UPDATE 6/20/14: Do not use OVGCs or VGCs at Walmart. Use other gift cards from other banks.
No Vanilla Reload Cards? No Problem! One Vanilla Gift Cards to the Rescue
I don’t know about you, but my local CVS store(s) are getting a bit low on Valentine’s Day chocolate Vanilla Reload Cards. Instead of walking out empty handed, take a look at the One Vanilla Gift Cards.
They have a slightly higher activation fee ($4.95 instead of $3.95), but they are a great Vanilla Reload Card alternative/replacement.
The great thing about this gift card is you can load it onto your Bluebird Card at Walmart (link) and you DO NOT need to register a PIN before using it. Yes, you read that correctly, all you do is swipe the gift card and enter any 4 digits you like (I like 1234 or 1127 (for my birthday)), but you may like another set of 4 digit numbers. It really is as simple as it sounds. Plus, I’ve seen literally 100 One Vanilla gift cards at every CVS store I have ever been to. You should be able to buy these cards at CVS or any grocery store, gas station, or other store.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
I love the convenience of One Vanilla cards. It seems like you can also use them for money orders or Walmart Bill Pay if you want to. What has especially intrigued me about One Vanilla cards is that they tend to be sold at 7-11, and possibly some grocery stores such as Lucky Supermarket (Ralph’s maybe?). In Alabama, these One Vanilla cards are on the rack at Kangaroo Express convenience stores at Marathon gas stations. Have you had any luck buying One Vanilla cards at a gas station or a grocery store? If you haven’t tried, I encourage you to try it.
I have a Chase Freedom card and I have been looking at my local gas stations for good gift cards, but haven’t found anything worthwhile to buy yet. I will keep looking. I am sure they have these at grocery stores, but I don’t know which ones. Lots of places to look: Pavilions (Vons), Ralphs, Albertsons, Walgreens, etc?
Hi Grant, when I am about to pay my Citi Executive AAdvantage Mastercard via Bluebird bill pay and I choose “add a payee” and typed “citi” then click “search”, it shows me “CITI CARDS” and “CITIBANK CREDIT CARD”. This is confusing, which one should I choose to pay for my Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard? Thanks in advance.
I think they are the same thing, but I have always used CITIBANK CREDIT CARD. Do a small $1 test before sending $10,000, just to make sure it shows up in your account.
I’ve been buying these to max out BB at my local gas station with Ink and Amex Gold. Easy 10K points per month.
What gas station chain do you go to?
Can you get a PIN online or by telephone with those cards? That would convert them into debit cards to buy money orders at Walmart.
You don’t have to call or go online before using it. Just slide the card and enter any 4 digit number. Should work everywhere debit cards work except ATMs.
Do they charge a fee for using them?
No fee other than the $4.95 activation fee.
Is this the Musician, Jerry Mandel? Hello from Stu.
Not a musician and wish I was related to Howie Mandel’s bank account.
Thanks Grant. It works for me. I bought one last night from CVS (they didn’t have the VRCs), I loaded them at WM and it worked. VRCs allow us to do it online but the OneVanillas don’t. We gotta go to WM to load funds, which is fine.
Yes, works for me since there is a CVS across the street from my Walmart.
Hi Grant, do you have to go to WM to use this, or can you use this online just like VRCs?
You have to go to Walmart in person.
You guys getting 3% back at gas stations or just 2%? If 3% which card do you use?
Other questions: Anyone able to find these at office supply stores?
Are there some places that will only accept cash for these One Vanillas? or has everyone been successful anywhere using a credit card for purchase?
Yes, credit cards at CVS always work for me.
Great post Grant! I’ve been ignoring these cards for months. Although I’ve had decent success finding VRs at CVS, I haven’t found gas stations where I could max out my Freedom bonus. Hopefully, the OneVanillas will do the trick. If I found any, I’ll let you know!
The only gift cards I can find at gas stations are $25 Amazon gift cards, boo :(
@JakePB
@Grant
I have been finding OneVanilla success at a local 7/11. I am using my Chase Freedoms this quarter to maximize the bonus.
Thanks Charles, I will stop by a 7/11, I think I know where one is. Will report back on success/failure. Off to CVS and Walmart this morning.
Thanks Charles! My local 7/11s haven’t been letting me purchase via credit (SoCal). I’m hoping for success while in Denver a couple of days.
So Grant, when you loaded the 4 Vanillas to your 2 bluebirds, did you ask the WMMC to load $1000 and split the transaction? Or did you ask them to load $500 twice? I always feel funny when I ask them to load it twice….
Also, the Staples $200 VISA GC are just as easy to use. The default PIN is the last 4 digits of the account number.
I always say $500 reload. Then I say can I do one more $500 reload. I go early in the morning when they are not busy and there are no other customers waiting behind me.
Hi Grant,
What is the difference in purchasing One Vanillas when CVS also carries $500 Visa GCs. I purchase Visa GCs when my local CVS is out of VRs?
Thanks,
Jose (@andradeteach)
One Vanilla cards are easier to load onto Bluebird since you don’t need to set a PIN ahead of time.
Success using Freedom at 711 Aurora Colorado. I’m really very pleased to have met that quarterly bonus. Thanks again Grant, it’s days like today that make this miles and points game fun. First class international travel is good too!
I am the worst travel blogger. I haven’t spent a $1 to this quarter’s Freedom bonus categories.
Grant – are you still having success (loading these onto BB) at the Walmart at Foothill Ranch?
Yes, that’s the only Walmart I go to these days. Never had a problem loading the One Vanilla gift cards to my Bluebird card.
I’ve had problems there. I may muster up the energy to give it another crack soon.
I go early in the morning around 7:40am and they are always happy to see me.
Just FYI – I was able to buy the OneVanilla card at my local Walgreens with a credit card yesterday. Saves me a trip to CVS.
That’s good to know. Haven’t been to my local Walgreens in months. I’m loyal to CVS.
Walmart shut me down today. Said I couldn’t load BB with any card without my name on it
That’s a bummer. Try going at a different time, to a different cashier, or to a different Walmart.
Same here. Today Walmart refused to load BB unless the debit card has my name on it. Had no problem last week. Not sure if this is their new policy.
I got a $200 Visa from Staples today. Will try to load onto my Bluebird Card Monday morning.
One Vanillas are not gift cards. They are debit cards and I just use the last four digits on each card as a PIN to buy money orders at Walmart to deposit into my bank.
I love One Vanilla cards. They are #1 (behind VRC) in my book.
For locations, onevanilla.com Some 7-11 franchises don’t accept credit cards. Bummer.
Advice: 7-11 computers are too flaky. Even if they let you charge one $504.95 One Vanilla card, they might not let you charge any more. I use CVS. Always buy money orders. If you try to use your loaded One Vanilla debit card directly in your bank or credit union, it will be charged as a cash advance. Boooooo!.
My question is that if OneVC is a debit card, can you just loaded into the BlueBird card directly?? or is the $100 dollar reload/day and $1000 reload/month restriction makes it not worth while.
You would have to go to Walmart to load the OneVanilla gift card to your Bluebird Card.
I still don’t understand wasting time using Bluebird. The One Vanilla cards ($504.95 each) work fine for buying money orders to deposit in my bank to pay off the credit card bills when they come. I meet my minimum spending for bonuses or cash back in one circle trip on same day. (CVS-Walmart-bank) Use last 4 digits of each debit card as a PIN. Pay 68c fee in cash at Walmart service desk per $500 or $1,000 MO. Maximum of three MOs in one transaction at a time in Walmart. USPS MOs cost a bit more.
That sounds pretty easy Jerry. Some people may not want to pay the extra $1 activation fee, extra 68 cent money order fee, or drive to their bank. If it works for you, keep doing it.
CVS and Walmart are near me and the Walmart is across the street from my bank branch. So, for a $1,000 minimum spend, I pay $4.95 + $4.95 + $0.68 =$10.56 for tens of thousands of miles or Avios or hotel points or two hotel free nights or big cash back bonuses in one quick trip. The convenience and time savings are worth it to me.
You have the trifecta, my friend. How often do you complete the trifecta?
Every time I get a new credit card with minimum spending requirement, I do so to recycle the funds and get the bonuses. There is an exception, however. For no fees, I charged my car insurance and prepay cable package, gas, water, electricity and get the money back from no payments for many months. The cell phone amount is too small to make a dent in minimum spending.
I forgot to mention something. I used his and hers cash-back credit cards to pay for our car insurance. I met the minimum spending and got a nice chunk of rebate statement credit.
BTW, I went to the same WM but with different person and she let me load the One Vanilla w/o my name imprinted. Thx
Good job. Some cashiers will let you use a gift card and others won’t.
One Vanilla Is NOT a gift card. It is a debit card and I buy them at CVS. I have never seen them in any Walmart.
I would say that One Vanilla is a gift card that acts like a debit card. Only banks can issue debit cards with PINs.
Jerry (or Grant) I like Jerry’s process a lot but want to see if I’m following all the steps. So tell me if this sounds right to minimize inconvenience and maximize efficiency. Let’s assume your CVS won’t let you buy more than $1000 in OneVanillas per day. So you’d buy 2 x $500 One Vanilla at CVS on Day 1, 2 x $500 One Vanilla on Day 2, and 2 x $500 One Vanilla on Day 3. Then you’d go to Walmart and do 3 transactions (I believe you said that that’s max) for $1000 money order each (costing $0.68 apiece). Then you’d take one trip to the bank and deposit $3000 in your account? Am I missing anything?
Also, one newb question: when you say you use the last four digits as the PIN, is that how the One Vanillas are set up by default or do you need to take some active steps between CVS and Walmart to do that? And at Walmart are you just going to the desk where you buy money orders – any trick there besides the max of 3? And/or if more convenient and similarly priced any reason not to use a local grocery store as the place to buy the money orders?
Thanks much, this has been a super-insightful thread!!
I have no experience buying money orders at Walmart. I would just load the $500 One Vanilla gift cards to my Bluebird Card, then to my mom’s Bluebird Card, and then to my dad’s Bluebird Card. You do not need to set a PIN before using it at Walmart. Any 4 digit PIN will work.
One Vanilla debit cards don’t come with a PIN and you don’t have to convert them into a debit card (as with true gift cards) by creating a PIN by telephone or online. When buying money orders in a Walmart money center, you can use any number for a PIN. I just use the last 4 digits on each One Vanilla debit card.
And do you see any problems with this scenario I mentioned as the best way to maximize efficiency if you have a lot of spend to complete? >> Let’s assume your CVS won’t let you buy more than $1000 in OneVanillas per day. So you’d buy 2 x $500 One Vanilla at CVS on Day 1, 2 x $500 One Vanilla on Day 2, and 2 x $500 One Vanilla on Day 3. Then you’d go to Walmart and do 3 transactions (I believe you said that that’s max) for $1000 money order each (costing $0.68 apiece). Then you’d take one trip to the bank and deposit $3000 in your account?
I have had no problem in buying six $500 One Vanilla debit cards at one time in a CVS to meet $3,000 minimum spending. Three $1,000 money orders for six One Vanilla debit cards in one transaction. (Buying and paying for three bananas in one transaction.) If you want more than three money orders, you would have to start over as a new transaction. I’ve never done more than $3,000 at a time. For a $5,000 min spend, you would clearly have to do two separate transactions.
Note: Paypower, PayPal, and Green Dot cards require cash to buy them.
Not three max Walmart transactions—-only three MOs max per each transaction at one time.
Amex Serve cards in Home Depot also require cash to buy them.
That should work. I have never bought money orders at Walmart, so I don’t know what the process is or if there are any limits to how many gift cards you can use. Jerry, do you have any insights to add?
if buying gift cards at 7-11, does the 7-11 store need to have a gas station with it for Chase Freedom bonus? Or can I buy it at the stand-alone 7-11 store? I have success with VR at CVS, but need to maximize my Freedom card bonus this quater.
It all depends how the 7-11 is classified. Try to find one with a gas station attached for better results.
@Kim
I go to a 7/11 near my home that does not have a gas station and I am getting the 5x with my Chase Freedom
cards. You can do a test purchase and then after a few days check under Chase Blueprint to see if it lists under gas stations.
@Charles
Thanks so much! I will do a test.
I went to a 7-11 today trying to buy a onevanilla the cashier said cash only for all gift cards, not even debit.
I dont know if this is store policy or just this guy.
It is probably store policy and the rep is probably just enforcing the store’s policy. Each store has their own policy. I haven’t had any luck at all finding gift cards at my local gas stations or 7-11 convenience stores.
7-11s are always a problem. Stick with CVS.
Agreed 100%.
After CVS implemented the cash only policy for Vanilla Reloads, I’m wondering if it is still possible to buy One Vanilla cards there with a credit card. Are the registers coded for cash-only on One Vanillas, or will it be YMMV depending on the clerk?
I’ve heard it is possible to buy One Vanilla Gift Cards with credit cards, but I have not personally tried yet.
I live in Colorado, and we don’t have CVS here. I have also been told cash only at Office Depot, Valero, and Dollar General. Any other ideas? Right now, I can only buy at Staples and Kings (Kroger), and they don’t have One Vanilla.
You can go to Office Depot and buy the fixed dollar $200 Visa GCs. Don’t buy the variable load cards $20-$500, those are cash only.
Greatly appreciate this post Grant. May I suggest you update/repost especially now that CVS is preventing Credit Card purchases of the Vanilla Reload cards?
You are the only site that gives us rather clear hope that the process of buying the Vanilla Debit Visa Card (not to be confused with the VRC — oh the headaches) and then converting it to Bluebird at Walmart is sooo much simpler than what the Bluebird web site (FAQ) seems to indicate (e.g., there, we are instructed that we have to register the card first, then log on to our bluebird account, then provide debit card info, verify address, etc. — and that we can only link one debit card to the bb account. — which leaves one to think you have to do all this BEFORE going to Walmart.)
But you seem to make it sound so very easy….
Yes, Bluebird’s FAQ could definitely be improved. I’m waiting for AMEX to call me to rewrite the Bluebird FAQs :)
Can we still buy OVs from CVS with CC? Did they only switch VRs to cash?
See my latest VRC post for more info.
To me, Bluebird is still too many steps. Use the One Vanilla debit cards to buy money orders at Walmart (or USPS or other places) and deposit into your bank account.
Hopefully the One Vanilla cards are credit card friendly in the next few days.
I don’t understand why you think Bluebird is an additional step. You go to CVS, go to Walmart (to buy a MO), go to your bank (to deposit MO) and pay your cc bill. With Bluebird you go to CVS, go to Walmart (to load BB), then go home and use Bluebird to pay your credit card bill online. What am I missing? The extra trip to the bank seems like more of a hassle than paying a bill online via Bluebird.
The only advantage I see is that there is no monthly reload limit for buying money orders and depositing to your bank.
went to 2 CVS and they denied me w/ a CC purchase. Yesterday one of those stores let me use a cc.
Yup the end is near.
I’m new to all this. This is probably going to be a silly question, but… How come VanillaReload cards don’t need to be transferred to Bluebird via Wal-Mart but OneVanilla does? I don’t live near a Wal-Mart and I don’t have a car, so I am looking for a way to do this without Wal-Mart… Thanks!
Vanilla Reload Cards can be loaded on the internet directly to your Bluebird Card, therefore you don’t need to go to Walmart.
Use One Vanilla to buy money orders in USPS or other places and deposit in bank to pay bills.
Yes, hopefully One Vanilla GCs are still credit card friendly after today.
One Vanilla (non-reloadable) are not gift cards; they are debit cards.
So I assume a small test case is likely necessary at my local Wally World before rushing headlong into $500 cards?
Try a small reload with your personal debit card. Should work fine.
I don’t have a debit card. Gonna put $25 on a OneV and run out to walmart to test. One Vanillas are everywhere.
Ok good luck Geoff.
Now walmart does not allow to reload with onevanilla cards..they check if there is a name on the debit card and only then allow you to load your bluebird card..
Yes, that is the official Walmart policy, but most cashiers do not enforce that policy. Try going to a different cashier.
I can’t load BB via Walmart today. Call Incomm and they say that Walmart updated their system last night and WM no longer allows these OneVanilla GCs to load onto BB. Anyone experience this today? I was able to load $1k yesterday.
Also, several of my local WM won’t allow me to buy MOs unless the GCs have my name on it.
I haven’t tried to load a One Vanilla gift card in a few weeks. Hopefully some else can answer your question.
If you go to Walmart’s Money Center site and click on “see all cards” to show which cards they accept for loading onto BB, One Vanilla is not listed…. Here’s the link….. http://www.walmart.com/cp/Rapid-Reload/1101512
I’ve had luck loading One Vanilla gift cards in the past without any problems, but i haven’t tried lately.
Another potential fly in the ointment: yesterday went to CVS to buy one of these “One Vanilla Prepaid Visa Cards” (exactly the same as you described) but I was told they too are now “cash only” at CVS. (same as the VRC) Now perhaps the senior clerk who was helping me was misinformed, but he seemed very sure.
Curiously, he said that “all vanilla cards” are now “cash only” at CVS. But he then did tell me I could purchase the gold colored visa gift cards with a CC. (though when you look at the fine print on the back, they too appear to be part of the “vanilla network”)
Should work with credit cards, but I’m not 100% sure.
One Vanilla is not on the memo list sent out to CVS stores. It is not re-loadable.
True, but neither are the true Vanilla Reloads, despite their name.
Hopefully the FlyerTalk community will research which gift cards can be purchased at CVS, at this point no one knows what is going on…
This is sounding like a case-by-case(Walmart-by Walmart) issue at this point.
I loaded 2x $500 on one Bluebird Card this morning and another $500 to a second Bluebird Card.
I will never understand why people waste time with BlueBird. I buy the money orders in Walmart. Deposit into my bank to meet minimum spending. Pay all bills electronically. Hardly ever write a check.
So you usually get $1,000 money orders out to yourself? Do you have to fill out any forms?
I sign TO: and Bought By: on the front and endorse on the MO back same as on a check. I let teller run a blank deposit slip with all my account info printed on it and they give the slip back to me. No forms. The MO company is MoneyGram. Never the slightest wonder at my bank branch.
My bank(brokerage) will not accept money orders.
So, use a REAL bank or credit union. Your place doesn’t want your business.