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Old Mar 3, 2014, 9:28 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: uncommonsensical
“My Vanilla Personal Reloadable Prepaid Debit Visa card”
https://www.myvanilladebitcard.com

FAQs: https://www.myvanilladebitcard.com/myvanilla/faq.html
T&C: https://www.myvanilladebitcard.com/m...Policy_ENG.pdf
Fees: https://www.myvanilladebitcard.com/m...RhFOmbp3hiKogJ

There isn't a bill pay function with MVD.

How do I load funds onto MVD? There are two primary ways to load funds onto your MyVanilla Card: 1) Direct Deposit (direct deposit all or part of your paycheck, social security, even your tax return refund right onto your MyVanilla Card); 2) At any Vanilla Reload Network retailer; just bring your Card and the amount you want to load onto your Card - Note: This can be either purchasing a Vanilla Reload card or possibly using a retailer with loading function on the cash register such as CVS. $3.95 fee applies to both methods.

CVS Credit Card Load Data Points:
Credit Cards used treated as a purchase:
FIA Fidelity Amex

Credit Cards used treated as a cash advance:
??

What is the load limit? You can load a maximum of $500.00 per day onto your Card, and there is a $2,500.00 total maximum deposit limit per day from all deposit sources (loads and ACH direct deposits). The daily ATM withdrawal limit is $400.00. The daily Cash Advance or "Over the Counter" limit at a bank is reported as $2,500.00/day. Some reports that this is actually / month. Maximum loaded amount on MVD card is $9,999.

If you can find Vanilla Reload cards that you can purchase with a credit card, max out by getting up to 3 registered MyVanilla Debit cards and you can load up to $2500 x 3 per day. And if you have a bank near you that will give you cash advances, you can take the full balance off each card for a $1.95 cent fee.
If you do not have Vanilla Reloads available near you, you want to find a bank that will allow you to cash out temporary cards. These are the ones you buy at CVS for $500 plus $3.95 fee and then cash them out en masse for a 50 cash advance fee apiece.
In Essence
Get new cards, spend some random amount and then get put in shutdown mode to spend off what is left, unless you utilize one old weird trick that prevents shutdown mode.

Liquidating a shut down account as of 3.31.2014
Various reports, and I can also confirm- If you receive the "invalid username or password" message when trying to access your account online, that's the indicator that you have been shut down. Check again for a day or so (just to make sure it wasn't an issue with their website). If still unable to access- you've been shut down.

If you don't want to call and talk to them, you can confirm yourself whether your account is still alive to liquidate by calling 855.686.9513. If you are able to hear your balance, you can liquidate- and you can liquidate quickly without any problem. I liquidated $8,200 over the weekend: 5k Saturday, the remainder Sunday (Walmart BillPay and MO).
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Old Nov 2, 2013, 8:56 pm
  #1366  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 383
That was my thought as soon as I posted that, that MVD is for those wanting to go over that limit... So this card is just useless to me since I only do MS to meet minimum spend. Which means I should go to a Walmart tomorrow and load 495.50 onto my BB...

But 50c per PIN transaction? Ouch
pkoo is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 9:12 pm
  #1367  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: JFK
Programs: *$ Gold :)
Posts: 1,061
Originally Posted by pkoo
I just bought one of these cards to experiment and registered online. It asked me to create a pin. So this means this card is a debit card with a pin right? Then what's stopping me from walking into a Walmart and loading the full $500 onto my BB? Why try liquidating the funds another way?
You can't register more than three of those.
Cards have inactivity fees, keep in mind.
pier11 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 9:32 pm
  #1368  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 120
Originally Posted by Lemma



Purchase money orders at Walmart.

Thanks for the reply - I might go this route instead of trying to find vanilla reload cards.
Yeshu JP is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 9:46 pm
  #1369  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 383
Originally Posted by pier11
You can't register more than three of those.
Cards have inactivity fees, keep in mind.
I only bought one in addition to a couple of the cardless VR's to see how they work. And yes I just noticed the inactivity fee so I'll cancel it as soon as i load the 495.50 onto BB.. arg
pkoo is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 10:48 pm
  #1370  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: All of them!
Posts: 322
Originally Posted by pkoo
That was my thought as soon as I posted that, that MVD is for those wanting to go over that limit... So this card is just useless to me since I only do MS to meet minimum spend. Which means I should go to a Walmart tomorrow and load 495.50 onto my BB...

But 50c per PIN transaction? Ouch
If you do a large transaction, it's not that much, less than the MO fees, but the reason people do it is the 50 cents per transaction is better than paying an extra $1 per $500 to buy Visa GC instead of VR. The maximum amount you can load per day is $2500 so if you load $2000 you can buy one MO for $1000 and one for $998.10 at Walmart and pay 70 cents per MO and the 50 cent transaction fee for a total of $1.90. Getting $1998.10 out of $2015.90 (4x $503.95) is about a 0.883% loss, compared to buying a $999.30 MO with two $500 GCs, where you get $999.30 out of $1009.90 in CC charges for a loss of about 1.05%. That's over a 16% reduction in total cost. Another way to think about it is the 50 cent fee is divided between 4 VR cards so you are paying an extra 12.5 cents per VR instead of the extra $1 per VR you would pay if you bought GC instead. If you loaded more on the card before buying MO, the fee would be diluted even more. If you are just going to do $500 at a time, it's a much less attractive proposition.

In reality, though, there are other methods besides BB that are cheaper than MVD (or BB), though also limited, such as AP and Visa Buxx. So the threshold for how much MS you would have to do before this card becomes a good idea is actually higher than 5k/month. It is a good alternative to the GC to MO route, though.
Lemma is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 10:51 pm
  #1371  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: All of them!
Posts: 322
Originally Posted by Yeshu JP
Thanks for the reply - I might go this route instead of trying to find vanilla reload cards.
If you're having trouble finding VR cards, you can load Visa gift cards to Bluebird at Walmart as well (just tell them it's a debit card and use any 4 digits you want as the PIN) and save yourself the money order fee, just keep in mind that loads with debit cards at Walmart are subject to the same 5k/month limit as VR, so you can't do both 5k of VR and 5k of Visa GC, and VR are cheaper so most people prefer to load that way.
Lemma is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2013, 11:14 pm
  #1372  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MMGold, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,263
Can't register the temp card

Bought my first My Vanilla Prepaid Debit card. Tried to enroll the card online several times but failed. Called the customer service also not able to activate the card. Then they told me there are so many failures so the card can only be activated as a credit card or get a refund.

I do want the debit feature of the card so do not want to turn the card into a one-time-use credit card. The refund option is $10 fee and take 2-4 weeks which sounds very unreasonable to me.

Any comments of this business practice and suggestions other possible solutions?
wendySFO is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 3:00 am
  #1373  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 291
Originally Posted by wendySFO
Bought my first My Vanilla Prepaid Debit card. Tried to enroll the card online several times but failed. Called the customer service also not able to activate the card. Then they told me there are so many failures so the card can only be activated as a credit card or get a refund.

I do want the debit feature of the card so do not want to turn the card into a one-time-use credit card. The refund option is $10 fee and take 2-4 weeks which sounds very unreasonable to me.

Any comments of this business practice and suggestions other possible solutions?
Never had this problem but if the card is activated you could use it to purchase another one and try again. Or you could order & register another one online, wait for it to come, activate it, and use the 1st card to buy a VR and load the new card with it.
zenride is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 9:41 am
  #1374  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX, SNA
Posts: 359
Is anybody having trouble logging into their account this morning? I am wondering if I've been shutdown because when I tried to login earlier, it said invalid login/password every time.
dogbyte is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 9:47 am
  #1375  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 291
Originally Posted by dogbyte
Is anybody having trouble logging into their account this morning? I am wondering if I've been shutdown because when I tried to login earlier, it said invalid login/password every time.
No trouble here.. Doesn't sound good, but i have never been shut down so what do i know?
zenride is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 12:17 pm
  #1376  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX, SNA
Posts: 359
It looks like I was shutdown. The reason given was misused of the card with immediately loading and unloading. They said I have to fax in my drivers' license and SS card and the receipts from my recent loads. I only have the receipt from the most 2 recent loads. They will then do an investigation.
dogbyte is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 1:07 pm
  #1377  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,322
Originally Posted by dogbyte
It looks like I was shutdown. The reason given was misused of the card with immediately loading and unloading. They said I have to fax in my drivers' license and SS card and the receipts from my recent loads. I only have the receipt from the most 2 recent loads. They will then do an investigation.
Assuming you reloaded with beans, are they requesting (i) the receipt from the store, e.g., CVS, from which you purchased them, or (ii) the used bean plastic w/ exposed PIN?
tuphat is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 1:29 pm
  #1378  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX, SNA
Posts: 359
Originally Posted by tuphat
Assuming you reloaded with beans, are they requesting (i) the receipt from the store, e.g., CVS, from which you purchased them, or (ii) the used bean plastic w/ exposed PIN?
They asked for both.
dogbyte is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 1:45 pm
  #1379  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,322
@dogbyte -- Thanks, and best of luck. Would be interested in how they define "immediately loading and unloading," justify the shutdown, etc.
tuphat is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2013, 3:31 pm
  #1380  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MMGold, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,263
Originally Posted by zenride
Never had this problem but if the card is activated you could use it to purchase another one and try again. Or you could order & register another one online, wait for it to come, activate it, and use the 1st card to buy a VR and load the new card with it.
Thanks zenirde's suggestion.

Just saw the thread below, looks like there are others experienced the same problem (comments regarding the "US Patriot Act"):

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credi...gift-card.html
wendySFO is offline  


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