Jun 22, 2013, 10:42 am
Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
There is a new thread for 2017: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1819569-pin-available-now-visa-mc-prepaid-debit-cards-2017-a.html
Federal Reserve interpretation of Dodd-Frank financial reform regulations has resulted in Visa/MC gift cards getting PINs as of April 1, 2013.
Setting PINS
At Walmat, many MCs default to credit(and fail) and require pressing a button to change the payment type to debit. Here are the workarounds:
Old POS systems (monochrome black on green terminals and replacement color terminals):
1a. Screen shows "Insert or Swipe Card Quickly" with "Espanol" button in lower right (note if your screen blinks)
1b. Swipe card
1c. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..." with with working animation in lower center and "Cancel" button in lower right
2. Press "Cancel" on the screen or red button on pad (if your screen blinks, do not hit button until after blink)
3. Press "ATM/DEBIT" from upper left
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5a. Enter PIN
5b. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..."
6. Cashier hits blue (not green) Debit button on their side.
New POS systems (color terminal):
1. Swipe GC
2. Press "Change Payment" on screen (Yellow button on pad should also work, but screen works better for some. Timing is critical.)
3. Press "DEBIT"
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5. Enter PIN - Screen showing another 'Waiting for cashier...'.
6. Ask Cashier to hit blue color Debit button on the screen
When splitting transactions among multiple cards at a Walmart register, make sure to have the cashier hit the debit button on their physical keypad. If they hit the debit button on the touchscreen, it will not work. If your transaction got declined, try having the cashier hit 'Debit' using the physical keypad on the right of the screen.
As of 6/19/2014, Walmart rejects Debit attempts above $49.99 on all cards issued by InComm/ITC Financial Services, namely all Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla. There is no workaround.
Error Messages
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Not enough funds available to cover whatever amount was typed in, or most likely NOT typed in.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again.
Federal Reserve interpretation of Dodd-Frank financial reform regulations has resulted in Visa/MC gift cards getting PINs as of April 1, 2013.
Setting PINS
- MetaBank VISA or Sunrise VISA -use the last four digits of the card number (or to set personal PIN call 888-524-1283)
- US Bank VISA and Mastercard - Newer cards come with a PIN printed on cardstock inside the package. To set/reset PIN, call 866-952-5653. One person reports: VISA that has pre-set PIN locks PIN on first use if not previously reset; always call to set PIN before use. If you forget to reset the pin and you can't unload the funds to your BB, call the toll free # and ask rep. to "reset" the card and they will do some magic and you should then be able to unload the funds at WM.
- Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla(not MyVanilla, etc) - selection of 4 digits on the first transaction becomes the PIN
At Walmat, many MCs default to credit(and fail) and require pressing a button to change the payment type to debit. Here are the workarounds:
Old POS systems (monochrome black on green terminals and replacement color terminals):
1a. Screen shows "Insert or Swipe Card Quickly" with "Espanol" button in lower right (note if your screen blinks)
1b. Swipe card
1c. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..." with with working animation in lower center and "Cancel" button in lower right
2. Press "Cancel" on the screen or red button on pad (if your screen blinks, do not hit button until after blink)
3. Press "ATM/DEBIT" from upper left
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5a. Enter PIN
5b. Screen shows "Waiting for cashier..."
6. Cashier hits blue (not green) Debit button on their side.
New POS systems (color terminal):
1. Swipe GC
2. Press "Change Payment" on screen (Yellow button on pad should also work, but screen works better for some. Timing is critical.)
3. Press "DEBIT"
4. Press "No Cash Back"
5. Enter PIN - Screen showing another 'Waiting for cashier...'.
6. Ask Cashier to hit blue color Debit button on the screen
When splitting transactions among multiple cards at a Walmart register, make sure to have the cashier hit the debit button on their physical keypad. If they hit the debit button on the touchscreen, it will not work. If your transaction got declined, try having the cashier hit 'Debit' using the physical keypad on the right of the screen.
As of 6/19/2014, Walmart rejects Debit attempts above $49.99 on all cards issued by InComm/ITC Financial Services, namely all Vanilla VISA and OneVanilla. There is no workaround.
Error Messages
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Not enough funds available to cover whatever amount was typed in, or most likely NOT typed in.
DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.
HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again.
PIN available now for Visa/MC prepaid debit cards(2013-2016).
Jan 23, 2014, 9:51 pm
#3031
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 222
I read a post by a fellow FTer about the language at the top of the FINCEN form saying "when purchasing more than $3000 with CASH". And how he/she pointed it out to the manager and they agreed with him/her.
Well, I had success in buying more than $3k at a Walmart I frequent. The cashier actually told me it was okay because I was paying by debit. I was floored. You win some, you lose some.
Well, I had success in buying more than $3k at a Walmart I frequent. The cashier actually told me it was okay because I was paying by debit. I was floored. You win some, you lose some.
Jan 24, 2014, 2:42 am
#3032
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
one way I have gotten rid of left over $1's or whatever on my GCs is to call Comcast's auto pay system and just pay my bill or over pay my bill and enter the GC numbers and the ammt. So if my GC has say $1.50 on it, I can pay my bill on the phone and just type in that ammt and it will give me an auth code to write down. This zeros the card and now my Comcast bill will adjust. It is ok to over pay your comcast bill and while the auto phone system takes some getting used to, one can do a bunch of these in a few minutes and no human involved.
Jan 24, 2014, 9:24 am
#3033
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 377
I end up with $1 on AMEX GCs after draining them via AP. I cash out my $1 GCs at BJ's, which detects and accepts the $1 left on each card.
Jan 24, 2014, 9:39 am
#3034
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: The Empire State
Programs: CO (RIP), US (RIP), Amtrak. Lots of CC programs.
Posts: 442
Jan 24, 2014, 10:21 am
#3035
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 492
Or you can add them with the wrong expiration date.
Thanks
Jan 24, 2014, 10:27 am
#3036
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
one way I have gotten rid of left over $1's or whatever on my GCs is to call Comcast's auto pay system and just pay my bill or over pay my bill and enter the GC numbers and the ammt. So if my GC has say $1.50 on it, I can pay my bill on the phone and just type in that ammt and it will give me an auth code to write down. This zeros the card and now my Comcast bill will adjust. It is ok to over pay your comcast bill and while the auto phone system takes some getting used to, one can do a bunch of these in a few minutes and no human involved.
Jan 24, 2014, 1:06 pm
#3037
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 120
one way I have gotten rid of left over $1's or whatever on my GCs is to call Comcast's auto pay system and just pay my bill or over pay my bill and enter the GC numbers and the ammt. So if my GC has say $1.50 on it, I can pay my bill on the phone and just type in that ammt and it will give me an auth code to write down. This zeros the card and now my Comcast bill will adjust. It is ok to over pay your comcast bill and while the auto phone system takes some getting used to, one can do a bunch of these in a few minutes and no human involved.
Didn't know BJs allowed this. Does this work at the self-checkout counters? I prefer not going to a cashier for these things.
Jan 24, 2014, 3:49 pm
#3038
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Arizona
Posts: 49
When I have a GC with a small amount left I will head over to Amazon and purchase a gift card for the exact amount and then add it to my account. It all gets spent there eventually.
Jan 24, 2014, 5:35 pm
#3039
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Orange County, CA
Programs: Delta PM | US PP | Hilton Gold
Posts: 288
How do you all have leftover money in your GC? When I liquidate mine, I always use the exact amount it has left on it ... MO for $499.30 or load SERVE with the exact amount.
Jan 24, 2014, 8:23 pm
#3040
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 120
And next time, I will try getting 499.30 and report back if it goes smoothly.
Jan 24, 2014, 8:27 pm
#3041
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 120
i used to do this. do this too many times and amazon may ban you. I think there's a post on Dan's deals on this (or some other travel blog, but I certainly remember reading it somewhere). The reason is because you are adding too many payment methods. I have lots of these gift cards with small balances and I certainly don't want to add each and every one of them as a payment method and then cash them out for amazon egift cards. I use my amazon account a lot and certainly cannot risk getting banned (for the same reason, I don't abuse Amazon payments - only once or twice a year. There have been reports that people who have regularly sent money using amazon payments, even if it is just A--->B getting banned completely from amazon).
Jan 24, 2014, 9:31 pm
#3042
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: 5,562
Just use the small GCs at Target on your next trip (I'm there quite often). Swiped thru several small GCs and a $25 rebate card on one of my last trips. Their system is smart enough to drain each properly.
Jan 24, 2014, 11:38 pm
#3044
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Washington DC
Programs: United, AA, Avianca
Posts: 249
how are you all unloading target? what's the best way to minimize any atm fees? I feel that w the visa/amex GC fees, load fees, and unloading fees, it isn't as lucrative as I'd like it to be. Mine is collecting dust, but thinking about putting some life into it.
Jan 25, 2014, 1:41 am
#3045
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: 5,562
Yes I realize I am giving up a small amount of points by not using a CC there, but being able to easily liquidate small amounts is nice.