A Method for Liquidating Metabanks and Other Tough Gift Cards

The doors have been closing on Metabank gift card liquidation for several years. Since 2019, we've lost liquidation at Walmart Money Centers, Kroger Money Centers, Safeway Money Centers, and most recently Publix Money Centers. But, not all doors are closed by any means and there's a great one that's been working for years and is still waiting for us to throw gift cards right through the door frame:

Western Union in-store bill payments at Walgreens

Bill Payments with Western Union in-store are different than the peer-to-peer payments we discussed in the Vigo post. Instead, you're "paying a bill" like a mortgage or utility bill; of course when you start to probe the bill pay service, you can probably find targets like banks and credit unions that will accept a checking account number and pay those "bills" instead.

Ok, so how do we initiate a bill payment? There are three ways:

• Online at westernunion.com 
• In the Western Union mobile app for iOS or Android
• With a Walgreens Photo Kiosk

An interesting aspect here is that limits and fees can differ between each of the three methods for setting up a payment. You may find a limit of $2,499.99 and a fee of $4.99 on the website, and $1,000.00 with a fee of $8.99 on the app, so make sure to check all three.

The first step then is to find your preferred target in one of the three payment platforms, enter the account number and your relevant information, and then choose the "Pay In Store" option. Once you've initiated a bill payment, you'll go to any Western Union agent (Walgreens is likely your best bet), go to a register, and tell the cashier that you want to make a bill payment with Western Union. They'll look up your payment by your ID and phone number, then the register will prompt you to pay.

What works for payment will vary by Western Union agent, but at Walgreens you'll be able to use cash, debit cards, and essentially all Visa and Mastercard gift cards. Notably credit cards don't work though. Also, be sure to let the cashier know you want to split payments if you want to use multiple gift cards to complete the payment. I believe the current swipe limit is four cards, though I haven't explored lately so this may be incorrect.

Caveats:

• If Western Union thinks you're doing too much volume, they'll shut you down by your ID. If this happens, find another ID, like a passport or a global entry card
• When probing new targets, I'd suggest sending $20 or some other small amount and make sure everything goes well before you scale up
• Limits are unknown, but scaling up over several months to a maximum of $15,000 per month seems generally safe
• Some credit unions will be mad if the account information on your checking account doesn't exactly match the account information on your Western Union account, even if it's just a middle initial instead of a full middle name, so do yourself a favor and make sure your info matches completely on both ends

Good luck out there friends!