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Buying Money Orders at Walmart (2019 - 2022)

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Old Jan 2, 2019, 9:51 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: danpeake
As of Nov 11, 2020, Meta gebits are getting declined when used for MO/BP purchases at MC/SD. New limit appears to be $99 per swipe with some metas at some stores. READ the posts below and add a data point with details. USB and GD gift cards do not seem to be affected.

This is the thread for 2019. The previous discussion can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manu...rt-2018-a.html

New to MO: Read this entire Wiki (Click to open) and all posts for some tips before asking common questions. It is best to know what you are doing before you try.

Note: The policy for allowing gift cards as payment for money orders can be more restrictive with certain stores or certain clerks. Just because an employee says there's a new restrictive policy "for all Walmarts" means nothing. There are plenty of cases where the employee is incorrect and the new policy is only regional or store specific.

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Tested Gebit (gift debit) cards:
1. DO NOT WORK - Any Vanilla product affiliated with InComm or ITC Financial Services will not work for swipes over $49.99.
2. See above on Visas issued by MetaBank. New limit appears to be $99 per swipe with some metas at some stores. Follow the posts below for the latest information.
3. MC issued by US bank OR Metabank MC (Giftcards.com) can work, but you need to change payment type to debit before they enter the amount in the register. See below for details.
4. Gdot/sun work but take about an hour to activate.(VGC issued by Sunrise also limited to $99/swipe, same as Metabank issued cards, and Sunrise was available immediately).
5. USB work
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________
NEW Limits as of 11/18 - 8K with ID every 24 hours. ID required for MO over 1K.

Some tips for starting out:

All WM registers allow 4 debit swipes per transaction, but YMMV per store and cashier. Refer to cards as Debit cards.

Start slow and buy one MO with one Gebit to see how it works. Refer to cards as Debit, only this community calls them Gebits. Your store or cashier may have rules that other stores do not have, only allowing one swipe per trans or up to 4 swipes per trans. Read all the tips below and all the posts below before trying more advanced transactions. NO variety or design of VISA or MC Gebit's will ever auto-drain at Walmart so always tell them the amount you want to pay per card. Fee: 1K MO or less is usually 88 cents each, but ask or check the wall. Subtract the fee from the total or pay in cash. If a store says "no", thank them and try again another day with a different clerk.


Helpful details and tips for advanced transactions:

1. Cost:
1K MO fee is usually $1 each(Some states limit MO total to 750 or 950 and may have a different fee). Subtract fee from your total or pay in cash. Can buy two 1K MO in one transaction with 4 swipes for $1 x 2 in most states. NO variety or design of VISA or MC Gebit's will ever auto-drain at Walmart so always tell them the amount you want to pay per card.

2. Split payment transactions: You cannot successfully swipe more than 4 cards in a single transaction. If the cashier screws up and enters $50.00 instead of $500.00 (thus making it impossible for 4 swipes to complete the transaction), the transaction will need to be canceled. The funds should return to your cards right away but may take 24 hours, so note the time and person helping you. When a transaction is canceled during the trans, the money returns to the cards. If canceled after, the cash reg drawer opens and they pay you back in cash.

3. Split payment: The amount of each swipe needs to be entered by the cashier. Ask to "split the payment by $$$". The Gebit must have current balance of that amount or more otherwise slip with Error 51 will print out. Warning: (YMMV) It appears (my experience on 3 occasions during prepaid card load and buying MO in 2 different WMs) that after the debit card was charged no cash could be credited back to the card. Cashier should issue cash back. Keep the slip and contact manager if in doubt. Remember date, time and register if no slip.

4. Bad Printer: IF, by chance, you've swiped your GCs successfully, a receipt prints but the MO doesn't, make sure to ask to see the receipt and check near the bottom IF it says CHANGE/REFUND with a negative sign before the amount of GCs you swiped, that means the cashier must give you cash refund. Cashier may have to call for the cash dept manager to verify the refund. Some stores may outright give your cash refund immediately while there are others that will ask you to come back. Think twice before you buy MOs while on vacation or when you're in unknown to you territories for issues like this.

5. Kiosk: Very few Kate's can sell money orders anymore.>>>>Sometime 2016, a lot of WM supercenters have done away with Kate (kiosks that allows loading of prepaids/sell $500 MOs). As of today, MOST, if not ALL WMs, have replaced this with the regular slim ATM to check balance/withdraw money. Kates are a distant and pleasant memory now.

6. MCGC liquidation- The cashier should
not enter the amount first. Technically they just can't hit enter after entering the amount. Let the CSR know you need to swipe first and switch the payment type to debit, then swipe and hit "Cancel" or "Change Payment" to select "Debit" on the screen, enter the pin and have them enter the amount.

7. SSN/ID entry - Any MO purchases in one transaction at or over $3K requires you to input your SSN. Any MO at or over $1K requires ID input (and ID requirement can also be forced by cashier at any amount).



Debit codes PDF
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/attac...0&d=1461170080

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Buying Money Orders at Walmart (2019 - 2022)

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Old Mar 6, 2020, 5:28 am
  #2071  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Originally Posted by MaxVO
Just keep in mind that this is MS forum, and obtaining that info would somehow be useful for our purposes.
I understand that for bulk MO buyers, it matters little where the block arises since they will be thwarted in their ability to purchase large amounts of MOs from WM........

but if it is a WM ban, then anyone buying a MG MO outside of WM is safe when presenting their ID since MG isn't blocking the buyer, WM is.

OTOH, if the block originates at MG, then blocked buyers really are out of luck if ID'ed prior to a MO purchase (no matter what vendor or size of purchase).

For me, the bottom line is....no ID when buying a MO. Then I don't have to worry about blocks no matter where they originate from.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 7:34 am
  #2072  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 17
Wait, y’all haven’t figured out the ban originator yet?
It’s MG. You can test this even at WM. Try bill paying to a payee that runs on check free pay vs MG. You’ll have no problem completing the CFP one but a MG-mediated one won’t go through.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 7:51 am
  #2073  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,295
Originally Posted by CzarZ
Wait, y’all haven’t figured out the ban originator yet?
It’s MG. You can test this even at WM. Try bill paying to a payee that runs on check free pay vs MG. You’ll have no problem completing the CFP one but a MG-mediated one won’t go through.
Completely reasoned thinking, except if someone who is banned at WM attempts to purchase a MO at CVS, he/she will have his/her ID scanned and can still purchase a MG MO there.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 8:30 am
  #2074  
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Originally Posted by danpeake
Completely reasoned thinking, except if someone who is banned at WM attempts to purchase a MO at CVS, he/she will have his/her ID scanned and can still purchase a MG MO there.
That's because CVS is not communicating the ID information to MG. They're just collecting locally.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 8:31 am
  #2075  
 
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Originally Posted by CzarZ
Wait, y’all haven’t figured out the ban originator yet?
It’s MG. You can test this even at WM. Try bill paying to a payee that runs on check free pay vs MG. You’ll have no problem completing the CFP one but a MG-mediated one won’t go through.
It's purely speculation, but maybe WM is doing the blocking because they made an agreement with Moneygram to block heavy hitters from doing moneygram transactions.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 3:15 pm
  #2076  
 
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Originally Posted by beast7276
That's because CVS is not communicating the ID information to MG. They're just collecting locally.
How do you know this?
Why would CVS collect data locally (and what is "local"? Town, city state)? Or did you mean "internally"?

If they are collecting only for CVS, what is the purpose of the data collection? It just does not seem from a business viewpoint a very logical thing to do.
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 3:41 pm
  #2077  
ogg
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
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Originally Posted by danpeake
Completely reasoned thinking, except if someone who is banned at WM attempts to purchase a MO at CVS, he/she will have his/her ID scanned and can still purchase a MG MO there.
Do you know of anyone banned for MOs at WM who has done that at CVS and gotten more than 1K in money orders in one transaction? Can you even do more than $500 in a transaction at CVS?
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Old Mar 6, 2020, 5:13 pm
  #2078  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 17
Let's put it this way - I tried doing an online transaction on the MG app online. Didn't go through. Tried a second time, BAM YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS SERVICE.
Went into Walmart, couldn't' do a billpay via MG. This is all in the sequence of WM billpay working at first; I only found out about the ban after I already knew I was MG banned by using the app for an unrelated transaction. CFP still works for me, and also MG at WM but only when I give them my passport as a method. That's the known workaround (there are multiple types you can choose to permutate what you offer). I can also still do MOs via MG at grocery stores that don't require an ID (one chain allows up to $1800)
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 4:04 am
  #2079  
jk2
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Originally Posted by ogg
Do you know of anyone banned for MOs at WM who has done that at CVS and gotten more than 1K in money orders in one transaction? Can you even do more than $500 in a transaction at CVS?
I knew that CVS can do MOs, but I thought it is only with cash. can you use vgc also?
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 7:02 am
  #2080  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Originally Posted by jk2
I knew that CVS can do MOs, but I thought it is only with cash. can you use vgc also?
I do not believe you can use GCs to pay for a MG MO at CVS

However, that does not change the dynamic due to the funding source for the MO.
If MG is the blocking agent, and CVS is collecting DL information that is being forwarded to MG, then MG is going to block the purchaser if they are on the no-fly list, no matter how the MO is paid for.

However, as noted above, perhaps CVS is not sending that information to MG.
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 7:19 am
  #2081  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 523
Originally Posted by CzarZ
CFP still works for me, and also MG at WM but only when I give them my passport as a method. That's the known workaround (there are multiple types you can choose to permutate what you offer).
Passport only works until a CSR enters a SAR on you. That's what triggers the shutdown. One SAR and you're out, regardless of the ID.
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 8:32 am
  #2082  
 
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Originally Posted by FrankMS
Passport only works until a CSR enters a SAR on you. That's what triggers the shutdown. One SAR and you're out, regardless of the ID.
Probably not true. At my go-to WM where every other MSer goes, a whole bunch of people got banned in a matter of a week, some who show up rarely. THe CSRs are all very MS friendly and had no idea what happened.
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 9:22 am
  #2083  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 523
Originally Posted by littlewinglet
Probably not true. At my go-to WM where every other MSer goes, a whole bunch of people got banned in a matter of a week, some who show up rarely. THe CSRs are all very MS friendly and had no idea what happened.
Sorry, but there is no such thing as an "MS friendly" CSR.

Friendly, yes. MS friendly, no.

No matter how many years you have been going to a specific WM, or how well you think you know your CSR, when a friendly CSR thinks their job is on the line because you are MSing at their register, they will smile to your face and file a SAR right under your nose. Trust me.
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 10:38 am
  #2084  
ogg
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 317
Only money order transactions over $1K are blocked by WM for some customers who provide ID. If the ban is from MG and applies to other MG agents, the only way to test it is to do a transaction over $1K which also requires ID--by someone who is blocked by WM. I don't see any reports that has been verified by anyone.

As for the notion that one SAR will produce a ban, or that NO CSRs are MS friendly--well, aside from the nonsense that anyone can speak about the attitude of hundreds of thousands of CSRs, there are plenty of counterexamples of both ideas.
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Old Mar 7, 2020, 10:56 am
  #2085  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,447
Originally Posted by ogg
Only money order transactions over $1K are blocked by WM for some customers who provide ID. If the ban is from MG and applies to other MG agents, the only way to test it is to do a transaction over $1K which also requires ID--by someone who is blocked by WM. I don't see any reports that has been verified by anyone.

As for the notion that one SAR will produce a ban, or that NO CSRs are MS friendly--well, aside from the nonsense that anyone can speak about the attitude of hundreds of thousands of CSRs, there are plenty of counterexamples of both ideas.
Are you saying that if you are banned and buying a $500 MO from WM and are asked for an ID, that the transaction will go through even with inputting of the ID (because the MO is for less than $1000)?
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