hi guys, fairly fresh on the beans game but need to meet some spend on a few new cards :D

total spend needed spend is 4250 - yes i know probably nothing for the pros here lol.

anyways, i usually go to CVS once a month and get a VR to pay for my car loan and thats been the extend of my game, but now need to meet the spend as soon as i can. i have some student loan that i am going to pay off so thats about 1300 dollars there plus my usual car loan 350 .

do you guys usually buy two VR for 1k at a time? i have three cards to spread the love on so what do you recommend, buying 1k a day on one card then the next day 1k for the second/third card? the two primary cvs that have VR are close to work/home so close by and can go every day even for just a 500 dollar card.

also another question, should i buy 500 a time on each card until i meet the spend and mix with daily purchases ? it may look suspicious to amex/citi/chase if i buy 1k at CVS on the first purchase. just wondering !

You should buy however many you are comfortable with buying. I am also new to MS and feel really awkward buying anything more than $1,000 worth of VR at a time. Some people in here spend $5,000 at a time at multiple CVS locations per day.

Just as a friendly PSA: make sure to check your VRs before buying them. I bought one earlier today that already had the back scratched off. Luckily, I was still able to use it, but could have easily lost $500 there.

You do know that those cards have zero value on the shelf? Its only worth 'x' dollars after cashier activates the card.

Edit - However, if someone noted the serial no and pin, they could have used it between the time period it was activated and used by yourself.

You're really lucky you didn't learn that lesson the hard way. Checking VRs should be the first thing one does. Glad you came out ok ^

Jordandawg, welcome to the game!

As others have pointed out, spend what you're comfortable with. When first starting out, you might want to start off slowly. With new cards, you might generate fraud alerts if you buy too much at a time. Have the 800 number on the back of the card on speed dial on your cell and be ready to call. For example, my new Citi Hilton HHonor card freaked when I bought $1000 worth of stuff (2 cards and some food items). Called back Citi and immediately resolved the issue--stayed on the phone with the agent while the transaction went through again. After that, zero problems with that card.

Also, please know that any VR amount in a single purchase that is $1000 or more (excluding the fees) WILL trigger the requirement of scanning your driver licence. It's debatable whether this scan is meaningful or not. Most MS pros just allow it to happen and don't care about the scan. If you are worried about it, buy one card with $500 and the other with $499, and you will never trigger the DL scan. Then, just go back another day and see your friendly cashier to buy more VRs.

If your store runs out of VRs, don't lose hope! Keep checking. Maybe make friends with some other MSers on here who are local to you, and keep each other informed about your local VR supply. You may have to check different stores, at different times.

As others have reminded, always ensure your VR scratch code in the back hasn't been revealed, before you buy your VR! Number one rule!

Happy VR'ing!

Thanks for the tips

Buying two at $496 is my go-to amount, because with purchase fees, the total purchase comes out to 999.90, just under the DL scan threshold.

Maybe someday I'll be sorry if a CVS database gets hacked like Target did, but I consider myself fortunate that I have at least 4 CVS stores in my area that will gladly let me buy $5K at a time (heck, I'm on friendly small talk terms with most of the cashiers at this point) - so I gladly fork over my DL, and consider it a huge time saver. With 4 BB cards, several MVD, several JHP, etc...I buy plenty of VRs. Having to do that at only $1K at a time would be an excruciating time suck for me.

Dl scan threshold is not incl fees so 500/499 worx

While only personal opinion, based on no actual knowledge, a $999.90 reload purchase to avoid the DL scan looks more suspicious than going with a DL scan.

As I was buying $2000 in Vanilla Gift Cards last night, the gentleman in line in front of me had a single VR, and asked to put $500 on it. His credit card was declined.

The only thing that ran through my mind was: "small potatoes."

$2,000?
Petty cash... ;)

A hack would have the same impact if you bought $25K worth of VRs at CVS or $1 worth of gum.

Just to pile on here, and you've already gotten some great advice.

I typically buy as much as they will let me. Some cashiers want to break them up into more than one transaction (one guy says his register freaks out if he does that much at once), but I don't freak out about the DL scan since I'm not doing anything illegal. In fact, I feel better that they scan my card since it helps to prevent fraud from others.

I've had conversations with the cashier's at the 2 CVS stores I frequent and they know who I am so they know I'm not doing anything illegal. I know their rules better than they do. One of the cashiers asked me the other day what the daily limit was. :)