Update 6/3/14 at 8:00PM PST: Vanilla Reload Cards can no longer be purchased with credit cards at most stores, including CVS. Please read this post for more information.
Load Bluebird with Vanilla Reload Cards
Go to your local CVS store and purchase 1 or 2 Vanilla Reload Cards with your credit card. Most CVS stores have a $1,000 daily limit on these cards, so just purchase 2 each visit. You might have to ask the cashier if they have these cards behind the counter if you do not see them in the gift card rack.
This is the front of the Vanilla Reload Card (VRC). New designs may vary slightly.
This is the back of the VRC.
This is my CVS receipt after purchasing 2 VRCs. $500 load value plus a $3.95 activation fee. 2 VRCs plus 2 activation fees = 2 x $500 + 2 x $3.95 = $1,007.90 total.
Currently, my Bluebird account has a $0.00 balance.
Go to www.vanillareload.com (probably smart to bookmark this site too).
Turn over the VRC and scratch off the silver coating to reveal the PIN, enter the 10 digit PIN online, then click the Load Prepaid Card button.
Enter your 15 digit Bluebird account number in the box. Your account number is the 15 digit number on the front of your Bluebird card. Check the “I agree to the Vanilla Reload Terms and Conditions” box and click the Apply Reload button. If nothing happens, you may have to scroll to the bottom of the Terms and Conditions.
Recently, Vanilla Reload added a captcha text box below the terms and conditions box.
Verify that the VRC has the correct balance before you click the Yes, I Am Sure button.
Success! Your VRC has been successfully transferred to your Bluebird card. If you have another VRC, please go back to the home page and repeat the above steps. Vanilla Reload recently added your VRC PIN to the confirmation screen so you can see which card you just loaded.
Bluebird will send you an email after your VRC has been successfully reloaded onto your Bluebird card.
I logged into my Bluebird account and see the $500 reload right away. The transfer is instant from VRC to your Bluebird account.
Bluebird has a $1,000 daily reload limit and $5,000 monthly reload limit for loading Vanilla Reload Cards. The monthly limit resets every first of the month.
Now for some math. Each VRC costs $3.95 and you earn 504 miles or points. That equates to $3.95 / 504 = 0.78 cents per mile or point.
Are you getting an error message?
If you try to enter an invalid PIN, you will get the following message:
If you try to enter the same PIN twice, you will get the following message:
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
I do not get this formula. Please clear it for me. I normally use chase freedom which earns me 1% on the purchase. If I pay $500 (which the max) to reload the vanilla card, after $3.95 fee, I basic earn $1, which is not much considering the hassel. Am I missing the big picture?
The Vanilla Reload Cards are best used with credit cards to meet minimum spends and to reach high spend bonuses. A 1% card isn’t worth the time required.
Ok I use this method quite frequently, but your Math is just a tid off. It actually boils down to .0078 cents per mile. So not even a penny a mile.. Awesome method to use. Quick way to top off your mileage account. To linda, for the fee you have to pay for a 1% its not really worth it, best used for chase sapphire preferred or United mileageplus. The points are good to have and they add up quick 1mile for every $ spent.
To Grant: Would you use this method every month max out bluebird and get just a little over 5,000 miles a month? IF you wouldn’t why not? Good post for beginners very thorough!
I try to max out my $5,000 monthly Bluebird limit. I usually put $4,500 to $5,000 on the card, with a combination of Vanilla Reload Cards and gift cards at Walmart.
Read the post on the right about buying Chase Gift Cards with a Chase Credit Card with no activation fee. You can actually get free points that way.
Hi Grant!
Im in Irvine too. Could you share which CVS locations are best to get the Vanilla reload cards?
Thanks for the post!
I go to the one on Portola by NHS.
I’ve always been slightly confused about how this works but your post cleared it right up! I’m planning on applying for the ink bold and/or sapphire preferred soon so it’s good to know how this system works. I actually went by my local cvs today and they had plenty of the vanilla reload cards. Im gonna sign up for a bluebird account today and get started!
Quick question I noticed cvs also sold paypal gift cards which you can buy and use to fund your paypal account online. Could you use these in a similar way as well to rack up some points? Thanks again!
Syed, it depends how you use the Paypal cards. If you load them to your account then withdraw the money to your bank account, Paypal will shut you down.
Just to make sure I got this:
1. I buy the Vanilla cards with my Alaska Airlines Signature card, say 2-$500 cards.
2. I load the Vanilla cards onto my Blueberry card.
3. I use the Blueberry card to pay things such as rent, utility bills, etc. Will it pay mortgages, too?
You are almost right. It’s a Bluebird card not a Blueberry card. Yes you can pay any bill that you would normally be as to pay through checks or your bank’s bill pay feature.
Ah, yes, thanks! Headed to Walmart today.
Good luck Tiffany, let me know if you have any other questions.
Tiffany, the WONDERFUL thing about the Bluebird card is that you can use it to pay your mortgage – all your bills you had to write checks for! Now – with the Suntrust Skymiles debit card, I can transfer my paycheck to Bluebird and get Skymiles for it!
I use bluebird to pay my student loan since the payment processor will not take credit card. Hence Vanilla Reloadable —> Bluebird —> Student loans
Smart man Joe. Hopefully you are almost done paying off your student loans.
I did not find Vanilla reload card at my local CVS…However I see they have bunch of Vanilla Visa Gift card ($4.95 fee) value from $25 – 500. Can I use credit card to buy the Vanilla Visa Gift card and load onto Bluebird? If possible, how do I load onto Bluebird?
Thanks.
Most of the time you have to ask the cashier, since they tend to keep the Vanilla Reload Cards behind the counter. You can buy Vanilla Visa gift cards and load them onto your Bluebird card by going to Walmart. I wrote a post about how to load gift cards to your Bluebird card at Walmart.
Grant, Vanilla Reload Network cards are not available in my area. What is the next best method to load Bluebird?
Thanks
Buy $500 gift cards from grocery stores, bring them to Walmart along with your Bluebird card, and then reload your Bluebird card for free.
I finally am able to get VRs from CVS using my Amazon Chase rewards credit card (2X on drugstores). yey!!!
Good job. That’s a lot better than a 1% credit card.
Is that purchase eligible for 2x at drugstores? I’m going to get one and pay for my mortgage..about 2000 a month.
Whatever card you have that earns bonus points at pharmacies will work.
hi! what if the the the CVS around me doesn’t accept credit card for paying the VRs..? I’m here in San Diego
Try to find another CVS that does or try to get another cashier to let you. Just be friendly and say you had a friend buy a VRC a few days ago at this store with a credit card and to just let me see if it goes through on the credit card reader.
When I used my Amex to buy VR at CVS, the cashier had to put in the last 4 digits of the card and it wouldn’t let her. Is it the last 4 digits of the card number or the “other” 4 numbers on the far right?
It could be both numbers. It would make the most sense to use the 4 digit above the credit card number in the upper right on the front side of your card.
Just bought today. It was the last four of the credit card number, not the 4 digit printed security code (found on Amex cards).
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Can you buy VR cards through ebates or some other “cash back” site online? (to get the 1% rebate) Or is it just through a store?
You can only buy at CVS and a few other retail stores.
Hey Grant….All VR are cash only at CVS , 7-Eleven …I checked few in Maryland. Able to buy just one MyVanilla debit visa with a credit card at CVS and even if you buy one $500 reload…they always scan your DL. Any other location where they might accept credit ? All locations Ive been to are cash ONLY for reload packs …nothing seems to be working..or what gift cards are still good to purchase other than reload packs?
That’s too bad Alex. In Southern California they are very credit card friendly. Check out the list of retailers here: https://www.vanillareload.com/index.php/where-buy
I would call the local stores and ask if the have the VRC and ask if it’s cash only. That should save you some time.
hi, it looks like from ur posts that u can load the bluebird card through vanillareload.com is this true or do i have to go to a walmart to do so?
If you have a Bluebird Card, you can load the Vanilla Reload Cards from the vanillareload.com website.
Hi Grant, I am getting a lot of help from your post =)
I have couple questions that I hope you have time to answer.
-What travel card do you use to buy VRC at CVS? Can you suggest couple cards for this GC pruchase?
-Can I go to several different CVS and buy $2K~$3K worth of gc? Is CVS the best store to buy VRC?
-I checked VRC’s website and saw that I can buy it at Office Depot. Can I use Chase Ink to get more rewards?
Thanks for your help!
Good afternoon Kay, I use several travel reward credit cards, it just depends what type of travel points you are trying to get. VRCs are great for reaching minimum spend.
You can go to as many CVS stores as you want, but I wouldn’t spend a ton on only 1 card.
Office Depot only takes cash for VRCs unfortunately.
Thank you Grant. I’ll probably going to use AMEX SPG. Thanks for the tip.
That’s a great card to use for VRCs :)
To get around the $5,000 per month maximum in VRs that BB allows, could I also open up a BB in my wife’s name and load my own VRs there. Then transfer from her BB to pay my original CC bill (that purchased the VRs)?
Theoretically yes, you could do that, but I think Bluebird would shut down both accounts if you did that. It is best to have 2 accounts and use Bluebird’s Bill Pay feature to pay 2 separate credit cards.
Hi Grant and all the readers. I live in Downtown LA and drove to several CVS and they either don’t have the VRC or don’t accept creditcard. Does anyone know where to buy VRC around Downtown Los Angeles? Please let me know. Many thanks in advance!
I haven’t had any luck in LA (by UCLA) but have good luck in Orange County
Grant, I”m in orange county too! I’m right by knotts berry farm. LOL.
We’re neighbors! Your website is awesome, filled with great tricks on maximizing rewards and money!
Thank you. Glad you like the content. Is there anything I am missing?
Thank you for the updated image of the VR & clear instructions, I’ve been trying to fund my Bluebird for a few weeks with no success, She’s Starving!
My question: the VR I can purchase has MyServe icon for American Express, will it work with Bluebird? or should I see just the AMEX icon you show on your image?
Thx.
Good morning, Serve was introduced by American Express before Bluebird came out. In order to get a Bluebird Card, American Express required you to close your Serve card. For that reason, I haven’t used Serve in many, many months.
The Vanilla Reload Cards should be able to load both cards. My local CVS still has the old design, but the new design works just the same.
Completely shut down here in Idaho. I’ve been to over 20 places, for both Green Dot AND Vanilla and none of the places take credit anymore. Almost all of them say that the policy just changed very recently.
That’s really bad news. Are there any Walmart stores near you?
Grant,
I am new to manufactured spending and have just gotten my feet wet. so far, I have been able to purchase $1,000 of Vanilla reloads and successfully load it onto my Bluebird account. My question to you is whether or not it’s safe to use my Bluebird to pay off the CC I used to purchase the Vanilla reloads? Or should there be some sort of grace period before paying? The last thing I need is for my account to be flagged or shut down.
I don’t recommend loading up your Bluebird card and then doing a bill payment right away for the full amount of the reload. That would draw some suspicion.
Hi Grant,
I will be in USA for around 2 months and already I got my temporary bluebird card but I can’t reload it because I don’t have the permanent card and I can’t get the permanent card because I don’t have SSN. I did a research and I found this:
“If you do not have permission to work: Lawfully admitted noncitizens can get many benefits and services without a Social Security number. You do not need a number to conduct business with a bank, register for school, apply for educational tests, obtain private health insurance, apply for school lunch programs or apply for subsidized housing. You cannot get a Social Security number for the sole purpose of obtaining a driver’s license.”
Source: http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm
I am in a business trip, and I don’t know what can I do to reload my temporary card or get the permanent card. Could you give me some advices?
I would try calling Bluebird and see if there is anything you can do to get a permanent card.
I got my bluebird card after overdrawing my real checking account at my local Federal Credit Union, and Im not going back to a bank unless it is absolutely mandatory!! Bluebird has 0 fees! unlike my checking account at my Federal credit union. Plus Bluebird has features that make it impossible to overdraw your Bluebird account. After paying off 1,000 in overdraft fees to my credit union. I told them to close my account, went to walmart bought a bluebird card, and I have been 110% happy with it. I ordered my bluebird checks, I pay off my credit card bills with my bluebird card. Why go back to a real bank and pay all kinds of fees when my Bluebird card doesn’t charge me anything to have a account with them. Kudos to American Express THANK YOU for being my banking alternative. Banks just care about making money off you. American Express Bluebird is how banks really should be.
I totally agree. You can also have your employer direct deposit your paycheck into your Bluebird account.
i don’t get it, i have been using this card an have never seen one point….where is the link on Bluebird? United? What am i missing….
You don’t earn any points using your Bluebird Card. You only earn points/miles with the credit card you use to buy VRCs.
Since discovering your site, I’ve received my Bluebird card and have purchased three VRN cards. The first two CVS I visited did not have VRN cards. The third had one card under a pile of other assorted cards @ the bottom of the rack. I purchased w/ a US Air CC for $500. Transferred the funds to Bluebird via the website that evening. Went to some more CVS stores the next couple days and found a location that had a couple dozen VRN cards. Bought two cards and transferred to Bluebird. I noticed on my US Air account that the first purchase became permanent. The other two cards don’t show up on the account w/ a $ figure but spending limit shows they are in the system. Just waiting to see that they become permanent so I know there isn’t any red flags. US Air is giving a 100% point bonus for Oct. & Nov. for a spend of $4K so this is a terrific deal. Plan on maxing out 20 VRN cards over the two months for 20K US Air miles. Going to apply for a Ink Plus card and really ramp up the point possibilities. Found another CVS today w/ a stack of VRN cards. Have my fingers crossed that the CC co. doesn’t shut my account down. Thank you for all the great info., especially being able to pay mortgage, taxes, etc. w/ funds from a CC!
Go easy at first, don’t be greedy. You got a good spending promo, I’m jealous.
Could the vanilla reload card transfer funds to a checking acct?
Yes, I think I have a post about adding a checking account to your Bluebird account. It is a little hard to find.
Hi. I am new for BB, VR etc. Could you please suggest me following (sorry if I am too dumb). Also I apology for the long comment.
1) I need to purchase 2 VR card and then load both of them seperately for max $500 (so that not to cross $1000 daily limit). This is the case if I am using single CC for both the VR. But if I use multiple CC say 2 CC. Then I can purchase 4 VRs and load all 4 with $500 ($1000 by each CC), right?
2) Also, say I go again after 1 week to CVS and I can simply use my old VR to load again $500 etc or I need to buy new VR in every visit (this is dumb question, as VR name itself suggest “Reload”, but still I ask just in case)
3) You gave the process for BB. I tried to create account online for Serve and it went for review. Then after 5 mins I tried to create BB account online and it says my email ID and phone number already used (while I never created BB earlier). So, does it means I can have either serve account or BB account but not both?
4) In case I get serve account successfully, so I hope I can use VR to load in serve account also right?
5) This is important question, that if I load serve account with VR, then can I transfer money from serve to my bank checking account? (as I dont want to use it for bill pay etc). If I cannot, then I need to drop this Serve and VR idea
6) Do CC company will raise any flag if I use VR and serve for purchasing (by CC) and then transferring money to checking account by serve? (considering I never go above the daily or monthly limit (means always below $1000 or $5000)? Or should I load VR by $499 just to avoid flag?
Please suggest. Thanks in advance.
Happy Halloween Yogesh, let me answer your questions:
1 – it depends how many your CVS will sell you per day. Some only sell $1,000 per day, others are $5,000. You can put them on one card or on separate cards.
2 – Each VRC can only be used once, so you will have to buy new ones every time you visit CVS. They are not reloadable.
3 – Currently you cannot have a Serve and Bluebird card at the same time. Chose Bluebird before Serve.
4 – Yes, you can load Serve with a VRC.
5 – I am not familiar with Serve, but I know you can transfer money to your bank account from Bluebird.
6 – I would start small, buy only 1 VRC with a credit card, then slowly increase your purchases. Do not buy $5,000 at one time with 1 card.
I really appreciate your response. Thanks
Grant, what is the difference between the Vanilla Reload and the “One Vanilla Prepaid visa Card?” Can I use it the same way as the Vanilla Reload – purchase it and load it online?
Thanks for your assistance!
Only the VRCs can be loaded to your Bluebird Card online. The other gift cards can be loaded at Walmart onto your Bluebird Card.
As of 2 months ago the 3 CVS’s close to me all had VR’s. As of yesterday, none of them do. The managers say they don’t know if/when they’ll be getting them again. How inconvenient…
That’s a bummer. If your CVS stores are like mine, they usually get a new shipment Monday night and restock everything for purchase Tuesday morning. Try calling all 3 stores Tuesday morning to see if any got more VRCs.
Well I have some great news. Decided to check out this office depot I havent been to in a while and who previously didnt carry VR’s. Now they have STACKS of them and the manager said they dont plan on getting rid of them anytime soon. Plan on getting a Chase Ink Plus soon so this should be awesome!
I am pretty sure you can only buy VRCs at Office Depot with cash. They stopped selling them with credit cards a few months back. I would try to buy one with a credit card before you go for the Ink card.
Oh ok. Will definitely verify that before getting the Ink. Thanks for the heads up!
Check out this post for more info: http://travelwithgrant.com/2013/07/03/500-visa-gift-cards-life-support/
I would like to get “an american express for target” but the local target stores where I live do not sell them. My question is that if I get one from a target store that sells them (2 hrs away) can I reload money at my local target store? please clarify this. Thank you in advance.
Yes, you can reload your Target Amex at any Target store. Just take the card to the customer service department (aka returns department) and have them load up the card. There is a $3.00 load charge each time, but you can load up to $1,000 per day, $5,000 per month.
Can I load vanilla cards onto my temporary bb card?
I’ve never tried. I would wait until your permanent card arrives. Did you order your permanent card yet?
Hey Grant. Unfortunately you were right about Office Depot. Cash only for their VR’s no way around it. The good news is I did find one at a CVS today and I talked to the managers at a couple of CVS’s and found out what day their new shipments arrive (which happens to be different days even though they are 3 blocks apart).
I also dropped by a local 7-11 and they were well stocked with VR’s and said they get new ones every other day. So once my next churn comes I should have enough opportunities to meet the spend with VR’s. Thanks again for the tips!
Sounds like you live in a VRC hub. I’m slightly jealous.
Any problems buying VR with amex prepaid gift card at CVS? I did that last year when there was cashback.
You might have trouble if the gift card doesn’t have your name on it. Most clerks check your ID and match the name on the card. If you get lucky, you might be able to use a gift card without your name printed on it.
Grant, this tutorial ROCKED! Every Q I had, answered. One thought — can you not have two bluebird cards, to double your monthly max (just with two sep. emails)?
Good morning, unfortunately you can only have one Bluebird Card per SSN.
Interesting post Grant. I have several rental properties. Could I use the VRC to pay the mortgages on them?
Yes, Bluebird can be used to literally pay every bill out there.
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the post! Have you or anyone used Amex SPG for VR’s and seen the points posted? Thanks!
Yes I use the AMEX SPG card and have earned the points.
Hi Grant. Can I use Amex Serve (on My Wife’s name) to pay credit card bills (on my name). Please suggest.
Yes. Bluebird and Serve aren’t able to tell whose name is on the credit card that you pay through bill pay.
I really appreciate your quick reply. I have blue bird and my wife has amex serve. Now I am using my names Credit card in CVS to buy Vanilla reload. So, now I am planning to load these vanilla reload to Wife’s serve and then pay bill of the same credit card (used in CVS) to pay bill. This way I can avoid any suspicious/flag. Please suggest if my approach is correct. Or even I can use my blue bird too (on my name) to pay my CC bill (but it would raise some flag in worst case)..
You should be fine.
hey Grant – am I right in saying that the only advantage to VRC’s versus other prepaid visa’s is that the NON-Vanilla Reloads have to be put onto bluebird at Walmart? Is there any other advantage to VRC’s? My thought is to simply buy the prepaid visa cards at office depot for the 5x points on Ink card? Sound like a good plan, or stick with VRC’s?
I do both. Buy VRCs at CVS with other credit cards. Buy Visa/MC GCs at Staples / Office Depot / Office Max with Ink Bold and load onto Bluebird at Walmart.
Hi Grant, I just got 2 SW cards (personal plus & premier) and plan to get to CP status by meeting the minimum spending requirement within first 3 months to get 50k bonus points on each. To do this I need to buy a lot of VR cards to reload into my BB.
1. As CVS has $1000 limit per day for VR card purchases. What about if I go to several CVS in my town and neighboring towns. Let’s say I go to 5 CVS stores and buy 2 cards in each store using my SW cards, thus I got $5000 for total of 10 VR cards. Is this correct and doable?
2. Since BB has $5000 monthly reload limit, can I maximize my spending of SW cards by buying VR cards worth of $5000 per month as I described above. For example, I buy 6 VR cards (from 3 different CVS stores) worth of $3000 with SW personal plus. Then I buy another 4 VR cards (from 2 different CVS stores) worth of $2000 with SW personal premier. Will this trigger an alert that caused my Chase SW accounts to be flagged/suspended? If there is, what would you suggest for safest way to do this method (like how long should I wait and the frequency).
3. Can I use BB to pay the $5000 bill on my 2 SW cards that I used to buy VR cards?
Thank you so much in advance.
Very good strategy but I would space out the transactions a bit. Maybe buy 2 VRCs per week per card. I would also mix in some other purchases if you can. You can use Bluebird to bill pay your Chase SWA cards.
One more thing, did you cancel your southwest cards and then reapply when the promotion was available again? I want to know, when is the best time to cancel my SW plus and premier cards after I receive my CP status free pass. Thank you in advance and appreciate your help.
I have only had 1 SWA CC and I still currently have it. Its the SWA Premier version. You will probably have to wait 2+ years to get the same card again and get the sign up bonus.
Thank you very much for your advice, really appreciate it.
No problem. Glad to help.
hey grant. i am currently awaiting my bb card. i have several personal and business visa and master cards all through capital one. i get cash rewards from 1.5 to 2 %. i went online to mastercard.com, and found out that i can buy 500 prepaid cards for 4.95. i figure if i do the 1000 a day and max of 5000 a month, i can profit 25 a month in cash after the fees. my question is will i be able to load the prepaid mastercards i order from the website to my bb card free of charge at walmart??? thanks
Yes you can. Just add a PIN and go to Walmart to load up your Bluebird Card.
It is probably easier to buy VRCs from CVS if you can.
There is a CVS right next door. I will go over tomorrow and see if they have them and will let me use a CC
If you do not see them on the gift card rack, ask the cashier. Sometimes they keep the cards behind the counter.
Cool! Thanks. The $25 isnt much, but it is free money. :)
It adds up. $25 x 12 months = $300 per year.
Just wanted to share a funny incident today. I was working in a different city today and decided to check out the local cvs. They were stocked with VRC’s so I bought a couple. I brought 2 to the register and asked the lady to put $500 on each to use with my Citi Dividend card which has 5% back on drugstores until the end of the year. She bugged her eyes out and literally screamed “You want $500 on each? That’s a thousand dollars!” She literally asked me the same thing 3 more times until I had to nicely ask her to lower her voice. I didn’t really feel like getting mugged when I left. She seemed really flustered and paged the manager and she was able to complete the transaction easily.
Anyone else have any interesting reactions when buying VRC’s?
I have had some weird experiences buying VRCs but never had that happen. It might look a bit strange for a 23 year old to buy $1,000 at one time in CVS, but I go in with my business clothes on so maybe I like 24-25 years old. But seriously, some cashier have sold 1 VRC and others have sold 1,000+, it just depends. During my last CVS purchase, the cashier got confused and scanned the same VRC twice and it automatically rejected the transactions. We spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out what happened. It is not rocket science (to us, at least).
I went into CVS next to my house and they did have the VRN cards. In fact they said they just got them a month ago when they started selling the American Express prepaid cards. I was told they have plenty and they shouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. I was able to purchase 2 of $500 each (the daily limit) with my Capital One Quick Silver Card. I did have to call in to verify that it wasn’t fraudulent activity before it was approved. In the end I earned $15.12 in cash rewards. Minus the activation fees, that is a profit of $7.22. I will max out earning $36.09 a month and a grand total of $433.11 a year. Free Money! :D
I plan to set up one for my fiancee so we can double up.
The cash back cards sure add up over time. Have you looked at the Blue Cash Preferred? 6% cash back at grocery stores. You can buy $500 gift cards, pay $506 total, earn $30.36 in cash back, subtract $5.95 activation fee and you net $24.41 per card.
I’m scared to apply for other credit cards, because I had a bunch of inquiries fall off my report this year, and I still have 5 on at the moment. I have 4 credit cards with Capital One, with a total limit of 24k. I really don’t think I need another card. But it would be nice… I do like to save and make money. :/
I would apply and call the AMEX recon line if you don’t get instantly approved. If they ask why you want that card, tell them the cash back offer is better with American Express and are tired of earning cash back from Capital One.
I will think about it. Do you by any chance happen to know what is the required credit score for that card?
Most cards probably need a 700+ credit score. If you have a good credit history, they may approve you with a lower score.
Hello, what a great source of knowledge this thread is! Thanks Grant, and everyone :) I am still a little confused about Bluebird, and what role Walmart has in it. And, especially confused about how BB works lol So I can use it to pay basically any bill via online?? And/or, I thought I saw somewhere that I can transfer from BB right into my bank checking account that I could pay my credit card bill with (hate to risk paying the credit card bill directly with BB, could be a problem I thought I read)? Chase Sapphire Preferred is the credit card for bonus spend.
I have been using Bluebird to pay my credit card bills directly for months. I don’t think it is very risky. I actually think loading money onto Bluebird then transferring it all back to a bank account is more risky.
Ahh, ok! What is the Walmart connection with Bluebird vs setting up an online account, I am still unclear about that, thanks :)
You can load cash and debit cards (Visa and MasterCard gift cards) onto your Bluebird Card at Walmart. Otherwise you can load Vanilla Reload Cards to your Bluebird Card online via http://www.vanillareload.com
Thanks very much Grant for your patience in explaining this to me!!! I am going to try to open my BB account later today :)
Glad to help. Bluebird is awesome, you will like it!
which reward card do you use ? I’m debating between amazon, starwood american express, or chase rewards.
Good question. I would split my purchases between the SPG card and the Chase card.
thanks Grant, I was thinking about the 2% Fidelity card but I figured with the 3.95 card fees, I”m only going to get $24 per month on a 2k reload card. $40- 16 fees= $24/month. Do you think the chase freedom card is better? I see it’s only worth 1 point for purchases at a drugstore.
VRCs are really good for meeting minimum spend requirements. Everything else will be a slow payoff.
I can’t open a bluebird account because i have a serve account. I closed the serve account and now have to wait for 30 days to sign up for the bluebird account. Does the serve account work the same way? What’s the difference?
I”m looking to pay my mortgage through the bluebird account. My payment only takes a checking account debit.
From what I’ve heard, bluebird and serve are basically the same thing and both run on the same network through American Express.
will i be able to get a checking account like bluebird? perhaps i can just join serve and see.
Is there any fee or limit when u load vanilla reload to bb online?
There is no fee to load VRCs online, other than the $3.95 fee to purchase the VRC from the store. You can only load up to $1,000 per day and $5,000 per month to your Bluebird Card.
Just curious, if I buy a VRC for, say, $500, does it show on the credit card as 503.95? And is the $3.95 per VRC, no matter what the amount (max of $1000 I know)? Thanks!
Yes, the $3.95 activation fee is the same no matter how much you load onto your Vanilla Reload Card. You can only load up to $500 per Vanilla Reload Card.