A few weeks ago I wrote about a possible Moneygram ban on churners buying money orders at Walmart. At the time, I was getting flooded with reports from readers who had tried to purchase money orders over $1,000 (which triggers an ID check) and were told they couldn’t buy money orders because of a message popping up on the screen.
Based on the volume these people reported doing, I assumed I was banned too. So last week I tried to buy $2,000+ worth of money orders and was able to do so without problems.
I tried this at a Supercenter that I normally don’t go to since the lines are usually out the door. I figured if I was banned from buying money orders, at least the people at my Neighborhood Market won’t know that. On the other hand, I was totally fine with not being able to return to the Supercenter.
I not only found out I wasn’t banned from buying money orders, but I stumbled across a time when this location isn’t insanely busy. And now I have two MS-friendly Walmart stores where I can liquidate Visa gift cards.
Reports of churners getting banned
There has been some speculation about what might be at play here. I mentioned in my previous post that I reached out to a contact at Walmart who did not have any knowledge of the company banning churners.
He did speculate that the bans may be location-specific. For the record, I’m in Northern California. One of my readers from California reported being banned, though I wasn’t able to verify which area he was from.
For now, we can breathe easy knowing that Moneygram hasn’t implemented system-wide bans on frequent churners. This isn’t comforting for those who’ve reported not being able to buy money orders over $1,000 anymore, but for the rest of us, it offers some relief.
Another rumor
Despite the good news, we’re not all in the clear. There’s now a rumor going around that Walmart’s systems will be updated to require ID checks on money order purchases over $100. That number is not missing a zero, by the way.
It’s not a problem for those of us liquidating multiple $1,000 Simon Visa gift cards at a time. Those purchases trigger the ID checks anyway, so it will be business as usual.
Those who believe they’ve been placed on a “banned” list by either Walmart or Moneygram won’t like this. If this goes into effect, they won’t be able to liquidate Visa gift cards at all.
It’s hardly worth it to liquidate a $1,000 Visa gift card in $99 increments. So if this goes into effect, those people who’ve been circumventing the ban by purchasing money orders in increments under $1,000 will pretty much be out of business.
Final thoughts
While nothing has been confirmed, it’s always best to be prepared. Just assume everything I wrote about goes into effect tomorrow. Are you prepared? Go about your MS routine as if you’ll get shut down tomorrow: Don’t let gift cards pile up and liquidate them as soon as you get them. Don’t buy more than you can afford to get stuck with. More importantly, have a back-up plan.
Have you guys heard anything about the $100 trigger on Walmart money orders? If you’ve been banned, please share your (approximate) location in the comments so we can keep track of where people are being affected.
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