Moneypaks
These reload cards typically have a $4.95 fee and are loadable up to $500. Therefore, not taking bonus points into account, the cost is typically about 1 cent per dollar of manufactured spending.
Where to buy MoneyPaks
To look up locations where you can buy a Moneypak, go to www.moneypak.com. In the top right corner of the screen, enter a Zip code, and it will display the closest locations to buy a Moneypak. In Tuscaloosa, Moneypaks are sold at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Marathon/Kangaroo Express, Walmart, K-Mart, Dollar Tree, Walmart, Radio Shack, Family Dollar, and Dollar General. In San Jose, they're available at some of the above stores, at Quik Stop gas stations, at 7-11 convenience stores, and I thought I saw some at Safeway or Lucky. Unfortunately, Ariana Arghandewal from Point Chaser said that at least in the Bay Area, it's hard to find Moneypaks.
Let's assume you are successful buying MoneyPaks using a credit card. Again, at Rite Aid, Walgreens, and CVS, you can earn a category bonus for the old American Express Blue Cash card. If you earn $25 of cash back and pay a fee of $5, then that's a profit of $20. Also again, at gas stations, you can earn double points or miles on Chase Ink cards, the United business card, and potentially the US Bank Flexperks card. You would pay about half a cent per point. Lastly, you can earn grocery store category bonuses. At Safeway or Lucky, you can earn double points on the Amex Premier Rewards Gold credit card or on the US Bank Flexperks card. This would cost about half a cent per point.
Let's assume you are successful buying MoneyPaks using a credit card. Again, at Rite Aid, Walgreens, and CVS, you can earn a category bonus for the old American Express Blue Cash card. If you earn $25 of cash back and pay a fee of $5, then that's a profit of $20. Also again, at gas stations, you can earn double points or miles on Chase Ink cards, the United business card, and potentially the US Bank Flexperks card. You would pay about half a cent per point. Lastly, you can earn grocery store category bonuses. At Safeway or Lucky, you can earn double points on the Amex Premier Rewards Gold credit card or on the US Bank Flexperks card. This would cost about half a cent per point.
Some Prepaid Debit Cards That Can Be Loaded With MoneyPaks
This is what makes MoneyPaks special; if you can find a place to buy them using a credit card, there's a large assortment of prepaid debit cards you can load. That means that if you have many prepaid debit cards, you can potentially manufacture spend at a large volume using MoneyPaks. Here is a partial list.
American Express Serve
GoBank card
Green Dot Prepaid card
H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard
Mango Card
Pay Pal account
Rush Card
American Express Serve
GoBank card
Green Dot Prepaid card
H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard
Mango Card
Pay Pal account
Rush Card
Amex Serve
Load limit: $5,000 per month; includes up to $1,000 per month of online credit card loads
Fees: essentially none
How to sign up for it: Get it on the rack at CVS or 7-11. Alternatively, you can sign up for it online.
How to Liquidate: bill pay
Notes: You can't have a Bluebird and a Serve, you have to take your pick. There's a debate in the frequent flyer community over what's better. Bluebird has more options for loading and liquidating, while Serve's advantage is that you can load it for free using a credit card at the register at CVS or 7-11. It's also an advantage that you can use a credit card to load Serve online.
Load limit: $5,000 per month; includes up to $1,000 per month of online credit card loads
Fees: essentially none
How to sign up for it: Get it on the rack at CVS or 7-11. Alternatively, you can sign up for it online.
How to Liquidate: bill pay
Notes: You can't have a Bluebird and a Serve, you have to take your pick. There's a debate in the frequent flyer community over what's better. Bluebird has more options for loading and liquidating, while Serve's advantage is that you can load it for free using a credit card at the register at CVS or 7-11. It's also an advantage that you can use a credit card to load Serve online.
GoBank Card
Load limit: none
Fees: none
How to sign up for it: at Family Dollar, or online
How to liquidate: similar to Bluebird liquidation methods such as bill pay and bank account transfer
Notes: This is a prepaid debit card similar to Bluebird, but it has no monthly load limit and is notorious for shut-downs. It's best to use it and load as much money as possible on this card and then get shut down.
Load limit: none
Fees: none
How to sign up for it: at Family Dollar, or online
How to liquidate: similar to Bluebird liquidation methods such as bill pay and bank account transfer
Notes: This is a prepaid debit card similar to Bluebird, but it has no monthly load limit and is notorious for shut-downs. It's best to use it and load as much money as possible on this card and then get shut down.
Green Dot Prepaid Card
Load limit: $2,500 per day
Fees: cash advance fee of $2.50
How to sign up for it: online, or buy the card at a store such as CVS, a grocery store, or a convenience store
How to liquidate: ATM withdrawals, cash advance, PIN-based methods
Notes: I saw this card at CVS one day and saw the initial load up to $500 with a $2.95 purchase fee, and at Rite Aid and Marathon/Kangaroo Express for no fee. I thought to myself, would it be practical to buy this card, set a PIN, liquidate it quickly, and then get rid of it? It would be worth a try. If possible, then you can manufacture spend at a cost of about 0.6 cents per dollar. If you're using this card with MoneyPaks and reloading it regularly, then you should take note that this card is notorious for shut-downs.
Load limit: $2,500 per day
Fees: cash advance fee of $2.50
How to sign up for it: online, or buy the card at a store such as CVS, a grocery store, or a convenience store
How to liquidate: ATM withdrawals, cash advance, PIN-based methods
Notes: I saw this card at CVS one day and saw the initial load up to $500 with a $2.95 purchase fee, and at Rite Aid and Marathon/Kangaroo Express for no fee. I thought to myself, would it be practical to buy this card, set a PIN, liquidate it quickly, and then get rid of it? It would be worth a try. If possible, then you can manufacture spend at a cost of about 0.6 cents per dollar. If you're using this card with MoneyPaks and reloading it regularly, then you should take note that this card is notorious for shut-downs.
H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard
Load limit: $5,000 per month
Fees: 95 cent bill pay fee, $2.50 ATM fee, $5 cash advance fee
How to sign up for it: in an H&R Block branch, although it's hard to sign up for this prepaid debit card if you aren't an H&R Block client
How to Liquidate: bill pay seems to be the best liquidation option
Notes: It's a useful prepaid debit card, but the biggest challenge is getting it.
Load limit: $5,000 per month
Fees: 95 cent bill pay fee, $2.50 ATM fee, $5 cash advance fee
How to sign up for it: in an H&R Block branch, although it's hard to sign up for this prepaid debit card if you aren't an H&R Block client
How to Liquidate: bill pay seems to be the best liquidation option
Notes: It's a useful prepaid debit card, but the biggest challenge is getting it.
Mango Card
Load limit: unknown
Fees: Essentially none
How to sign up for it: Go to www.mangomoney.com and on the navigation bar, click the Sign Up button
How to liquidate: through PIN-based methods such as money orders and Walmart bill pay
Notes: This isn't one of the most popular prepaid debit cards out there. So, I couldn't find any information about the load limit and shut-down risk.
Load limit: unknown
Fees: Essentially none
How to sign up for it: Go to www.mangomoney.com and on the navigation bar, click the Sign Up button
How to liquidate: through PIN-based methods such as money orders and Walmart bill pay
Notes: This isn't one of the most popular prepaid debit cards out there. So, I couldn't find any information about the load limit and shut-down risk.
PayPal Account
Load limit: between your 2 allowed PayPal accounts (1 personal and 1 business), you can load a total of $8,000 per month
Fees: None
How to sign up for it: instructions to sign up for a PayPal account are here
How to liquidate: bank transfer, PIN-based methods such as money orders and Walmart Bill Pay (using your PayPal debit card), use
PayPal Business Debit Mastercard to buy other types of reload cards for 1% cash back, pay PayPal Extras Mastercard credit card bill
Note: I will cover PayPal techniques in more detail in a separate page focusing on PayPal.
Load limit: between your 2 allowed PayPal accounts (1 personal and 1 business), you can load a total of $8,000 per month
Fees: None
How to sign up for it: instructions to sign up for a PayPal account are here
How to liquidate: bank transfer, PIN-based methods such as money orders and Walmart Bill Pay (using your PayPal debit card), use
PayPal Business Debit Mastercard to buy other types of reload cards for 1% cash back, pay PayPal Extras Mastercard credit card bill
Note: I will cover PayPal techniques in more detail in a separate page focusing on PayPal.
Rush Card
Load limit: $30,000 per month
Fees: No monthly fee or bill pay fee
How to sign up for it: in a CVS store, or go to apply.rushcard.com
How to liquidate: Seeing that it's a Visa debit, it at the very least probably has PIN capabilities, so money orders and bill pay at Walmart would probably work.
Notes: The high monthly limit and lack of fees seem like this is a good one. I'm not sure how long it would be until they shut you down on it. Also, I saw this card at Marathon/Kangaroo Express and Rite Aid, with an initial load of up to $500 and no fee. That means it might be worth it to buy a Rush Card, load and liquidate it once, and then get rid of the card.
Load limit: $30,000 per month
Fees: No monthly fee or bill pay fee
How to sign up for it: in a CVS store, or go to apply.rushcard.com
How to liquidate: Seeing that it's a Visa debit, it at the very least probably has PIN capabilities, so money orders and bill pay at Walmart would probably work.
Notes: The high monthly limit and lack of fees seem like this is a good one. I'm not sure how long it would be until they shut you down on it. Also, I saw this card at Marathon/Kangaroo Express and Rite Aid, with an initial load of up to $500 and no fee. That means it might be worth it to buy a Rush Card, load and liquidate it once, and then get rid of the card.