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Valid through December 31 2013:
Some, but not all AAA offices are offering Visa gift cards fee free. You must be a AAA member to qualify for this promotion. Readers have verified that you can set a PIN on these by calling in, and then they can be used at Walmart as debit cards. Call your local AAA office to see if they are running the offer.
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Should say “Tried loading at FD onto Amex Serve…
Just bought Qty 4 $500 VGCs at AAA in Atlanta. Tried loading $500 at Family Dollar onto server (where I successfully load other MetaBank VGCs) and it flagged a fraud alert. Tried using it for a regular purchase at another store same thing. I check the AAA gift card portal, and now it is reporting a $0 balance – I’m assuming that it is “locked” because of alert. Any suggestions on tracking down a solution appreciated!
Chances are that the money will revert back to the gift card in something like 3 to 5 business days.
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Dont have a membership any thoughts on how to get one cheap and fast?
Someone said that they were able to buy the cards without a membership. Might be worth a try if you’re willing to put up with the hassle (see HikerT’s comments above)
has anyone had problem with this being labeled as a cash advice, frozen debit cards or anything that hikerT mentioned above? I plan to go to AAA in the next couple days and meet a huge min spend with this method. Just wanted to know peoples experiences and thoughts.
Several recent reports of GCs frozen after purchase. See FT thread (link below). For sure do NOT give these as gifts. Recipient will probably be too embarrassed to tell you.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1517391-possible-ms-aaa-no-processing-fee-giftcards-nov-dec-15.html
Also, these do NOT post as CA (despite what AAA tells you). Haven’t seen a single report of this happening to anyone. But there are other reasons not to waste your time unless you are OK having the cards frozen and waiting for a check.
YMMV but I stopped by my local AAA office last night and they verified (by making 3 separate phone calls) that I didn’t have to be a member. I purchased $3k split up over 3 credit cards from my recent AOR. I then made an immediate stop at Walmart afterward to liquidate $1k of them, and the rest will be gone in the next 2 days. Thanks for the heads up!
any reason you used 3 seperate credit cards? need to meet a minimum spend with Amex, wondering if I can make a large purchase $3-5K no problem, let me know your thoughts. Also what state your located in? Spoke with a rep and said the deal is till the end of the month.
I’m in Michigan. I broke it up because I had to meet required signup bonus spends on a bunch of cards from my recent AOR, so I knocked out $1k on 3 of them. The max they can load to the cards is $500, so I had to get six total cards. I have no idea if your local AAA office will let you go that high in a single transaction, all you can do is ask.
any idea on how long this promotion will last? also I am not a AAA member but can I use my roommates membership?
I always appreciate HikerT’s condescending tone.
Ha, let me guess, DeltaPoints? 😀
Just trying to give people a heads up with what the real deal is. FM is usually pretty good with adding caveats. This deal has been out for a while and the cons are fairly well known. Some have even reported their GCs cards frozen by MetaBank. Read the FT thread. It’s not something I would encourage anyone to waste their time with. If you like pain and suffering though, I’d suggest one of the AA Citi checking offers. 😉
Seriously FM? People, do NOT waste your time. It takes FOREVER to buy these at AAA. They need to manually process 1 at a time and register the cards in your name. Then you will nee to call and set PIN for each card. AAA will pull out money laundering form after 2K or so. Metabank will shut you down after 5K or so. They give you enough paperwork to kill a tree or two. What will you save in the time you waste vs. buying in 5 minutes elsewhere with pre-set PIN? $50? How much is your time and sanity worth?
My local office said cash or debit card only
Just called my local office here in Texas. the guy said they are not allowed to sell GC’s at Texas branches, even though offices in other states do. Any other Texans having better luck than me?
Verified. No GCs in Texas.
I was able to purchase once with no problem, but many have reported that they have been denied repeat purchases.
From what I can tell, they are categorized as ASSOCIATIONS / ORGANIZATIONS. Haven’t ever seen bonuses for this type of purchase.
My AAA branch tells me these may be coded as cash advance. Thoughts?
2nd the comment about having to be a AAA member…