thegasguru

Not when he can just google the MMS blog.

lbotez

so what is this new Amex card for Target? Here. Apparently you can load cards onto that too. Where does this fit into the scheme of things? Apparently you can get 6% with an Amex Blue cash if you get it before Nov. 4th. According to this: http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/...ember-4th.html

This stuff is really getting out of hand.

dcpilgrim

I had Honda pull my car payment via ACH yesterday and it went out fine. I would have been happy to use the billpay service but wasn't encouraged by people having trouble getting vendors set up correctly or random charges.

BB doesn't show the transaction yet, but I am sure it will tomorrow. I had funded it instore at WM using the ST debit. Looking forward to seeing if the skypesos post . No OD by me, nor Ink in my wallet.

lwildernorva

I've been intrigued by this thread because there seems to be an assumption this is turning into a zero sum game. Understanding that there are at least two circumstances that will create problems here (ATM circular use and use of funds to pay off credit cards), I'm trying to figure out why increased knowledge/wiping out inventory of cards creates a problem.

First, Amex has clearly decided to create a financial product that appeals to a certain demographic. Most people here seem to be outside of that demographic. But, so long as Amex hits the market it wants to hit with BB, I don't see the harm (and more importantly, Amex won't see the harm) in sales extending beyond that demographic. "Oh wait, more people are using BB than we expected, let's pull the product!"

Office Depot? A store stocks a product to sell it. If cards are flying off their shelves faster, although there may be an initial delay in restocking, OD will want more, not less of a hot-selling product--unless, of course, OD has decided to repeal the law of supply and demand. Now, the effects of that law may lead to an increase in the price OD charges for cards, but if it's $3.95 per $500 now, I wouldn't expect that price to jump immediately to $7.95, although it might get there eventually. And although less of a good deal at that price, it still seems worthwhile for the UR bonus you'd get.

Vanilla? Same thing. A supplier is generally not going to complain about an increase in sales. And nothing about the use of a Vanilla card to load BB would seem to undermine Vanilla.

Chase? The biggest problem is obviously here. Circular use of Chase's money to fund and pay will definitely raise their ire, but that's a matter that they may choose to handle by individual account action, not a broad slashing of a benefit. And absent circular abuse, what's the difference to Chase? They already have an arrangement that recognizes that items purchased at OD (as well as other office supply stores) will result in 5X UR points--no matter whether you purchase a computer, a printer, candy bars at the register, or gift cards.

Abuse could possibly result in Chase deciding to take a broad brush rather than an individual approach to this matter. For the other three players in the game, so long as they are making money off the sales and use of their products, I don't see how increased publicity and increased sales of the cards won't eventually lead to OD stocking more of these cards in more locations. And eventually, to other outlets stocking them under sales terms similar to OD.

Of course, if BB isn't a profitable financial product, Amex will shut it down. If Vanilla's business plan proves unviable, the company will go out of business. If OD doesn't make money selling cards, they'll no longer carry the cards.

The rest of it looks like tin foil hat nonsense to me. . .

jk2

I was wondering if it is possible to order personal checks if I know routing/account numbers, bank name from BB? I guess it should work. If yes, then it should solve many problems with paying to unknown to BB payees.

ddallas

I want to buy cards. I go to OD. No cards in store. Problem.

iahphx

Seems to me that the 2 huge weaknesses here are Chase and OD.

The Chase "problem" is obvious. The 5x points at office supply stores is obviously a "come on" offer for their Ink card. It's a loss leader. They probably figure a "typical" small business would be spending 50 bucks/month at stores like OD. Now, suddenly, many folks are spending thousands of dollars every month at OD. There's no way Chase is making money on those transactions by paying out 5x points.

But there could be a similar problem with OD. Does anybody know what profit a merchant gets on gift cards? I assume there's money to be made or the stores wouldn't carry them. But if you pay for the cards by credit card (like Ink), the store has to pay a credit card fee. So I'm wondering if OD actually makes money on this booming business in Vanilla reload cards.

SkinsFan0521

I've seen people say that they're able to send money from BlueBird to Serve accounts, but what about the other way around? Are people able to transfer money from Serve to Bluebird?

This may be a way for those of us who don't have OD nearby to still get a benefit out of the billpay feature. Use the GC that show as debit to load Serve and then send the money to BB. Then, use BB to pay the bills that can't normally be paid by CC.

I'm just trying to figure out a way to use BB since I canceled my Serve to get one, but I don't have any way to load Vanillas on my BB account. But, my wife has a Serve. So, if she can load the GC into Serve and then send to my BB, I would be able to earn points for paying some bills (only $2500/month since that's the Serve transfer limit).

broadwayblue

That was my question as well. OD makes $3.95 on the sale of the card...but then has to pay ~$10 in merchant fees when someone swipes their credit card (on a $500 gift card.) Obviously there's something else going on behind the scenes or they wouldn't be selling any kind of GC in the first place.

Stoughton

Very easily Works exactly as it does serve to serve.

Buy why would anyone send from BB ro Serve?

Sponge9

Just so I'm clear, if I want Wells Fargo to pull my payment from Bluebird, I just enter the direct deposit information from Bluebird's dd form (routing number and account number) as the bank information on the WF website, correct?

bearcat74

Clearly if everyone used credit to buy them then either OD wouldn't carry (losing $$) or Vanilla wouldn't offer them - the math doesn't add up. I think when you think about all consumers (not just FT'ers) the vast majority are funding with cash taking the merchant fee out of the equation. There was a guy in front of me at OD earlier in the week putting less than $100 in cash onto a reloadable.

Why would Target (or any other retailer) sell you their own GC for credit? Becasue they know a certain percentage will never get redeemed and thus they make money. That may be the case in the reloadable space to a degree as well, but less with these type of cards you load onto other cards.

MSPdude

Does SuperTarget get coded as groceries as well? I haven't been in a while, and can't find a transaction on my statement.

ma91pmh

without any inside insight into how the pricing and mechanics of all these pre-paids work we can only speculate on who is winning and who is losing in these games. however what is for sure is that with the huge spike in volume since this deal got publicized we are going to find out pretty soon who is hurting the most as whoever it is will make some kind of change. office depot, vanilla or amex are going to puke pretty quickly

johndoe123

If you want to risk having your account shut down -- that acct is supposed to be deposit only.