pharmawalk

the title says it all

s0ssos

Isn't that true of FT in general? Many posters seem to have gone to blogs (you can see the same username in the comments).

Steve in Olympia

Then why are you posting here?

ericdabbs

I mean a lot of the MS avenues are dead and no new prominent ones have arose. What is left are some WM and grocery opportunities but its far less than what it was several years ago? What kinda discussion is really left. Even myself I don't really do much MS anymore and even staples/OD VGCs that I buy are for organic spend.

radonc1

Yup
If you cut down most of the trees, you have little lumber left for construction.

Most avenues for MSing have been either eliminated or truncated to the point where there is little left to discuss.

Between credit card closures or restrictions, MO sites of elimination or changes to cash only polcies etc. etc. there is little left to discuss.

As with the above, I haven't bought a MO in months.

Anyone doing high volume MO business these days is almost assured of running into either a credit card or bank closure. While we know that certain banks such as Chase have draconian consequences to a person being banned due to such activity, what we really don't know is what impact this behavior may bring in the future to all one's personal credit and banking activities.

(The following is my speculation and currently has nothing to do with current MSing activity!!)

Someone wrote in the newcomer thread that they kept their MO and VGC purchase receipts forever because they were uncertain as to whether the IRS would come after them for possible taxes because of this activity. If someone can be worried about the IRS coming after what is easily a small fish, then why can't banks share information about people who abuse their business. Airlines have no fly lists. In the future, banks may have no business lists

littlewinglet

All usual MS methods still live. I'm buying MOs and doing BPs. Problem now it's high location-specific, or a few niche GC work with niche grocery stores or some other MO sources. Only way to figure out MS now is local testing.

mia

They do: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/b...s-what-to-know

Happy Traveling Consultant

MS is dead.

radonc1

Says the man/woman who does $40K/mo in it

radonc1

I imagine that it wouldn't take much to expand the current system described in the above article......

"ChexSystems is a reporting agency that banks use to track customers who have mishandled their bank account, including not paying an overdraft fee or bouncing a check."

into a system where people who have been shut down for various types of MSing activity are also included in the blacklist.

Chris58

Highly doubtful there'd ever be a negative report made to Chex Systems by a financial institution that closed an MSr's deposit/checking account for depositing too many money orders.

We all know why Banks/S&Ls/CU's shut down MSr's accounts, (compliance Department suspects money laundering).

If a financial institution actually reported this suspicion to a consumer reporting firm, they would basically be publicly accusing the former customer of possibly committing an actual crime.

If the bank wants to do that, they'd just send off an SAR to FinCen.

Happy Traveling Consultant

Yup. That's the joke - you can go back 2 years or 5 years and there are always people saying MS IS DEAD!!!
Last month was only $20k, but yeah, in Feb I'll be back to $40k. Want to lock up Platinum Pro on AA and a couple of other goals I have by end of March for WoH.

1120

I suspect there’s still plenty of MS going on, but folks have been much more circumspect about sharing information over the past couple years.

There are definitely viable opportunities where I live. However, there are less than there used to be with a couple useful channels facing closure or restrictions that make them functionally useless.

The net result (for me at least) is that I’m much more cautious about posting information. I generally confine myself to confirming the loss of a given channel; I never mention one that still works or point out cases where people overgeneralize and assume an entire approach is lost.

in a way, this is good because it makes us do the legwork to find a viable channel. Even some years back, new posters would get flamed for asking to be spoon fed gas stations in their local cities that were amenable to MS.

radonc1

Just an FYI
I am going to direct you to a thread on the Citi forum about AA closures of certain accounts due to "irregular behavior".

AA accounts restricted (Nov/Dec 2019)

While the reasons for account closure may not mirror what we do here directly, it is always important to remember that AA holds all the cards and if they feel like it, can be pretty brutal when responding to perceived threats to their program.

ericdabbs

Re-read my post. I didn't say that it was all completely dead. It definitely is location specific and in my area my WMs are dead to me. Yeah I can still do grocery store MOs around me but not being able to split just makes it less enticing to want to do. I will still do them if there is a deal on $500 VGCs but not farming points like I used to.