Update 6/3/14 at 8:00PM PST: Vanilla Reload Cards can no longer be purchased with credit cards at most stores, including CVS. Please read this post for more information.
When is the Best Time to Buy Vanilla Reload Cards?
The obvious answer is ALWAYS! But that is not the point of this post. If you have ever bought more than 1 Vanilla Reload Card (VRC) in your life, you may have faced a terrifying situation… the VRCs are out of stock. You may have said one of the following:
But this store has always had VRCs in the past. Where did they all go?
I have bought VRCs here for the last 1 week / 1 month / 1 year, why are they out of stock now?
Not to worry, there are two possible and likely situations. The first (and most likely) situation is that your store just sold out all their VRC inventory for the week/month and won’t get any more until the next shipment. If you are like me, CVS is your go to store for VRCs. There are a few stores in my area (SoCal) that usually have VRCs in stock. After talking to a few store managers in SoCal, they told me that CVS receives new shipments of goods (and VRCs) on Monday night and restock the shelves (and gift card racks) overnight, with new merchandise available on Tuesday morning.
To avoid driving around town checking out multiple CVS stores, I recommend that you call each store that you normally go to and ask if they have any VRCs in stock. I usually call first thing Tuesday morning. If they do not have any on Tuesday morning, call another CVS store. If none of the CVS stores have any VRCs on Tuesday morning, you are probably not going to find any all week. Your CVS store might have a different restocking period, so check with your store manager.
The second and less likely option is that Incomm Inc., the company that produces VRCs, is updating their card design with new merchants and is in the process of producing new VRCs. Based on my data (and photos), we are on at least version 4 of the VRC. To learn more, please read Version 4 of the Vanilla Reload Card. They update the design every 8-10 months it seems.
Remember, VRCs are sold at other places besides CVS, but many other places on the list below (especially Office Depot) only accept cash for VRCs. Depending on where you live in the US, you may have some of these retailers and convenient stores nearby. It is your job, no, it is your duty, to check out the local stores on this list and try to buy VRCs with a credit card. If one store says cash only, do not give up. Some stores have different policies regarding VRCs. For example, one store my be cash only, but the same store in a different location my take credit cards. If you discover a new store that accepts credit cards, please share it in the comments or email me privately.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
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I sometimes buy VA’s at CVS with my Chase Saphire or Freedom. But now with the United devaluation I am wondering what other, if any, card would really be worthwhile to use to buy VA’s at CVS. I am not really interested cash back… but maybe I should be? I think the only UM points that I really want to get going forward are from gift and Visa cards bought with my INK. And of course the Freedom 5X’s. Grant, what are your thoughts on this whole United/Chase situation. Steve (also a SoCal guy)
I personally have 80,000+ UA miles but always fly economy on United so the new award chart doesn’t effect me much. I think the best deal for UR points now are transfers to SWA. Being in SoCal, SWA can take you almost everywhere in the country.
As for credit cards at CVS, they are best used for hitting minimum spend requirements. After that, it is a slow, but steady road. What Chase cards do you currently have? Which ones do you want to get?
Where can we get cash back using the Vanilla money pack? Let’s say for example I want a $1000 off my card, where can I go to take that $1000 off?
Vanilla Money Pack or Vanilla Reload Card?
The Vanilla Money Pack
I have never bought a Vanilla Money Pack, but I think most stores only accept cash to purchase one. Sorry I can’t offer any more help.
While I once did transfer UR points to SWA, for me the best option is Hyatt as I use them in high cost places like Hawaii and NYC. I really like VX’s coach product from LAX to JFK and FLL.
To answer your question regarding Chase cards, my active cards are Sapphire, Ink Bold, Freedom and the IHG. I had SWA and cancelled a while ago. At some point I will reapply. I probably will eventually apply for the Hyatt.
Anyone have spots in SoCal that take AMEX for VR’s? Anyone???
Several stores in Orange County let you use credit cards.
I live in Arkansas and am traveling to SoCal (Flying into San Diego, staying in Dana Point). We live an hour from the the nearest CVS and get the cards when we can. Can you tell me any CVS that are easy to get to while I will be in the Dana Point area or anywhere in between? Thanks.
I haven’t been to Dana Point in years, so I’m not sure which CVS has VRCs. I think most would. If you drive up to Orange County, several CVS stores have VRCs.
Jason – If you drive north on the Pacific Coast Highway toward Laguna Beach, there is a CVS in a strip shopping center with an Alberstons that usually has VRC’s. It will be on your right hand side. Its across the street from the fancy Montage Resort. Also if you drive up Golden Lantern a little way, there is a CVS in a strip center, on the left hand side that also usually has them. Also up Crown Valley, again on your left hand side is another CVS where I have bought them. Good luck and enjoy SoCal. Steve
Thanks Steve.
Grant, can I use a gift card purchased at Office Depot with an Ink (5x) and use that GC and load a VR at cvs or maybe even Office Depot.
The best thing to do is load the gift card onto your Bluebird Card at a Walmart.
i have purchased a vanilla reload card with a visa debt gift card. i purchased a $500 with no problem. you will have to pay the $3.95 out of pocket seperate from the use of a gift card if you have a $500 or less amount on the card. bad thing about that is you will be paying for two activation fees instead of one.
Yes, ideally you would buy either a Vanilla Reload Card or a OneVanilla gift card, not both.
Can you reload my vanilla debit with one vanilla gift card
Yes probably but I haven’t used that card in most a year, so I’m not sure.
Grant, I’ve been using my 5% cash-back AMEX at Staples to buy VISA gift cards. I also get an additional 5% Staples credit onto my Staples rewards account. Then I’ve been taking the GCs and going to Walmart to load them onto my Bluebird account. But Walmart is far from me. And the GCs, which I can only buy in increments of $200 with a credit card, each have a $6.95 fee associated with them. After talking to Bluebird on the phone, I THINK I can go online to deposit those VISA GCs, which would save me the trip. Is that true?), but I’m still out the $6.95 per card.
FYI, office supply stores (Staples, Office Depot, Office Max), and CVS and Walgreens (not Walmart) are all close. And Vanilla’s $3.95 sounds better than $6.95. How much can I purchase, using a credit card, to buy Vanilla at CVS – I live in West Los Angeles? Is it worth saving the money that way, or am I better off with the 5% Staples Reward? I’m sure it’s simple math, but I can’t get my head around it.
Thanks.
Most CVS stores will only sell $1,000 of VRC, but some CVS stores will sell up to $5,000 per day. Bluebird doesn’t like when people you gift cars to load their Bluebird account online. Only debit cards will work.
the first time i purchased vanilla reload cards at CVS, i used my chase sapphire preferred and forgot to call the bank and let them know a big purchase was on its way. i purchased 4 $500 cards and the store clerk had to reverify the transaction by calling someone. later that night i got a call from chase asking if i had authorized the transaction. i suggest nothing over $1000 per day if you can help yourself, it keeps red flags from popping up all the time.
Agreed, I use 3 or 4 cards from different banks whenever I go to CVS.
I’ve done tons of purchases at CVS for VRs – up to $2000 for the cards, and I think it was only the first time we got checked. Since then it hasn’t been a problem. I dunno – could the credit limit be an issue there? When I’m CVS, I use our old AMEX Blue card that gets 5% cash back on drugstores, because the Chase doesn’t give you more than a point or two (I can’t remember which) on drug stores.
Credit limit and credit history plays a big role in whether or not you will have issues with a credit card.
Hi Grant! I have a question – I just got the Chase Sapphire Preferred and I need to hit the $3k minimum spend within 3 months. Can I just get multiple $500 VRC’s using my new CSP and transfer that to my BlueBird and then to my bank And pay off the CSP using the money from my Chase checking account ? I thought gift cards are not counted when bought using Chase Sapphire Preferred?
Appreciate your help :)
VRCs will count toward your $3,000 minimum spend. I would spread the purchases out over a few weeks.
Awesome!! So I can use CSP to get the VRC and then transfer to BB and back to Chase from there ! Should I call and have my Cash Advance limit lowered so it doesn’t get charged to Cash Advance ?
VRCs are never charged as a cash advance, so no need to worry about that.
Sweet! Another question – my fiancée has 45k UR points but she only has Chase Freedom, would the best way for her to use this be – transfer to Hyatt or British Airways Avios … Or can I have her transfer those points to my CSP UR account ? Appreciate your guidance as I’m new to the miles game :)
She might be able to transfer the points to your account but she can’t transfer them directly to Chase’s travel partners. She would need a CSP.
Came back from Office Depot with empty hands to find out VRs are cash only. Tough luck! Looks like there’s no other way to earn 5x with Ink…is there?
VRCs have been cash only at Office Depot since around July, you used to be able to buy them with a credit card. Those were the good ole days…
Do the banks catch on to what is happening? Also how do the banks make money on these transactions? If I buy m VRC with a Chase credit card- does Chase make money on this transaction?
So far, the banks don’t care. They make money on the swipe fee that the merchant pays and on any interest that the card user pays. If Chase gives you 504 UR points, it costs them so little, that they don’t care. Banks are very good at making money.
I agree with Grant that banks are very good at making money!!!! However, I don’t want to have any hassles with Chase so although I do a fair amount of manufactured spending with my Chase cards I also make an effort to put a little “non-manufactured” spending on each of my cards. You read a lot on Flytalk about guys going wild, but I just can’t go there.
Grant – Have a great and safe trip to Europe. I am about to leave for SNA to head off to FLL for a week, although I certainly hate to leave SoCal the way our weather has been.
Thanks Steve, other than SoCal being on fire, it has been great lately. Have a good time in FLL. For MS, just spread everything out on multiple cards from multiple banks. Start small and slowly ramp up spending.
Hello Grant….I am in the south SF area since a week ago on business trip. I can’t seem to find any gas stations that sell vanilla cards. Just wanted to check if this is normal or if I to check somewhere else.
In mid-west, we use to have store like gas stations. here I just see a mechanic shop and a small ‘snack-shop’. Any advice? Thanks.
I haven’t looked very hard for gas stations for my freedom card. Too many gas stations around. You have until March 31 to spend $1500, so no rush.
Ok the banks make their wipe fee on the Vanilla Reload cards and the Vanilla Reload folks make their $3.95 fee but I don’t see how the vendor (Say CVS) makes any money on the sale of these cards?????
I’m not sure what the numbers are, but I’m sure CVS makes money. Why would they sell something that lost them money?
Yes logic dictates that CVS should be making money on the sale of these cards but the only fee involved is the $3.95. Now Vanilla , CVS and Chase all have to make some money on this sale so are the three of them splitting the $3.95 fee? How else?
Great question, unfortunately I’m not sure how their relationship works.
Just went to 3 CVSs and they are all out of VRC. Manager I talked to in one of them said VRC is being discontinued and they are changing the way they load VRC. They can now load directly to Bluebird using your credit card. Have you heard anything about this? Any truth to this?
I haven’t heard anything like that. I know you can load Serve that way, but I haven’t heard anything like that for VRCs.
Thanks Grant. No one has posted anything about this too. I’m hoping the manager is just wrong and they’re just out of VRC at the moment. BTW, thank you for all the knowledge you are sharing with us.
Glad to help. It is best if you call me for driving over.
You’re welcome. It is best if you call the store and ask if they have any VRCs in stock before you drive over.
Grant thank you so much for your tutorials on all this stuff. I was at my local CVS today and this was the only type of vanilla card they had (about 15 of them on the display).
Could I just keep getting these or do I need the refill cards specifically to load on bluebird.
You could keep buying those gift cards but they cost more than VRCs and you can only load them onto your Bluebird Card at Walmart. VRCs are much easier and cheaper.
Thank you Sir. I will keep an eye out for the refill cards, the ones I found were out in the gift cards section. Waiting for my new Citi AA card to come in the mail then I need to kick my searching into high gear.
Call around to your local CVS stores before driving around. Make sure they know what VRC is too.
Grant I just wanted to thank you again! Got my card Saturday…first CVS I went to, they only had one VRC on the floor. I asked if they had anymore behind the counter and she said how many do you want? I said how many will you sell me, she pulls out a sealed pack and says well the most I can sell you right now is 10. Done thank you very much!
Glad I could help Mike! I’ve never bought more than 3 at a time. CVS doesn’t trust us 24 year olds, I don’t know why…
I have no luck on VRCs. CVS has them but says cash only. So are Walgreens & 7Eleven. Is there an alternative if we cannot the VRCs?
Yes, I am working on that post soon. But if you go to CVS or Walgreens, try to buy the One Vanilla prepaid cards that have the $4.95 fee. You do not need to set a PIN, just go over to Walmart, slide the gift card and enter any 4 digit PIN.
@Grant – I bought the One Vanilla Prepaid Visa Card (Debit) that had the $4.95 fee. I tried to load funds online into my BB account but didn’t work. Is that why you suggested that I go to Walmart and load funds there?
Also – I bought a $100 Walmart GC and tried loading funds into BB at Walmart. It didn’t work. Is that a viable option at all?
Bluebird will only let you use a real debit card to load funds online. I use my PayPal business debit card to load my Bluebird Card online because it earns cash back for me. You will need to take the One Vanilla card to Walmart to load your Bluebird Card. That Walmart gift card cannot be used to load to Bluebird.
Just went to a CVS in MN and was told cash only for Vanilla reloads due to corporate policy change. I had doubts so I went to another location and bought two with a card and they didn’t say a word. Either way, first store had me a little concerned… Anyone else hearing this or is it just one isolated story?
This happens everywhere across the country. One CVS store will have no VRCs, but the one down the street will have 50. Likewise, one will say cash only and $1,000 per limit, while the other store might say, you can buy 10 a day and use a credit card. Don’t believe everything people (mainly CVS employees and managers) tell you. Just say thank you and quietly go to the other store.
Well said! I think I just have one guy at my local store that likes to pretend he’s in charge. I’ll just avoid him and that store and happily buy them 3 miles away at the next closest store and smile all the way!
I could literally walk to 3 stores, that is how close they are to me. I never tire of hearing about “all the new rules from corporate”. I think corporate is the name of his imaginary best friend.
Grant – I went to Walmart today with my VISA Gift Card Debit Cards in hand and they said that Bluebird is no longer accepting them to reload Bluebird cards: It’s cash or bank card only. What do you know about this? Also, concerning Vanilla Reloads at CVS, can you “buy” a card for a small fee even if you don’t load it up with money there and then?
I don’t understand your second question, can you try rephrasing it?
As for Bluebird reloads at Walmart, that is their “official” policy. Tell them it is a debit card with a PIN, as long as the reload works, they won’t question it. Try going to a cashier and loading the card, they can help you if the customer service center won’t.
The Walmart person at the Money Center was well aware of the situation and said that Bluebird has just stopped taking them and they’re trying to find out why as well. This is the place I always go to. You think she was just mistaken?
As for the second question, it was based on an earlier comment in this thread: “Likewise, one will say cash only and $1,000 per limit, while the other store might say, you can buy 10 a day and use a credit card.” Why would you need 10 a day? Is this strategy to spend a LOT of money on VRs and load them into Bluebird week by week?
I am going to Walmart tomorrow to load my Bluebird Card. If you do not hear from me, assume the reload went as usual without problems.
For some people who are extremely into manufactured spending, they would rather go to CVS 1 day and buy 10 cards to max out their Bluebird reload limit for the month. I prefer to make more frequent, smaller trips (2 VRCs at a time), drawing less attention to myself.
Hey Grant, I’ve been reading up on a lot of your posts – great stuff. This is a whole new world to me so I naturally I have a lot of questions. I want to meet the 10K spending requirement in 3 months for my Citi AA card and I saw in another post somewhere about general rules of thumb regarding how to spread out the VRC purchases.
I was able to buy a VRC with my Citi card but I only bought one and loaded $500 to my Bluebird with no problems. Would you recommend doing just $1000 per month on the Citi card buying VRCs? Or could you go higher? I met my spending requirements for my Southwest cards already, but would you recommend charging $1000 to each of these cards to load to Bluebird?
You can load up to $5,000/month to Bluebird, so you could buy that much in VRCs. It would throw in some regular spend as well so Citi doesn’t see $10,000 of purchases at CVS.
As far as MS goes, is there any objective data on what will definitely get a flag on one’s account, or is it luck of the draw? For example, I made two identical $2500 purchases on the same day at CVS but they are peppered into regular spend (using the card for all purchases to be safe). I can’t imagine it would draw attention, but I wonder what would trigger a shutdown.
Also, while I’m at it, are there any simple rules of thumb to keep Bluebird from being closed? I did a small debit card load on top of VRCs (out of minor paranoia) and ordered checks to send out, but I’m mostly concerned about repeatedly loading and emptying the account.
Small loads and unloads should be fine. I wouldn’t do any bill payments > $2,000 at a time. Wait a few days after loading BB before you movie the funds.
Hello Grant, I just got the Chase Sapphire and have the promo running for 3 months/$3,000 for 40,000 bonus miles. I called Chase and had them lower my cash amount allowance on my card to $0 to avoid any cash advance charges (which don’t apply to your $3,000 anyway). I heard in other peoples blogs that this was an issue at one point and some of these reloads were being processed by Chase as cash advances and racking up serious charges/fees. Do you know anything about this? Also, there are two different types of vanilla reload cards, right? One you buy that you reload on bluebird (or similar) and the one that is a card in itself and you buy and use as is. I want to go with the one that is reloaded electronically, right? Also, if I wanted to buy two $500 vanilla reloads for my bluebird, could I simply go to the approved atm for bluebird customers and withdrawal the money without any problems… putting it back to my CSP card if I wanted to? I am new to bluebird as of yesterday and am still waiting for my card in the mail. I just received the CSP card yesterday as well. I had the Delta SkyMiles Gold card that I have been working on, but now that I have two rewards cards going with the clock ticking on both, this vanilla reload thing seems like my ONLY way to get my sign in bonus. I want to make sure I understand everything clearly and do things right. Really appreciate your posts and sharing the knowledge. I am in SoCal (SD) and am hoping that finding a location that will take credit cards for the vanilla reload will not be a hard task.
Welcome to the wild and crazy world of miles and points. Your best bet for buying VRCs is at CVS stores. Most let you buy them with credit cards. Make sure to buy VRCs, not One Vanilla gift cards. Check out all the posts in my VRC / Bluebird tab, it should answer most of your questions. Just load the VRCs onto your Bluebird card and do a bill payment to your Chase Sapphire Preferred. just repeat that a few times, throw in some actual charges, and you will be good to go. Pretty simple. Most people in the miles/points game spend more than $3,000 in a month, so it should be easy for you to get the sign up bonus.
You’re awesome! Sounds very simple! Once that BB card comes in the mail it’s on! One last question… can I buy VRC’s and hold them for loading to BB until I get my card? Only reason I ask is if the VRC’s are so hard to catch in stock I may want to buy and load as soon as possible… but BB won’t let you load anything until you activate your card.
Yes you can buy and hold on to them.
I can still buy vrc at cvs, but to mix it up i would like to buy a few visa gift cards at other stores so my city statement is not all high priced cvs charges. But so far here, in n. calif ,all types of stores in many different areas, all say cash only!! I have tried grocery,office,7-11,dollar,ect… but no luck.where are people able to buy these? I have 100% failure on visa and vrc purchases without cash with the exception of cvs. Any store names to try?
I bought a Visa GC at my local Ralphs grocery store this morning with a credit card. I’m surprised you are having such a hard time finding stores that will let you buy with a credit card.
Just to clear some things up for you guys who use these cards. There are two different vanilla network reload cards available at stores.
One does not have a scratch off number on the back and you must bring your vanilla card to the store to put money on it right there.
The other has a scratch off number on the back. You put money on this card at the store and then you take it home and go to the vanilla reload website and scratch off the number and put the money on your card from home.
Vanilla Reload Cards = good.
Every other gift card = bad.
Hey I recently got a Delta Sky miles Amex – t&c states that “reloads and cash equivalent purchases are not eligible for points”. Other “points – rewards” blogs (most with comments from last year) have mentioned that users who purchased VR with their amex haven’t experienced any issues with points not counting. Any knowledge regarding this issue?
Good morning Marcus, I would assume every credit card has that statement in the Terms and Conditions, but all cards will earn miles/points for gift card purchases. The credit card companies do not enforce the rule.
At CVS, do you get anything by providing the ExtraCare card when buying Vanilla Reloads? Or, should I just not bother with it?
I don’t think it does anything, you don’t earn points on gift card purchases.
Can you still buy VCR card in CVSusing credit card? I amin 19446, and the purcharse was automaticly denied by the machine. The staff said currently, all prepaid card had to be bought using cash.
Unfortunately all VRC purchases at CVS are cash only. This policy went into effect on Friday April 4.
Oddly enough pretty much 3 walmart in my location their kiosk are out of order all the time. Can’t load my BB. Thinking of using green dot cards. What are your tips Grant?
Forget about Walmart ATMs and just go to the customer service center or any register. They can all load your Bluebird Card.
as of 5/29 I tried both my bb and gobank , they’re not accepting at customer service nor the kiosk here in Houston, Tx anybody else??
That would be really bad news, let’s hope that sin’t the case. I don’t have any outstanding gift cards, so I will have to hear what other people are experiencing.
Can you either point me to an old post or walk me through what exactly we need to do to load BB at WM?
I have a whole section about Bluebird Cards, you can find everything you need here: http://travelwithgrant.com/bluebird/
Can you get cash back from a vrc??
Probably not any more.
Do you have a section on Serve cards, or is the info for Bluebird similar enough that I can just read through that? Also, went to my local Walmart today and didn’t see any VRCs, MyVanilla cards, or One Vanilla cards. I might check a family dollar thats close by next.
Ha, guess I should have looked at the top of the site first. I see you have a whole Serve section.
Haha, I’m glad you found it. That should answer almost all of your questions. Let me know if you have any other questions.