Paying Fidelity Investment Rewards cards at Walmart
/I know this post won't be super relevant to all of my readers, but I always try to write the kind of blog that I would want to read, so I want to pass along this piece of helpful information that I was able to confirm today.
Credit cards issued by American Express aren't payable at Walmart
Starting in February, it hasn't been possible to use the technique I described in this series of posts to pay credit cards issued by American Express. However, there are a number of credit cards that use the American Express payment network that are not issued by American Express, and the community has been hard at work finding ways to make Walmart bill payments to those credit cards.
Fidelity Investment Rewards credit cards are payable at Walmart
The card I recommend to absolutely everyone getting started in this game is the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express card, which gives 2% cash back on all purchases and now even comes with a $75 signup bonus.
While the card is Fidelity-branded, and operates on the American Express payment network, it's issued by FIA Card Services, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America.
Knowing that fact is what allowed FlyerTalker CrediPig to successfully make a bill payment to "Bank of America Consumer Loans," which accepted his payment. MsArbi later posted another success.
I had to get some money into my Bank of America account before I could try it for myself, but can now report my own success making a next-day payment, with a transaction fee of $1.50. That's the same fee that used to be charged for American Express bill payments and that I believe is still charged for Discover bill payments. 3-day payments should cost $1.
For your information: Walmart terminals have been (very) recently updated
The payment terminals at my local Walmart store location were updated sometime in the last 48 hours. All our favorite techniques still work on the new software, including split payments, but you may be thrown off by the new interface (I was).
While previously I entered my PIN immediately after swiping a debit card, now I'm given the "cash back" option before entering my PIN. It may seem like a small thing, but when you make as many Walmart debit transactions as I do, you start to notice the little things!
My usually very competent regular cashier was having trouble splitting payments on the new interface, and had to look up "Bank of America Consumer Loans" through what her colleague called "the old system," so anticipate slight delays and holdups as the update is rolled out across Walmart locations and cashiers familiarize themselves with it.
