How to Add a Credit Card to Serve
To add a credit card to your Serve account, navigate to the Settings page, and click on Bank & Cards.
Then click the Link Credit Card button.
Enter your credit card information as well as your mailing address. You should use a real credit card, not a gift card, a debit card, or a card that you are an authorized user on. The transactions are processed by American Express as a purchase, not a cash advance. Some people have reported that American Express credit cards are not earning miles/points, so I would use a different credit card from another bank. After entering all the information, click the Submit button at the bottom.
Read and understand what the Backup Funding Source is/does. It means that if you use your Serve Card to make a purchase larger than your current available balance, the remaining charge will come from your credit card. I don’t recommend using that feature, but you can do what you want.
Congratulations, your credit card has been successfully linked to your Serve account.
Back at the Bank & Cards settings page, you can view your linked credit card. You can only have one linked credit card at a time, so if you want to change it, you will have to remove the current credit card and add the new credit card to your Serve account.
Now to add money, click the Add Money button, and type any amount up to $200 (that’s the daily limit for adding funds from a credit card). Select your credit card from the funding source drop down menu and click the Review button.
Double check that the amount you entered is correct and that you have chosen the correct funding source. If it all looks good, click the Submit button.
Congratulations, you just added funds with your credit card!
Back at your Serve home page, you can see all your recent transactions, including the $200 credit card reload.
You will also receive a confirmation email from Serve with details of the transaction.
As for the $200 credit card reload charge, it is showing up as a pending purchase at US Bank.
After a few days, the charge posts to my account with no indication of a cash advance. I haven’t tested all the other banks, but it sounds like all the other banks (with the exception of American Express) process the charge as a purchase and will earn miles/points.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Anyone try a citi card and know if it gets flagged as a cash advance?
According to FlyerTalk, Citi cards do not charge cash advance fees for online credit card loads. IF you are afraid anyways, call Citi and have them lower your cash advance limit to $0 and then try a $1 credit card load online.
New to this site and kinda angry my super slick deal finding schemes never put two and two together to travel for free! Anyway, just getting into the program, Discover card keeps sending me Cash Back bonus deals. The newest is to spend $1000/mo May-Sept and get additional $30/mo cash back per month. So basically $5000 spending, $150 Cash Back. If I can load this $1000 to my Serve account per month, it’s free money, right? Does Discover process as a purchase or cash advance? Gotta love the idea of credit float using OPM (other people’s money).
I’m pretty sure Discover Cards are processed as normal purchases. You can make a $1 payment to test it out first.
Well that only took 2.5 hours to attempt the $1.00 Discover… Gotta love Serve customer (dis)service!
Nothing was working, not even my already authorized bank account. So after 20 minutes of monkeying around, I called. 40 minutes waiting for a rep. She couldn’t help because the funding accounts need to be re-verified. So after 10 minutes with this rep, she transferred me to account specialist. Another 20 minutes on hold. 5 minutes again explaining the situation. 15 minutes on hold for first verification call… then she came back and asked if it would be OK to call back after verification. 20 minutes later bank now verified. Now to verify Discover… Only 10 minutes this time. Finally! During all this waiting time, I found a $150 MyVanilla card I never activated. Now to figure out how to max the value on that…. It never ends!
Wow, what a long phone call. I was on hold for 15 minutes as they were on call with PayPal. I’m surprised they don’t have a special direct number to bypass the normal wait times. Glad you were able to verify your bank and Discover Credit Card. Trust me, it gets easier from here.
Anyone tried to load with capital one credit csrd?
Try a $1 online load and see what happens. It should be processed as a normal purchase. Please let me know what you find out.
i called capital one. They don’t let me lower cash limit to 0 or 1. :(
Ok, then just try a $1 test purchase and see if it is processed as a cash advance. No way to know until you try.
Grant, thanks for showing us that US Bank treats these loads as purchases. How do you recommend reaching the 1K each month? 5 straight days of $200 or would you suggest spreading the 1K out over the month?
Either will work. US Bank might freak out at the beginning, but they’ll let you do it after that. I think I did 5 reloads in 6-7 days with Bank of America and US Bank.
some sites say there is a cc online load fee, some don’t. what is your experience? im not talking about cash advance. Is there a 2-3% fee when you use a cc to fund the account?
No fee for using a credit card to load to your Serve Card online.
Hi, Grant,
on the amex website, it says credit card might be apply for cash advance,,, um;;; how we know this will change later?
and i heard if you charge today and tomorrow, then tomorrow the serve will be blocked and you need to call to resolve?…
please answer
I would recommend using a credit card that is not from American Express. I have used Chase, Citi, and US Bank and have never been charged a cash advance fee. They will only freeze your reloading ability so they can verify the name on the credit card matches the name on your Serve Card.
No cash advance fee for Chase, Citi, or American Express. I’ve heard you don’t earn points when using an American Express credit card.
You can send money to your friend, up to $2,500 per month.
You can load funds from Walmart with most Visa gift cards.
Even though AMEX cards don’t earn points/miles when loading Serve, do you know if these transactions count towards minimum spend requirements for an AMEX card (old Blue Cash)?
If not, how about purchasing AMEX gift cards with an AMEX card to meet minimum spend requirements?
I’ve never used an AMEX card to load Serve, so I’m not sure. I think FT says it will count for minimum spend, but not for earning points.
You can buy AMEX gift cards with an AMEX card. Those cards are hard to liquidate, but if you can handle that, then go for it.
I have used other Visa gift cards at Walmart to reload my Serve. I haven’t tried SMGCs yet.
Could you add how to set up / link ISIS please
I don’t have an ISIS wallet and don’t want to buy a special case. Not worth it in my opinion.
Can u add a cc to serve that is not yours? If my daughter gets a serve and she were to add 1 of my cc to her account and fund hwr serve with it ( to earn points for me) is this a problem?
That might be a problem. You should get an authorized user card in her name and then use that card to fund her Serve Card.
Hello Grant. You mentioned that NO CASH ADVANCE FEE for Chase, Citi and Amex. Does this include Chase Marriott Rewards card? Please advise. Thank you.
Yes, no cash advance fees when using the Chase Marriott Rewards credit card to load to Serve.
So why would they not provide rewards for their own company, but would for visa, mastercard, etc.? Any insights
I don’t think AMEX rewards online reloads, since it costs them money to accept the charge and pay out the reward. For example, charging $1,000 with SPG would result in some fee to AMEX plus having to pay 1,000 SPG points. Then the customer could just withdraw funds to their bank account or bill pay back to the credit card. They don’t want to encourage cardholders to do that.
I get that this is legal, but is it ethical? This whole process has to be at someone’s expense – in this case I have a feeling the credit card companies with rewards and/or Serve are getting tricked and paying unnecessarily?
Serve is probably losing money on the reloads but they make money on the funds that are held in their accounts and from credit card swipe fees. They did the math and it makes sense for them to offer online reloads for free.
Can you add more than one debit and one credit card?
You can only have 1 credit card and 1 debit card linked at one time. You can change them whenever you want, but you can only have 1 credit and debit card linked at a time.
@Grant – Can you add your CC to say your family member’s Serve account? Or even like a roommates Serve account?
It might work if you get an authorized user card in their name.
I got my serve card in the mail today and i tried to add 20 dollars in with my chase card, but the transaction was declined. Is this normal? Should I call the credit card issuer to let them know that I am using this CC to add to my serve card?
The Chase card you used probably has a $0 cash advance limit. You will need to raise that limit ($1000 should be fine). After that, the transactions will go through fine and no cash advance fees will show up on your card. I use my Chase Freedom with no problem.
ok, so if I understand this correctly, I cant charge against the credit card unless it allows a cash advance but then it won’t do it as a cash advance?
That’s correct. Use a Chase or Barclays credit card. Don’t use s Citi or US Bank credit card, it posts as a cash advance.
US Bank cards post as a cash advance? Last I heard, all cards (except AMEX), originally went through as cash advances, but then actually posted as purchases. Has this changed?
I believe this changed around the 10th of the month.
That’s too bad. Do you have a link to a list or FT thread will the latest up to date info on which cards work and which don’t? If not for your reply to the previous poster, I wouldn’t have even known.
I believe there is a master FlyerTalk thread with the latest info. Use a Chase credit card, I know they don’t charge cash advance fees.
I have a serve and so does my husband. I have a citi aa card in my name on my serve account. This is really under my husbands account, as he is primary. He had an alaska personal card linked to his account. This month my aa transactions are going through properly and I have added 200 per day for nov 1-4, and will make my final monthly add tomorrow nov 5. My husbands card had the first transaction of the month go through but then it was declined. Alaska said it was Bc we requested no cash advance and it was going through as a cash advance. I tried to add his chase ihg card and got the message card issuer declined at the point of linking the card . He called chase and they said they didn’t deny anything the account is in goodnstanding. We called serve they said they didn’t deny it. I tried to add his biz alaska card it was declined bc it was a cash advance. I tried to add his aa card but it said it wasn’t eligable( maybe bc we have the same account number and mine is already linked to u account?) serve said there are no issues. Ihg / chase said there are no issues. American/ citi said there are no issues. Alaska said its a cash advance and they can’t authorize it since we told them no cash advance on the card and this is going through. Not sure what to do. Any ideas to help?
Very strange, I have my Chase Freedom linked to my Serve Card and my parents have Chase Sapphire Preferred linked and it works fine. Not sure what is going on. Do you have any other Chase credit cards?
Yes hyatt but it’s in my name. My husband was charged a10 cash advance fee on Alaska for the 200 add. I just found out. We have made 7 alaska charges in 200 increments and only now it’s getting flagged as cash advance. Everyone says all is fine but I don’t know how to fix this. Going to call to try to get 10 waived and see if serve can manually add aa. Not sure what else to do…
I believe Chase and Barclays do not charge cash advance fees. But I guess Bank of America does.
Today, I couldn’t load the Serve with my linked United Millage MC. It went fine last August, but today an error message said it was declined by the credit card company and I should contact them. So, I called the Chase and was told that they no longer allow you to make transactions with this specific merchant (American Express Serve) and this applies to ALL Chase issued credit cards.
Thank you for the data point. Have you tried using any other Chase credit card? My mom used her Chase Freedom credit card today and my dad used his Chase Sapphire Preferred today and they both loaded fine to Serve.
No. I was told ALL the Chase issued credit cards would not work. I have Chase Ink Plus and United Millage Plus VISA, though.
I believe the information you were told is incorrect. Hopefully someone else can chime in with their experience using Chase credit cards to load their Serve Card.
I have trying to load Serve with my Chase Sapphire card but I keep getting the message, ” Your card has been declined by your issuer.”
Is there any other way I can load Serve with a cc.
Does your CSP have $0 cash advance limit? You will have to raise the limit (I recommend $1,000). The transaction initially processes as a cash advance, but it posts as a purchase that earns miles/points/cash back. With that said, you may need to call Chase and have them raise your cash advance limit on the card. That is what I did and it works perfectly now.
Hi, Mr. Grant
I saw flyertalk taking about some chase credit card charges CA so be careful
and I wonder how about Amex credit card?. I heard I won’t get a point but
still i am able to get the signup point since i will fill up the spending with serve load right?
so there is no CA for the AMEX credit card to load serve?
please answer
thanks
You are partially right Sam. If you use a Chase credit card to load your Serve Card, the initial transaction will affect your cash advance limit (so you must have a cash advance limit greater than $0 for the transaction to go through). 1-2 days after making the online Serve reload, the transaction posts as a purchase and earns miles/points/cash back.
As for American Express, online Serve reloads will count as a purchase, but you will not earn any miles/points/cash back. Barclays credit cards do not charge cash advances and will earn you miles/points/cash back for online Serve reloads. Hopefully that explains it clearly.
Hi,. grant
thank you for your answer.
but the flyertalk says some people charged CA for chase bank credit card.
they listed some are work some aren’t not, but looks like it will turn all to CA soon.
have you noticed or are you still think chase credit card 100% no CA in these days?
and does amex will not charge CA at all? or it will change too like chase?
I’ve been using Chase credit cards to load Serve for the last few months and have never been charged a cash advance fee. If you are worried, try a small $1 test load and see if anything happens. As for AMEX cards, I have not heard of any cash advance fees posting.
thanks and how you know if that goes to cash advance or not?
if it went through as debit transaction , then it is considered as purchase?
thanks but i i request to set the CA limit as $1. they might think
i am going to load serve with this credit card. then how you can do yourself on the website? cause nowadays many people call them and asking because of being charged CA. that is suicide
Sam, set your cash advance limit to $1,000 on your Chase credit card and do 5 $200 online Serve reloads. It will post as a purchase, not a cash advance, just trust me.
Will using a Credit One Bank Platinum Visa show up as a cash advance restricting me to my credit line cash advance limit or will this transaction show up as a normal online purchase allowing me to exceed that 25% cash advance limit? Please reply @ your earliest convenience Grant, ty.
I am not sure, I have never used a Credit One Bank Platinum Visa credit card before, so I’m not sure if it will show up as a purchase or a cash advance. You might want to set the cash advance limit $0 before you try to make an online Serve reload.
Each time you add and remove a credit card, does AMEX have to re-verify the ID and new card? or is this a first time thing?
I believe it is every time, I try not to change my credit or debit card very often. It is a hassle to contact them to verify the new card.
I just signed up for Serve & used a Citi MC. Initial deposit $200. Do I have to sign in every day for 5 days to reach the $1,000 limit for the month, or is there a way to set up auto deposit from my MC?
I would be careful using a Citi credit card, they might charge you cash advance fee when you load your Serve Card. I recommend using a Chase or Barclays credit card, neither of them charge a cash advance fee. You can schedule a payment to be made every day for 5 days from your Serve account.
I confirmed with Citi. I wasn’t charged CA. Is the $1,000/month deposit limit each 30 days, or from day 1 of month to the last day of the month?
It is based on a calendar month, not a rolling 30 day period.
Grant, are you still using Chase cards without a problem?
Earlier this month I used my Chase Freedom and it worked fine. Which card are you using? You may need to adjust your cash advance line for the initial charge to go through.
I haven’t used any yet, but have several Chase cards to choose from. I wanted a more recent verification before I tried it as I’ve just set up my Serve account and am awaiting the card in the mail.
Gotcha. Serve Card reloads show as cash advances, but post as purchases that earn miles and points. Whatever Chase card you choose, make sure it has at least $1,000 in cash advance fee limit. That’s it! Hopefully your Serve Card comes soon.
@ grant if i use my amex credit card to load my amex serve card how long does it takes to post and will i be charge a ca fee??
Trina, don’t use your AMEX card for online Serve reloads. You will not earn any miles or points. Use a Chase or Barclays credit card instead.
Does Serve charge fees for loading from a credit card?
No fees to load your Serve Card with a credit card. Make sure to use a Chase or Barclays credit card to avoid any cash advance fees.
So, I got my Serve card today and activated it, but when I went to add my Chase United card, it was declined. This is odd since I’ve got a cash advance limit available on the card and my account shows no activity for today, but whatever. I then attempted to link my Chase Marriott card and it went through just fine. I wonder if Chase is catching on and shutting them down one by one?
Hmm I don’t think so. I’ve used a Chase Freedom and CSP fine with online Serve reloads.
Is the Serve credit card load limit per calendar month or per 30 day period? Anyone know? Thanks! =)
Per calendar month, not rolling 30 day period.
Just got chase southwest plus and want to load from serve but don’t want ca fee. Have you or anyone else did this from chase southwest as of yesterday or today and not gotten ca fee?
I haven’t used that particular card, but I use my Chase Freedom to load my Serve Card online and the transaction goes through as a purchase, not a cash advance.
After reaching my $1,000 limit for Credit Card transfers in February, I lowered my cash advance limit on my Chase SWRR card down to $100. I tried a Credit Card transfer today and it was declined. I called into Chase and raised my cash advance limit to $1,020 to see if it would go through. I tried again w/ the Chase rep on the phone and it went through. But it was flagged as a CASH ADVANCE. The rep mentioned they had changed some mapping(?) that starts in March…. anyone have a similar experience?
Hey Grant, could you update this post since they are no longer allowing any card but AMEX to load Serve online? Could you include the specific cards that you recommend to use to load Serve online?
There are only a handful of cards worth using: US Bank FlexPerks AMEX, Fidelity AMEX and BBVA NBA AMEX.