As we know, Target stopped accepting credit card loads for REDbird and Amex for Target (AFT) prepaid cards. All loads now need to be done with cash or debit cards. If the cashier allows it, debit-gift cards can also be used.
We noted that this update really flattened the AFT card since that card already had its costs and inconveniences. With the added limitation of loading only via debit, it would really be hard to justify using the card.
While I still believe this to be somewhat true, there remains a potential use of the AFT cards in a more limited way. See, the AFT cards come with one free ATM withdrawal per month. If you have access to a fee-free ATM nearby, you can end up with no fees on $800 of unload ($400 on each of your two AFT cards) per month. Also note (via the Flyertalk wiki), the free ATM withdrawal is based on the calendar month, not rolling 30-days. So you can potentially load $1600 across two AFT cards on July 31. Unload  $800 of it that day and the other $800 the next day. All fee free.
There is, however, a load fee on AFT of $3. In the above scenario, the fee to load the two cards would be $6. To justify this cost, it’s worth remembering that you can purchase Vanilla Visa cards for $1 less than MetaBank cards cost. Each $1000 of loads will save you $2 and cost you $3 – almost even.
Final Thoughts
My personal plan going forward is to purchase $2000 of Vanilla cards from CVS using Old Blue Cash and loading those to AFT at the end of the calendar month. I’ll unload $1600 within days and float the remaining $400 for two months.
- July 31 – load $2k, unload $800
- August 1 – unload $800, $400 remaining
- September 30 -load $2k, unload $800
- October 1 – unload $800
- November 1 – unload $800
- December 31 – start over again with a $2k load
The main benefit gained under this plan is that for me Target is easier and quicker than Walmart. If the ATM unloads can be worked to coincide with the unloading of different prepaid cards (i.e. Buxx) then the plan is even more time efficient and definitely quicker than dealing with Walmart.
Of course, besides the $800 monthly load amount which can be unloaded fee-free at the ATM, the AFT cards are still useful as a backup for months when you have lots of gift cards or if you have Vanilla cards which won’t work at Walmart or Mastercard gift cards which are difficult at Walmart.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the AFT cards appear to still be available for purchase. In fact, I’ve seen them pop up recently in my local Target, although they’d never been there in the past. Admittedly, it’s probably not worth starting up with these cards if you didn’t have them in the past, but if you have them registered and set up, it may be worth adding them back into the toolbox.
[RELATED:Â New Target POS Makes REDbird Loads More Difficult]
Sometimes I can’t find VGCs at WM, but I can almost always easily find the MC GCs. Do those work just as well to load Redbird? Is the PIN for the Sunnies the same last 4 digits of the card number or is there another process to set the PIN?
I have AMEX Simply cash card. What gift cards can i buy to load the aft?
For your OBC, do you purchase 2k all at once or do you make it two 1k or four 500 purchases? do you also mix up drug vs pharmacy purchases? I just wonder which way is the safest. I know the only strict rule is not to go too close to 50k/yr.
Glad to see that you think like me. After Target changed how we load in early May I saw a ton of comments from people who were dropping AFT altogether. I have 4 AFTs (me x 2, wife x 2). I was more active with AFT in the past, but have reduced it now to a schedule like yours. I reload when the card balance drops below $1500. It’s a low yield game, but I’m still getting travel rewards at nominal cost and it doesn’t cost me any extra time because I’m at Target anyway to load REDcard.
I don’t have OBC, but AGCs work fine to buy Vanillas and the portal cash basically washes things so my net cost is fairly nominal.
I feel that loading $997 is easiest at Target. When you add the $3 load fee, that will completely eat up 2 $500 Vanillas in one transaction.
I thought all CVS locations stopped taking credit cards when purchasing vanilla vgcs?
They stopped doing it for Vanilla Reloads. Many are still taking CCs for Vanilla VGCs, however.
How dd you survive the Old Blue cash shutdown ? or this is your second old blue cash with limited cap
of 50K per year
great post – and even more true if you’ve exhausted your BB/RB/SS loads and are therefore choosing between OV->AFT->ATM vs MB->WMMO
does target auto drain giftcards? say i want to load $1000, can I swipe five $200 cards without having the cashier split transaction?
No, you swipe the first card, the hit ‘no’ to the amount, and the cashier inputs the amount.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/redbird-whats-left/
AFT seems like a reasonable place to get rid of Office Supply $200 gift cards. Load 4 x 200 to each in one for $6 and unload at end and beginning of each month.
This may be a silly question – why you use ATM to get all the money out of the account instead of withdrawing to some checking account (which could be done only for free easily)?
ATM is the only way to get money out of AFT.