I had signed up for the NW Buxx cards a couple of months ago. For some reason, it’s my top post in overall views and daily views (after the latest day’s post). Anyway, I wanted to provide an update on how I am using the card. First of all, I created 1 “parent” account and signed up 4 “teens.” The teens don’t need to be unique so feel free to sign up your significant other twice. I then created a 2nd account for my wife. I then added myself as one of her teens. When I tried to add a 2nd teen, I got an error something to the effect of “No more cards can be sent to this address.” So it seems they are limiting new accounts to only 5 cards, no matter which “parent” account it’s on. I even tried to play around with our address but their system wasn’t easily fooled. Maybe once I get more tenure, I can add more teens, but it seems right now the max is 5.
What now
So now I have 5 of these cards. I load $1,000 a month using my Barclays Arrival card (2.2% return) by making 2 separate $500 loads 15 days apart. I then call up Citi to pay my other Citi cards like my Double Cashback card over the phone. I will make a $500 payment using one of the Buxx cards and when they are done, I’ll ask them, “Can I make a 2nd payment using a different debit card?” I’ve had no problems making 2 payments on the same phone call; sometimes, the rep will ask if I want to make more payments, which I will then say, “Sure!” On the next day, I’ll call back and make 2-3 more phone payments. I’ll then repeat these steps 15 days later after I’ve made the second $500 load for the month.
As I am typing this, I realized I was 3 days past due for my $500 load. This is because I am doing this manually. There is a load scheduling function which I should really take advantage, but have been lazy to set up. Let me go do it after this post.
Monthly Benefit
So what does all this trouble get me? I load a total of $5,000 with the 5 cards and I’ll receive 10,000 Arrival points. This can then be redeemed for a $100 travel credit. All this at a cost of $2 x 10 ($500) loads = $20. You could say I “make” $80 every month or you could say I am getting an 80% discount off my next travel charge. It’s up to you whether you think this is worth your time, but for me, I’m okay with it, especially once I set up automatic loading.
Have you had any issues with signing up your wife for more than one teen card on the same parent account?
NO issues at all.
After reading various blogs and the NW website on this Buxx card, I still don’t understand a few things. Does the parent get a card or only the teens? If I set up two teens with one parent account, each one can be loaded $1000 per month for a total of $3000. Is the $800 7-day purchase limit apply collectively to all three accounts, or is limited to each account – parent purchase $800 a week, Teen #1 $800 a week, teen 2 $800 a week – for a total of $2400 a week?
Thanks,
Presley, only the teens get cards. Parents don’t. Thus the limit is 1k per teen. Lmk if you have more questions.
Sorry; I thought I replied to this. Only the teens get a card; the parents own the account but gets no card. 1 parent and 2 teens can load 1K x 2 per month. Spend limit is PER TEEN.
Hey, when you add multiple teens under one parent account, do you use the same name (e.g., your spouse’s), same date of birth, and other info? thanks!
Eh… Just try it and see for yourself
Sorry; I thought I had replied to this. Yes, I use same name and info on multiple teens.
these are “supposed” to act like normal debit cards. However, they don’t work as a funding source debit card for Serve and BlueBird. Any idea why? thank you!
Not really sure. I thought some ppl got it to work with Serve. Have you tried to take a picture of the card and your ID and upload to AMEX?
Anyone having reload issues with Nationwide Buxx? I loaded 3x in about 30 days (including the inital load when i got the card) and am getting an error that my max number of loads has been reached (even when using different credit cards). The terms & conditions state that there are 5 loads allowed per month … anyone having similar issues?
There is a max load of $1K per 30 days. Did you try loading more than $1K? Usuaully people just load twice a month ($500 each). Also remember that failed loads will hit against that limit too.
Thanks for the response.
So, i see that’s what you’ve stated here, but when i click on the terms & conditions directly from my buxx account, i see this:
Reloading Your Card
You or an approved designated Gift Giver may load value up to 5 times in one month onto the Card. Upon authorization, this will cause monies to be funded into the Card and be available for use by the Teen to make designated transactions.
http://www.nationwide.com/bank-buxxcard-disclosures.jsp
I guess you’re right about the $1k max but its unclear why the terms & conditions say something different…
If I use citi prestige to load NW Buxx, will these transactions count towards the minimum spending requirement? Thanks.
It will code as a purchase, but I have one data point that says it doens’t earn retention bonuses (but it might for min spend), so I honestly don’t know. I would try it though; it doesn’t really hurt.
I called citi to set the cash advance limit as zero and then loaded my NW Buxx. It was a purchase. Thanks.
I would like to know how many days does it take to receive the cards? I have ordered them last Sunday (so it’s like 6 days since I ordered) and still haven’t got em yet? What’s the usual timeframe they arrive in?
Seems to take 2 weeks, but they may be futher delayed these days due to too many new signups.
yeah, really delayed…I ordered on 10/26, haven’t received yet.
Did you get the card? It’s been ~1 month since my sign-up, still no show. Is there a number we can call?
I know they’ve been super slammed, so I’d wait a bit more. If it’s been a month, then I’m sure there’s a number on the web site that you can call.
So my understanding from reading this is that the max number of loads per card in a month is $2000? For example, if I have one Arrival card with only one unique number then I can space them 7 days apart between 2 separate “student” accounts?
per cc, it should be 1K per week, so yes, you can fund 2 teens with 1 unique number, spaced a week apart
Under your “What Now” topic, how are you paying off your Arrival CC?
I pay back Arrival using my regular checking account, so there’s a 3rd step involved. if I don’t want to pay Citi, i can go buy MO with them at Walmart or something.
Would it be possible to pay with a amex blue (old)? I need to spend $5K before the card becomes worth it to use. Any other cc recommendations?
No, you can only use a Visa/MC to buy a Buxx card. If you can front the money, go buy some AMEX gift cards with your old blue.
So, if i created a parent + 5 teens, can i create another parent account under my wife’s name + 5 more teens…
You can, but you’ll most likely hit the 5 per address restriction.
I see, I just saw that post on your prior post. If i do have additional address, is this something has to match with my credit card?
I don’t know since I don’t have an additional address. My suggestion is you try it out for yourself.
Have you tried adding more kids with a different address? My wife and I have a second address. It would be different than the credit card address.
I don’t have 2 addresses, so haven’t tried. Why don’t you give it a shot and let us know?
Apologies if this is a noob question, but would it work to load with a Citi Prestige (reading reports they are going through as purchases) and calling Citi later to then pay that same card off with the NW Buxx card?
Not a noob question. It’s a great question. And yes, that’s considered a closed loop, which is what I’m doing now.
Does NW Buxx have similar payment edits to what we have with US Buxx?
So does it consider as purchase and the limit is $800 per week?
I usually go to the Allpoint ATM (no NW ATM in my state) to withdraw money and call to reverse the feel. It was already a pain in the neck. Yesterday when I called, they told me they couldn’t remove the fee as they got a new memo that the $1 fee was a “program fee” and was not removable. I made my arguments and they said I had to talk to the supervisor. The fees were finally removed but they said they wouldn’t do it in future. The phone call took over 35 minutes!
Sheila,
Yes, the limit is still $800 a week. I’d recommend the pay by Citi phone feature to cut your phone call down to 3-4 minutes per call. =)
What Citi card are you using for $5k spend a month? Doublecash I assume?
Yes, sorry TYP or AA miles, I’d rather bank 2%. Now if AT&T More counts this as 3X TYP…ohmygod, I just drooled on myself…
Hi,
First time visited your blog.
When you make payment on a citi card, do they ask you the name on the NW buxx? In other word, do they allow you to use someone else Buxx card to pay your citi card?
As long as the address matches, you’ll be fine.
Hey Vinh, You can load $5k using the same arrival card to all buxx cards ?
No, I have to use 3 unique Arrival card numbers due to some limit on loads per card you can use.
Any limits you’ve run into on the number of times you can change your credit card funding source? US Buxx had some limits, but not sure about NW.
I’ve heard mixed reports. Usually the issue is that the card won’t fund vs the ability to add/edit cards.
i’ve just signed up the NW, looks like there is no limit for add/remove/edit the card? unless internally would trigger the limit once you’ve changed.
Jung, I haven’t hit the add/remove/edit limit either, but others have, so I wouldn’t go changing them out too frequently.
hmm care to share how you then split the arrival to load 5 teens, when only 2 cc is allowed for 4 teens?
One account has 4 teens with 2 cc’s autoloading; other account has 1 teen with a diff cc autoloading.