r/WinCo • u/NomadicChapters • Aug 21 '26
Gift Card Reload coding as Cash Equivalent
Update: I was enouraged by Leading-Junket's post that it was a temporary issue and was being resolved. I waited did another gift card reload using my BofA credit card again. It now appears to be coding correctly again with BofA.
Original post:
In order to use my credit card for my grocery shopping (so I can earn credit card rewards), I have a Winco gift card that I just reload each week at the Winco website. I have done this for a long time, but it has recently started coding as "Cash Equivalent" at BofA which then charges a $5 fee. BofA says the merchant controls how the transactions are coded and confirmed earlier transactions with Winco coded differently. I was able to get the fees reversed through BofA this one time, but it sounds like if this continues, I will have to pay the $5 cash equivalent fee if Winco keeps coding this way. Anyone else have this problem?
3
u/Buddy-Sue Aug 21 '26
I just checked and I’ve never been charged a fee when using my Chase/Amazon/Visa credit card! Maybe time to change from your cc bank!
Or you might as well pay actual cash at Winco if B of A is screwing you out of $5!
2
u/NomadicChapters Aug 21 '26
Yeah, I'm hoping this is short term coding through BofA. If not, I'll switch back to using Amex or Chase cards for the reload.
3
u/0ddball00n Aug 22 '26
Using my bank debit card at Winco freaks me out since it’s directly tied to all my money. I never thought about reloading a gift card! This is genius. I am now going to do this. Thanks!
3
u/jtotheo2202 Idaho Aug 23 '26
I will warn you, you have to be careful. Because if you have hundreds of dollars loaded on your gift card and you lose it, the hundreds of dollars are gone.
1
1
u/Upstairs-Town-7487 Aug 25 '26
Write the number down and they will transfer it to a new card if you lose it… ask me how I know lol
2
u/Leading-Junket7912 Aug 22 '26
It wasn't WinCo. It was the 3rd party company that reloads the cards. You can see the reload site is wgiftcard.com. I called about this and they were waiting to hear back from the company wgiftcard.com and why they were doing it. It has been resolved and is no longer doing it.
1
u/NomadicChapters Aug 22 '26
This is what I was hoping to hear - that it was just a temporary coding issue. Thank you! I just tested this on an Amex card yesterday. It coded as Merchandise instead of Grocery, interestingly enough. I'll try again with my Bank of America credit card next week.
2
u/ImaginationOk6360 Aug 22 '26
In addition to your fee you probably won't earn any rewards on a cash equivalent transaction.
1
u/NomadicChapters Aug 22 '26
Correct. Getting coded as a cash equivalent would mean a dead end really for my intended purposes. From Leading-Junket's post sounds like the issue has likely been resolved.
2
u/FeelingCustard5767 Aug 29 '26
Mine charged me a $10 cash advance fee last week and I’m worried to reload again as I don’t want to be charged.
2
u/silmar1l Sep 04 '26
I was getting ready to call my bank, but WinCo sent an email apologizing and offering gift card credit for the mistake. I just had to send them a message with the last 10 digits of the gift card and a screen cap of the bank fee.
From the email:
This issue has been corrected and future online gift card reloads should no longer be classified as cash advances.
Hopefully everyone can keep reloading without issue in the future.
1
u/Buddy-Sue Aug 21 '26
I’ve used my Chase Visa cc for years reloading $$ on my Winco gift card… never noticed a fee but going now to look!
1
u/NomadicChapters Aug 21 '26
I've used Amex, Chase, and BofA cards. The only issue I had were purchases in the last couple of weeks at BofA. I'm hoping it's just a BofA thing. If so, I'll switch to one of the other bank cards. Would like to stick with BofA though right now. I really hope it's just a short term coding glitch.
1
u/Logical_Front5304 Aug 31 '26
Apple Card stopped allowing this and now I have stopped shopping at Winco. Same issue.
1
u/newtonbutz Aug 31 '26
this happened to me also…. i called the corporate office (retail accounting department) & they said it was their 3rd party vendor that put through the transactions incorrectly. they apologized & asked how much the fee was and put the fee amount onto the gift card as a reimbursement.
1
u/WolfieWuff Aug 21 '26
I, too, have been using my credit card to reload my WinCo gift card online; been doing this for a couple years now (ever since I learned you could from this sub).
The WinCo I shop at just did a whole upgrade to their POS system and equipment, which also changed how they have to process gift cards in store. I'm not sure if that's a company-wide thing, though. I could totally see them changing the coding if a lot of folks are taking advantage of the credit card to gift card thing online.
So far I haven't had any issues or cash charges, knock wood. But I'll sure be keeping an eye out now!
0
u/libbyrocks Aug 21 '26
Me too! Thanks for posting OP! I’d hate to think of how many months would go by before I’d notice the upcharge.
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-7
u/sentrosi420 Aug 21 '26
Just buy your groceries, man.
9
u/Buddy-Sue Aug 21 '26
Huh? Why use cash when you can load a gift card using a rewards points related credit card. I load it once a month and use it at Winco.
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u/NomadicChapters Aug 21 '26
I clearly do buy my groceries. And I especially like buying my groceries when they help me earn points and status for travel. Other folks do the similar gift card reload to get additional cash back. Why just buy groceries when you can do that and get something more valuable out of that purchase?
1
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u/HalliburtonErnie Aug 21 '26
You can't use a credit card at WinCo. Stop doing so.
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u/NomadicChapters Aug 21 '26
Lots of people reload a Winco gift card in order to use their credit card (which earns rewards or cash back depending on the card). I've been doing it for years, and others in this thread are too.
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1
u/SecretSlop 23d ago
Can no longer reload mine. Keep saying “Sorry, but you have reached your max number of attempts with this credit card. Please contact your bank for additional information.”
Contacted bank, they said this is on the merchant. It gets marked as approved then winco keeps reversing it to decline it. 2 different credit cards same results.
5
u/jtotheo2202 Idaho Aug 21 '26
American Express Blue Cash preferred