InComm/Pathward Breakdown DPs
 

Figured we should have a thread for these as well, since folks have been having problems with them.
My DPs to start us off:

• All InComm/PW brought at brick and mortar lock up with a fraud lock if I run them for full 500. Have to call CSR for a replacement card. Started around the EOY holiday season 2023.
• InComm/PW bought at Safeway or CVS gives Debit Not Available at CS for $499 since June 2024. This amount was working before. Works at register for $199/swipe max. Haven't tried $199 at CS/MC
• Confirmed a new InComm/Metabank card worked at CS for $499, so this seems to be a Pathward issue. Have seen other DPs along similar lines.

PS. Regarding the Metabank I confirmed with. New "Visa GO" product that's been popping up in my WMs. Blue packaging says "Go Shop" on it. Anyone else seen these? Worked like a champ. 

As in full drain in one swipe immediately after purchase?

$499 one swipe, >24 hours after purchase. I didn't want to try $500 as the fraud locks are a PITA.

Pathward from Safeway all good for $499

Thanks for the DP.
Those Visa Go's are old design cards as evidenced by the expiry. I have seen them for a long time now, but never bought them.
FYI - Meta renamed as Pathward

Did you load $500 to it and liquidate it for $499, or load it for $499 and liquidate it for $499?

Hello, My card was declined at a Kroger for a $479 dollar money order. I called the number on the back to attempt to speak with a CSR. It just keeps looping back to the beginning for the most part. How do you reach a live person? Can the card be used other places or other Krogers or do you risk locking up the card permanently?

Kroger is a picky one. Might be blocked by a particular Kroger, not by the issuer/servicer.

Hey, It was blocked by Pathward. I went home and registered it online, and went to another Kroger and it worked. I don't know if registering it made it work or waiting some time before swiping it again. It was 1 of 4 cards I bought that did that. The drawback of this card on this is getting to a real person. Fortunately, it seems you do not have to go that route.

The Pathwards I buy at Kroger will work for $479 dollar MO at Kroger. I learned that on another thread.

no more than 479?

I keep trying to remember to load for $499, but I load for $500 out of habit, then drain $499. I usually drain that last $1 next time I buy anything at SCO (Another gift card, some groceries, I don't care) by using the "Split Payment" button. I also have good luck draining the last dollar at grocery stores and elsewhere. Just run it, most grocery stores "auto drain" it, meaning the systems sees it can only charge $1 to the card and does so automatically. Then you have to swipe another. Some places it doesn't auto-drain, the card just gets declined. Then you have to ask "Can you split the transaction please, I've got a buck left on this silly gift card and want to use it". They cashier will oblige.

I've gotten into that loop any time I try to get a rep after I first set the pin, or register card, or similar. I find that HUCA then go straight to taking to a rep gets me out of the loop.

FYI, I've been going out of my way to find Suttons and have seen a couple more of these old design Metabanks. I had heard that Meta changed it's name to Pathward by the way, but the older design Metas have given me 100% success rate at $499 so far. I'm steering away from Pathward until I see more success DPs.

Nope. I tried $499 and it did not work. Do not attempt to get cash back of $20 dollars either I read somewhere.

when the cards get bricked, and you have to call for replacement, do the replacements work for full 500 ?

More likely to, but not always

I have two $500 Pathward Vanilla Gift cards I purchased at 7-11 that are bricked. I called on 7/7 to have them replaced. They tell me it is being sent expedited FedEx but are unwilling to provide me a tracking number, just that it takes 3-5 business days. Today is the 5th business day and I called again and they told me it will deliver today. I am skeptical and getting slightly nervous.

vanilla has been good to me during my two interactions with them. They didnt let me know on my second interaction that it had shipped but I found a fedex package at my doorstep sure enough

thanks. Despite them telling me twice that they sent the cards “FedEx Express” I see the cards in the USPS informed delivery email today as regular 1st class mail.

I've been buying small amounts no more than $1500 (3 cards) from the same store each time and have never had a problem since when this started after last Christmas. Tried $2000 (4 cards) once and only 1 went through and the rest declined requiring replacement.

Today bought $1500 from 1 store, went next door to a different store and bought $500, and then attempted to load Serve $500 first, then 2nd transaction of $1500 split across 3 cards. 1st transaction went through, 2nd transaction was ok for cards 1, 2, but not 3. After 3rd card kept on declining, cancelled out and tried paying separately but now all 3 cards remaining decline immediately and 1 cannot check balance online (but shows full balance when you call).

I think when Amex Serve/Bluebird finally dies (like they're saying in the other thread) that'll be the end of the hobby (in loading) for me.

Wanted to come back and give DP. I tried the MCGC and it seemed like it was trying to run it as credit. I would swipe and it would say Authorization in Progress and never popped up to add a pin. There was a cancel button in the bottom corner briefly. I wonder if that was the magic trick to get it to run as debit. I may give it another try. I used it to purchase something small at SCO and it worked fine so its not locked up.

^This

thanks! I’ll give it another shot tomorrow

The UF MC from Safeway, from last 3 weeks, kept getting locked and bricked. It has happened to 3 cards already. All of them are $500 swipes. Anyone else?

Are they serviced by Incomm? If you read the Walmart money order thread you'll see similar dp's. Seems like these cards are limited to one swipe now. Started a couple of weeks ago so relatively new thing.

yes Incomm / Sutter Bank

A new behavior I've just observed over the weekend involved me with 10 $500 cards loading, $1500 at a time with 3 cards per transaction, where the 1st 3 swipes will go through but any attempts at a back-to-back transaction (set of swipes) at the same register (provided the cashier is nice enough to let you try) will all decline and in fact *cause* the cards tried to lock up (no, repeated attempts of the same card do not eventually work for InComm, unlike BHN cards that eventually go through). I was able to do another $1500 across 3 swipes at a different register in the same store without issue, but subsequent transactions at the same register even as small as $500 still lock up the card attempted. I had all of the locked up card replaced of course, but my takeaway is InComm has implemented both velocity limits for buying (see my post above) and now unloading (YMMV). Long gone are the days where you can walk into a Walmart with a stack of 10 $1000 cards from Simon/BHN and load 4 Bluebird/Serves to the daily $2500 max...

3 cards per transaction exists from at least December of last year. I recently waited 10 minutes in order to unload additional 2 cards, after unloading 2 cards, and the 4th one failed, and needed to be replaced.

This doesn’t work for me. I’m in CA and at Wally any second swipe whether in same transaction or back to back, decline. It used to be 50/50 but recent attempts have been 100% failure. I just stick to single swipes now.

I've gone through about $40K in Pathward/Incomm's in the last 30 days without a hiccup. That is rare, as I usually get some that will lock-up and have to be replaced. However, I never swipe more than two in a row in a 15 minute period. The sweet spot seems to be somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes.

so after 15 min, did ya come back to the same cashier, or different cashier / register to load or get MO again?

There is definitely some sort of limit implemented by Incomm at Walmart. My 5th swipe at the same register will always fail. Then that card will be locked up, and you can’t use it anymore. It will have to be replaced.

Did WM increase the swipe limit? It had been 4 swipes at the most.

I did 3 swipes in 1 transaction, tried another 2 a little too soon at same register, 4th approved 5th declined, both needed to be replaced

Yes, same cashier. However, keep in mind that this technically violates WM's policy.

I have found that a third swipe sometimes works, but the fourth never does. Accordingly, I do not even attempt a third swipe, anymore, as once the card locks, it needs to be replaced.