UPDATE 6/20/14: Do not use OVGCs or VGCs at Walmart. Use other gift cards from other banks.
More info to follow…
Travel with Grant
Transforming your Frequent Flyer Miles into Free Trips around the World
UPDATE 6/20/14: Do not use OVGCs or VGCs at Walmart. Use other gift cards from other banks.
More info to follow…
Did you try to load with straight CC like was possible at CVS?
No I didn’t try. The reload process looked just like the Bluebird reload process. I can try next time I go though.
That’s good news Grant! Now Serve becomes the better option (again) than Bluebird, with it’s online CC loading in addition to the $5K swipe loads.
Serve > Bluebird again. I wish I got in sooner for CVS credit card reloads.
What’s the monthly limit for using Visa gift cards to load Serve?
I think it’s $5,000 per calendar month, $1,000 per day. I haven’t verified either limit yet.
Did you load it at the cash register, with a teller at the Walmart Money Center, or at the Money Center kiosk machine?
The Money Center was too busy (2 people in line) so I just went to a checkout counter.
How does this “change the game” in any really meaningful way? No different than loading BB at Walmart with Visa GCs, right? I’m guessing it’s the $1000/mo credit card load? That’d be a “minor game enhancer” more than a game changer…
#gameenhancer doesn’t sound as cool as #gamechanger, but you are right.
What’s a $1000/mo. credit card load?
Does this mean with Serve you can charge (online) $1000 to a c card? Like Amazon Payments? For free?
Yes. http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/add-a-credit-card-to-serve/
THANKS! Do you have any advice on canceling a BB to transition to Serve? Loading an extra $5K/month to credit cards (5 accounts) is WELL worth the hassle of a switch.
By the way, do you have any idea why AMEX offers two products that are nearly identical?!
I have some ideas why AMEX and Walmart have almost 2 identical products, but they are just guesses. Serve was supposed to cut out the need to go to Walmart but that didn’t work so now they teamed up again. As for switching from Bluebird to Serve, read this page: http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/convert-from-bluebird-to-amex-serve/
Cool. Thanks as always!
I see there’s a $200/day limit load from a credit card. That starts to move it into hassle territory just to get $1K in a month.
Set up an automatic Serve reload to run 5 days in a row. That should make it a bit easier. http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/automatic-serve-reloads/
How did you get so smart?! :)
Making lots of stupid mistakes along the way :)
I saw this on a Serve post. Does this mean you can load $1K/day and $5K/month via 7-11’s and CVS’s, just like Walmart?
“Add cash for free across 15,000 CVS/pharmacy® stores and participating 7-ELEVEN® locations.”
CVS and 7/11 loads are cash only.
Related add-on query… is the total monthly load on Serve $5000 from all sources? Total monthy payout limit?
I believe it’s $5,000 in store, $1,000 online credit card, and $1,000 online debit card. But no one knows for sure.
Grant, I’ve loaded $5K via in-store loads and ADDITIONAL $1K online CC loads per month for the past couple months now = $6K total load per month…I read the $1K debit load is yet another ADDITIONAL load avenue to pursue which brings Serve’s tally to $7K per month. I don’t have a debit card that gives rewards…and i’m sure u know this already, but for your readers – NO u cannot liquidate pin-enabled gift cards thru Serve. Their fraud team is pretty good about making sure your name appears on the card AND you’re the primary accountholder and not just an authorized user. If you open a Serve account be ready to send your ID, CC front image w/your name matching, and possibly your recent CC statement to match your address on file w/Serve. They wanted to call my CC (Barclays) direct to confirm I was the primary accountholder when I first used my Barclays Arrival to load Serve O.O
The debit card thing is a key point. I’m aware of no debit card that rewards you to put money on it or pull money off it. Does anyone disagree with this as it’s pertinent to Serve or BB or generating value?
If not, I don’t see why it’s mentioned at all in the context of these boards. Who cares if you can take CASH from one source and move it to another source without a transaction fee unless your bonused to do it?
I understand that someone might want to move debit card money into one of these accounts for consolidation for bill pay, but that’s a minor point and more confusing than not when mentioned as a value of Serve or BB in these board spaces.
Does everyone agree?
It’s pretty simple, if you have an Alaska Airlines debit card or a Sun Trust Delta debit card, you can earn miles this way. Better yet, you can use the PayPal Business Debit Card to earn 1-1.5% cash back on all loads. I earn $15 every month just from moving $1,000 from my Paypal account to my Serve account.
Cool. Can you tell me more about the Alaska Airlines debit card and the Paypal card? Application URL’s, how they work, etc.?
I think the Alaska Airlines debit card is issued by Bank of America, but applications are closed for that card and I think I heard that they would be closing all debit card accounts sometime this year. As for the PayPal Business Debit Card, you need to have a Business or Premier PayPal account and can request one for free in your PayPal account. I am grandfathered in at the 1.5% cash back rate, but all new accounts only get 1% cash back on all non-PIN transactions.
Hey Grant. Are you SURE you can autoload a Serve account from a credit card, i.e., set up the account to autohit the card for $200/day until the $1K limit? You had a great tutorial on this that makes sense, however two Serve customer service reps told me this is impossible.
I haven’t personally done that since I had some issues with Serve. I will retry May 1 and see if it’s possible. Has anyone else had any luck with auto reloads?
I was just told by a Serve rep that YES, you can do auto loads from a credit card.
Next question: one of your posters said that using an ISIS enabled credit card, you can load $1500/month instead of $1000. The rep told me no. Anyone know anything about this?
You need a special Android smartphone or a $60-$80 case. I’m not sure if it is worth it.
My galaxy note 3 works. But I’m unclear on the concept. I get that ISIS lets the phone act as a debit card for Serve and a credit card for other cards. But how does online loading of a credit card somehow tie into ISIS? $1500/month is definitely better than $1000, especially with autoload.
I think you link your online Serve account to your phone and it unlocks the larger loading amounts. Just my guess.
I noticed the Incomm default merchant too. I wonder what meaning that has, if any
I assume this to be true: You can have a Bluebird or a Serve account, but not both.
If true, me being a BB owner who loads $25K/month across 5 accounts via debit gift cards, why would Serve be a BETTER alternative if I switched those 5 accounts to Serve?
I guess what I’m missing is that they seem to be almost identical and that you could always get a BB account and the locations of Walmarts haven’t changed.
What does Walmart accepting Serve do to add value? I’m not being cynical, I’m just trying to understand why this changes anything.
The one thing about Serve that Bluebird can’t do is $1,000 online loading with a credit card. It might not be worth it to you to change 1 or a few cards to Serve.
@Mike: google “PayWithIsis Serve” and see all the great statement credits AMEX is giving…a Serve Rep informed me over the phone that a 20% credit (up to $200 aggregate) is still live until late May for all PayWithIsis transactions. Imagine possibly getting $200 back for $1009.90 purchase of two VGCs! Can anyone confirm credit? I can’t upgrade my phone to an Isis-compatible phone yet.
Also google “AMEX sync” and add Serve for even more great stackable credits. My easiest and most surprised credit was for a Foursquare Check-in for lunch at Subway for $5 that appeared the next business day – simple!
Now that Serve is loadable at Walmart via VGCs, it easily surpasses BB. I just hope my local Walmart doesn’t check my debit card for my name
Mike, just curious…. how do you spend $25k/month?
I don’t think my bills have ever gotten that big.
If all you do is bill pay to the credit card(s) that you use to buy $25,000 worth of gift cards, then it is pretty easy to spend that much money (or more).
I pay the c cards I spend on with the BB as the other poster noted.
Yes, I would say most people who use Bluebird/Serve do bill pay to the credit card or other bills.
I have a 5% cash back c card for purchases at grocery and drug. Stores in my area allow c cards to buy $500 gift cards for 1%. The kicker is that for 6 months there is no cap on spend. Hence 25 grand a month using bb to pay the bills. The 64K question, literally, is how much do I buy to fund later months prior to the 6 months ending?
Let see, so $25,000 per month x 6 months = $150,000 x 5% = $7,500 revenue. $150,000 / $500 per gift card = 300 gift cards. Assuming a $5 activation fee for each gift card, you spent $1,500 on activation fees. Net profit is $6,000 / 6 months = $1,000 per month – not bad Mike!
Do you get 1% cash back on all purchases after 6 months?
Yeah. And no annual fee to keep it
Just curious: which card do you have? Thanks!
I personally have a Serve Card. My parents still have a Bluebird Card though. They let me load their cards at Walmart.
I was trying to ask Mike which 5% cashback card he had lol. Very interesting! But yes, I have a Serve card, too.
Side note: I was at FTU Seattle this weekend and must’ve missed you. Would’ve loved to say hello!
Ahh, gotcha. I reply to comments in the WordPress app so it doesn’t show if you replied to a previous comment or if you were asking me a question. I’m sorry I missed you at FTU. I was wearing a Travel with Grant shirt the first 2 days. Maybe I’ll see you at Chicago Seminars?
Wells Visa Signature by invitation code. They have a lesser card called Rewards or Cash Back or something like that that everyone is entitled to apply for. Same bene’s except it maxes out at $24K of spend or $1200 of upside. The invitation Signature requires a relationship of some length and substance with Wells. My wife got the card and we’re exploiting it. She only got the card because her mother put her name as a co-owner on her retirement account. I applied and got turned down due to no relationship with Wells. That was actually phenomenal news (I discovered later) as you can only get this card once and then you’re forever done. Even if you get the base card they will never give you a Signature card. So, after being turned down (and being stuck with the base card), I opened a checking account with them for free and will start moving money around for 3 to 6 months and will see if they invite me. 5 months from now we’ll be done with my wife’s card and will need a new one. To make all this work you need a store that will sell you gift cards using c cards, a BB or Serve account, and a local Walmart. From there, you can scale it up with multiple BB or Serve accounts. We have 5. All legit.
You know, I never understood why the CVS/Walmart thing was portrayed as being SO superior to my RiteAid/Walmart thing. I get it now. You used to make one trip to CVS and then loaded online = one trip. For me, it’s one trip as well as the RiteAid is next to Walmart. Took 6 months for the bell to ring in my head as to why I was functionally doing the same thing in terms of effort (+ having to deal with Walmart!). Just now “got it”.
Haha better late than never. I used to use Wells Fargo but have since moved to a better bank, my local credit union.
are you allowed to get more than 1 bluebird? or are you using family members/friends?
My mom and dad got a Bluebird Card and I load their cards sometimes.
Friends/family. All legit accounts. All legit spending. The only wrinkle is my closest walmart which is 3 miles away will hassle me 1 out of 4 times due to idiocy.
Try going early in the morning. I have the best luck going before work.
That Walmart is just paranoid. The other Walmart 5 miles away makes me fill out a form if I do reloads for more than 3 accounts.
Big question about Serve: It says that 7-11’s and CVS’s allow for cash deposits. Does this mean that, like Walmart, you can load your Serve account with gift cards at these locations? If so, that’s HUGE.
I’ve never tried, but I think it’s strictly cash only. Only one way to find out though…
So, if reading right with Serve I can fund a total of $7k per month ($5k swiped at WM, $1k web debit, $1k web credit.) If that is the case, what is the total BILL PAY I can effect per month? Loading extra funds (above $5k) ON to the card each month doesn’t do me much good if I can’t easily get the extra money OFF the card each month.
Further, Grant, are you certain whether a Chase Visa (Sapphire, Ink, etc) would show as a PURCHASE when funding a Serve account with a credit card, rather than a CASH ADVANCE? Trying to determine if the switch hassle is worth it for an extra $1000 in spend/month.
As far as I know, you can do a bill payment for a big as your current balance. So if you add extra funds from your bank account, your new balance might be $10,000 or more. You should be able to do a bill payment for that much. There might be a section in the TOC that talks about max balances.
If you are worried about cash advances, call Chase and have them lower your cash advance limit to $0. You can also try a $1 credit card load and see if it goes through as a purchase. The FlyerTalk thread says Chase processes them as a purchase.
How can a web debit earn miles? I guess I’m just unfamiliar with the concept. I get gift cards being loaded at Walmart as debit cards, but are you saying you can do the same thing online with debit cards/gift cards to load BB or Serve?
It has to be a real debit card, not a gift card. Sub Trust Delta Debit or PayPal Debit Cards will work.
OK. But how does a Paypal debit card source to something that creates c card spend for free? I know how to get a Paypal debit card, but the key is to fund that with credit, right? How do I do that?
Paypal debit worked for bb, but not serve.
Are you sure about that? I believe people have reported being able to load visa/mc GCs as an online debit load. $100 per day of course.
see my post above, you will get blocked!!
Yes, Serve and Bluebird will freeze your account if you use gift cards instead of real debit cards. Heck, they even froze my Serve account to verify my PayPal Debit Card and US Bank credit card.
I pay a mortgage of over $3K using BB. I don’t think there’s a limit beyond your balance.
Yes I think so too.
Limit is $10K/calendar month if sending to a registered payee (e.g., CC, mortgage), $5K/month if unregistered (e.g., rent check to landlord).
Also, create Serve account from Isis to get higher daily and monthly load limits (500/day, 1500/month for both online debit and credit).
I really don’t want to get a Serve case for my iPhone, I already use a cool case and it’s not worth it to me to switch.
I’ve used Chase Ink to fund Serve and it is considered a purchase not a cash advance. Tried to reply not too long ago, but it appears that it didn’t go through so sorry in advance if this is a double post.
Sorry the comment didn’t show up right away. I have to manually approve all comments from first time commenters and I have been busy this afternoon. Glad to hear that your Chase Ink reload was processes as a purchase.
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dumb question, can you setup a bb as primary and wife as sub, then wife setup a serve and put me as the sub???
If one of you got a Bluebird and one of you got a Serve card, you should be fine. There is no point to add each other as authorized users for each other’s accounts.
Funny – when I just called BB to close account, and told them it was to open a Serve the rep said “I suggest you just use a different email address and phone number when opening the Serve account – then you can have both!”
Many people have tried. It doesn’t work.
Have you tried that RJP – any luck?
Tells me its still not close, the sytem still could be system
What? I’m confused by your statement.
Does the name on the Credit Card have to match the name on the Serve account?
Yes, that is probably one of the ways your Serve account might be flagged. You have to be the primary card holder for the credit card you are using to load your Serve Card.
> “I suggest you just use a different email address and phone number when opening the Serve account – then you can have both!”
Has anyone done this? I thought they match your SSN, address and so on.
I believe that is true, but there are a handful of reports that some people have a Bluebird and a Serve card. (the lucky ones)
You need to close your BB account before you open up a Serve. Even using a different email and phone number won’t work. You have to enter your ss# so AMEX knows you have a Bluebird account. Cancel Bluebird, then open a Serve account.
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Can you add visa/MC GCs onto bluebird via online debit load if the serve fraud team is so strict?
You cannot use VGC/MC GC’s to do online debit. Fraud team is strict. If Wal-Mart is closed by, best to use your GC’s with PIN to load BB there. Visa GC the best. It will go through as Debit right away. MC GC a lil tricky…after swiping, you have to quickly press “Change Payment” (before cashier touches her screen) on pin pad screen so you can see “Debit” option.
Yes, exactly what Addie said. Stick with Visa Gift Cards if you have a choice, they tend to work much better.
anyone else notice on their Bluebird Transaction History that the Walmart Loads were suddenly renamed on April 18th from “Cash Reload Walmart…” to “Cash Reload Incomm Default Merchant”???
apparently, Serve-starter-card’s fee is just $1.95 at Walmart as opposed to $3.95 everywhere else – according to a Yahoo Finance article:
“American Express Serve will now be available along with Bluebird by American Express in Walmart stores. Serve, the company’s full service reloadable prepaid Account, will be sold for a purchase price of $1.95 in Walmart, in the prepaid section of checkout lanes and Walmart MoneyCenters.”
http://news.yahoo.com/american-express-serve-announces-largest-130000098.html
Another great post GT! I enjoyed the 10min MS post last week homey
Grant, I may have been skeptical at your blog before — but you’re now my hero. GREAT FIND, SIR!
Thanks RGT, which is almost my initials GRT. I get lucky with some of these finds.
If walmar GC swipes now somehow go through Incomm… I wonder if the recent CVS/VR move was in some way due to WM/Serve move.
WM was my biggest customer for a long time – hundreds of millions a year – and they are like dealing with the Mafia. If you want to work with them “they might ask of you a favor…” such as jacking rates/terms on VR at CVS or similar. Wouldn’t take a big change – a few pennies per – to get CVS to decide is was no longer worth taking CCs for VR.
Grant, have you had success with your paypal business mastercard on serve, for an online load?
Yes, 5 x $200 online debit card loads, no problems. Are you having problems? I had to call Serve and they had to verify with PayPal that the card was in fact a debit card in my name.
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Hey Grant –
I have Bluebird now, how can I go about switching to Serve?
thanks!
Hi Jep, just follow this guide: http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/convert-from-bluebird-to-amex-serve/
Anyone have any insight/guidance on how long it takes for a BB to be permanently closed, such that I can sign up for a Serve? I know they say “as long as 30 days” and they won’t commit to anything shorter than that when I call to ask. Tried to time it right so that I’d be able to get the Serve in time to make some use of it in May…
If you want to play it safe, do $5,000 on Bluebird the first week of May. Then empty your account and call to cancel. Best case scenario you can use Serve in May, if not, you have all of June.
I cancelled it a week ago (had maxed it earlier in month) figuring I’ll be up and running by end of May. Staggering switch of my wife’s BB, figuring I’ll wait until my Serve is done before cutting her over. I also have GoBank (and MO’s) to tide me over…
You will be fine. Hopefully the transition is smooth.
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Pingback: Amex Serve can now be reloaded at Walmart | OUT AND OUT
Tried loading $1000 to Serve at WM today using 2 x $500 visa gift cards. Ran as debit, entered PIN for each, then cashier got error message that daily load limit was exceeded and transaction cancelled. Have not loaded anything to this Serve account in any way for several weeks. Anyone else had this happen? Am I doing something wrong?
Have you tried loading funds online via your credit or debit card? If that doesn’t work, give Serve a call and maybe they can tell you what’s going on.
Was able to load $1k in VR after getting home without problem. Had no problem loading $1k at walmart to bluebird, but no luck with serve…
Hi Eric, do you still have VRC that you bought last month before CVS stopped accepting credit cards? Hmm, I’ll try Serve tomorrow and see if I run into any issues.
yes, they were (sadly) my final 2…
RIP VRC. I have a huge pile of used VRCs in my desk drawer, idk why, they are just a souvenir of all my MSing I guess…
Loaded 2 $500 OVGCs at Walmart this morning to my Serve Card. No problem at all.
Hi Grant,
I’m in the Irvine area, is there a Walmart that you recommend that lets you load with the least amount of hassle? Thanks!
I go to the one in Foothill Ranch, drive up Bake or Alton. Never have problems there. It’s really close to my work too.
I also ran into the same problem today, not sure what’s going on. My last load was yesterday morning (April 30) so definitely I did not go past the 1000 per day limit. After failing at Walmart (same error – exceeded load limit), I went home and loaded 200 from my debit, which went through just fine.
Who knows, maybe Serve or Walmart were updating servers today and the reload wasn’t processed. I’ll try to load my Serve card tomorrow and let you know if I run into any problems.
I did have a Walmart today unable to run $1000 through on two $500 swipes. We had to do them as seperate $500 transactions. Though, frankly, sometimes it just comes down to whether the person knows what the hell they are doing. I doubt it’s rocket science, but at some point you DO need to know which keys to press.
Grant, is the Discover portal offering the 5% back on Staples shopping for a defined period of time?
From my short history with Discover, I believe all their Shop Discover portal members offer between 5-25% cash back. Therefore, if Discover has Staples as a partner, they will have at least a 5% cash back payout.
I think you said earlier that if you shop at Staples through the Discover portal you have to use the Discover card in order to get the 5% for the Staples purchase, right?
Nope. You don’t have to use a Discover Card on the Discover shopping portal, but you have to at least have a Discover Card to have access to the shopping portal. I use my Chase Ink last time and earned cash back and UR points.
Grant: Have you gotten your $200 cards? Any thoughts on this post from the Doctor Credit board you referenced a few days ago?:
Fukuson says:
April 28, 2014 at 7:28 am
Also the 200 Visa gc I got from Staples.com looked very different from any other visa gc, was a dark yellow color and very flimsy. It wouldn’t load to my bb and it wouldn’t go through as a debit purchase for a money order or cash back. It did work at the gas pump, thankfully.
I haven’t gotten my 4 $200 Visa GCs yet, just got an email that they were shipped. I’ve bought $100 Visa GCs in the past from Staples.com and have never had problems loading to Bluebird or Serve. Unless they changed the look and feel, I don’t expect to have any problems. They come from Gift Card Mall.
Which GC’s have pin #?
All Visa and MasterCard gift cards have PINs. Most need to be set before you use them, except One Vanilla Gift Cards.
I highly recommend OneVanilla’s. Skipping the PIN assignment saves a lot of time. And the one’s work like a charm at WalMart when you assign them their at the register.
Would love to get an answer on the kiosk question. If the kiosk can load like the dopes behind the counter, then Walmart problem solved.
Most of the times the ATM is broken, so YMMV.
Just a few minutes ago I was wondering to myself why the Walmart Money Center Kiosks are almost always broken. The fact that they are almost always broken at almost every Walmart is odd. Does anybody know if there is some reason they almost never work?
Neither of my local Walmarts (both large, one a superstore) have this kiosk. We have ones that look like they’re not managed by Walmart and are almost like a slot machine. I guess if we did have them it wouldn’t matter as they’d be broken :)
The small ATMs are just ATMs, not worth looking at.
Hey Grant, quick but important question. Why is using Staples gift cards to buy Visa gift cards a “shhhh” opportunity? Am I missing the value in this? You have to buy the Staples gift cards with your Ink for the 5X, and then you convert to Visa Gift cards having to pay the $7 fee. So where does the consumer come out ahead in avoiding going straight through a shopping portal to staples and using Ink with Visa Savings edge?
I used to be able to buy Staples gift cards online or thru eBay for 9-10% discount. Without that opportunity, there really is no point.
It’s a mystery to me too. I’ve only been to one Walmart that had the kiosk and that’s like 45 minutes away.
Bought $200 visa gift cards at OfficeMax and loaded them to Serve using the Walmart ATM kiosk. No problems.
Is the ATM kiosk that thing that looks like it belongs in a casino? How do you use it to load BB or Serve? Can you load $500 Visa Gift cards (the ones you normally load at the counter)?
I have a post about loading at the ATM under my Bluebird header. Check that out for more info.
Good job Charles. The $200 Visa GCs from Staples work great too.
Hello Grant,
So if I could get OneVanilla I should go for it since it does not need any pin?
Yes, definitely go for it. It is one of the best cards to buy these days.
Does anyone know if Walmart in Secausus NJ has a ATM kiosk (that works)to load a Serve card?
Anyone load Serve at Walmart for this month? Do Walmart cashiers know how to process Serve cards now?
I loaded my Serve card this morning. To the cashiers, all the cards look the same. The say I can “load the blue card” :)
Oddly, I tried to load $500 Metabank Visa to GoBank at a WM just now and it came back “Debit Not Available Appr. code = 75” and was denied.
You set a PIN right?
Quite certain I did – through GoWallet app – but you never know. I’m holding $6k worth right now, so possible I missed a couple. I did reset them when I got back in the car.
Had better luck an hour later – at a different WM, with different cards – loading a BB and getting a few MO’s. I’m finding that going $500 at a clip has less likelihood of “user error” on the part of the cashier.
The cashiers at my local Walmart recognize me and always ask if I want to do another $500 reload :)
Yes, you need a PIN for all Visa and MasterCard gift cards.
I just came from CVS (NY) to buy VGC’s and they have a new policy “All Gift Cards can only be purchased with Cash”
Where else can I buy VGC with CC?
Ahh NY, they don’t like people with credit cards. Any chance you live close to another state?
NJ is the closest
Ask yourself: is it worth driving to NJ to earn miles and points?
No – because I buy up all the variable-load visa gift cards in the whole state! :-)
I need to spend $10,000 miles for my World Elite card within 3 months. Just came back from Walgreens and they accept CC’s for VGC!
What state do you live in?
I buy OneVanilla’s in bulk for my sister and then ship them to Missouri so she can load them at her local Walmart.
I’m in SoCal. She can add you as an authorized user, get you your own card, you can buy OVGCs with the card, you can load them to Bluebird or Serve, then do bill pay to that card. Is that simpler?
Potentially MASSIVELY simpler dependent on what she’s comfortable with. THANKS!!!
We have three BB accounts in our home. I buy and load for the 3. BB flagged “irregular activity” for one of the accounts and required me/her to prove via photocopied ID that they lived where they said they lived…..which she does and that satisfied them. I assumed they were concerned that the card was being used fraudulently. In the case of me loading for my sister in Missouri, do you think the sub-account specifying me and my address (which already has a BB account under my name) would look more “irregular” than if she just allowed me to load her account from my state?
Haha, I don’t have any idea. Assuming I was your sister, I would tell Bluebird I was visiting my brother (you) in (state) for a few weeks and you both went to Walmart together to load your Bluebird Cards. Believable enough?
Good ole Brooklyn NY
At Walmart I can load OVG onto Serve at any Cashier?
Yes, they all have the ability to load Bluebird/Serve at registers, but the knowledge to do so might be a different story…
What about a GoBank Debit Card, can it be loaded by a Walmart Cashier as well?
I’m not sure, I dont have one of those cards to try.
They won’t load GoBank at either of my Walmarts. GoBank is VERY picky about accounts. They shut my wife’s down for very minimal/normal activity.
That’s lame, but I’m not surprised. Go Bank isn’t a very good company to work with.
Agreed……in spades!
They’re almost mean when they talk with you. It’s like you’re speaking to FBI agents.
Money Pass ATM Machines are owned by Walmart? Can I load my Serve card with VGC there? or do I have to go to Walmart?
I just found the answer on one of your pages, sorry.
Good job Aaron!
I have an Amex gift card.. Do you think a transfer to my serve card will work?
No, AMEX gift cards will not work. They do not work the same way Visa and MasterCard gift cards work since they do not have PINs. You are out of luck trying to move funds from your AMEX gift card to your Serve Card.
Could buy visa GC with AMEX GC where it is possible to buy visa GCs with a CC. Just don’t let cashier see card or could be trouble buying a GC with a GC.
You can but its just one extra hoop you have to jump through. Not sure why folks would want to deal with Amex GCs in the first place. I think Amex should just start adding PINs to its gift cards.
Amex GC @ 3.5% Cashback is why
How do you get 3.5% back buying amex gc’s?
through cashback sites… right now it is down to 2.45% (was just 3.5% last week) through http://home.bigcrumbs.com/emmd2001 and no GC fees with code FPMOM
Get a Discover card, which entities you to use their shopping portal. Then use a Chase Ink card, enrolled in Visa savings edge to buy visa GCs at staples.com – 5% CB from Discover and 1% CB for visa edge. $12.42 CB on every $206.95 purchase.
Yes, but there is a limit to the number of 5x points you can get per year. So the Amex giftcards are an additional way to generate points on other cards.
So you’re buying more than 250 $200 cards per year at staples? Good for you! :-)
But seriously, sure you could run into that cap between internet, cellular, landline phone bills, and MS. Other than maybe hitting some onerous sign-up bonus, however, I can’t see getting AmEx GCs in any situation. My time/gas is more valuable than the extra step(s) needed to liquidate them.
Unless, you could use the AmEx cards through the discover site to buy the Visa cards? The CB goes to your Visa card which you could just use for “free groceries and gas” with the money that hits there.
Can buy Visa GC through an online retailier of gift cards or staples with Amex GC, no extra gas :)
But there’s still the time factor of buying an AmEx GiftCard, waiting fir it to arrive. Using that AmEx GC to buy a Visa GC, waiting fir that to arrive, then liquidating that GC. In the same amount of time, all other things being equal, I’ve moved twice as many dollars. (In actuality, I’ve moved the same amount of dollars twice, thus earning points twice as many points.)
In my mind that’s just more unnecessary time, effort, and opportunity for something to slip through the cracks. With the Discover card the money just shows up, and can be used in the ordinary course of events. I don’t need to request it, wait fir a check, deposit it, etc. But hey, the beauty of “la cosa nostra” is that there’s many different ways to achieve the same end.
Enjoy
My 2 cents: AMEX always cancels my gift card orders and their customer service can never explain why. I’ve also been screwed by Upromise before, so I’ll stick with Discover. Just got an email last night regarding my latest Staples.com. $41.39 on its way with very little effort. Just takes about a week for the GCs to show up but saves me a trip to my local Staples. Just keep milking this until Staples changes or Discover changes.
5% CB at staples.com is also available via Upromise, so no need for discover card.
But where do Upromise funds go?
from their site, “you can request to withdrawal your Upromise cash back at any time during your membership, provided that you have at least $10 available in your account. To withdrawal your cash back, simply visit the Request a Check page in your Upromise account and fill out the online form.”
I closed my BB May 2 and that same day attempted to open Serve via ISIS. Got an error message stating I have an open BB account. Have called Serve 3 times now and been told to clear cache, history, cookies, delete ISIS app, restart phone and try again. Then, told it’s a known issue with the iPhone. But I’ve also read on FT that you can no longer convert BB > Serve overnight. Anyone have experience with this? Bummer if I have to wait 30 days, as the $50 rebate from AT&T expires May 15 and the case costs $70. Thanks for any insights.
I haven’t done anything with ISIS so I can’t offer any help. Maybe someone else can.
When you are registering a new account on Serve website, enter a wrong SSN. For example, enter the last digit wrongly to make it like a typo. After that the application status should be “under review”. Call the customer service. They will verify you information. They will find the last 4 digits of you SSN doesn’t match the information in the system. You will be asked to send the scanned copy of you DL and SSN card. After that call them again. They will update you information and approve you application. I got my new SERVE account less than 24 hours after I close Bluebird.
Thanks for sharing Q, that might work for some people who just closed their Bluebird Card.
Thanks, Q. Will give it a try. Out of curiosity, when did you make the switch. After May 1? AMEX seems to have changed their policy around that time to require the 30-day waiting period, but it would be great if you had success with that method recently.
I made this switch last weekend. My new SERVE card is still on the way. Good luck!
Good work. You will love Serve!
A vexing problem I’ve not seen adequately addressed:
What’s the secret – if any – to using US Bank variable load MasterCard GC’s to load funds to BlueBird and/or GoBank accounts at Walmart? I’ve tried multiple times and never seems to work. Get either “payment type not allowed” or “incorrect PIN” errors. (I’ve set the PIN on the phone, I’ve let the PIN take a few days to “stick” as has been advised, etc))
MetaBank Visa variable load cards work with no problem. But my local grocery store (which has a ‘no fee with coupon’ offer on GCs) doesn’t seem to get anywhere near as many of the Visa cards as the MasterCard counterpart.
Thoughts?
Hmm you’ve done everything I would have done. Are you sure the card has the right balance when you use it?
Have to hit Change Payment very fast after you swipe card and then select debit and put in PIN. You have to beat the Walmart employee to hit that change payment key and even after you hit it you still have to go fast to do PIN as their computer tells them something that prompts them to tell you that you can only do debit. Simply ignore them and proceed quickly and they will end up saying “oh there it goes”.
That is how I have always loaded MC at Walmart.
Haha that’s pretty accurate. This is why Visa gift cards are better.
Yeah – I try to stay away from MC when I can. It’s not common that I’ll max out two BBird, two GoBank accounts, and then still need more. Plus I can push another $5000 through Evolve bill pay each month, and MCs seem to work fine there.
I tried to load Serve at the MC last night and the lady asked to see what debit card I was using and told me I had to have my name on it. Obviously she saw the OV didn’t have a name and denied me. Haven’t had an issue when trying to load at registers. I just stick to registers since I can line hop.
That’s what I do. Works all the time.
Just tried to load onto Serve today at Walmart with VISA cards (success in the past) and was told they cannot load from pre-paid cards due to the Patriot Act. The same guy who told me this was a guy who’s helped in the past load successfully so it wasn’t because he didn’t know how to do it. Did I just get unlucky?
I think you got unlucky. Try again m, it all depends on the cashier you get.
I’ll go to a different one and try again. When you load are you saying you’re just doing an ATM transaction and therefore trying to hide the fact that it’s a prepaid card? If so how do you do multiple? Or are you not trying to hide the fact they are prepaid?
I wonder where this dude pulled Patriot Act out of… seemed like BS, but also appeared a little above his pay grade so I assumed he was told that.
Seems unlikely that this is some new policy – seeing as the Patriot Act was passed 13 years ago.
Totally… thats what I sat in my car thinking afterwards… but it was just weird. I didn’t want to ask for a manager and argue to call attention.
Who knows, I’ll try again, thanks!
Here is the order in which I would try to load my Bluebird/Serve Card at Walmart:
1 – find a Money Center ATM that is working
2 – go to the Money Center department and try a load there
3 – go to a cashier in a checkout lane and have them do a load
All I say when I go to Walmart is, “Good morning, I’d like to load my Bluebird/Serve Card today” then they ask how much and I say “$200/$500 please” and that’s it. I don’t show them what card I am using or tell them anything. After the first load, I usually tell them, “Can I do one more $200/$500 reload? Thank you.” Works like a charm every time.
Is MetaBank better than GoBank to load onto GC’s? (in Walmart)
Your question doesn’t make any sense:
– GoBank is an actual online bank.
– MetaBank is an issuer of Visa giftcards.
– Money is loaded OFF of GCs at a Walmart, not ON.
So, you can:
– buy a MetaBank Visa GC
– go to a Walmart
– load the funds from the GC onto your GoBank account
Yes exactly. Metabank and US Bank are issuers of gift cards and Bluebird/Serve/Go Bank are reloadable debit cards.
thank you, i’m learning
Just got my Serve card last week and linked it up with my Chase BA visa and did a load of $200 to test it out. Then I set up 3 $5 payment to 3 different credit card company (Chase, Barclay, Citi) wanting to test it out. Today I went to walmart and loaded Serve using a $200 visa gift card, came home and logged in to Serve wanting to do a credit card load of $45 and it gave me a message of “cannot be loaded, call 800-XXX-XXXX” monday to friday… What do you think the problem might be? Is it because I added funds using credit card then turned around to use those funds to pay credit card? Thanks.. Still learning this whole Serve thing..
Btw, two of the walmart in my area have no kiosk at the money center, one guy told me because the store is “neighborhood market center” something like that… So i had to load my Serve at the counter.. I was surprised how easy it was.. Wish I discover it years earlier!
Not to worry. Serve tends to freeze Serve account when you use a new credit or debit card to fund your account. That message shows up when you change credit or debit cards as well. Just read this guide for more info: http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/call-serve-after-changing-credit-or-debit-card/
If you just sign up for Serve using an ISIS iphone case, and then after that just take it off and stop using Isis altogether basically, will you still have the increases limits of 500/day and 1500/month of online loads? Or will it revert to the normal 200/1000 limits once you stop using the case…?
Thanks!
I have no idea Rusty. Anyone have an answer?
Could someone clarify if ISIS really does offer a different set of online amounts for Serve? Every time I call Serve they have no idea what I’m talking about. And, there’s no way to reach the ISIS people. Also, I see nothing online that calls out this advantage/difference.
Help!
FlyerTalk has a good post about ISIS limitations: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1199432-serve-another-paypal-amazon-payments.html
Link? Of is it obvious where it is on the site?
Link is included in the last comment. I added a few seconds after posting the original comment.
I’m either blind or particularly stupid today. I don’t see any link to that particular issue.