Customer: Hi, I'd like to get large amounts of cash off various cards repeatedly
Teller: ok, let me introduce you to Mr. FBI

Actually, you wouldn't. The minimum is $20K and 200 transactions. Information provided by our friendly neighborhood jungle.

Mike

This would be enough to stop messing with IRS with a not-so-fool-proof payment method.

Let me tell you, dealing with IRS is absolutely a night mare. Someone filed a fraudulent tax return on DH's SSN. IRS actually caught it because we never ask refund check (all overpayments went to next year's estimate payment) but the frauster asked a few K's refund. It was caught. Yet, DH the victim had to file the affidavit Form 14039 and other documents to show he is he.

We mailed that in July, and again in Sept because IRS did not have any records of receiving it. Finally in Mid Nov IRS showed both packages were scanned in the system on Oct 23, with the July package received 2 days after our mailing and Sept package 3 days after our mailing.

We were given 12/20 as our earliest date to call back should we not hear anything from IRS (which withheld a $xxx refund from 2011 that we had it to apply for 2012 est tax payment.).

We haven't heard a blip still but I forgot the 12/20 date. Now Jan 15 for the last 2012 est payment is coming up, I guess we would have to call about where is our $xxx refund!

The mistake I made was overpaying IRS for 2011's est tax payment, not a lot but still overpayment. Now we have a very hard time to get this back to our account due to the fraudulent tax return AND IRS astonishing weakness in Tax Refund process, paying out refunds in Prepaid Debit Cards (largely due to the stupidity of our Congress) and the super incompetence in handling the aftermath. :mad:

I think paying local taxes such as property taxes and such is OK. Paying Federal Income Tax using this mechanism is risky.

Thanks for the data points.

Not sure I follow the logic. I read the OP link. But why specifically are MVD cards necessary? If banks are willing to give cash advance on them, shouldn't they do same on every type of card you can register (like GiftCardMall Visas etc)? So why even go thru the trouble/hassle to get the MVD? I guess you can save $2-3 per $500 load, but if getting 5/6x, a couple of bucks for less hassle seems worth it...

What sort of fee (if any) did the bank charge? And what bank did you use?

I have the permanent version of this card and successfully used it to pay my county property taxes about a month ago.

It looks like this functions as a true debit card; I was charged only $3.95 by the county to use it to pay. However, MVD charged me 2 separate $0.50 debit transaction fees -- one for the actual tax payment and one for the convenience fee :rolleyes:. So the total cost was $4.95, plus the cost of the VRs.

I've also used this card to buy money orders at Walmart. It costs $0.70 for the money order, plus another $0.50 transaction fee. In comparison, the ATM withdrawal fee is $1.95, plus whatever the ATM charges. It seems rather costly to liquidate funds from this card, compared to some other cards. IMO, the only advantage for this card is paying the $3.95 debit fee vs. a 2-3% credit card fee for certain transactions. For my purposes, Bluebird is better for just about everything else.

>>>>>>>>It looks like this functions as a true debit card;

Thank you skizz, this is what I was looking to confirm!

Skizz, what was the biggest money order transaction you were able to put through it? Thanks

I was unable to get a cash advance for my amex for target (because it was amex), the teller tried with my paypal business mastercard and it failed.

Both have my name on the cards.

This was at my local chase bank.

gpapadop - no problem, and good luck!

3ZeroT - I sent a PM to you.

Why the Lack of Interest
 

In light of how potentially lucrative this is, even with the risk involved (a bank could discontinue permitting cashes advances or could file a SARS), I'm surprised there isn't more interest in experimenting with this points play. My wife and I are having no trouble doing $5,000 each in VRreloads from CVS every month and earning 60000 HH points for $79 in loading fees. As VFTW outlined, you could fund as many as three cards with as much as $9,999 and then, in theory, cash them out, earning a very large number of points.

I'm considering dipping my toe in the water (try cashing out $500 on a card, then gradually wade deeper if it works). Would I be misguided for doing so? What realistic consequences should deter me (and yes, I've read the thread, but it reads to me as if everyone's writing this off without anyone doing much in the way of experimenting)?

Give it a whirl. I guess the first test is buy a temp card and try to cash it out at a bank without registering it. If that doesn't work, try registering it and cashing it out. If that doesn't work wait till you get a permanent card and try cashing that out. If that works fine then get two more cards. I've thought about it but I'm skerrd of ending up with the money frozen on the accounts and having to make a bunch of phone calls to get it released. The Dan's deals guy and Gary Leff both claim they have had no problem.

Just like all other schemes of quick reload and cash out, you'll be shut down is my guess. Quick load and cash out is not how these cards are meant to work (other than BB).

Having just had a lot of money locked up in PayPal cards for more than two months, I'm not eager for another round with Incomm.

I think the BB wins because Amex is a force to keep Incomm under control. With this card, Incomm has both sides of it, so they can (and I'm sure, will) do what they want.

It's that whole risk/reward thing.

Then there's the whole SSN + DOB which you get to give to Incomm. Again, I'm OK with giving that to Amex.

Just be sure that any money you put into this isn't money you need anytime soon. If you can float the $$ for potentially several months, go for it.

Is it fair to say that using MVD cards to purchase money orders can be a lucrative way to churn miles?

Many of the places selling money orders limit the amount for each purchase. For instance, if a retailer caps the purchase of each money order at $1,000, it will levy its fee of $0.70 on each money order purchase. Presumably, one of the reasons a person is buying money orders to minimize the risk of SARs being issued by a bank. If that person mails the money order to the credit card company to pay his bill, he incurs the cost of a stamp (which is no longer inexpensive). Note that parties involved in transactions involving money orders are included in the list of potential filders of SARs. Hopefully, the seller of the money orders would recognize that you are using "your own already deposited money" to buy the money orders, instead of directly using cash and would not be inclined to issue an SAR but there is no absolute guarantee that one could not be issued. A person is dealing with the $3.95 per $500 fee, the money order fee, and the stamps, in addition to the risk that the card issuer might freeze funds. Each of us has a different methodology as to whether it is worth it. Clearly this money order approach is more expensive than BlueBird.