I have yet to find a merchant that allows credit cards as a payment option on Green Dot Moneypaks, but your experience may vary. Moneypaks can generally be found at drugstores, gas stations, and grocery stores in increments of up to $500. I did find a RiteAid in Downtown Oakland that sold these fee-free and accepted debit cards – this is pretty much only lucrative if you can use the Suntrust Skymiles debit card, which pays out 1 mile per $1 spent.
Fees: $4.95 per $500
Where to buy: Drugstores (CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens), Walmart, Grocery stores, 7-Eleven
If you can manage to buy Moneypaks with a mile-earning credit card, there are several prepaid card options for unloading the balance. Below are the cards with the lowest recurring fees:
1. Green Dot Prepaid Card
Reload Limit: $2,500 per day/$10,000 per month
Fees: $5.95 monthly fee (waived if you load at least $1,000 per billing cycle), $4.95 card purchase fee (waived if you order it online)
Where to buy: Walmart, CVS, grocery stores
How to Cash Out: ATM, Bill Pay, Money Order, Cashback at the register, Square Cash
2. Paypal account
Reload Limit: $4,000 per month
Fees: $0
How to Load: Simply go to the MoneyPak website and select “add money to Paypal.” You’ll be prompted to enter your Paypal login information and then enter your MoneyPak number to complete the load.
How to Cash Out: Bank transfer, or pick up a Paypal Business Mastercard and use that to buy a money order, send money via Amazon payments, or load onto Bluebird.
3. American Express Serve
Reload Limit: $1,000 per day/$5,000 per month with MoneyPaks, $200 per day/$1,000 per month with credit cards
Fees:
- $2.95 fee if you purchase the card in-store
- $1 monthly fee (waived in NY, TX, VT) waived any month at least $500 is loaded, or the card is added to your Isis Mobile Wallet
- 2 ATM fee (first ATM withdrawal every month is free)
Where to buy: Online, CVS, 7-Eleven
How to Cash Out: ATM, Amazon Payments, Bill Pay feature
Please note, you cannot have both a Serve and Bluebird account at the same time. American Express Serve can be loaded with mile-earning credit and debit cards, though some credit card companies will treat this as a cash advance. In this case, the transaction will incur fees and you will not earn any points.
In addition to Green Dot Money Paks, there is another type of reload card called the Green Dot Cash Reload. This card can only be loaded onto Green Dot Prepaid cards, and the fees are the same as for Green Dot Money Paks.
4. ADP TotalPay cards
Reload Limit: $1,100 per day/$2,400 per month
Fees: $3 ATM fee when you go outside the Allpoint network
Where to buy: Online
How to Cash Out: Amazon Payments, ATM, bank transfer, bill pay feature, cash back at grocery store registers, money order, Square Cash
Note: I will receive a small referral fee if you sign up for the Serve card using the affiliate link in this post.
It’s strange that CVS accepts credit cards for VRs but not Moneypaks, and some 7-11s accept credit cards for Paypal My Cash cards but not Moneypaks.
I think there’s actually a disclaimer on the back of the Moneypaks instructing cashiers to accept cash only. It does seem to be a universal policy everywhere they are sold.
I do this at my local Rite Aid a few times per week and have had no issues paying with a credit card. Two other locations have challenged me, one relented and the other did not. Regardless of the disclaimer, reloads via CC are available and I do it all the time, but picking your location and being able to navigate the conversation should it arise is key to success.
Consider yourself lucky, Kyle. I’ve never been able to buy Moneypaks with anything other than a debit card. There’s actually “cash only” printed on the card, so a lot of cashiers won’t accept credit cards. I agree with your statement though.
Serve has no fee for paypass ATM w/d. But limit of $500/day $2000/month.
Can you explain in more detail your #2. using paypal?
Sure! I’ve updated that section with load instructions.
CVS’s are coded at the machine to take only cash. A CVS attendant more than obliged to allow me to purchase with a CC but the billing system wouldn’t allow it 🙂
At least we still have Vanilla Reloads!
Huh? VR are now 100% register prevented at all CVS
Sorry nevermind- confused March with April (yeah I work too much)
Haha! No worries.
Link to gift card and how to get rid of them is not working. Can you repost?
Try it now.
Still not working. I am referring to the link to: prepaid cards and how to get rid of them. Other links work well. Thx for the posts.
Somehow, it was set to private but you should be able to see it now.
I’m curious about GoBank which is by Green Dot that also provides the Moneypaks. Any reason you do not list it as one of the moneypak unload options?
Love your site and love to read about your travels!
You can only load to GoBank with a Moneypak for the first initial load and none after that. I tried GoBank and this was my experience after trying and then calling customer service. If anyone has any insight on this matter though, I would be open to a way to do it since I already have the account.
The ADP link is for UC Davis. Any issues my signing up through that link?
Haven’t done it yet, but if you give it a shot let us know how it goes!
Can you please check if the ADP card link is working? I tried using that link, but it gives me an error while loading the page, it does not load anything. TIA.
Thanks for the heads up, Jeeves. I’ve deactivated the link and will replace it when I find a working link.
Hi, is there any advantage to scanning your R.A. wellness card when buying GDMP? Or would you recommend not doing that so as not to draw attention to R.A.? Thanks
I would personally avoid it – it’s another tracking mechanism and it’s best to stay off the radar when you’re buying/churning gift cards.
Beware of GreenDot MoneyPack, IT WILL EAT YOUR MONEY… I just started playing the points game, got my BlueBird up and running and loaded $120 on my very first GDMP … been trying unsuccessfully for TWO days to load my BB with the GDMP on their website. Everything works until the last screen, it confirms I have $120 on the MP then I get an error message that the transfer cannot be completed. I called BB cs and they confirmed the problem is on the GDMP side… tried calling them but there is no way to get in touch with a human. The “help” section in their website only allows you to request a refund. So I did some research on Google and found countless threads of people having the same problem -unable to unload their MPs as well as HORROR stories of trying to get their money back for months. I think I’m just going to request a refund (and prob end up waiting and waiting)… seems like a ploy for GDMP to just sit on your money for weeks while they earn interest. So glad I was deliberately being cautious by just putting $120 on it to “test” it… I almost filled it with $500.
Does anybody have any recommendations on how to unload a MoneyPack besides BlueBird? (NO -I do not want to get the GreenDot card or GoBank… and NO I do not want to use PayPal either and give them my SS#)
Thanks for sharing, Clarice. There is always risk involved in this hobby and everyone should be aware of that.
So can my husband buy a money Pak card out of town where he works and give me the number off of it