Wouldn't that be considered incestuous? :)

Yes, BofA cards do earn miles/cashback from VBuxx transactions (I only used their own VBuxx though).

On another note, are there any ways now to cash out Wachovia cards ?
ATM fee is $1.50 per $100 - we don't have their ATM's in CA, online casinos are gone, Post Office here won't take this card for POS transactions.

Anyone been lucky to find a way to buy Money Orders ? I've heard Walmart would work, but we have very few of them in Bay Area.

If you're just looking to cash out what's left in your Wachovia card(s), I think the 1% online casino fee is the cheapest ($0.01/mile). But be careful to include that 1% in your transaction amount, otherwise your account can go overdrawn from the fee, and they charge you $20 overdrawn fee on top of that.
I haven't found any other way yet to cash them out that's worth it.

I am guessing it was either this or simply my volume that got me shut down. It may have also had to do with my bank's investigation - I had to give them my visabuxx info to clear myself of fraud depositing so much cash. I didn't try to argue with US Bank - there would have been no point. They gave one month notice per their T+Cs...they have the right to refuse any customer they wish.

I still have BOFA Visabuxx cards but these are far more of a pain.

I'm curious how many people who use these cards for miles have had problems with the banks (ie, fraud investigations, account closures, etc), and what exactly was it that caused the problem. So far I've had no problem with BofA (through 7 months of use), or Wachovia (with only a few months), and have only recently started using USBank Vbx.

I just know that once they know you are spinning funds for something you gain where they dont gain (and they gain when people use the card for more than one or two transactions) then they find a reason or two to tell you there is fraud and they stop you. If they say it has to do with miles then somehow the fact they know we are gaining these makes them not want us to win. Sounds silly but it is something I have heard a hundred times!

I never say anything about miles but sometimes these banks and gift card entities do. Plus they have really bad cs and so if you do get a manager after holding forever, they think you are so savvy that they fear you are some fraudster too! Most banks try to pass it off like some check kiting scheme and they say that OTHER PEOPLE have been abusing the system so that's why thing shave changed. It's as if they study the exact same lines that some other gift card bank had told me... Weird. In the end, it is just simply the fact that they found the hole we found and needed to rush to find a way to quickly patch it at all costs! We aint providing them with anything but less fee-charges per merchant anyway, so they simply tell us bye bye.

Silly but true.

And so we find another GC because frankly, like gas wars, there are others around ther all the time willing to undercut pricing for a short while. In that period, we find, share and grab the mileage!

Seems innocent but everyone I know who is not a mile person in my life (yes I do know some) thinks I am some kind of scammer. Oh well. They pay for flights too and then complain they have no money!

:)MM

Well, guess I spoke too soon. I just received emails from US Bank that all 8 of my cards had been closed. Here's the email I received:
__________________________________________________ __________
Our Operations Team has identified your U.S. Bank Visa Buxx card with
activity that indicates the Buxx card below is being used for the sole
benefit of earning points or rewards on the funding source.

In accordance with your Cardmember Agreement, we are notifying you that
effective May 23, 2005 your Visa Buxx has been closed. A check for any
remaining balance will be sent to you within 30 days.

While we appreciate your business, the Visa Buxx card is intended to be a
tool for parents to teach their teenagers financial responsibility. We are
only able to support cardholders who use their Visa Buxx card as intended.

If you have any questions, please contact customer service at
1-888-310-2899.
__________________________________________________ __________

There were two emails sent for each card. The second email I received is a more simple one which basically says that the card has been closed. But it also says this, "If your prepaid card needs should change in the future, we hope that you will consider using Visa Buxx services again." Now, I wonder if this is the standard message sent to anyone who closes their account, or has their acct closed by them. Or, does this really mean that I can re-open the account. Probably not worth the effort though. I'll just search for another method of getting miles like this. Bummer, it was great while it lasted.

wow, at least they explained themselevs and even identified miles in their reply. Smart!

Well, you could always call them back and tell the f**ckers that you ARE teaching financial responsibility and that they should AGREE with its method! What is it, you ask?

how about trying to save money on travel to go SEE your children, who live in far off places but it is sooo costly to DRIVE THERE with gas prices going up and all, that you fly. You fly but that costs money too, so you figured out and taught your children alllll about miles and the benefits of being savvy and finding ways to make things cost LESS all around! Tell the US Bank that they should know this seeing as how they do partnerships with airlines and hey, there are so many unused miles out there because they oversell them and they KNOW customers like me and you have NO way of redeeming them all unless we pay EXTRA MILEAGE in the process, so you have to find ways to combat this! The gift card terms do not say it is illegal so are the singling you out or just trying to stell YOUR money too? Think about it: They are in bed with the very airlines they say you cannot use this for! Hmmm, whose scamming who??

!MM

I just got off the phone with US Bank. I thought I'd give a try at seeing if I could get the cards reinstated. The answer was no, which didn't surprise me. But my momma always told me that you'll never know unless you ask. Interestingly, she noted that they were doing a pretty major crackdown on this and closing a lot of accounts. I told her that I didn't believe I was breaking any rules per the T&Cs. She said that since I wasn't using it for a teen it was a violation of their rules. I didn't argue, whatcha gonna do.

So I looked into the Visa Buxx through National City and Wachovia. I'm sure there's been some discussion on those somewhere buried in this thread. Here is what I found:

Wachovia:
-$1K max balance
-$500 max load at any one time
-Can do Wachovia ATM withdrawl, but limit is $100/week
-ATM withdrawls in excess of 2/month will incur $1.50 fee each
-$2 load fee
-Account setup fee is $12
-Limit of one card per 'teen'
** Based on the fees, ATM withdrawl limit, and limit of 1 card per 'teen' this does not seem like a good deal at all **

National City
-$15 annual fee
-ATM withdrawl fee is $1, even if it's at a National City ATM
-Load fee is $2.50
-Max allowed on card at one time is $1,000
-Max load at one time is $250
-Limit to ATM withdrawls is $100/24 hour
** This one isn't much better. You'd be over 2 cents/mile **

Any other insights/ideas? Or does anyone know if Wachovia and National are really enforcing all the rules above?

Busted!
 

I'm busted too - out of 4 mine US Bank cards.
Looks like they finally hired a good data analyst, my prediction is that most of us will get the execution notice in a matter of days.
I wasn't obvious, either - loads and withdrawals were for random amounts, occasional purchase here and there...

Talking about Wachovia - AFAIK they don't enforce the load fee, but there's no good way in withdraw money outside of their service area. Doing the POS transactions for money orders seems to be an option in some states, but I'm yet to discover the way to do it in CA. I wish people would share more info about this.

P.S. No more reasons to keep WorldPerks Signature card either - will send it down the drain with Buxx cards - at least a small consolation here :p

So did they say you couldn't open another account? Is there anything preventing you from reapplying? If it takes them 2-3 months to close it down it still would be worth it.

[QUOTE=MeLike2Travel]I just got off the phone with US Bank. I thought I'd give a try at seeing if I could get the cards reinstated. The answer was no, which didn't surprise me. But my momma always told me that you'll never know unless you ask. Interestingly, she noted that they were doing a pretty major crackdown on this and closing a lot of accounts. I told her that I didn't believe I was breaking any rules per the T&Cs. She said that since I wasn't using it for a teen it was a violation of their rules. I didn't argue, whatcha gonna do.

...Strange, don't you think?
So which is it: Did they close you off because "...Our Operations Team has identified your U.S. Bank Visa Buxx card with activity that indicates the Buxx card below is being used for the sole benefit of earning points or rewards on the funding source..."

OR because some irate CSR said it was "only for teens?"

You know, my wife--and the wives of pretty much every other American Male I know who like to poke fun like Everybody Loves Raymond--always calls me immature and acting like a teenager, so whose to say I am not one? As well, am I not still my mother's son?...And are we not God's children? SHOULD age matter or are they discriminating? I dunno about US Bank but I am almost positive Wachovia's T&Cs were actually careful enough to not exclude those are not pre 20years' old and possibly for reasons beyond even these ones! You may wish to dig deeper--if only to get them to have to 100% nail down the exact reason for you on the phone as to why they decided to cancel you out just like that. You see, maybe they can come in and look all official and like they are cracking down or something, but CAN THEY? I mean, C'mon! What other business does this--wait: the airlines!!!! Yeah, that's probably where they learned their fine marketing strategies! Maybe they can get away with some stuff because they are a bank, but why not make them sweat it out a little? Go call 'em back and get some REAL disclosure on behalf of the lawyer you will mention you are forwarding the email to! I mean, they ARE kicking you out, right? Go to battle with them now and don't just lay down and roll over that easily!

In the meantime, ask them (A) why they didn't just fix their own holes and let us know in a way where we could still stay customers instead of blaming us by canceling out our accounts, and (B) ask them why it even MATTERS if we get miles or something for all of this? they get fees from our activity, right?

What I can't understand is this: Why is it that the credit cards even still allow gift card transactions to BE "purchases" to begin with? If they didn't, no one would really be viewed as abusing the stuff (in the eys of the card makers, that is)? I mean, not that we want the CCs to change how they code things or anything, but hey, if their terms and rules have problems, and we find ways to do things within those rules, then you gotta ask yourself: are we sick opportunists who are here to screw the systems we see fit to do so, or did we just stumble across something that DOES legitimately work and then told our friends about it? I am not saying you should do something even if you know it is wrong, but IS IT WRONG?? No! The card allows you to load from a credit card for Chr-%*^***&st sake! How is that wrong?

To offset the possibilities that some official entity within Visa Buxx or some computer eye may catch on to something not like the rest of the world, I always bought one or two small items on my VisaBuxx card and it seems to have worked. I was able to load $1500 a month on it and I used the card yesterday for $3 in gas to top off the tank and then cashed it out today! I have NOT received any letters or emails saying I am closed or kicked out!

YET.

:)MM
(a sick opportunist who will screw over companies at times, when given the chance)

AA+UAL+NWA CCs ==>GCs: VBx,TF,NC= ==>CA, MO, ATM ==> INGd + 3.00% ==>Ck ==>CCs - [30 days] = M. [m$ = ~$2/1k m]

M = S; M+S = $; $ = :)

has very quickly changed into:

AA Citi Virtual ==> NC ==> CA, MO, ATM ==> INGd + 3.00% ==>Ck ==>CCs - [30 days] = M. [m$ = ~$4+/1k m]

AND:

Wachovia VBx = $0/m for now...

1/2m = 1/2 S; 1/2 S = 1/2 $; 1/2 $ = :( :eek:

I loaded $500 to 6 Visabuxx cards earlier today but when I tried to withdraw at an ATM all were declined and when I called customer service I was told all 24 of my cards were closed.

Can't blame them for closing the accounts, but to hang on to my $3000 for 30 days is not fair.

24 cards!!! :eek: