I went to a Walmart the other day to try and load my Bluebird for the first time. Here’s what I learned. My American Express Campus Edition card is coded as credit despite all my efforts to have the cashiers at Walmart to use the card as debit.
Here is what I learned also at my local Walgreens with the Vanilla Reload, her register as soon as it rang up it said “Cash Only.” I asked her if I could use any of my other non reloadable prepaid cards and she said cash only and that if she accepted any other tender she would be held accountable. Sounds awfully familiar like Staples.
At my local Radio Shack, I did not see any MoneyPak’s on the shelves so I asked one of the associates if they had it. Turns out it’s locked in the back. Similarly, Vanilla Reloads at the Walgreens were behind the counter. I asked the cashier to ring up the MoneyPak for $500. She told me it’d be cash only and I asked her if we could try the same prepaid cards in my failed attempt at Walgreens. The Radio Shack cashier told me on her screen when I tried to use a $200 card that it was over the Visa limit. That was an interesting statement that I will need to further investigate.
So far, for now, my best way to earn points is to use my Citi Forward to load my American Express Campus Edition at 5x. However, there are caveats. It costs $3.95 to load the Campus Edition card at the bookstore. It costs $4.95 to load via MoneyPak, assuming you can find a way to earn a high bonus from your credit card to purchase. In addition to that, you can not load a Bluebird directly using the Campus Edition. You must go to the ATM and receive cash and this will increase your overall costs to earning points.
When I did this at Walmart, I did not know that. I want you to learn from my mistake. So let’s look at the % of fees it cost me.
Next time, I plan to use the ATM in my office or McDonalds, both are $1 and have a higher limit. This in turn will reduce the % in terms of fees. These are assumptions on the max cash withdrawals for the one at McDonalds and the PNC ATM at my office as I have never used them.
If you load the Campus Edition with the MoneyPak, the Cost to Load line will increase to 1%, and everything will increase by .21%.
Outside of using the Vanilla Reload to load the Bluebird, the easiest way is US Bank’s Visa Buxx at a Walmart.
