Discover has added a new feature to the Discover checking account where you can add funds to your account at Walmart for no fee. You’ll need to have a contactless debit can to be allowed to add funds to your account and unfortunately Discover stopped accepting new customers as of 12/5/22 but is expected to allow new sign ups in early 2023.
Rules are as follows:
- $20 minimum load
- $1,000 maximum load per day (rolling 24 hour period), $20,000 monthly limit
- Can use a maximum of 4 cards (e.g your Discover debit card and then 3 additional cards to load)
Hat tip to Training_Fix3455 & Â HappyCamper_2020
This feature has been very handy.
Steps:
1. Go to money center and ask to load discover checking. If they are confused it’s code 70.
2. Insert discover card, enter your ZIP code.
3. Cashier must type in amount, you click confirm.
4. Swipe gift card, decline cash back, enter pin (preferably set to something you remember).
Caveats:
1. The loading feature is technically available at any manned register, but is extremely ymmv. I suggest MC. Not all cashiers in normal lines know how to do it or sometimes they say they can only do low amounts. And regular lines are barely faster than MC usually.
2. Use Visas. Most MasterCard I guess default to credit instead of debit in this process and you have to intervene and change payment or something like that.
3. Attempting to load the full amount from a vanilla will usually lock the card, don’t do it. You’ll have to call their support. Try something like $495. Then burn the rest at a grocery store or self checkout.
4. Fee free cards from Staples are usually capped at $99 per swipe.
Does the $200 VGC from Office Depot work with this method?
You’d have to read flyertalk for DPs. No office Depot near me
Step 3. You’re supposed to tell them the total amount or just the amount per gift card? If it’s just the amount per gift card, You basically completed the transaction and then you ask if you can start all over and do it again?
I was able to load $600 & $200 on 6/7 at WM with no trouble. Attempted to load $600 on 6/9. First 2 GC seemed to process fine but the 3rd one failed so I walked away. Had same result today 6/12 where the first 2 200’s seemed to process but the 3rd one gave the error. I will try tomorrow to load just $400(2 x 200 GC). Same fail issue makes me wonder if there is a new $500 limit. Anyone else having similar issues at WM?
Are you using BHN MB VGC?
Walmart cracking down on this insanely hard.
recently i went Walmart for discover reload, tried 1000 bucks but failed， then tried loaded $500 for 2 times using secure spending vgc. one of the cards went wrong and show error code 57 and i tried again it showed 12, then i tried another card and it succeeded.
The cashier didn’t say anything to you? Cashiers in my area would immediately get suspicious.
When I go to the Walmart customer service, they didn’t allow me to use the visa gift card to load money to Discover debit card.
me too
I was able to load using a Staples $200 Visa gift card (Metabank) at the WM cashier. However, I got an error when trying $200 directly (Debit no allowed). The cashier then tried 2x$100 and that worked. She suggested that I go to the Money Center next time…
Staples now has a sale on MasterCard gift cards. Does anyone know if MasterCards are more difficult to use than Visa cards for this purpose?
I’ve tried Pathward MCGC for the past 2 weeks and can’t get any way for it to load. Tried WM cashier, WMSC, WMMC.
Same here. I switched prepaid debit cards becuase they kept on failing at western unions
When you say the cashier did 2x $100, do you mean you got one receipt for $200 and 2 swipes, or two receipts for $100 each?
Will this work for the Discover savings account since the checkings account is not accepting new applications?
May I ask whether the VGCs from Vanilla can be used for this purpose?
Had mine fail for the first time today. There is no longer an d option to pre-set the PIN before use. Not sure if that’s related.
You can set pin by phone call or online (check balance, then click the hamburger menu)
Anything I did wrong? I went to local Walmart and told them ‘load money into this card’, then I inserted the Discover debit card. The CSR tried two machines but both failed — not sure what is the failure. Is it because my debit card is not ‘contactless’? I have a whitish debit card with a chip, and it expired in 2026 so the card should be reasonably new. (Bizarrely when I logged into my discover card, the card image shows blackish)
Judging from the DPs, not a lot of success. It’s possible that your card isn’t contactless like they seem to be requiring. Does it have the symbol on it?
100% Needs to be contactless to load at WM. I had to order replacements, took about 3 business days to get my new cards.
Good info, thanks. Are you finding success using the reload option?
Yes, I’ve been able to load.
I have some more testing to do before I share a more detailed DP.
Hi
WGU 
JA
Did you end up doing any further testing?
Do you go to a regular checkout ? self checkout?
How do you use contactless debit card since Walmart machines AFAIK the only contactless method available at Walmart is Walmartpay (that is for the payment though).
It’s the same procedure as any serve/GoB product. You don’t use the contactless, I don’t know why that is the required card(or if that is even the case, we’re just trusting the source here). Any manned checkout terminal (technically, but depending on your store they may send you to CS/MC, but know that every person with a register has the ability to load). I was getting errors because I had a mystery block (front line phone rep couldn’t see an issue, I had to demand to get sent to tech desk). I’m assuming it was caused by a single successful load out-of-state. I just got the same “debit not approved” error for hitting a hard limit (7 loads in rolling 7 days). Otherwise have been issue free
Just curious is there a specific upside in avoiding CS/MC for this?
just store specific stuff. If your MC is still nuclear from the memo years back, if your CS has a constant line of 10 people doing returns. Fortunately my store we got everyone trained on action code 70 and they’re allowed to do it. I’ve been in other cities where nobody is “allowed” to load, even tho i guarantee they could hit action code 70 and load away. Just know there’s no hard block on anyone at any register, they can all do it.
Loaded 12/21. 12/29 and 30 getting “debit not approved call authorizer”, clerk confirmed it’s not a payment failure. Immediate charge and refund to payment card. We dead already?
Did you hit the Monthly limits?
not even close. 2 different stores, 2 different payment cards that work otherwise
Gotcha.