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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 Jul 25, 2019, 4:24 pm
  #916  
soy
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: DUB-BOS
Programs: various
Posts: 3,683
Originally Posted by AnnoyingNoob

I'm trying to buy a $800 MO at WM with four $200 MCGC from Staples. I tell the cashier I want an $800 MO, I swipe the first card, hit "change payment", enter my PIN - and they I get stuck and ultimately the transaction gets cancelled. Does the cashier need to do anything after I swipe the first card, or after I swipe the first and enter the PIN, do I immediately swipe the second card, and so forth?

Thanks in advance.
starting out with 4x MGC is madness
try 1x $200 MO with a MGC and have a VGC on hand to close out if u hit issues. Once u crack it then scale up
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Old Jul 28, 2019, 4:19 am
  #917  
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 6
I’m new to flyer talk, but been in the game for a while. I’d like to let everyone know a little trick I learned, not sure if anyone else is aware of it? But anyway, I have 2 walmart stores in Missoula Montana and its a 50 mile drive each way. So I normally max out 4x$500 VGC for $2k dollars @ each store sometimes even more but to do that I used my Drivers license at one store and my passport at another with a different address and since my passport doesn’t have an address attached to it they just ask for my address allowing me to give them my old address and then it’s like being 2 different people. So no 8k limit, you can have multiple 8k limits! I did this with my concealed carry and my old drivers license. Please let me know if anyone has heard about or done this before, because for me it has been a valuable tool for getting large amounts of money orders from walmart when they are tracking MOs.
MaxVO, Zgirl and cuthroat like this.
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Old Jul 30, 2019, 8:30 am
  #918  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by danpeake
Went into my local WM today and CSR said they received an email saying that for financial transactions (MOs, sending/receiving money, etc.) they will be able to scan drivers licenses instead of entering all the information.

Although she said she was trying all morning (including with my ID) and it wasn't working. I assume they're rolling it out now.

Obviously a good change if it speeds the process and CSRs don't dread having to type in the info; and hopefully this is the only change.
Went to my main WM yesterday after being on vacation for a few weeks and they scanned my DL (much to my surprise). For those of us who don't care about providing an ID, this brings the time to get >$1k down to the same amount of time it used to take before the ID requirements went into effect.
Insder is offline  
Old Jul 30, 2019, 10:19 am
  #919  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 25
Edit - RE: scanning IDs

This would be awesome if they roll it out nation wide. Funny enough, saying stuff like "I wish they'd get you a scanner system to take up less of your time" is one of the go-to idle chat sayings for me when working with a new face for the first time to get them comfortable with me. Probably also makes the random customer a touch more comfortable with a CSR just scanning the ID rather than overtly looking at and "knowing" all your personal identification info after entering it X amount of times a week every week for god knows how long.

Last edited by BLoch12; Jul 30, 2019 at 10:20 am Reason: screwed up the style
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Old Jul 30, 2019, 12:35 pm
  #920  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,293
Originally Posted by Insder
Went to my main WM yesterday after being on vacation for a few weeks and they scanned my DL (much to my surprise). For those of us who don't care about providing an ID, this brings the time to get >$1k down to the same amount of time it used to take before the ID requirements went into effect.
Originally Posted by BLoch12
Edit - RE: scanning IDs

This would be awesome if they roll it out nation wide. Funny enough, saying stuff like "I wish they'd get you a scanner system to take up less of your time" is one of the go-to idle chat sayings for me when working with a new face for the first time to get them comfortable with me. Probably also makes the random customer a touch more comfortable with a CSR just scanning the ID rather than overtly looking at and "knowing" all your personal identification info after entering it X amount of times a week every week for god knows how long.
I wonder if it is rolled out and cashier's don't know about it. After I was told it was rolling out, reps at my WM would say "It says you can scan ID on the screen but when I do it nothing happens." So, if it's actually available, they may need some prompting to "try it again".
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 9:38 am
  #921  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SAN
Programs: Delta Gold. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Explorist.
Posts: 1,672
Originally Posted by viking123
OK. In any case, do I have to give my SS# if the order is for 3 MO: $2997.36 w/o fees ($3,000 with fees)?
In my experience you do not.
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 9:47 am
  #922  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: AA, UA, DL, NSA, CIA, MIB
Posts: 537
A case of YMMV this morning. I went to the near by WM to load up my GoBank AND buy a MO. At the Money Center was the same CSR who yesterday didn't ask any questions regarding what type of card I would be using. This morning she asked to see the card, I showed her and she asked if it was a GC, I explained "it has my name on it". She even asked the yellow vest if it was fine to use, yellow vest said it was OK.

I guess it depends on their mood?
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 11:38 am
  #923  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 213
Originally Posted by cajunguy
A case of YMMV this morning. I went to the near by WM to load up my GoBank AND buy a MO. At the Money Center was the same CSR who yesterday didn't ask any questions regarding what type of card I would be using. This morning she asked to see the card, I showed her and she asked if it was a GC, I explained "it has my name on it". She even asked the yellow vest if it was fine to use, yellow vest said it was OK.

I guess it depends on their mood?
2 MOs day after day will prompt them to ask.
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 12:13 pm
  #924  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,470
Originally Posted by cajunguy
...
I guess it depends on their mood?
Some "yellow vests" require subordination, and each comes with their own rules.
If you observe long enough, you'd likely correlate the behavior to the presence of certain sup's and not so much to the mood.
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 12:27 pm
  #925  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: AA, UA, DL, NSA, CIA, MIB
Posts: 537
Originally Posted by alanisrox69
2 MOs day after day will prompt them to ask.
I should have mentioned that I was chatty with them, trying to build a 'relationship'. But you do have a point.
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Old Jul 31, 2019, 1:09 pm
  #926  
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 17
Originally Posted by Casey Kaim
I’m new to flyer talk, but been in the game for a while. I’d like to let everyone know a little trick I learned, not sure if anyone else is aware of it? But anyway, I have 2 walmart stores in Missoula Montana and its a 50 mile drive each way. So I normally max out 4x$500 VGC for $2k dollars @ each store sometimes even more but to do that I used my Drivers license at one store and my passport at another with a different address and since my passport doesn’t have an address attached to it they just ask for my address allowing me to give them my old address and then it’s like being 2 different people. So no 8k limit, you can have multiple 8k limits! I did this with my concealed carry and my old drivers license. Please let me know if anyone has heard about or done this before, because for me it has been a valuable tool for getting large amounts of money orders from walmart when they are tracking MOs.
Correct, experience. This is true with other places like MG and WU. But the CSRs can still get weirded out by large transactions and accuse you of stuff.
CzarZ is offline  
Old Aug 2, 2019, 6:30 am
  #927  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 305
I usually do 2K in MO at a time, but with the recent Simon Mall promo I decided to do 4 x $1000 and was asked not only for my DL but to enter my SS # on the pad and my occupation. I thought that DL requirement replaced the SS security requirement for anything over 3K or is it not so? Is it normal or an outlier?
I answered truthfully but it makes me feel uneasy to provide my SS to WM (even though it's on the pad and not on a paper form). Those of you who do more than 3K at a time - do you have to provide your SS each time you do this in addition to your DL? And if so - are you ok with that?
in4tar is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 3:43 am
  #928  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 126
Originally Posted by in4tar
I usually do 2K in MO at a time, but with the recent Simon Mall promo I decided to do 4 x $1000 and was asked not only for my DL but to enter my SS # on the pad and my occupation. I thought that DL requirement replaced the SS security requirement for anything over 3K or is it not so? Is it normal or an outlier?
I answered truthfully but it makes me feel uneasy to provide my SS to WM (even though it's on the pad and not on a paper form). Those of you who do more than 3K at a time - do you have to provide your SS each time you do this in addition to your DL? And if so - are you ok with that?
1K+ requires DL#, 3K+ requires SSAN.

Don't sweat the SSAN, best to assume the crooks already have this data.
Chris58 is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 10:46 am
  #929  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,470
Originally Posted by Chris58
Don't sweat the SSAN, best to assume the crooks already have this data.
You can be robbed multiple times, especially if you're an easy and willing target.
MaxVO is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 11:09 am
  #930  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Colorado
Programs: Alaska, Shell VC, Wyndham VC, Starwood, RCI, II--I bought it on eBay!
Posts: 159
More of the stores near me are asking to see the card. That is annoying. But so far, they keep letting me get my MO for 899.12. No problems, except one yellow vest who said WalMart was changing the policy. What I said was, "I have been doing this for years."
cheaptimesharetraveler is offline  


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