardinals are watching and no doubt Dave and everyone is right that soon a batch of the biggest abusers are going to wake up to closed accounts.
I think 2k in office spending a month is reasonable for a business with say 10-20 employees.
Oct 27, 2012, 7:55 am
#784
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: On the Lake USA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Hilton Diamond because they have nothing higher
Posts: 523
Just for reference
ALL Visa card #'s start with 4
All Master Card # start with 5
All Amex Card #'s start with 3
unless you have Whiskey plates in your state then they might start with W,X,Y or Z
Oct 27, 2012, 7:57 am
#785
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: DL DM Hub Captive, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, PC Plat, and other stuff.
Posts: 904
The card has to be activated before you can use it. If it were me, I'd just be patient and wait until the card arrives. It won't take more than a few days.
Oct 27, 2012, 8:06 am
#786
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: DL DM Hub Captive, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, PC Plat, and other stuff.
Posts: 904
.....
Oct 27, 2012, 8:13 am
#788
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,603
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.
Oct 27, 2012, 8:16 am
#789
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
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.
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.
Oct 27, 2012, 8:44 am
#790
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: MAD
Programs: DL, UA, AA, BA, Marriott
Posts: 599
I always recommend frequently transferring your UR balance. There's just no reason to risk it.
Oct 27, 2012, 9:00 am
#791
Suspended
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,998
Clarification needed on the beans flavor, as the first few pages of this post referred to the rich Visa flavor at OD, while later pages referred to this rather nasty-looking flavor www.vanillareload.com/home.html available at 7/11. Which is the tastier choice?
Oct 27, 2012, 9:16 am
#792
Formerly known as cagalindo
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: MCO TPA
Programs: Citi AA/HH/TYP Amex SPG/HH & Chase SP/PC
Posts: 1,335
Its just a matter of time before Chase starts going on a shut down spree. And maybe even remove the 5x bonus from their Ink cards. :/
Oct 27, 2012, 9:23 am
#793
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 4,431
With leftpinky's report, looks like we have something to go by now. However, leftpinky is an old IB user with a prior history. He suddenly increased his OD spend, and that triggered a red flag. A lot of other folks are new IB cardholders with no prior history. I don't think Chase can go through all the new accounts with heavy OD spending. Still, this is definitely a reminder that everybody should be careful with the beans.
What's you guys' thoughts on OD spending or newer members that will trigger red flags? Say, if 20% of total spend coming from OD? 30%? 50% or more? I think a lot of folks are quickly gobbling up the remaining beans in large amounts out of fear that the supply will run out. One OD that had >20 cards last time I went there 1-2 wks ago was out when I went yesterday. I think we should all remember that even without beans (the main benefit to me being able to pay mortgage and property taxes and get UR points), the AMEX prepaid cards are still in strong supply. Not as good, but still almost 5x off everything.
What's you guys' thoughts on OD spending or newer members that will trigger red flags? Say, if 20% of total spend coming from OD? 30%? 50% or more? I think a lot of folks are quickly gobbling up the remaining beans in large amounts out of fear that the supply will run out. One OD that had >20 cards last time I went there 1-2 wks ago was out when I went yesterday. I think we should all remember that even without beans (the main benefit to me being able to pay mortgage and property taxes and get UR points), the AMEX prepaid cards are still in strong supply. Not as good, but still almost 5x off everything.
Oct 27, 2012, 9:25 am
#794
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Chase added the 5x after consulting with focus groups about what bonus categories they would like. I doubt they will remove the bonus, just send the Cardinals out to either gently warn or go ahead and shut an account down.
Oct 27, 2012, 9:25 am
#795
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
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.
I said I didn't have the receipt and was not trying to abuse the system. We shall see how this progresses.