HEADS UP: Variable Load Visas only up to $200 now (was $500) YMMV
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Had a big surprise at Office Depot today doing the $15 off variable load FIVEBACK card wyb $300.
In the past, all Variable Load cards were $20-500 (or something like that) and now the max is $200. Sort of like a 2.5x increase in fees to get $500 in cards now.
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you must’ve been out of the game for a while now; it’s been a year since the variable GCs up to $500 have been removed by OD/OM. Sadly, even the instant discount on GCs have been lowered to $15, limit one per transaction which used to be $20/$300, limit 2 so we bought three $200s, and received $40 discount. Good to reminisce the good times…
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@Ma-Barker Yes, it’s been some time since I went to OD for a GC deal, however, is this $200 max across the board everywhere? are the up to $500 cards still being carried elsewhere or was it a Visa change?
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@mistercheap IDK whose decision it was to remove the $500 variables but I’ve been to OD/OM in different states and none of them carry the 500 variables so it must’ve been a corporate-wide implementation.
On the positive side, most of them now carry the $200 variables we call the anywhere/everywhere cards (Grocery/Dining/Style) issued by Metabank with fee of $4.95 instead of the regular $6.95 on regular Visa/MC up to $200 variables. The 5Backs had $6.95 fee but they were profitable in the past because they can be used at Lowes to get $10 CB but then most merchants that sold GCs have gone out of the 5B program
AFAIK, NONE of the OSS carry the $500 GCs now; Staples carry $300 VGCs online, but in-store, only up to $200 for both Visa and MC. Staples do NOT carry the everywhere VGCs I mentioned above, it’s just OD/OM.
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as far as I can remenber, about the past 4 years in the MS biz, Staples and OM/OD never had 500.00 Visa/MC gift cards. Only 200.00 in store.
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The Five Back Visa has ALWAYS been a $200 variable card. Nothing has changed.
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@Ma-Barker Not only lowered to $15, this time only the 5buck card works, the everywhere visa or the regular vgc didn’t work either,
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@niniss yeah, that’s what I’ve read and it was sad that my OD had lots of the Dining and Grocery VGCs tempting me. I MS at OSS ocassionally when I have new CCs to meet MSR; for regular MS, I just buy VGCs online and drain them at WM.
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@ma-barker said in HEADS UP: Variable Load Visas only up to $200 now (was $500) YMMV:
@niniss yeah, that’s what I’ve read and it was sad that my OD had lots of the Dining and Grocery VGCs tempting me. I MS at OSS ocassionally when I have new CCs to meet MSR; for regular MS, I just buy VGCs online and drain them at WM.
Where do you buy vgc online? I only bought vgc online on Giftcardmall once and can never place another order ever since (kept telling me invalid credit card even though it wasn’t). It seems like they have black listed my address but i have no clue why. I called them several times about it but they wouldn’t tell me why. Very strange. So for new CCs I just buy vgc at Simon mall.
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I buy them at GCM and maybe I’m just lucky since the first order I made was $7500. I’ve ordered using different CCs, maxed out $15K per month limit and so far, so good. Many are having the same problem as yours and no one has cracked the mystery of why they ban some people or cancel orders. I’m not close to a Simon but I’ve ordered a few GCs online from them but then they don’t give CB via portals so I stick with GCM.
btw, if you’re trying to meet MSR with ANY Amex, do NOT buy from Simon because it has already been reported that purchases there are flagged and don’t qualify for MSR. It is safe to say to do ONLY organic spend with any Amex since they take up to 120 days to review your purchases and by then, the average 90 day period to meet MSR is over so you’re likely to lose the sign up bonus/reward.
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@ma-barker What is MSR? (membership rewards?) I only have two amex cards and one as authorized user, none of them earns membership reward points.
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@niniss MSR is minimum spend requirements.
it has been reported in blogs that axp revised their terms on a lot of their cards to say that bonus rewards can take UP to 120 days to post. I forgot the date set it will be implemented. Purchases from the mall Simon has not earned bonus points as reported by many which means that MSers ought to avoid buying VGCs there to meet MSR. Since the average time to meet MSR is 90 days, it’ll be too late to make organic purchases elsewhere once they rule that MSR has not been met from VGC purchases made at certain merchants.
