Apr 3, 2013, 11:44 am
Last edit by: markr33
Read the wiki before posting a question.
Check your BB load limits BEFORE asking in this thread about "tender not allowed" or any other errors.
Bluebird website. There's no need to buy a Bluebird kit in-store; sign-up free on the website.
The original FlyerTalk discussion thread is here: Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Bluebird Load Limits:
*For online debit load, only use of bank-issued cards is allowed. The use of pre-paid debit cards (Netspend, Paypower, Univision, Paypal, etc.) and VGC/MGC/AGCs is not allowed. Your account will be flagged upon first/second attempt. If blocked, call Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454 to clear it (9am-8pm EST, Mon-Fri).
The day currently resets around midnight Eastern/11pm Central/10pm Mountain/9pm Pacific.
For online bill pay
Loading with debit card at Walmart
Self checkout does not work for loading.
Many Walmart stores are enforcing a rule against the use of gift cards when loading, even though the register and the MCE do not enforce. Do not make your prepaid debit cards visible. Show them a bank debit card if asked. Otherwise, you may be asked by management to never visit the MC again to load with gift cards.
Loads at register over $500 will sometimes trigger ID requirement. There is a limit of four swipes per transaction; this means your card plus three payments.
If your card doesn't say "debit" on the front, it isn't a debit card.
Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html for additional information on using prepaid debit cards.
Training a WM cashier:
Error Messages:
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Received when I used a card I thought I had activated but hadn't.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
TENDER NOT ALLOWED
Card was incorrectly read, or wrong PIN entered .
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again. Try again later.
UPdate Notice on Sept 15, 2014.
Some minor changes on the ATM limits and fees:
• Out-of-Network ATM Fees:
Beginning October 30, 2014, the fee for withdrawing funds using out-of-network ATMs will increase from $2.00 to $2.50. ATM operator fees may also apply.
• Free In-Network MoneyPass® ATMs:
Effective immediately, all Bluebird Customers can withdraw funds for free when using in-network MoneyPass ATMs. You can find one of the more than 24,000 MoneyPass ATMs below.
• ATM Withdrawal Limits Increase:
We have increased your daily ATM limit, so you can withdraw up to $750 per day. Your monthly ATM withdrawal limit will remain at $2,000.
-----
•If you use Wal-Mart Savings Catcher, you can earn double rewards by redeeming to your BlueBird account <== Doubling of savings catcher amounts ended sometime in the summer of 2015.
Check your BB load limits BEFORE asking in this thread about "tender not allowed" or any other errors.
Bluebird website. There's no need to buy a Bluebird kit in-store; sign-up free on the website.
The original FlyerTalk discussion thread is here: Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Bluebird Load Limits:
- BB loading via VR or WM load: $2,500/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
- Online Debit Card Load* - $200/day and $1,000/month
- Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
- Checks - $2,000/day and $10,000/month
- ATM Withdrawals - $750/day and $2,000/month
*For online debit load, only use of bank-issued cards is allowed. The use of pre-paid debit cards (Netspend, Paypower, Univision, Paypal, etc.) and VGC/MGC/AGCs is not allowed. Your account will be flagged upon first/second attempt. If blocked, call Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454 to clear it (9am-8pm EST, Mon-Fri).
The day currently resets around midnight Eastern/11pm Central/10pm Mountain/9pm Pacific.
For online bill pay
- You can pay the credit card that you used to buy reloads
- Error 1302 means that you have 1 pending payment the same amount as the one you just submitted. For example, 1000 bill pay to sapphire preferred from Friday and then on Saturday you submit another bill pay for 1000 to sapphire preferred, you will get this error.
- Tip: if using online bill pay to the same place multiple times, vary your amounts by $0.01 to make it easier to track since your confirmation number does not match the tracking number on your credit card statement
Loading with debit card at Walmart
Self checkout does not work for loading.
Many Walmart stores are enforcing a rule against the use of gift cards when loading, even though the register and the MCE do not enforce. Do not make your prepaid debit cards visible. Show them a bank debit card if asked. Otherwise, you may be asked by management to never visit the MC again to load with gift cards.
Loads at register over $500 will sometimes trigger ID requirement. There is a limit of four swipes per transaction; this means your card plus three payments.
If your card doesn't say "debit" on the front, it isn't a debit card.
Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html for additional information on using prepaid debit cards.
Training a WM cashier:
- If the WM cashier doesn't know how to load the card, advise them to enter "70" then press "action code".
- If you are using a temp card that doesn't have your name on it, you can swipe the card from your side of the terminal. The WM rep never has to touch any of your cards. The screen will say "enter account." That is your prompt to slide the card.
- The terminal will ask the WM employee if you are loading in multiples of $2000. Advise them to enter "no."
- Avoid saying gift card. Always refer to your card as a debit card.
Error Messages:
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Received when I used a card I thought I had activated but hadn't.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
TENDER NOT ALLOWED
Card was incorrectly read, or wrong PIN entered .
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again. Try again later.
UPdate Notice on Sept 15, 2014.
Some minor changes on the ATM limits and fees:
• Out-of-Network ATM Fees:
Beginning October 30, 2014, the fee for withdrawing funds using out-of-network ATMs will increase from $2.00 to $2.50. ATM operator fees may also apply.
• Free In-Network MoneyPass® ATMs:
Effective immediately, all Bluebird Customers can withdraw funds for free when using in-network MoneyPass ATMs. You can find one of the more than 24,000 MoneyPass ATMs below.
• ATM Withdrawal Limits Increase:
We have increased your daily ATM limit, so you can withdraw up to $750 per day. Your monthly ATM withdrawal limit will remain at $2,000.
-----
•If you use Wal-Mart Savings Catcher, you can earn double rewards by redeeming to your BlueBird account <== Doubling of savings catcher amounts ended sometime in the summer of 2015.
Bluebird prepaid debit, now with FDIC insurance and paper checks (2013-2014)
Jul 8, 2013, 12:41 am
#1367
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHX & AGP
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,456
I could not agree more, after I load the BB card, I wait 2 days to make sure the chargers post, then send a payment, and spend roughly 30 minutes total time...
Jul 8, 2013, 9:42 am
#1368
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 33
Forgive me for opening a can of worms, but is anyone concerned if using another person's BB card would cause any tax problems down the road? I do not think there is a 1099 with bluebird, which has been discussed in the past, however, if there was an audit for the other person, they had to provide bank statements, would that involve the BB in their name/ssn? I guess it comes down to if BB is considered a checking acct. If you load money (debit card load, rarely cash) and pay bills and some small spending. I guess it would be an easy explanation. I have never had any tax issues or experience with any of this as a younger dude, but just thinking out-loud. I apologize for my crazy talk and doomsday thinking, if it is..
Thanks
Last edited by Buckaroo123; Jul 8, 2013 at 12:13 pm Reason: thinking..
Jul 8, 2013, 2:23 pm
#1369
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHX & AGP
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,456
Thanks.
Forgive me for opening a can of worms, but is anyone concerned if using another person's BB card would cause any tax problems down the road? I do not think there is a 1099 with bluebird, which has been discussed in the past, however, if there was an audit for the other person, they had to provide bank statements, would that involve the BB in their name/ssn? I guess it comes down to if BB is considered a checking acct. If you load money (debit card load, rarely cash) and pay bills and some small spending. I guess it would be an easy explanation. I have never had any tax issues or experience with any of this as a younger dude, but just thinking out-loud. I apologize for my crazy talk and doomsday thinking, if it is..
Thanks
Forgive me for opening a can of worms, but is anyone concerned if using another person's BB card would cause any tax problems down the road? I do not think there is a 1099 with bluebird, which has been discussed in the past, however, if there was an audit for the other person, they had to provide bank statements, would that involve the BB in their name/ssn? I guess it comes down to if BB is considered a checking acct. If you load money (debit card load, rarely cash) and pay bills and some small spending. I guess it would be an easy explanation. I have never had any tax issues or experience with any of this as a younger dude, but just thinking out-loud. I apologize for my crazy talk and doomsday thinking, if it is..
Thanks
Jul 8, 2013, 3:21 pm
#1370
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: HH Diamond, IHG Plat, SPG & Marriott Gold, CC Silver
Posts: 541
If you listened to the store person and when to the service desk, you wouldn't have this issue. I had to use the service desk once, and they loaded the cards with no issues and KNEW what to do. There is a limit at the kiosk, but from what others have stated, if you hit the limit, take a walk around the store (about 2 minutes) and go back to the kiosk and you shouldn't have an issue.
But I have to say, the WM money center/service desk people know what they're doing. They always let me do back to back loads, then my BF does his as well, and we're done--no confusion, no questions beyond "500 again?". And I've seen them have to explain things like "you can't load the temporary card, you have to wait until you get the permanent one in the mail" pretty much every time I'm there. They're always helpful to people who are using them more... legitimately.
I wouldn't go to a cashier unless the service desk was closed.
Jul 8, 2013, 3:28 pm
#1371
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CVG
Programs: Hyatt Giraffe
Posts: 1,664
So it took some tries but I got $3K through. I would like to do a bunch more but it is going to be a pain. I don't want to wait around for 10 minutes for Kiosk to be OK every $1500. Maybe I will try to pick some non busy time and hopefully not get a cashier who questions every move.
The CSRs got tired of dealing with people running into the security limits while trying to load too fast, and just put a permanent "out of service" sign on the kiosk. So loading was only with people at the service desk.
Soon after, the CSRs got tired of dealing with loading multiple cards/accounts and now are making up regulations such as "cannot take gift cards" or "cannot take gift cards without your name on them".
As long as you stay under the limits, the kiosk is predictable and will work the same way each time. Dealing with humans, over time, is much less predictable and will start looking fishy to them.
Jul 8, 2013, 8:22 pm
#1372
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 939
If you know the Kiosk will cry for the manager on the 4th card ... why are still swiping the 4th card? Its like purposely setting off the alarm on yourself.
Swipe 3 and come back later.
Jul 8, 2013, 8:33 pm
#1374
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 633
So, which is it three swipes or dollar amount?
Here are quotes from other people. Some of this we won't know unless trying? For example would it work to do 3 at $500 and then a 4th at $499 or not? According to one person it is less than $2000 limit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cfbrown
I check the thread but could not find anything regarding the kiosk and depositing 1k twice, on two different accounts. I did it twice and the second time, the kiosk calls over an WM assistant manager. They assistant manager was really nice and said I had to do the 1k deposit at a register. Today, I did 2, $990 deposits without a problem. (All were from Visa cards from GCM).
Has anyone had this experience too?
I had a some what similar experience. I had four $500 gift cards (GCM) to load to two different Bluebird accounts. I loaded the first one just fine with two of the gift cards. When I got to the second gift card on the second Bluebird account, the kiosks calls over an assistant manager. She let the transaction go through, but said your total transactions must be less than $2000 at the kiosk. The Bluebirds had different names so they must have a way of tracking, maybe by address.
Here are quotes from other people. Some of this we won't know unless trying? For example would it work to do 3 at $500 and then a 4th at $499 or not? According to one person it is less than $2000 limit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cfbrown
I check the thread but could not find anything regarding the kiosk and depositing 1k twice, on two different accounts. I did it twice and the second time, the kiosk calls over an WM assistant manager. They assistant manager was really nice and said I had to do the 1k deposit at a register. Today, I did 2, $990 deposits without a problem. (All were from Visa cards from GCM).
Has anyone had this experience too?
I had a some what similar experience. I had four $500 gift cards (GCM) to load to two different Bluebird accounts. I loaded the first one just fine with two of the gift cards. When I got to the second gift card on the second Bluebird account, the kiosks calls over an assistant manager. She let the transaction go through, but said your total transactions must be less than $2000 at the kiosk. The Bluebirds had different names so they must have a way of tracking, maybe by address.
Jul 8, 2013, 8:41 pm
#1375
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 633
Some people say don't go the service desk, go to the cashier. Others say you idiot don't go to the cashier go to the service desk, ad nauseum. Some say wait 10 minutes, other's 2. Its like the old Favre commercial, "I would have picked paper".
Jul 8, 2013, 8:45 pm
#1376
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 65
Bluebird prepaid debit, now with FDIC insurance and paper checks.
I do 3 at Kiosk and one at cashier. About 10 minutes time spent b
Jul 8, 2013, 8:56 pm
#1377
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,561
I don't know 'the Kiosk will cry for the manager on the 4th card', do you?
Some people say don't go the service desk, go to the cashier. Others say you idiot don't go to the cashier go to the service desk, ad nauseum. Some say wait 10 minutes, other's 2. Its like the old Favre commercial, "I would have picked paper".
Some people say don't go the service desk, go to the cashier. Others say you idiot don't go to the cashier go to the service desk, ad nauseum. Some say wait 10 minutes, other's 2. Its like the old Favre commercial, "I would have picked paper".
Jul 9, 2013, 12:09 am
#1378
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: MSP
Posts: 376
Confused.
At Money Center counter, we can do 1 transaction using 3 cards. e.g., $1500 split among 3 $500 cards.
At the ATM machine, can we do that too? that would save a lot of time.
If you are talking about swipe 1 card then start over and swipe another card and then start over again, again, again.. I had success with 5 $200 swipes in a row. Didn't wait a second in between.
At Money Center counter, we can do 1 transaction using 3 cards. e.g., $1500 split among 3 $500 cards.
At the ATM machine, can we do that too? that would save a lot of time.
If you are talking about swipe 1 card then start over and swipe another card and then start over again, again, again.. I had success with 5 $200 swipes in a row. Didn't wait a second in between.
Jul 9, 2013, 12:44 am
#1379
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CVG
Programs: Hyatt Giraffe
Posts: 1,664
It's a dollar amount. Think of it as a "velocity" security check. If too much gets loaded within a certain time window, the machine goes into lockdown mode, as you've noticed.
Exact amount and timing is not entirely clear, but generally going away for ~10 minutes works, and if you're doing $500 cards, the 4th will definitely trigger, the 3rd rarely, but possible (and this is personal experience here). So depending on how fast you're infusing cash, most people assume ~$1500 per ~5-10 mins.
If I had to further narrow it down, I'm guessing 1500 within 3-5 minutes may be the trigger. This is because at ~45-55 seconds per load, I can load ~6-7 $200 cards within 5 minutes and not trigger anything all day long. But after 3 $500 cards, the 4th seems to be chicken dinner.
Exact amount and timing is not entirely clear, but generally going away for ~10 minutes works, and if you're doing $500 cards, the 4th will definitely trigger, the 3rd rarely, but possible (and this is personal experience here). So depending on how fast you're infusing cash, most people assume ~$1500 per ~5-10 mins.
If I had to further narrow it down, I'm guessing 1500 within 3-5 minutes may be the trigger. This is because at ~45-55 seconds per load, I can load ~6-7 $200 cards within 5 minutes and not trigger anything all day long. But after 3 $500 cards, the 4th seems to be chicken dinner.
Jul 9, 2013, 12:53 am
#1380
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 76
Don't forget that someone else may have loaded just before you got to the machine. I had the notice appear after a 2nd $500 card once.