Update 12/26/19: We just received word from our contact at Simon corporate that these $1,000 Visa Gift Cards have been extended indefinitely. This is awesome news; it will continue to be very easy to quickly generate a large amount of spend at low cost via Simon Mall.
Update 10/22/19: Simon corporate has reached out again to advise that this deal has been extended until at least December 31, 2019.
Update 8/21/19: As per communication from Simon corporate, this deal has now been extended once again and Simon Malls will sell $1,000 Visa Gift Cards with a $3.95 activation fee per gift card 10/31/19. As a reminder, this deal is open to all folks interested who come to the office and request the cards. New customers are welcome to buy, but see my post about Mistakes to avoid on $1K Simon Visa Gift Cards if you’re new to the field. I encourage those new to go slow and test what works before getting in over your head. Still, this is awesome news overall.
Update: We’ve just received word from Simon corporate that this promotion is being extended until the end of August! That’s awesome for those looking for more volume. Keep in mind that the $1,000 Visa Gift Cards are available for anyone who asks, even those new to purchasing Visa Gift Cards at the mall — you just need to go to the office / customer service desk at your mall and request these cards as they are not out on the racks. Nice to see this continue!
Simon Malls has confirmed earlier reported rumors that they will be selling $1,000 Visa Gift Cards with a $3.95 activation fee per card from July 17 – August 4, 2019 August 31, 2019 (update: this has been extended indefinitely) . That’s awesome news for those looking to rack up spend at very low cost. With the activation fee representing just under 0.4% of the face value of the cards, it will not at all be hard to find a credit card on which such a purchase would be a net win after accounting for liquidation costs. This is great news.
The Deal
- From July 17, 2019, Simon Malls now offers $1,000 Visa Gift Cards with an activation fee of just $3.95 per card
Key Details
- Not available online (in-mall only)
- Will not be available prior to July 17th, 2019 (no, your mall won’t sell them to you early)
- Daily limits are presumably the same ($10K / day until you’ve established a big buying pattern, at which point regular buyers can buy as much as $25K in a day)
- Call your mall in advance to let them know when you’re coming so they can be prepared and help you breeze through
Quick Thoughts
This is great news. While the numbers here might not beat a fee-free promotion at an office supply store, the convenience of $1K cards is worth the $3.95 fee for many people. That should simplify liquidation for those who live in an area where liquidation is possible. Even for those who don’t, a deal like this might make it worth stocking up and getting in the car for a road trip weekend to find a place to liquidate.
As noted at the top, the activation fee here represents such a small percentage of the face value of the cards that it certainly shouldn’t be difficult to earn rewards that outweigh your cost. Keep in mind that Amex has not been awarding any points on Simon Mall spend, so you will not want to use an Amex card for these purchases. Also be mindful of ramping up spend slowly on cards with other banks — going from zero spend on a card to a $10K purchase is one way to increase the odds of a shut-down.
I recently took a weekend road trip and unexpectedly passed by a Simon Mall I’d never been to before. The cashier in the mall office couldn’t have been friendlier or happier to sell me gift cards and even reminded me before I left that if I call ahead next time they will have the order set up so the process could be faster. I’ll definitely be back when it is convenient.
Keep in mind the money order limits that may exist at your preferred liquidation outlets if you’re ramping up spend and always have a backup plan in case one door closes.
Also see our list of best big spend bonuses and best rewards for everyday spend for ideas as to what cards may be worth using for various bonuses (again, keeping in mind that Amex cards are out).
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[…] the value proposition of this MS method, thus all of the excitement over Simon Mall offering a $1,000 gift card with only a $3.95 activation fee or when you see an offer of a no-activation-fee gift […]
[…] the value proposition of this MS method, thus all of the excitement over Simon Malls offering a $1,000 gift card with only a $3.95 activation fee or when you see an offer of a no-activation-fee gift […]
Bought and liquidated my first $1k simon mall card today. It was pretty easy, but two notes/questions:
1) When I bought the card, the simon mall rep. said the card was already activated and there wasn’t a pin. I didn’t think much of it until I was liquidating it at a WM 15 minutes later and it asked for a pin number. I put in “1111” and was declined. Then I wised up slightly and tried the last 4 digits of the card and was approved. Is this standard when you aren’t given a pin?
2) For smaller denomination gift cards (thinking like the $50 publix deal or $200 no fee staples offer), is it totally fine to just make a small purchase and then get the maximum cash back (often $100)? I’m just thinking of worst case scenarios in case I ever have problems getting a MO.
1) PIN is the last 4 digits on the vast majority of a Visa Gift cards (and yes, it always is on these cards).
2) Can’t do cash back. It won’t work. If it did, that’s what people would be doing.
Ah. Thanks for answering my newbie questions!
[…] up on the offer, mainly due to the potential hassle this might introduce. Meeting the $2,000 spend shouldn’t be difficult, but my wife is currently under 5/24 (I know, shameful yet awesome). If authorized user cards push […]
I’m very new to manufactured spending and somehow ended up here, so I apologize if this question is redundant, but would buying four of these (4 x $1,000) meet the minimum spend ($4,000) for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card?
The short answer: yes.
The longer answer: If you’ve never bought this kind of thing before, I may not recommend taking your brand new Sapphire Preferred to the mall and buying $4K in gift cards as your first purchase. I’d recommend perhaps buying one or two ($1,000 or $2,000) for your first purchase and make sure that you have ways to liquidate them in your area. In some areas, it is relatively easy to do, in other areas liquidation can be quite difficult. Give it a couple of weeks and some normal daily purchases on the card before you go back and buy a couple thousand more. As I said in the post, you don’t want to go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. You can certainly build that up over time and buy more, but it’s not a sprint to the finish line.
What’s the over/under on when the other issuers decide to squash this AMEX-style?
We don’t have a Simon Mall nearby. Can they be purchased online?
Also, is Capital One Spark Biz a useable card for this MS…I’ve got a big Min Spend to meet!
No. In person only.
But, I can buy the $500 card online that I could use for ms, just like the 1k one, correct? Just paying a little more?
False.
You can buy $1k cards. You just have to get a Simon volume account first & make 5 orders before being upgraded to the $1k cards
Not 1k but you can buy $500 cards online.
Yes, you can buy $1k cards. You just have to get a Simon volume account first & make 5 orders before being upgraded to the $1k cards
How do you get a Simon Volume Account?
Have a business, apply online, provide any info they request about your business. I was approved in less than 24 hours.
How do you do as sole prop
Any idea what the processing fees to the merchant is if processed as debit? Wondering if I can profitably self liquidate through my business.
That is not a good idea.
Why would anyone buy gift cards? This whole thread is ridiculous
To earn points.
Why spend on gift cards when you can buy what you need wi5 your credit card and earn the same points plus bonus categories. Just sounds ridiculous.
See my response to Anthony above. You are correct that this wouldn’t make any sense at all if the goal was just to buy what you need at the grocery store or pharmacy or whatever. The idea here is that you could spend much more than you would on “stuff” and (depending on the liquidation methods available to you) get most of that money back, thereby generating rewards at a very cheap cost. Some folks use opportunities like this to meet minimum spending requirements, others to earn large quantities of points very cheaply. Nobody buying $10K or $25K in Visa Gift cards in one shot is doing that in order to use them to buy cheerios and milk, because as you said that would be ridiculous.
@Ryan
May be you should learn more before making the ignorant comments?
As Nick said, most people would spend $3K to $5K in 90 days to buy what you do not currently need, just to be able to meet the minimum spend requirement to earn a sign up bonus on a new card.
That is just the starter.
I have a Simon Mall about 1 hour from me. What does it code as on various cards? Is it only good for meeting minimum spend or are there category bonuses? TIA.
Doesn’t code as anything special — no category bonuses.
That said, let’s say you were using the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Every $10K in cards costs you $39.50 in activation fees for 15,000+ Ultimate Rewards points. Add your liquidation cost, and that’s not a bad cost per point. If you have a CSR, those points get you $225 in travel through the Chase portal. If you’re able to do more volume, award tickets can have a pretty attractive cost. The Double Cash or Venture cards earn 2x everywhere. Even earning 1 Alaska mile per dollar means that the 50K necessary for business class to Asia would cost you about $200 in activation fees + liquidation costs. Depending on your use for the points, many different cards could make sense, not to mention cash back cards. Note that Amex awards 0 points for Simon purchases, so don’t use an Amex.
Caveats include that you don’t want to ramp up spend too quickly with any one issuer (shut down risk), you need to make sure you have multiple liquidation methods (you never know when one might die), bank account shut down risks, and you have to consider how much time cost there is between going to Simon, multiple liquidation stops, etc. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, but it can be a great deal if you start slow and do some research. Here’s another post you should read:
https://frequentmiler.com/mistakes-to-avoid-on-1k-simon-visa-gift-cards/
Nick, I understand that the purchase does not code as one of the common bonus categories. Yet it still codes as something. Do you know how does the transaction code on Visa and MC?
It codes as a General MISC Retail purchase. I have a BBVA Clearpoints which gets 3% Cashback on Retail Purchases and this qualifies.
Thanks. Most informative post on this thread. The minimum I get on any spend is 2.625 and using a variety of cards I get 5 percent on well over 50 percent of my spend so this would not work for anything for me. I
was a MSer from years ago when MS was real. (Think Old Blue and vanilla reloads, red bird, blue bird etc etc) Now it’s basically means running around from mall to mall to make yourself feel like your getting a deal.
MS is basically dead. Sign up bonuses are okay to get 200 to 500 once in a while but the real deal is gone.
We just updated the post: Simon sent word that these are being extended indefinitely.
Excellent, thanks.
Great. Can you please ask them to introduce $10K cards? 🙂 This is a great method to pay my quarterly taxes but the two card limit limits the velocity.
Haha. How quickly we become greedy :-D.
Any word on whether this is to be extended into 2020? Thanks.
Same question here
I haven’t heard. I did reach out to our contact several days ago and I haven’t heard back — whether that’s because it is a holiday week or because they are waiting to make an announcement is anyone’s guess. At least I didn’t get an immediate response confirming that they plan to end it on 12/31 — I’ll take some encouragement there, but I have no further information yet.
so in the end what CC would you recommend using to by Simon CC
No Amex cards since Amex doesn’t pay out points on Simon GC purchases.
Since this won’t trigger a category bonus, you’re looking for the card with the best everyday rewards or one on which you’re working on a big spend bonus or new account bonus.
Some cards you should consider would be the best cards for everyday spend:
https://frequentmiler.com/best-everywhere-else-rewards-cards/
Simon could also be an easy way to hit the non-Amex big spend bonuses:
https://frequentmiler.com/best-big-spend-bonuses/
do you know if you can use the Capital One Sparks card to buy the Simon Mall gc
Yes, I’ve used the Cap 1 Spark Cash multiple times and have earned rewards
Did you use it at Simon to get the signup bonus at all?
I met the majority of my min spend through a combination of Simon and GCM
Appreciate the DP. I’m just nervous about doing minimum spend on Spark at Simon or GCM. I guess CapOne is not as strict about it as Amex. Thanks!
I did the entire $10K on a Spark Cash (for a targeted $1K bonus) on Simon GCs last year. YMMV of course — no guarantee that they won’t shut you down and some people indeed have been shut down, but I’ve been pretty lucky with it. Done plenty on Venture and Spark Cash this year.
Thanks. Wish you further luck. I have been shut down, because of Venture. At least I got the initial $500 bonus on Spark before they shut down all of the accounts.
How much were you putting on it?
YesssH!
[…] [EXTENDED to 10/31!] $1K Visa Gift Cards w/ $3.95 fee at Simon next week (Expires 10/31/19) […]
[…] became the main “everywhere else” card in my wallet. Additionally, when Simon Malls began selling $1,000 Visa Gift Cards with an activation fee of $3.95 in July, this became one of the main cards we used to purchase gift […]
Hey there!
Thanks for making this post- it’s been really helpful! I have a friend who works at the Simon Mall which is how I first heard about MSing. Basically though my parents (who also just started doing this in FL, I’m in MN) and I are running into an issue that I’m wondering if others have as well? One Walmart in particular that is right near the mall I go to to get the GF’s has told me that because the card states “giftcard” on it, that it is against policy to allow me to use it as payment and told me I needed to leave. That same day I tried 3 other Walmarts and hadn’t had any issue at all. My parents had an issue at 1 location and not the other. Now, we both called Walmart cooperate for some clarification, stating it was a prepaid debit card with a pin number and wanted to hear what they had to say. I’ve talked to two different people and was told 2 different things.. The first rep said per policy any gift card is not allowed, even prepaid one’s with a pin number. The second rep said it was okay since it was a debit card with a pin number. My parents rep said it was also okay, but they did not specify to the rep that it had “giftcard” on it.
I’d like to avoid going back to this Walmart but for time and gas $$ it’s the closest to the mall/ not out of my way and I’m just wondering if there’s a way to get around the fact that it SAYS gift card on it? It would seem that as long as they don’t know it says giftcard on it, you’re okay, but if they know then they automatically deny or don’t know this policy? I was also told that MoneyGram was the policy writer for this, but haven’t been able to call them. Just looking for some ideas on if you’ve gone back to a Walmart that’s originally denied you or if you’ve had a similar experience? Thanks!!
Unfortunately, you’re going to run into that from time to time. Calling the corporate number isn’t going to do you any good. Some stores are an absolute no-go with gift cards, some stores don’t seem to care. In some places, it’ll vary by cashier (one will ask to see the cards and not allow payment by gift card, another won’t care). In others, everyone has been told not to accept gift cards. Again, this isn’t a fight you’re going to “win”. Your best course of action is to say, “OK, thanks” and come back at another time of day and/or day of the week to try again, accepting that it is inevitable that some locations will be a hard no. This is why we recommend starting slow and testing what works in your area. In the area where I do most of my liquidation, I know there is one store where all of the cashiers ask to see the card and always say no and there is another store where one guy asks to see them but nobody else does. There are then 4 or 5 more stores where nobody ever asks. I even went to a store once where the cashier asked to see the card and upon seeing it said, “OK, those are the ones that work. You’re good.” This is the epitome of YMMV.
Again, calling Walmart corporate or Moneygram isn’t going to do you any good. This is just part of how MSing works — you have to hunt around to figure out what works where. If it were as easy as making a couple of calls to make your store MS-friendly, thousands of people would have already done that. Keep in mind that Walmart isn’t the only place to get a money order — try grocery stores or other places where you see a money order sign. Make a test purchase to see what works and what the fee is, etc. It does take some time and effort, especially if you’re going to liquidate large volume. That said, I find the rewards to be well worth the trouble. Again, YMMV.
You’re in an area that’s saturated by high volume MSers. MSers that are a lot more well versed in etiquette than you are. You need to keep a much lower profile. Otherwise, you should go back to Washington state where you came from. Can’t believe people like you are being paid to move here. You’ve been warned and welcome wagoned! Welcome to the South…where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.
FYI that Walmart has been bad for 4-5 years now. Locals know that.
I have only used them at WM three times, all in the last two months, and all happened to be with the same duo behind the desk. I split transactions and made no attempt to hide they were gift cards and they didn’t care. I could go back a 4th time and be shot down and I’d just feign ignorance and move on. There are plenty of other places in your area to liquidate. Calling corporate or attempting to argue with the local employee/manager accomplishes nothing positive.
As Nick said the only way to “get around this” is to try at a different time/day. You might find out this is something the store’s managers are passionate about and mandates that every card is inspected prior to allowing MO to be purchased with debit cards. In that case you probably should not keep trying there. If it is just one or two employees that care don’t try buying when they are working the desk.
Haven’t seen much discussion on this… why isn’t Plastiq processing these $1k cards as a debit card?
It’s been a while since Plastiq has processed gift cards as debit cards. They’re usually treated as credit cards now. Every now and then someone finds a particular gift card type that still works as debit, but that’s rare.
Really? I guess I just got super unlucky, cuz when I tried a Simon GC and saw it processed as credit, I tried the first other GC I had and it processed as debit, so just assumed it was a problem with Simon rather than a rarity on the other card.
I’m using SM $1K VCG’s to reach 15K points on my recently upgraded Hyatt CC to get the free night. When does that type of certificate expire? I need to time my spend completion accordingly.
[…] year spend: get 25x on IHG spend plus 4x “everywhere else” for the first year. With the current Simon Mall $1K Visa Gift Card promo now extended to October 31st, a couple of readers have asked whether they should consider this card to earn 4x […]
That’s a lot of exclamation points.
All for you!
Hi. I spoke to the mall just now. They told me that if I buy a $1000 visa gift card then they’re going to require me to fill in a form for the government. They couldn’t explain what this form is for and all they said is that they’re required to ask me to fill it for that it’s a large amount and it’s per federal regulations. Does anyone know more on this? Is that required? What is this form about? Thank you!
Yes, you have to fill out the form. Read more about it here:
https://frequentmiler.com/simon-mall-gift-card-limit-now-25k/
Thank you very much Nick! appreciated.
1. Do Simon Malls take Discover?
2. Does Discover pay out cash back on GC?
3. How MS friendly is Discover?
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Very
[…] [EXTENDED to 8/31!] $1K Visa Gift Cards w/ $3.95 fee at Simon next week (Expires 8/31/19) […]
[…] case you missed it: The ability to buy $1,000 Visa gift cards at Simon Malls has been extended to 8/31/19. Usually gift cards are capped at $500 […]
[…] said, it might be a worthwhile gamble in the short-term if you’re able to meet the spend (and I have some ideas as to how you could) and take advantage of Mileage Bargains while you […]
[…] case you missed it: The ability to buy $1,000 Visa gift cards at Simon Malls has been extended to 8/31/19. Usually gift cards are capped at $500 […]
I realize that AMEX is no longer paying out regular points for Simon GC purchases. For my Delta Reserve, it sucks losing those extra SkyMiles. But I mostly use my Delta Reserve for meeting the spend thresholds (up to $60K) to obtain the extra MQMs (30K) for maintaining elite status. Will the Simon GC purchases still count on my Delta Reserve for meeting the $60K spend requirement for obtaining bonus MQMs?
Sadly, no
[…] [EXTENDED to 8/31!] $1K Visa Gift Cards w/ $3.95 fee at Simon next week […]
I called both the Simon malls near me in DFW area and they said the promotion ends Aug 4. Is this really nationwide or local to your area?
This came to Frequent Miler direct from Simon corporate. Possible that whomever you spoke with just hasn’t been told yet by their marketing director. It’s nationwide.
I got a call back from one of the malls confirming that the deal has been extended.
[…] linked in the previous paragraph). If you’re driving, add a side trip to Woodbury Commons to recoup some points. Pro tip: ask for a table near the kitchen in The Bocuse if possible when you reserve. The entire […]
Can the card only be used in Simon Mall stores or can they be used anywhere?
These are Visa gift cards. They work anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.
Can you use Venmo instead of MO
No, I don’t believe Venmo will run the charge as debit. At the risk of hijacking this with confusing information, I’ll say that Venmo used to work with Amex GCs oddly enough (even though Amex GCs don’t have PINs), but then they limited you to loading 8 card numbers in 6 months and Amex GCs stopped working as debit there and I believe people got their Venmo accounts locked / shut down. The answer to your next question is no, I don’t know of anywhere else that Amex GCs would run as debit.
I can confirm Venmo works. It does recognize it as a debit card, so no fees. Might be handy for an odd card or two here and there, but you can’t really make use of this at scale due to Venmo time/quantity restrictions on how many new cards you can add to your acct. So, limited usefulness.
Does anyone know if SM takes Apple Pay to purchase the gift card?
Doubtful. They certainly didn’t used to. Further, they’ve made it clear that you should only use your own credit card (with your name on it), which would be harder for them to verify that way.
If you’re thinking Altitude Reserve, I’d advise caution there. They did shut people down in the beginning for buying GCs pretty quickly. I have no idea whether that was just to send a message or they’ve continued to do it, but I think most with that card don’t want to kill the golden goose and as such don’t push it. To each their own in terms of risk tolerance, but I figured it was worth a mention.
Being able to earn 3x (4.5% cashback) on nearly all of my spending overseas where Apple Pay is accepted (which is just about everywhere on Europe and Canada) I certainly don’t want to kill the golden goose. Hope others would exercise the restraint too even if 3x earning is possible at SM.
[…] 8/1/19: Frequentmiler reports this has been extended through August 31. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a […]
Unfortunately, the Simon Outlet Mall near us didn’t get the $1000 cards.
They are the exact same blanks as the 500s. If they sell gcs, they can sell $1Ks.
[…] $1K Visa Gift Cards w/ $3.95 fee at Simon next week (Expires 8/4/19) […]
Hey Nick, I went to the MIM, FL mall and I was told they only sell these to people with corporate accounts or businesses. The guy said he couldn’t sell to the general public. Is there a link to the simon mall offer somewhere I can show him? I would appreciate it. Thanks.
I reached out to corporate today and they are reaching out to the mall. You should be able to try again in a day or two. All malls should be honoring this for Manufactured Spenders. There is no website, but as I said I sent it on to our point person at corporate who in turn is getting in touch with the mall — I assume you mean Miami International Mall, correct?
Yes, that’s the one. You’re the man!
I also emailed you at the address you used when entering your screen name to comment — just mentioning it in case you didn’t see it.
I’m kind of glad Amex is out of the game actually. As heavily invested as I am with them, there’s no need to worry about FR or even shutdown. Since there are many people MSing now, I suspect there will be a spike in CC spend next week across the board, more than just a “blip”, enough to draw attention with likely adjustments by some CC issuers. I’m not planning on using any CC that I deeply care about for this gig.
As someone said, “It will be fun” until more issuers like Amex no longer pay out for Simon. Citi has already blocked some Simon Malls.
Is there any reason people drive a long distance to pick these up when the website will ship them for $.89 for 4 $500 gift cards? Obviously I don’t know if the 1k will be available online but if so it saves me over an hour drive each way. Am I missing something here?
Guaranteed getting them, having them instantly, one swipe for MOs vs 2 for a 999.12, only available in store
+ volume. $10K / day in mall. $25K / day if you get established at your mall.
I’ve read some stuff online about how to MS, but it all seems vague or incomplete. Is there some kind of bible to this that I can check out? I plan on only doing a few thousand every few months, at most, but I’m curious about how people accomplish 10k+/month. I really want to understand it all.
Thanks guys, I don’t know that I will be using them for volume, more to hit min spend– getting harder here in the NE to liquidate though I still have 2 Bluebirds alive and can do limited MO’s.
And wouldn’t four $500 gift cards have higher purchase fees than two $1000 cards
Haven’t done any MS since a little bit of redbird. So essentially going with the GC/MO nets you roughly $20 for each 1k GC per stop at a Walmart and subsequent deposit? Still seems like a lot of work, compared to some of the older loop holes.
Paying taxes ought to work well with $1000 GCs, as long as OfficalPayments accepts Simon Gift Cards.
And yes, that is exactly my question. Does anyone know if Official Payments, Pay USA Tax, and Pay 1040 accept Simon VGCs?
Here’s how I see this working:
1. I have a bonus spend promo on my Fidelity Elan 2% cashback card. Buying a bunch of Simon VGCs gets me most of the way to the promo level.
2. For each Simon VGC, cost is about $4. Add about $3 for paying estimated taxes with a debit card. So that is a cost of $7. On a 2% cashback card, you’re getting $20 cash, so you net a profit of $13 per $1000 VGC.
3. Max is 6 $1000 debit payments per quarter = $78 profit. I’m not getting rich, but this helps cover most of my other MS costs, leaves me a small profit, and helps me with the Elan spending promo.
One more question, if anyone knows. Are third quarter estimated tax payments allowed after Aug 1 or is it Aug 15?
I was able to use Simon Gas for the 3 federal tax payment processors last year, but I just tried a Simon GC for 2020, and Official Payments doesn’t seem to be taking it. I just registered the card today, so maybe that hasn’t been fully processed so I’ll try again tomorrow, but hopefully they work!
I’ve never really done any MS and have just recently gotten into the points game. I think I’m about to start doing it though because I’d like to apply for another credit card and I won’t be able spend enough for the bonus without buying gift cards. Let’s say I buy $3000 in gift cards at Simon malls and then want to liquidate it. Is it better to do 3 MO’s at Walmart (barely under $1000) or just do one $3000 one? If I do the former, should I go to three different Walmart’s?
Likewise, with my bank, does it generally look better to show up once with one $3000 money order, or 3 times with $1000 money orders?
Sorry for all the questions, but it’s tough figuring this out and I want to be really thorough and make sure I’m not doing something stupid.
Max denomination at Walmart is $1,000 and the maximum you can buy in a single day is $8,000. However, a purchase over $1,000 will require your ID and personal information.
If you’re just getting started, I would recommend buying a single money order for $999.12 your first time. With the fee, that’ll come to $1K even. Go back on another day to buy another. Rather than walking into a Walmart you’ve never been to and trying to buy $3K all at once, I’d spread it over three separate trips so you get used to the flow of how it works and the cashiers / policy at your local store. Some stores are more friendly than others, so starting smaller (rather than $3K at once) is advisable to test the waters.
As for the deposit, if you’re only going to do 3000, it probably doesn’t matter whether you do it at once or over three separate transactions. Keep in mind that some banks are more sensitive to money order deposits than others. I would never suggest depositing a money order in a bank where you have credit cards that you care about (I.e. never with Chase). Open a small local bank account if you don’t have one where it won’t matter if they close your account. Very unlikely your account would get closed over a single deposit or two, but better to be safe than sorry.
If you intend to do more, the thing you want to watch out for is structuring. That’s a crime. Structuring is when you intentionally make multiple deposits of less than $10,000 to try to avoid the bank from reporting the transactions. If you’re going to do large volume, you want to do large deposits all at once -don’t split the deposits. That does increase your risk of being shut down by the bank, which is again why I recommend ramping up slowly if you’re starting from zero. Again, if you’re talking about $3,000 a couple of times per year, you probably won’t have any problem here. If you’re thinking about that much or more a couple of times per month, that’s when you need to start thinking about making sure you’re depositing everything together at once.
Re: WM: I should have noted that many stores will limit you to 4 swipes, which limits you further than the $8K / day limit (which I believe is a rolling 24hr limit)
Thank you for the advice! A final 2 questions…
-Sounds good on the $999.12 in one visit. I live in an urban area with a number of WMs. Any problem with visiting 3 different ones in the same day and doing three $999.12 MOs? It could give me some insight as to which ones are friendlier than others too.
-I anonymously called my small local bank where I have checking and savings accounts and asked about MOs and they didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all. I don’t think I’ll end up doing anything more than purchasing a few $1000 gift cards a few times a year to meet bonuses. I can potentially wait a little bit between MO deposits if it helps (few weeks or a month or two). Let’s say I do four $3000 gift card purchases a year ($12000 total). Do you think it’s better to try to do 4 $3000 deposits every 3 months, or just do $1000 each month? Or something else? Sorry to be so specific. Like I said, I just want to be thorough and do what would be considered the furthest from anything illegal (structuring) as possible. Thank you!
I have bought MOs from 2 WMs in a day, no problem (although the money center at one is much more competent than the other). Another tip since you are new at this is after you buy, step to the side and put your name on the MO, and endorse it “For Deposit Only” with your signature. Tear off the receipt and keep separate from the MO. Opening accounts in small banks or CU are easy and some may have new account bonuses. I have 3 small bank accounts that I deposit 1k to 2k a month in each.
The amount to require DL includes FEE. Some stores even a $999 triggers ID needed before the cashier can proceed further.
The poster needs to read up A LOT more and test his own area stores if he wants to get in the game.
One thing does not hurt to keep reminding the new people is, MS is HIGHLY YMMV – depending on your locale and how individual stores in your locale behaves.
What works for others posted online may not work for your locale at all. What works at Store A in your locale may not work at Store B only a few miles away…
Nothing can substitute your own personal experiences in your own area.
The only advantage I see this is, it makes liquidation a little bit easier. Saving is not big a deal unless you are a heavy hitter.
Thanks for the feedback. Since we seem to both be miafll, do you have any advice on local places that are better than others?
One thing to note is that the $8k a day limit is only if they write down your license, or doing more than $1k at a time. If you get an incredibly friendly CSR you could do multiple $1k a day.
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Bank of America cards are not easy to MS, right? 2.625% is tempting…
I’m not sure why you say that.
I read elsewhere that BoA shuts down obvious frequent purchases at Simon Mall.
This is gonna be fun!
How does Simon code on your credit card? I’m trying to figure if it works out better to use my AX gold or Diners at a supermarket for a higher fee than whatever Simon is categorized.
No bonus category at Simon.
In our FM on the Air Facebook Live broadcast a few minutes ago, I talked about why I think this is better.
If you’re earning 4x at a US Supermarket, every $1,000 in GCs earns you 4,000 points at a cost of $12 in activation fees.
For the same $12 activation fee cost, you could buy $3,000 in these Simon GCs ($1,000 + $3.95 x 3). If you’re using a card that earns 1.5x, you’re picking up 4500 points for the same $12 in activation costs.
Additionally, you’re not limited to $25K/yr.
Notes:
1) Don’t use Amex at Simon as you won’t get any points at all.
2) I’m not suggesting that you should do Simon and not do the supermarket. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
3) If you’re earning fuel points at the supermarket, that can certainly tip the scales in that direction. But again, this isn’t capped at $25K per year (it’s capped at $25K *per day* if you’ve established yourself at your local mall and gotten the green light for big purchases). Again, not mutually exclusive.
Those are my thoughts anyway.
What about third party Amex cards (WF Propel etc)?
as you said they are third party, it should be OK.
Nick,
You say that a m e x doesn’t award points for gift card purchase, but will it still count towards spend requirement for initial bonus?
No. Don’t use Amex at Simon for GC purchases. No rewards, no qualifying spend, nothing with Amex.
Nick any intelligence on Barclays Arrival for MS?
Generally easy breezy. No BP. If you don’t know what that stands for, you probably don’t need to worry about it as you’re not doing it. I’d always recommend ramping up slowly rather than spiking it out of nowhere.
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