How to get around BML’s VISA debit card $400 daily limit while shopping online

Do you own a Bank of Maldives issued VISA debit card? Do you use it to shop online? If the answer is yes for both of these questions you might be frustrated with the $400 daily spending limit that’s imposed on your card by BML. This is a partly work around for this problem.

First of all let me put this straight. This will NOT work for a single purchase or transaction that’s above $400. This is only for multiple transactions that add up to greater than $400. Also practically this method will be limited to a maximum total of $800 worth of purchases.

How this works is that BML doesn’t verify whether you spend more than $400 in 24 hours, but rather they only check whether you spend more than $400 on any specific calendar day. What this means is that your spending limit will be reset every day at midnight, Maldives time (GMT +5.00). So if you wanted to buy some stuff that totals to more than $400, all you have to do is buy $400 worth of stuff at sometime close to midnight, say around 11:30pm and buy the rest after midnight.

I’ve myself used this method recently to buy a GoPro HERO3: Black Edition that cost exactly $399.99 and some other GoPro accessories on Amazon. What I did was first buy the GoPro around 11:00pm and bought the accessories after midnight. Since I was shipping to a U.S address I qualified for Amazon’s FREE Super Saver Shipping and so I didn’t have to pay anything for delivery. Notice that the GoPro practically costs $400, so if I did have to pay for shipping, I wouldn’t have been able to buy it since that single transaction would have been greater than $400.

You don’t actually have to make your transactions close to midnight. Its just that the first purchase has to be before midnight and the second purchase has to be after midnight. However if you are buying from the same vendor and if the two purchases are spaced too far apart, you might run into some problems such as the two orders being shipped separately. Usually online vendors such as Amazon will consolidate your orders before shipping if you make the orders close to each other.

Another way to get around the $400 problem is to ask the vendor or seller to make your payment in installments. However usually large online vendors and brand name shops won’t agree to this. This usually only works with individual sellers on eBay or other listings site.