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).
Mar 30, 2015, 2:14 pm
#4126
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
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Mar 30, 2015, 2:38 pm
#4127
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Posts: 2,983
Sorry, can't be specific. I just remember telling the rep. "the card won't work so can you reset it". She did her magic and the card then worked. I had reset the pin after the first failure but it locked the card somehow & my 2nd attempt to unload also failed. After the reset I asked the rep. if I had to change the pin again and she said "no". Voila. That's as specific as I can get. If you ever get up to the Boise area drop me a PM.
So you picked a new PIN and told the rep what it was or did the default PIN from the package started working after the rep reset it?
Mar 30, 2015, 3:18 pm
#4128
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Location: Intermountain West
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Neither. I reset the pin after the 1st failure at WM. Tried again and still wouldn't work. Then I went home, called Visa, she reset the card and my pin still worked. Easy-peasy.
Jun 4, 2015, 7:24 am
#4129
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 16
Just received a Metabank Visa Reward Card from a rebate. Would the PIN still be the last 4 digits?
Jun 13, 2015, 3:01 pm
#4132
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
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Posts: 1,667
The fax number they gave me was 414-341-7600
They wanted all of the following:
- Purchase receipt
- Front and back of the card
- Handwritten card number
- My first and last name
- My email address
- My phone number and hours to call me
- The words, "Attention: Gift Card Activation"
They wanted all of the following:
- Purchase receipt
- Front and back of the card
- Handwritten card number
- My first and last name
- My email address
- My phone number and hours to call me
- The words, "Attention: Gift Card Activation"
Jun 14, 2015, 10:59 am
#4133
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
seems that all of the Staples chatter on flyertalk has caught the attention of the compromisers
Jun 20, 2015, 10:56 am
#4134
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 115
A piece of advice, which may have been obvious to most people: if you buy a gift card where the PIN is the last 4 digits of the card, change it immediately to something only you would know.
A $500 VGC from giftcardmall.com fell out of my pocket, and I had not changed the PIN. When I called customer service, they were generally unhelpful. It took 5 days of repeated phone calls/emails/faxes before I finally got the card closed down. By that point all but $26 had been spent on it. Fortunately, I was able to show that I had reported the card right away and they sent me a $500 replacement card. But if I had changed the PIN, I wouldn't have spent a couple of weeks beating myself up for potentially losing $500.
A $500 VGC from giftcardmall.com fell out of my pocket, and I had not changed the PIN. When I called customer service, they were generally unhelpful. It took 5 days of repeated phone calls/emails/faxes before I finally got the card closed down. By that point all but $26 had been spent on it. Fortunately, I was able to show that I had reported the card right away and they sent me a $500 replacement card. But if I had changed the PIN, I wouldn't have spent a couple of weeks beating myself up for potentially losing $500.
Jun 20, 2015, 11:13 am
#4135
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,767
A piece of advice, which may have been obvious to most people: if you buy a gift card where the PIN is the last 4 digits of the card, change it immediately to something only you would know.
A $500 VGC from giftcardmall.com fell out of my pocket, and I had not changed the PIN. When I called customer service, they were generally unhelpful. It took 5 days of repeated phone calls/emails/faxes before I finally got the card closed down. By that point all but $26 had been spent on it. Fortunately, I was able to show that I had reported the card right away and they sent me a $500 replacement card. But if I had changed the PIN, I wouldn't have spent a couple of weeks beating myself up for potentially losing $500.
A $500 VGC from giftcardmall.com fell out of my pocket, and I had not changed the PIN. When I called customer service, they were generally unhelpful. It took 5 days of repeated phone calls/emails/faxes before I finally got the card closed down. By that point all but $26 had been spent on it. Fortunately, I was able to show that I had reported the card right away and they sent me a $500 replacement card. But if I had changed the PIN, I wouldn't have spent a couple of weeks beating myself up for potentially losing $500.
Whether you changed the PIN or not, does not make any difference if you have not discovered the card is lost and immediately reported the loss /or stolen.
The advice is to always treat this as cash, and carry such accordingly. Would you easily let $500 cash fell out of your pocket? That is the point.
Jun 20, 2015, 1:01 pm
#4136
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 115
The card does NOT need PIN to be drained. It works perfectly fine without PIN as a Credit Card just so you know.
Whether you changed the PIN or not, does not make any difference if you have not discovered the card is lost and immediately reported the loss /or stolen.
The advice is to always treat this as cash, and carry such accordingly. Would you easily let $500 cash fell out of your pocket? That is the point.
Whether you changed the PIN or not, does not make any difference if you have not discovered the card is lost and immediately reported the loss /or stolen.
The advice is to always treat this as cash, and carry such accordingly. Would you easily let $500 cash fell out of your pocket? That is the point.
Jun 20, 2015, 3:04 pm
#4137
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,767
Try your regular bank debit cards that you use for ATM as a credit card purchase - it will work at EVERY register - all it takes is to change the payment mode to Credit Card. As long as the debit card has an overdraft protection it will take charges up to the overdraft limit, in theory.
The prepaid "debit card" of course can only take as much as the money stored on the card.
Treat any prepaid debit card as Cash, there reasons why they are also called Cash-Equivalents.
Jun 21, 2015, 10:07 am
#4138
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
even if you had changed the PIN, anyone who found that gift card can still change the PIN to something else
Jun 21, 2015, 10:21 am
#4139
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
it bears repeating that with VGCs, if we lose them, anyone who finds them can simply run them as credit at POS and wipe out the balance easily. PIN is not needed since these cards can be processed as credit or debit (at many stores, they default to credit). BUT if a card is registered with your NAZ info, in case you lose it, you can just call the issuer to report it as lost/stolen and you'll likely get your funds back.
Jul 8, 2015, 2:31 pm
#4140
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 19
Metabank Gift cards and Bluebird
I just tried to load a Metabank onto my Bluebird and got an error that it was invalid. I could load 49.99. I wonder if Metabank has gone by the way of Bancorp.