I’ve been buying plenty of Paypower prepaid visa debit cards this year. I’ve done so because my closest store sells them on credit, and is a Grocery. For me, this represents the best deal I’ve seen in quite some time. If you’re unable to capitalize on this deal today’s post offers an alternative which can still reward you with very low Cost Per Mile.
Reloadit Packs
Reload it packs are, for lack of a better term, the lesser known reload pack. While Greendot and Vanilla Reload get all the publicity, +Reloadit are an afterthought. Think of them as GoBots to Transformers, RC Cola to Coke or Sega’s Master System to Nintendo’s NES.
Introductions aside, Reloadit Packs have always had one real benefit over VR and GDMP’s; some have a $950 purchase limit per $3.95 fee. Coupled with Grocery stores which sell these cards the reloadit packs have an opportunity to drive your cost per mile way down.
I’m also covering them because today, finally, the Reloadit Safe online Bill Payment service launched. It had been set to launch last month, then that was mysteriously pushed to March 6th. I logged in today and was able to take a look around. I’ll go over the basics of the Reload it Safe, discuss why it is inherently not safe, and also go over the Bill Payment feature of the “safe.”
How Reloadit Cards Work
The biggest difference between Reloadit and other reload packs are that you can either load them to one of their supporting prepaid cards, or you can load them into an online “Safe.”
The “Quick Load” feature works like loading your bluebird with a VR. You input the number on the back of the Reloadit, and also the card number of the debit card you’d like to load, and the money is instantly added to your prepaid card. The list of cards which support reloadit is small you can use it with Paypower Cards, and about a dozen other prepaid cards including many not shown below:
In addition Reloadit cards can be loaded and used with Evolve Money’s bill payment feature. Big Habitat did a good write-up of this here. As you’ll see later the best way to pay a bill with Reloadit packs is through Evolve.
A Quick Overview of the Safe Service
The reason I’ve been most interested in these is because of the new feature being launching today, the Reloadit Safe Bill Pay.
The thing that interested me most is that if a Reloadit Reload (ugh, that name!) didn’t have to be loaded onto a prepaid card, and could instead be used to pay a credit card bill directly, you could close the loop without worry about your prepaid cards being shut down. I was waiting for the bill payment feature to open so I could test this theory. Unfortunately, using the Bill Payment feature to pay a Credit card not possible.
I still wanted to outline these reload packs because I think it is important to get more unorthodox ways of earning miles out there–especially those which get our CPM down lower. $3.95 for $950 and a Grocery bonus makes this a great way to earn MR. And the new packaging no longer saying “CASH ONLY” which means you’ll have a greater chance at these working for you. If your store restricts Paypower cards but not these packs this might be an avenue you can use instead you might even want to buy a Paypower card with CASH, and load these to it.
I’ll cover some common questions running through my mind, and possibly through yours:
Will you be able to cycle Thousands through Reloadit Safe? Maybe, but only if you find a bill which can be paid. The FAQ puts these restrictions: “There are no limits on the number of packs in the Safe, but you cannot add more than $2,850 worth of packs to your Safe in one day. You cannot have over $10,000 worth of Packs in your Safe at any given time.”
Could you be shut down from Reloadits? What is really odd is that at no point while using the “safe” is your SSN ever asked for. I went through and did a mock bill payment–also no SSN asked. Without that I don’t know how they could blacklist you, but always assume the worst, and plan accordingly. Remember the float rule; your account could be blacklistedblacklist your SSN or address, and leave you stuck trying to liquidate through other means.
Which is Better, Evolve or Reloadit? The payees list looks to be identical to me. Unfortunately with Reloadit Bill Payments there is a $1 per Bill fee. Evolve wins this round.
Your Reloadit “Safe” is not Safe
Remember your money is at no time safe in this system. It is called a Safe, and the money is FDIC insured, but don’t assume it is safe, and don’t assume you can get it back out on your own schedule. Need proof of how unsafe it is to use this service?
For whatever reason the secure https:// version of the site doesn’t work for me. You shouldn’t ever input sensitive information into a non-secure site. In addition you can hold up to $10,000 in this account–but the password used to secure it cannot use special characters.
From here you can load prepaid cards, keeping your Reloadit Packs in the “safe” and using them by logging into the service. As far as I can tell the only real benefit is if you have a bill which can be paid by the Reloadit Bill Payment network. From test searches the payee list looks identical to Evolve’s:
Wrap Up
The Reloadit Reload isn’t a bad product. The price is great, and, as I discussed earlier, you might find that buying them is easier now that they no longer say “Cash Only” on the front.
Separate from the reload packs, there is no real benefit to using the “safe” or the bill Pay feature. The safe is anything but secure, and the bill payment is inferior to Evolve. The whole idea of the safe has me scratching my head a little. Keeping your reload packs on an unsecured website seems like a disaster in the making. I’m using Reloadit Packs–but I’m being very cautious as I do so.
So, is it possible to pay credit card bills using the Reloadit Safe?
Unfortunately not.
This topic fascinates me. I’m looking for another way to offload besides RiteAid+Paypal and this could be it.
I find all of this hard to follow. Maybe you are trying to avoid the “arrows and circles” explanation, or maybe I am too lazy/stupid/tired to figure it out. Is it too lame to ask for a “here’s what I would do”?
Blue: I’ll separate out the Reloadit packs and the safe. Reloadit Packs are useful–you can load some prepaid cards with them like you can load Bluebird with Vanilla Reloads.
I can’t figure out a legitimate use of the safe, it really is pretty much useless. Why would anyone use the safe when you can just go to reloadit.com, input the reload number, the prepaid debit card number, and reload your card. They’ve created this safe idea to store the reload numbers. I was hopeful the bill payment was worth using the safe, but it seems to be useless as well.
TL,DR version: Buy reloadits on CC up to $950 and use them to reload your supported debit cards.
Ok, I think I got lost because I sort of gave up on all of the Paypal and GDMP alternates a while ago. (You had done a nice write-up on Paypower but I could not get it to work at the time. I reread things and see that I need to give it another try.)
3 questions: (1)any good reason to do the reloadits if I can get Paypower for $0 fee? (2) are you getting Safeway points on these purchases? (3) Are you using a card with grocery store bonus credits,and if so, which?
Thanks again
I am now officially 0 for 2 at Safeway. In a recent trip, I found NO Paypowers for sale without a surcharge. And, though they had reloadits, I did not pull the trigger because the reloadit debit card indicates a monthly fee. How do you get around that?
One of the other debit cards on the rack–cant remember which right now–requires you to give them your SSN. No thanks.
My Safeway *did* have a ~$1000 GDMP for about $5. That can go to Paypal.
Blue: The PayPower Fee hits 30 days after you start using the card–no real way to avoid it that I know of. There have also been multiple reports of the Paypower cards with a fee ringing up without the fee, so you may want to revisit that. I do not know how “touchy” Paypower and Reloadit are on shutdowns–so proceed with caution.
Hi. Care to share where you buy pay power card with cc? I’ve had no luck. Thanks. 😉
Chase, I’m buying mine at a safe way branded grocery store.
Why does the fee matter? It’s refunded if you use the t-mobile prepaid visa card for reloads over $300. If you buy a reloadit above $500 you’ll likely need manager approval.
William: The fee always matters. 😉 Great tip about the T-mobile card refunding your fees. Further proof that the Reloadit Safe is useless, “Please note: Value reloads made from Reloadit Packs that have been placed in the Program Manager’s Reloadit “Safe” are not eligible for any fee credit.” So don’t use the Safe feature with the T-mobile card or you’ll forfeit the fee refund.
Source: T-mobile prepaid cardholder agreement.
I meant that the fee doesn’t matter in terms of the up to $950 reload amount. You’re going to draw unwanted attention by purchasing it in $950 amounts, if you purchase in $500 or less it doesn’t require manager approval.
Will: I see what you mean, I agree that’s probably the best strategy for the t-mobile card considering the fee waiver. Good stuff.
It seems like this might be good for paying off a HELOC, yes?
I still don’t see the benefit over just using the Reloadit via Evolve. If you can find your bill payment in Evolve as a standard (2 day) bill you can pay for free…this adds $1 to every bill. I feel like I might be missing something obvious about how useful the “safe” is…but I haven’t found a compelling use for it yet.
Thanks for this great write-up. I just discovered a source of REloadits and I was researching the best REloadit-compatible prepaid card. Most seem prone to shutdown when billpaying cc.
I can see the charm in REloadit Safe over Evolve for mortgages over $1,000. With Evolve you’ve got to play tricks (multiple accounts/spread out over a few days, etc) to make a mortgage payment. Even then your mortgage company might wrongly apply the payments to principal and you have to wrestle with them each month to get it squared away.
As a result, I was still using Bluebird for paying my mortgage. I think I’ll try migrating that action over to REloadit Safe if I can find my way to reliably purchasing enough REloadits. The $1 fee for one big mortgage payment (with no risk of prepaid card shutdown) is worth it to me.
If you’ve got any better ideas for REloadit compatible prepaid cards I’d be interested in hearing about them though!
Robert: I have successfully pushed about 11k through each of two T-Mobile cards before being shut down. You may want to try those out first, they’re loadable with reloadits, refund you your $3.95 load fee, and offer free bill pay. The biggest negative is that you *will* eventually be shut down… But you’ll get your money back eventually. If you keep a close eye on your card and check it’s status prior to a load you can proactively see the shutdown and just let the card die with a $0 balance.
Milenomics – Can you elaborate on pushing 11k through each of two T-Mobile cards before being shut down. Can you simply get another T-mobile card if one gets shut down, or are you referring to one for you and one for your spouse that each got shut down? Is there a rule of thumb for these, i.e. $4000/month per card is safe?
Sure Steve. I signed up for one for my wife and one for myself. Each was used in parallel, and mine was shut down and only reopened with my speaking to their compliance department. At that point I stopped using my wife’s and cleared both out with Bill payments. I haven’t signed up for a new card, but I’ve heard you can do so…. Something I’ll look to do in the next few weeks, at least for myself. My wife is not too excited to call and speak to phone agents so I need to be more cautious with her cards than with my own.
I’ve spoken to readers who are trying to keep their card going with small monthly loads, legitimate spending, no bill payments and such… But I don’t know if that will result in longterm success.
Thanks. As for my wife supports my hobby, but the line is drawn with her having to talk to anyone on the phone :-).
I suppose the best way to fly under the radar with this is to spread the reloadits onto the various available prepaids, even though the fees will be higher.
Okay, here is a valid question! I found an online company that I thought employed me. They had me take two checks to my bank, cash them and then I loaded the money evenly on to three REloadit money packs. I then had to email this so-called company the REloadit Pack Number. The checks were fraud and now I am stuck paying back my band while the crooks got away with the money! How did they get the money off of the card?
Sherranneller: I’m really sorry to hear you were scammed. The scam you were caught in is called a wire-back scam. For anyone reading this–if someone overpays you for anything–anything at all, it is likely they’re trying to rip you off.
There are plenty of ways to get the money off of the reloadit packs–they probably loaded the packs to a prepaid card and then cashed out the prepaid card via any number of ways. If you haven’t already gotten reloadit involved I would. I won’t give you false hope, there is almost no chance you’ll be able to get your money back, but you should inform everyone (including the police) about this incident. And hopefully you still have the reloadit packs and receipts from their purchase.
Is there a dollar limit of how large a bill can be paid from the Reloadit Safe? I.e., can I pay a mortgage over $1000 without the machinations needed with Evolve?
Unfortunately the limit is the same as Evolve: $1,000 per payment. I thought Reloadit Safe could be a good way to make mortgage payments too. But because of this limitation the only scenario it could be minorly useful is if you had a loan payment between $500-$1,000 and you didn’t want to risk two separate payments being applied to principal.
I was also unable to add any payees to Reloadit Safe, even those which I was able to add to Evolve, which is strange because the backend is the same – Precash. I called Reloadit customer support, which is awkward in itself because they ask for a Reloadit pack number as opposed to a Reloadit Safe username. But if you have enough persistence you can find your way through the phone tree to a human. After much consternation they finally just referred be to Precash. By that time I realized that payments > $1,000 weren’t possible so I gave up on it.
Bottom line: It took me some time to realize it, but Reloadit Safe is useless to me.
Thanks for this reply. Robert is much more of an authority on the Reloadit safe than I am. I researched it for this post, but never used it. In addition to the issues I outlined in the post, Robert’s experiences show it to similarly be useless versus evolve. And finally, loading up a “safe” only to have the funds locked out would mean a mess on the phone trying to get things untangled. Its own issues aside, Evolve is the way to go.
I stumbled upon this post looking for a way to remove money stored in the safe. I accidentally added a card to the safe, is this money just lost or is there some way I can get I back?
Nathan,
Unsure how best to work that out. I haven’t ever used the safe myself. Might try calling the number on the back of the reload-it. 🙁
same problem here i’ve been stolen from somehow because my brother bought a reload it and put 200 dollars on it and i usually put it onto my netspend prepaid card. the only prepaid card i have on file. however this time i’ve found out someone had put that 200 dollars on some other prepaid card. i can not believe this. i can’t understand how. so how?? they gave me the last 4 digits of the card the money was put onto. so far thats all i have. i need to find out who did this. i need to find a name to go with the last 4 digits of the card they put it on. help!!! reload it customer service seems to not be able to help me. oh this is so bogus!! i’m so upset
Can you take money off of these cards?
Briana: Yes, but not through the safe feature. The quickest and easiest way to cash out a reloadit is to load it to a prepaid card. Amex Serve would be my first choice for that.
Hi, wanting to purchase a kitten’s from the state’s, they would like me to pay with Pay pal Reload it pack card. They live in flordia, me in Canada. Is there away of getting back funds if this turns in to a scam. Has happened to me with a moneygram.
Deborah: if they ask you for the number on the PayPal reload it is probably a scam. If you load the paypal card to your account and send the money then you might have more protection.
I’ve used these reloadit cards on and off for quite awhile. This is the first time I attempted one recently and I loaded the money successfully into my “safe” but now I need to wait for my card to be verified. Wtf? How long do I have to wait until I am indeed “verified”?
JP: Reloadit is mandating that all RL packs be loaded to the safe, and then added to your cards. I can only imagine this is to stop fraud/abuse be thieves who ask for the RL # from unsuspecting purchasers. Either way it has been a real pain. In my experience the errors are inconsistent and very frustrating. I added one card over a week ago and have still not been able to fund it. A second card (t-mobile) I added on Wednesday was able to be loaded about 6 hours after adding it. Best advice I can give you is to add a different card and try loading to that.
Hi,
Reloadit says they verify the prepaid card within 4 hours., and that is BS, and they are a service that you should just get a second card and load directly and then do card to card to send to people. Using Reloadit with the SAFE is awful, I used to be able to just enter my netspend card and reloadit pack and then load it, now it is a huge pain, some stores like Family Dollar do direct loads where you swipe your card, and moneygram cards are good too. Reloadit sucks now.
I have used payower reloadits for a long time and never had a problem. I tried to reload this morning and discovered the “safe.” I was wary when the notification came up that METAbank/ Blackhawk didn’t endorse it, but went ahead and set up an acct. I never received the email confirmation info. to finish the process. Any idea why?
Andrea: Yes…the “safe” is awful. I too don’t receive emails from the “safe”–the only solution I find myself successful with is to try again a half hour later. Also, once you do have the safe setup, you’ll receive random notices that the computer you’re using is not “registered.” Even if you register the computer, following the instructions possibly emailed to you you’ll continue to receive this error. Just keep trying to log in, and sometimes that works.
All of this leads me to feel terribly un-safe while using the Reloadit “Safe.” The fact that using the safe is now mandatory for almost all cards is a worrying situation.
Question: Which card are you loading?
I have a bunch of reloadit pack cards and I use them to send money to my daughter away at college by texting her the numbers. Some reloadit packs I misplaced and I can’t tell which ones have been used and which ones have not been used. I can’t check on whether or not they have been used because I didn’t note on card the reload dollar amount. Any suggestions how to recover the lost money?
Shari: I would suggest calling the Reloadit Customer Care “team” at 888-633-9434. Don’t hold your breath on them being helpful, but it is the best place to start.
Reloadit really sucks. Their investigation team does nothing. The liar provided the all the photos that I sent him. I warn this point to customer service but the stupid “investigation team” never contact me, simply giving the money to the liar.
Then I found the case was close and i was never given a chance to provide any prove. I they told me they can do nothing about this mistake. Poor guy hope they can never get a single customer one day.
WHAT A SHIITTY ADMINISTRATION.
Reloadit is just a thing designed for all liars.
Before the Safe was added, I tried to use Reloadit for a Netspend card after someone I was purchasing a phone from flaked out on me. Turns out they got money off the Reloadit card before I even scratched off the RL#! I was soooo pissed and Reloadit nor Netspend bothered to refund me my money!
I look for these people to go out of business, my advice, stay away from reloadit cards
So how do u get passed the warning scam pop-up when ur trying to access ur safe. N if u try on this device n it doesn’t work. So u try on a laptop n it doesn’t work. So u go to a friends house n try on there laptop n it doesn’t work. How can I get my money back CA– USE IM DONE FUCKING WITH IT… I GOT PISSED N CUT THE CARD UP????
Can money in safes be downloaded to Atm cards to be used in a country other than the US? Like the Philippines?
I cannot open a safe it won’t let me this is a new phone and it says that my device has been another account before but if you go and put it on the hand
DO NOT PURCHASE A RELOADIT PACK. They have taken my money and are having ” technical difficulties” that have been ongoing for a week now. When I have called NUMEROUS times they have said “take the card back and get a refund” (guess what, NO ONE WILL GIVE YOU A REFUND ON A PREPAID CARD) or they “will send me a refund check in 30 days”. Who can wait 30 days to access their money? Not many people i know.
No one at this company will take responsibility for what’s going on. I suggest any stores that carry this trash need to take it off their shelves.
Many people have had the “technical difficulty” error with Reloadit. I hope they have fixed that error and its no longer an issue. Its also strange that Black Hawk Inc. would choose stores opposite of the competitors to place Reloadit cards in. I mean its easier to get a MoneyPak and or use PayPal Cash than it is to get a Reloadit card. They should consider making them available in CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid etc.
Hey people, I am going to tell it like it is. Do not waste your time and money on this reloadit pack/card. It is a piece of crap and is not worth your sanity. This use to be a great source to load money to your card, but now that they got this safe garbage that takes 2 to 4 hours or more for them to verify your debit card/ hold your money hostage. You are better off going to the store and loading your card at the register. It will take them 30 days to refund your money if you ask. I use to use this pack all of the time and it was quick. When you call to see what the hold up is, they leave you on hold for a little bit so they can get the care script together so they can sound like they actually give a damn and they don’t. I was a actor for a while and know when I am being fed/served up a bunch of bull. So I say once again, don’t bother with this service. It’s not worth getting you blood pressure up and them getting rich with your money with a inferior product . There are so many other worthy causes that we care about for the privalledge of blowing off steam and this company is not one of them.