FYI sub-post: quasi cash? anyone know what it is?
 

quasi cash? anyone know what it is?

When using a gift card and trying to get the money off of it, some people do PIN transactions with money orders and some do cash advances. I have heard and seen this term "Quasi cash" before, but it makes me think of some hunch-backed French dude from a few hundred years ago who was a shady looking but widely misunderstood simple nice guy.

Or was he?...

So what it is?...

A BofA rep. said Quasi Cash is a cash advance that occurs at a Casino. I guess that some of the machines are not ATMs and do not require a PIN.

A better definition is when your credit card account is used for the purchase of money orders, travelers checks, foreign currency, lottery tickets, casino chips, vouchers redeemable for cash, or racetrack wagers, etc.

In some cases, with credit cards, a cash advance fee of 4% of the amount of each transaction is applied or $20.00 (minimum). These transactions are known as quasi cash transactions. USAA has been coded as a purchase of goods/servics in some cases, and as a "quasi-cash" transaction in other cases. I have the funny feeling that now that the VBx wachovia statement shows it as a QC from the get go, they may soon find a way to not allow them to go thru. Maybe, like CO, they will actually call USAA! Let's run this til they do and hope that they don't!

I also found this online, where the company below allows such forms of payment in its business:


http://www.solarbilling.com/help/mak...sendmoney.html

Yu can look further at some notes that include the following text I found on that site today:

Goods (other): A purchase of goods in a non-auction context

Service: A payment for the performance of a service

Quasi-Cash: The transmission of money not involving an underlying service or good.

The bank that issued your credit card may treat this 'Quasi-Cash' transaction as a cash advance and charge you cash advance fees. Solar Billing has no control over these fees. If you select 'Quasi-Cash' you may want to use a payment method other than Credit Card (Instant Transfer or eCheck) to avoid potential fees.

And then there's this, which looks like something somebody WANTED to have a form of payment go through as on Ebay:

www.eusabid.com/njtechsale/ebay/faq.htm


FAQ

Why we do not accept PAYPAL Payment and what's the exception conditions?

Start effectively from Feb 12th, 2004. Paypal limits the payment for ebay auction. We can only accept with the following conditions:
I don't want pay extra fee by using paypal

Please send paypal from existing balance or bank instant transfer(NO credit card, debit card payment) to [email protected] by choosing Quasi-Cash option. Payment without choosing Quasi-Cash option will be denied.No Exception
Please follow below instructions only if you are not familiar with Quasi-Cash payment option
1. log into your paypal account, click send money.
2. fill [email protected] as Recipient's Email.
3. In the amount,put full payment amount including shipping and insurance
4. In the type, choose Quasi-Cash option which is the last one.
5. Continue, make sure your "Source of Fund" is from your paypal balance or bank instant transfer
6. Including your shipping address and submit the payment.

Please send us your confirmed payment email with your shipping address to [email protected].
I will use a credit card (debit card) and I don't mind to pay extra fee by using paypal
Paypal will charge 3% fee (4% for the International bidder) for any payment from credit card(debit card). That's nearly half the profit of the seller.

The bidders agree to pay the extra 3% fee (4% for the International bidder).
The bidder has to be verified and has a confirmed address.
Please send payment to [email protected] for credit card(debit card) payment.

Please remember that we provide a lot of other payment methods. You have the right that you do not pay with paypal. Thanks for your support.

How to transfer warranty for Dell Products?,
Please remember to transfer the warranty after receiving your package. here is the info you required to transfer the warranty you need to go to dell website to fill all necessary info.
Click Here to transfer your warranty
order number and service tag are on the dell box.

How International Bidders send the payment?
If the total payment is below $700, please use www.bidpay.com ; If the total payment is over $700, please use www.moneybookers.com or request the bank wire information from us.

I found this site containing some info:
www.creditcardgoodies.com.

And then of course, there's FT:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338662


:)

You will need to check with your bank about their definition, however usualy it is something like this:

"Quasi Cash" transactions are monetary transactions posting to your account which are not "purchase" transactions and include but are not limited to wire transfers, foreign currency, traveler's checks, money orders, remote stored value, Betting Transactions Lottery Tickets and purchase of gaming chips.

The defintion comes from the fact that such items are are directly or easyly converted to cash and could hence be used to avoid a "Cash Advance" at ATM or bank counter.

Usualy there will be no miles on such transactions and Cash Advance fees and APR's apply.

Also be carefull when somebody only wants a "Quasi Cash" Paypal transaction. This is usualy done to force you to use available funds instead of your credit card to save the receiver fees however if you use this function and not the auction function you might be loosing out on the protection Paypal is offering for auction payments. If you are using Paypal at all.

Visa/Mastercard give codes to each merchant called "Merchant Category Code Groups" and when you try to do a "Quasi Cash" it actualy does not only check you available overall balance but your cash advance balance too (that can be different). So if your merchant has a 6010, 6011 or 6051 as code then this will be treated as Cash Advance.

So in fact staying with getting Moneyorders at Walmart, it might very well be that the counter where you get your moneyorders has a different code than the counter where you pay the rest of your stuff, hence causing your card to be treated differently.

So the best is to find out, if there is such thing as a different Cash Advance Limit on the card and possibliy if you really want to go into detail get the merchant code and check with Visa/Mastercard.

Hope that helps.

Wow, I've never tried it before, but after trying it for the first time I have to say, you are WAY right! Stupid B of A cashier saw it was a "debit" card and said he couldn't do it, I asked if he thought it wouldn't work or if it was just against bank policy, he said he'd try anyways. After about 10 seconds he came back and said it didn't work. No way he did it that fast, last time my card was declined it took like 3 minutes. Oh well to another B of A I go.

Would B of A give a cash advance on a Bof A VisaBuxx card?

If you want to be hassled, and slow. Get the cash with no charges from a BA ATM at a $100/day $300/week limit. :) GOod thing I have 4

Although many ATMS are safe, I do try to avoid getting actual cash. I'd rather get a money order or something else that is liquid, but isn't a fat wad of greenbacks that attracts unwanted negative attention.

My Solution is to have opened a BoA Checking Account along with the BoA Visa Buxx Cards. I withdraw the Money with the BoA VisaBuxx cards and then immediately deposit the into my free with no minimum balance BoA checking account. I've been doing this for months with no problems.

did you open one of those BofA check cards where you get 1/2 mile per $1 spent? You used to be able to do the USPS MO thing and also go to places like Home Depot, buy tons of stuff you do not need, return it, and since it is a debit transaction with a PIN, you get CASH back and thus, keep the miles!

You can earn them on US Air, Alaska (partners with NWA and AA) and Amer West (also partners with NWA)

I had this card for many moons and all it cost me was $30/year as long as I did Direct Deposit every month. TO accomplish this feet, I had an INGDirect account for savings at 2.6% and each month I'd transfer like $5 into BofA which saw it as a DD! That counted and thus waived the $5.95 monthly fee to have the acct.

I still have INGDirect of course, and if you let me refer you to join that bank, you get $25 and I get $10. Sorry for the shameless part of my post, but ING is a great place to put money you are moving from Gift cards to CCs and gain interest in the meantime--while waiting to reload each month, and also, it is a very fast way to transfer funds between banks online. Anyone interested in this referral gig kindly EMAIL ME (not PM--it gets soooo fullso quickly because I have my irons in many fires on FT) at: [email protected] and put something about miles in the subject.

As for BofA, I got up to about 50k Alaska miles, redeemed them on an NWA award, and then decided to cancel because I had moved away from a walmart and was in between jobs. I had to cut the fat as it were, and just never opened one up again. I did not get a BofA VisaBuxx card but should have seeing as how Boston has BofA all over the place, and they almost renamed the Fleet Center the Derek Jeter Center! They did not, because it was considered obscene! ha ha ha

Well, hope some of this helps someone with somethin'.

:)MM

Debit card transaction at Home Depot and returns
 

MM- how recent is your experience with making a return at Home Depot? I thought they were not doing anymore cash refunds, and instead only using one of those orange store credit cards.

it's actually been several months since I have had to return anything there, so yeah, things could have changed. But they used to do it for PIN/Debit only. Now I do not know. Sorry.

+++++++++

Oh, another thing: To get the CHECK CARD (checking acct with PIN-based transactions that earn miles on the 3 airlines) from BofA that I was talking about, be sure to check out their web site and NOT say you are from a state like MA which used to be FLEET Bank. You will have a tough time finding the options to get those check cards from BofA unless you start off saying you are from some other state... When I had first opened mine a few years ago, I had chosen Maryland and it worked out because I was able to do everything (set up and even mail deposts of money) thru the mail and on the phone. Later I was able to set up all other things and I could have converted it to BofA here in Boston eventually but I had closed it before they changed banks from Fleet to BofA in this area. One way to check and see what these cards are is to either clear your cookies and go to www.bankofamerica.com or visit this link:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposit...kcards_choices

thanks! it helps. My bank (Citizens) did not know what the term meant--at least the people in the branch I go to.

Charles Lindburg... some general thougts on gift cards...
 

A general statement on GCs...

Charles Lindburg was like the 69th person to fly across the atlantic, not the first, as history would have it.

Marketing and hype is what put him up there in that class of first timers.

Everyone thinks he was the only one or the first one in his time. Everyone thinks he was the only selected soul...

Not true.

In the world of gift cards, every time a new deal comes up, everyone is so hush hush about it. Everyone thinks they have the only handle on it and it should be kept to a special few. Everyone thinks they have the special one time deal on something.

Sure, gift cards come and go and people think that when 300 people know about it, it dies. This is not always the case. I have seen many GCs that die not because of how many people use them but how the company that puts them forth does its business. I have seen some die just because one or two people do something once or twice and then it changes by nature. I have seen them die just because that's what GCs do.

So what if it's not how many users, but how its used? I think one GC out there that recently died was killed due to certain types of PIN use. Not all PIN use is the same and not every use of the PIN is the same in every store--even in chains!

Consider this: many people knew about Charter One but because of the fact that we all talked about the best ways to manage it all the time, right up front. By the middle of the gig, we knew the Do's and Don't's and all the 'what if's,' and wouldntcha know it, but that deal actually lasted the longest of all! It was a bigger bank and times were ripe, but that is a fact. Like the First National Bank of Marin, it got bought out! That changed it, not only us.

And when people try to silence a deal for one reason or another, that deal can still get squashed and then everyone comes out of the woodwork saying "...the same thing happened to me," "I got black listed," "it is over, ding dong the witch is dead," etc.

And then you (plr) find out what you could have done, should have done, and might have done if only you had shared ideas and thoughts on the best ways to beat the beast!

Well, maybe it just proves that sharing works best. Yup, if it is to be known, then know it ALL.

It's kind of like how I intend to raise my children: Expose them to the truth and let them see all things that they can. But if I teach them values and what is generally right or wrong, then they can also make choices when they get older. (and I don't mean to get into a sub thread on this, nor is it about choices like using airline GCs or something)

My point is that instead of trying to hide them from things or exclude this or that in life, they will lead a richer life if all the cards are on the table. Nothing to hide makes for nothing to worry about. that's my theory. That applies to a lot of everything else I do. If you share your ideas and your issues, you can come away with better knowledge on how to handle situations that could come up. And we all know they certainly do when it comes to gift cards! Hiding never works as long.

When the next big GC comes along, why not all of us try to thoroughly explain the best way to approach it, and then everyone --including all of you--wins for a longer time!

:)MM

Great PepTalk MarathonMan! You must have even more time on your hands now that all these gift card schemes are going bust. I think I'll just keep my methods to myself as I haven't run into any problems yet. But I welcome everyone else's ideas and postings on how to rack up miles, as I enjoy reading them. Although I must say I haven't tried any of them as they seem to complicated and/or costly. However, please keep them coming! :D

PS- Before MM starts flaming me and my post, YES I am a selfish b*st*rd for not sharing and only reading other's ideas. Trust me, I ain't the only one like this on the board. :p

Right on pacman777!

Some type of cathartic admission? Who cares if you are the only one or one of many. You are a taker and self admitted at that. Just stand by your warped principles and deal with, dont make excuses :rolleyes:

Ken in Phx

Ken: good on ya, mate!

Needless to say, Mr. Man, I will not have nothing to do now because GC opps are dead. Who said they are dead? Are they dead? There was one? Beuller?

How come no one shared that with me! ;)

There are still many opps, and some that you think I think are dead are not dead yet. Is the head dead yet?

And, note this: I am not here to flame anybody, Mr P-Man.

I'm glad you are earning miles on everyone's time. That too could be viewed as a rather tenacious way of self gain, which is what many of us do in here anyway--even if not so openly admitted to/against our fellow FT posters. I am sure you have learned much from reading posts--mine included. If that has made your world a better place, then we both win because you know I like typing anyway! If you have gained from all the posts on this board then that's fine.

I suppose the theory of the entire FT board, if not to share, might at least include this one tennant, though: If you can share, that's great. But if not, why even let us know you don't?

Well, to each his own. Whatever gets one off, I guess. No offense taken, but how can you have possibly gained anything here? Can't figure that one out. I simply can't.


* * *

Just think of it this way: If all the cool gigs were gone or hidden, then what would MM type? Nothing! And then what would you enjoy reading? Nothing. Like a GC gone bad, you would have just killed or attempted to kill off your own source of enjoyment! (The only guy who might be finally content would be Ned. ;))

Ah, but it wouldn't happen anyway. You cannot kill the MM, nor do I think you are trying to. (of course, others reading your post may think you have issues, but I am not about to blame you for that right now because there's no point in it. You cannot change people.)

Yes, there are other GCs, other mile deals, other threads and even other boards. Heck, there are even other topics in life besides miles! gasp! Did I just say that? nahhhhh...)

I'll continue to do what I do. You git up in them thar woodz...
Bark like a dog... I'll teach you the meaning of the word 'respect!'

:D MM
[I spend a bit of time watching TV too]