Update to Gobank load limits and cost per point analysis

In my ongoing quest to document as many details as possible of Gobank, the relatively new alternative checking product, in order to make it easy for my readers to take advantage of this exciting new opportunity, I want to clarify one additional limit that I have so far failed to mention in previous posts.

As you know, there is a daily limit of $2,500 when loading money to the card using cash or a PIN-enabled debit card at any Walmart register or MoneyCenter kiosk. However, the ​Gobank website also explains (you can find this under "Deposit > Deposit Cash > Learn more"):

We allow between $20 (minimum) and $1,100 (maximum) per transaction.

Cost per dollar using MyVanilla Debit

This restriction made me wonder, what's the minimum cost a Gobank user can pay per dollar of manufactured spend using the techniques I described in my post, "The Perpetual Points Machine is Real​?"

​When buying a Vanilla Reload Network reload card with its maximum value, $500, you'll pay $3.95 per $503.95 in manufactured spend. But if you load the reload card to a MyVanilla Debit card, you'll also pay a flat $0.50 per transaction fee when you move the money to your Gobank account at Walmart. To minimize the cost per manufactured dollar, you'll therefore also want to make your unloading transactions as large as possible, in this case, $1,100. (Note that I do not do this, out of an overabundance of caution; I make multiple, somewhat smaller load transactions).

To make the math simple, say you buy $5,500 in Vanilla Reload Network reload cards. You'll pay $43.45 in load fees to manufacture $5,543.45 in spend. To unload that $5,500, you'll make 3 trips to Walmart, loading $1,100 twice during the first two trips and  once on your third trip. Those 5 transactions will cost an additional $2.50 total, bringing your total cost to $45.95 for $5,543.45 in manufactured spend, or 0.82 cents per dollar.

I find it lucrative to pay this cost when I use a 2% cash back credit card (or a card offering 2.22% cash back as statement credits), or when I use one of my other cards that offers ​big rewards when I reach a high level of annual spending. Whether it's worth it for you depends on how highly you value the points or miles you're manufacturing, and whether you are using this technique to meet minimum spending requirements you can't meet with your everyday purchases.