mikeyb45

Lot of bickering in this thread...

PaulMSN

What is so weird to me is that people are so emotional about losing something they were never actually entitled to. We are all simply taking advantage of an opportunity brought about by the advent of PINs on Visa and MC GCs. Nothing wrong with that, but not one of us deserves the opportunity, so why become angry when a method of exploiting that opportunity disappears? Just let it go.

CWAL

Well everyone has so much free time now that it's impossible to MS anymore.

But seriously: Losing BB/Serve was certainly annoying, but was really just a small part of my current strategy. No big deal, it's just something entertaining to commiserate and complain about.

warreng24

I last loaded back on 1/7 at Wal-Mart. $500 x 3 at 3 different registers. No issues.

Today I went to load $500 with my MetaBank GC. Just like normal. But, I got the "DEBIT NOT AUTHORIZED" error from the cashier. I tried a different GC, same error.

Later on I tried a different Wal-Mart stores with another GC. Same error.

I called AMEX. They said there is nothing wrong with my account. No flags no security issues. Nothing.

I just now stumbled up on the thread. Can I suspect that my account is in the process of being closed down?

Mamibear

shutdowns started morning of 1/8 so if you haven't maxed out loading with your DC or CC, try doing one load now. If you're shutdown, you'll get the message that your account cannot be loaded with funds anymore. If you're able to load with CC/DC, your account is still active so you can try loading again in-store. If you've maxed out for online loads, you just have to wait till 2/1 and try again.

jimok

I've had almost identical recent experience. The error message I received was "DEBIT NOT APPROVED. CALL AUTHORIZER". AMEX told me BB account is in good standing. I'm now beginning to wonder if perhaps WM has done something similar to what Target did re Redbird. Or perhaps the GC companies are blocking BB loads.

Update: I just called customer service of the VGC (MetaBank) they were able to view each attempt I made to load BB at WM. They stated on each attempt WM took the funds and then reversed the transaction and loading the funds back on the GC. CS has no explanation as to why and suggested I use the card elsewhere. If I get the same result they will replace the card. So at this point it seems that WM is the cause. But as I said above when I called AMEX they told me the BB account was not closed. I'm stumped. This has happened on two different GCs so I doubt the GC is the problem.

traveler02

Yesterday I tried to add cash to my Blue Bird card at a Wal Mart cashier and I got the debit not approved message. I called BB today and they said there has been unusual activity on my account and I can no longer add funds. The thing is I have only used BB as it was intended - a checking account. I funded it with cash at Wal Mart and then paid my bills (including my credit card bills). What is so unusual about that? The only email I have received from BB was one that told me my options for funding the card. A quick search brought me here and I see I am not the only one with a problem. I haven't read all 35 pages of this thread but it looks like BB is no longer an option for bill paying.

BillyBaloney

My hypothesis: They shut people down for no reason who were not profitable for them.

What we do know:

• They changed the rules 3 days prior to doing this, adding the term "unusual."

• There is no specific pattern or data points as to the reasons of who got shut down - it's across the board.

jimok

Billy you theory makes as much sense as anyone's. After not receiving an email and being unable to load a VGC, AMEX said my account is OK, so I brought up the shutdowns, the rep said that was related to money laundering and that my account has not been shut down. So I went back to WM and still couldn't load a GC. Very strange.

Steve in Olympia

Try calling the number on the back of the gift card, and reset the PIN. That has worked for me on several GC's recently.

veradico

Update;

I opened a BB before mass shutdowns on 1/8, but had never used it at all. Obviously, didn't get shut down.

Over the last two days, wife and I have loaded 4K worth of SMGCs to the BB account without problem. I am trying to see if just loading massive amounts from GCs will trigger account closure or if you actually need to do GC load and then CC pay to trigger the shut down.

Assuming no account closure at month end due to GC loads, working hypothesis will be that it's CC bill pay that triggers closure. If so, we will keep loading up GCs until it's time to pay off the CC bills and then do bill pay, which should trigger closure.

If that happens, we will open another BB in wife's name and try another experiment to see if eliminating CC bill pay keeps the BB acct open. Experiment will be: Step 1) buy GCs with CCs. Step 2) Load BB with GCs. Step 3) Use BB for daily spend. Step 4) use "real money" in our main checking account to pay off the MS CCs. This will eliminate any CC pay from the BB account and IMO make it difficult for them argue it's being used for MS, but who knows???

I'll post updates as this experiment progresses...

littlewinglet

The 2nd part of your experiment pretty much makes this NOT MS and pointless. If you're using BB for regular spend you might as well use the original GCs for said spend, and at the point you're not clearing them out quickly and able to scale, which is the whole point of MS.

Try the first experiment, if it doesn't work, forget BB....it's useless.

veradico

I see your point. We'd also be losing our daily spending points generated by our normal, everyday CC.

So, maybe MS really is dead for now? Seems like the only thing left is to cycle daily spend through cards you're churning to get sign on bonuses, which isn't MS, but may be the only way left to accumulate points inside the confines of true daily spending.

I'm not willing to do large volumes of MO transactions. Seems too risky.

isriam

how about amex is completely shutting down the product, and starting with the thousands of users they can catagorize as MS? I bet in the next few weeks/months we see more and more until they get an idea of how many people actually use this for its intended group; poor, old, minority. thats how they make their money.

we're playing a game with companies that make billions on charging 18% interest, overdraft fee's that equal 100% interest in many cases, and the government supports their practices.

littlewinglet

The prepaid cards are all limited-use tricks now it seems. All of them have caught on to MS and ban it. Only way to fly under radar is to use in a way that makes them pointless.

MOs is the only truly reliable and scalable method still left, but it's highly dependent on local stores' tolerances, banks, etc.. works great for me but was awful to some.