Vanilla Reload Vs. MoneyPak?

[Open123]

You know, any MS in the range of a few thousand, no issuer is going to care, unless fraud is suspected.  I really don't think there's any risk to, say, $2,000 per month.  The only issuer who may care is if an AmEx FR has been triggered, which would be extremely unlikely for the majority of people.

I wouldn't be concerned unless you were at least MS'ing north of $5k.

[chwebb1]

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@juggalo9er wrote:

@card cost is 3.95 i purchase 900 @ 5% cash back net gain $41.05 i only do this when barclay has boosted points

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Sorry, I thought you meant you only buy $50 worth.

[Fico2Go]

Chwebb, MS might not be a profitable tool for everyone.  For credit builders it could be a tool to create transactions.  

Basically one would be investing $3.95 to show CL usage for the purpose of maybe attaining higher CLs.  It would be a  cost of building credit.    

Just a rough guess.  

I'm starting to understand this game now.  It's not at all difficult when you can find a system to load free.  Conceivably one could Manufacture all price ranges with little or no cost.      

[chwebb1]

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@Fico2Go wrote:

Chwebb, MS might not be a profitable tool for everyone.  For credit builders it could be a tool to create transactions.  

Basically one would be investing $3.95 to show CL usage for the purpose of maybe attaining higher CLs.  It would be a  cost of building credit.    

Just a rough guess.  

I'm starting to understand this game now.  It's not at all difficult when you can find a system to load free.  Conceivably one could Manufacture all price ranges with little or no cost.      

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I'm not saying it can't be profitable. I was just saying in juggalo9er's case, I didn't see how it could be profitable for him/her. I've bought things like iTunes Gift Cards on sale at Best Buy (when I had 5% cash back) and that definitely saved me a lot of money. I'm not sure if that qualifies as MS of not. I've also bought Visa gift cards to load onto my Bluebird to pay other credit card bills for the cash back (and promptly paid off the card I just bought it with).

[brianjb]

This is a very interesting thread!  I have been MS the for two months.  I have mixed it with my AMEX and also a couple of Chase cards.

I didn't think that the issuer would care, since they're making money off the transaction.

Let's say they make 3% fee off my purchase, why wouldn't they let me continue to MS if they can keep making money?

[jenn_bar]

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@brianjb wrote:

This is a very interesting thread!  I have been MS the for two months.  I have mixed it with my AMEX and also a couple of Chase cards.

I didn't think that the issuer would care, since they're making money off the transaction.

Let's say they make 3% fee off my purchase, why wouldn't they let me continue to MS if they can keep making money?

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I believe it boils down to how much you MS.

Once you get going, it becomes a game and it's hard not to "push the envelope." There's a lot of strategy in it and when a new strategy arises, I immediately want to give it a chance (especially when I'm making a decent profit).

Granted $5k/month is probably not going to trigger any fraud (depending on income IMHO); however, MSing $15-30k/month may be another story. So although the bank is making money on each transaction, they see you as a risk when all they can see is high CC spending and money coming in from external accounts/money orders. It also adds to it if you MS more than your income/year.

In the end, there are a lot of factors that go into doing it safely. I will say though, IMHO (again!), I would not be buying VR's for anything less than $500. It's $3.95 no matter what you put on it, so you should maximize each card to get a better value. It's $3.95 for 50, 100, 250, OR 500 points (or more points/cash back, depending on CC)!

[longtimelurker]

Re issuer making money: also depends on the card.   When a 5%+ card cashback card is used, it's unlikely that the swipe fees cover the rewards  (I specify cashback, because with things like actual airline miles we don't know how much those miles cost the issuer)/

But we really don't know even the basics of who pays what and there are a lot of conflicting stories.   If you buy a $500 VR at a drug store, you pay $503.95.   Does the pharmacy pay swipe fees on the whole amount?  Some have been told (by store managers) that the answer is "No", which makes sense, as the transaction would be unprofitable (and then it would be strange for CVS to RAISE the limit to $5000 per day).   How is the $3.95 split between Incomm and the drug store, etc?  

So we don't know who is at risk of losing money on the transactions, but presumably 5% cards are worse for the bank than 1% ones.

[darkfrosty]

i just want to start msing to get a ton of miles lol .. i wanna hit 1million miles

[longtimelurker]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

i just want to start msing to get a ton of miles lol .. i wanna hit 1million miles

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If this is your real goal, sign up bonuses are the way to go (with MS to cover minimum spend)

[unc0mm0n1]

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@Open123 wrote:

You know, any MS in the range of a few thousand, no issuer is going to care, unless fraud is suspected.  I really don't think there's any risk to, say, $2,000 per month.  The only issuer who may care is if an AmEx FR has been triggered, which would be extremely unlikely for the majority of people.

I wouldn't be concerned unless you were at least MS'ing north of $5k.

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I do about 25K a month spread over 8 cc's and two people (me and my DW). We average about 16K between our two CSPs and our two Freedoms. We also spend the most regular on those so it makes it look better. The other 8K is spread between our two United's and two Hyatt's, our hotel and airlines of choice. I would like to diversify providers (those are all Chase). but I think as long as we don't exceed our stated house hold income, each of us does spends about 3/4 of our stated household income,  i don't think there will be an issue. I haven't had a problem yet.