In this post, I will walk you through adding funds to your Redbird Card. There are a few ways to add funds to your Redbird Card. Log into your Redbird account by clicking here and clicking the Manage My REDCard button.
After logging into your Redbird account, click Add Money below the Pay & Transfer tab.
From here, you have four options to add funds to your Redbird Card:
- Direct Deposit – using your employee paycheck (up to $100,000/year)
- Cash / Debit Card / Credit Card – loadable inside Target stores (up to $2,500/day and up to $5,000/month)
- Bank Account – link your checking or savings account (up to $2,000/month)
- Debit Card – online debit card loads (up to $200/day and up to $1,000/month)
If you want to set up direct deposit from your employer paycheck to your Redbird Card, fill out the information on this screen and click the Print Form button. Then hand the form to your payroll department at work. A portion (dollar amount or percent) of your paycheck will then be deposited onto your Redbird Card every payment period. You can load up to $100,000 per year via direct deposit.
On this screen, you can also locate your Redbird account and routing numbers if you want to move funds to/from your Redbird Card.
Another reload option is to visit a Target store and reload your Redbird Card at the customer service / returns department. Redbird will accept cash, debit cards, and credit cards as a form of payment. You can locate your nearest participating Target store by clicking the Find Locations button. You can load up to $2,500 per day and up to $5,000 per month.
The next option is to link your checking or savings account to your Redbird Card. Transfers between your checking or savings account take approximately 2-4 business days to complete. You can transfer up to $2,000 per month between accounts.
The last option is to fund your Redbird Card with your debit card. Similar to reloading a Serve Card with a debit card, you can load up to $200 per day and up to $1,000 per month.
To link your checking or savings account to your Redbird Card, fill out the information on this screen and click the Submit button. You will need to verify your checking or savings account by entering 2 small micro-deposits that Redbird will send to your checking or savings account.
To link your debit card, enter your debit card information and your mailing address on this screen. At the bottom of the screen, you can set your debit card as a backup funding source. If you try to use your Redbird Card to make a purchase that is larger than the currently available balance, the remaining balance will be pulled from your debit card. When you are finished with filling in the information, click the Submit button.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day!
Have you loaded online with paypal business debit card? the issuer keeps declining. I called and changed backup source from extras to bank account as they said. But it got still declined.
I haven’t loaded my Redbird Card with my PPBDC yet. This post is still a work in progress.
Have you try loading RedBird at Target stores in California? I know we don’t sell them here, but was wondering if they have issues loading like in NC.
Target Redbird works fine in SoCal and NorCal. No issues at all.
Yeah, I am in So Cal and Redbird Amex works perfect in any Target. It codes as groceries too so no worries about cash advance fees. I can only seem to load $500 at a time though. It’s either Citibank or Target’s terminal that won’t allow me to purchase $1000.
I’ve loaded $1,000 twice today and once on Jan 1 at SoCal Targets. I tend to liquidate a bunch of $200 Visa GCs from Staples :)
did Target recent update their pos ? i’ve tried liqudate 2 of staples bought 200s gc, asking to load for 400 , hit CC with first load , and would not go thru…
I loaded $2,000 worth of GCs to my Redbird Card this morning with no problem. I run them through as credit cards, not entering any PINs.
The temporary RedBird card is only sold in limited locations. May I know where you got your Redbird card? Besides GCs, have your tried directly loading it with your miles/points earning credit card with $1,000 per transaction? Thanks for advice.
You are correct, the temporary Redbird Cards are only sold in a few states. I had a friend near Denver get a temporary Redbird Card and send it to me. If you have friends or relatives in any participating states, you may want to ask them to send you a temporary Redbird Card. Worst case scenario, you can buy a temporary Redbird Card on Ebay for a few bucks.
For people still looking to get a Rdbird (REDcard) online, especially now that Serve won’t take non-Amex credit cards, email me at NoonRadar@gmail.com and for a small fee I can email you one for you to register today. You don’t need the physical card to register, just its info. I have provided it to hundreds this way and you can read some of their reviews here: https://bit.ly/1DMVZSS
As of now you can load Redbird with credit cards (or gift cards for that matter) in all states, except North Carolina. There’s also a couple of stores in NYC (the city not the sate) that no longer allow you to load it with a credit card.
Please forgive me if you mention this somewhere above, but can I have a Redbird card AND a Bluebird card at the same time? Or is it like Serve and Bluebird were you cannot have both at the same time. And if you can have both the Red and Blue card does that mean I can MS 10k a month?
Happy new year!
Great question Adam, you can only have 1 of the following cards: Bluebird, Serve, or Redbird. I wish I could have all 3, but AMEX does not allow that.
has anyone successfully loaded a card in NC recently? Went to a store today and was told they can’t load them. they even called another NC store that had previously sold them and were told that they couldn’t load them there either and were told to destroy any remaining inventory of temporary cards…
I’ve heard similar stories. What is going on in North Carolina?
I was unable to load my card in NC today, anyone have any updates on this? Do we need to cross state lines to load?
Seems like North Carolina Target stores cannot load Redbird Cards. Can you visit Target in another state?
FYI, just tried loading a Redbird in NC earlier this week (2 stores in Asheville) with no luck. One manager said she had gotten an email assuring her that they will be able to once their system has been updated, but there was no specific date offered as to when that might be.
No problems loading the Redbird from a CC at Target stores in metro-Atlanta.
Crazy NC. I’m not sure what kind of IT issue they have but I hope it gets fixed soon.
Can anybody please report a recent successful loading with credit card including the date and State? Thanks.
I was able to load $1,000, $2,000, and $2,000 on January 1, 3 and 4 in Orange County, CA.
The Redbird website does not specifically list credit cards as a way to reload the redbird card. Are there any fees associated with loading with a credit card or gift card?
You are right, the Redbird website just says “cash reloads,” but you can use credit/debit/gift cards with no fee.
I just got a redcard from Michigan over the holidays and the real card just arrive today, to my house in North Carolina and now i see this terrible news. I will be trying a store today, hopefully with better luck.
Do the cashiers ask to see the redbird card and the credit card being loaded? If i have no luck loading in NC, i might mail my redbird card to my parents in ohio and add them as authorized users to load for me.
The cashiers don’t check the name on the Redbird Card, so practically anyone can load it at any Target store. No need to set up authorized user cards since I don’t think authorized user cards can have funds added to them.
Best luck to you Jordan. If all NC target stores can’t load it, maybe the best shot is to try it at the neighboring State. Kindly let us know your loading result in NC. I’m anxiously waiting for my permanent card to arrive.
It might be time to take your Redbird on a little road trip to visit other Target stores (outside NC).
Hey Grant. Fellow SoCal guy here. Can you share the Target locations where you’ve had success loading your RB card?
I’ve had luck loading my Redbird Card at the Targets in Irvine and Foothill Ranch.
I have had a lot of hassles with my cards being denied trying to load Redbird. I finally got Chase to play along but with Citibank I was never able to load more than $500 at a time. Discover has been a real pain too. I am trying a different tactic now of using Amex Business gift cards to load Redbird. I just bought a $3000 Amex GC through topcashback.com with 1.5% cash back. I will report back on how it goes.
I always call the credit card companies and tell them I’m planning on making a large purchase at Target, that has always worked for me. Maybe you can try that next time.
It went smooth yesterday at Target. $1000 with Chase and $1000 with Discover no problem. I just need another $500 for my $5000 max load this month. Should be smooth sailing now.
Glad to hear everything is going well. US Bank gave me such a hard time when I tried to use my FlexPerks credit card.
Thanks Grant! I sent an email to Discover and Chase before I went to Target so that probably helped them calm down. I think maybe banks are paranoid about Target now since they had that big data breech a while back. Guess I can’t blame them.
Before I went to Target, I called Chase and US Bank to let them know I was planning on making a large purchase at Target. The Chase card went through fine but the US Bank FlexPerks card had so many issues I had to call three times and speak with a fraud department supervisor.
Wow that’s crazy! Hopefully US bank will loosen up for you. Citibank was very hostile to me as well but I am done with the spends on those cards. I am going to rack up miles on Discover Escape now since it’s 2x miles. I guess the card is now discontinued but I was ‘grandfathered’ in and kept my original terms. I hope to use that for hotel expenses for our next trip later this year.
The US Bank Fraud rep said that she can see that I used the card at Targets a few months ago, but no activity in the last 2 months. If you use the card again, it should go through fine. I’ve never heard of the Discover Escape, you must have had that card for 3+ years at least.
I checked my statements at Discover and I opened the card in July 2011. It’s been longer than I realized! Time flies. The points are good for a credit against any travel expenses at a rate of $1000 per 100,000 miles. Unfortunately there is no way to transfer to airlines directly as that would be much more productive. Annual fee is $60 which is not too bad. I have no hotel cards at the moment so I will use this to offset hotel or train tickets.
So the Discover Escape card earns 2x miles, but the miles are only worth 1 cent each? You might want to look at the Citi Double Cash or some other 2% cash back card that has no annual fee.
It’s funny you should mention, I just converted my Citi AA gold to the Citi double cash card. The math is the same though for rewards as Discover it seems. $50,000 in spend on Citi double would be $1000 cash. I would save on the annual fee however. I may very well close Discover Miles and build cash on Citi Double.
I would drain your Discover Escape rewards and use the Citi Double Cash moving forward.
Yeah good idea. I have about 6000 miles or $60. An AA gift card should do the trick.
It should be pretty easy for you to spend those 6000 points then.
Looks like travel redemption has to be 10000 points or more according to Discover. It’s also worth $60 on Amazon so that will be an easy alternative.
Just redeem for Amazon gift card then, that’s always a great option.
Any category spend bonus on this? Target as grocery? A strait 2% back credit card isn’t all the lucrative?
The Redbird Card is great for meeting minimum spend, but is somewhat limited in terms of MS.
Grant, do you think it’s safe to use an American Express credit card to load a prepaid Target Redcard, and then bill pay that American Express credit card? Or do you think it would raise a red flag?
I think that would be fine. Don’t go too fast and load $5,000 over 2 days and then do a $5,000 bill payment, that woukd look bad. If you spread the loading and unloading across several credit cards and bill payees, you will be fine.
I link all my credit cards to my bank for paying. Is it easy to set up and pay my credit cards with Redbird?
Good morning Hoang, the process to pay credit card bills with Serve/Bluebird/Redbird is very easy. See this guide to learn more: http://travelwithgrant.com/amex-serve/pay-bills-with-serve/
I use my redbird account for a variety of transactions such as paying the mortgage, buying small items at Target, bank deposits, and payments to credit cards. I like to send a payment to a credit union visa that I don’t use, causing a credit balance. I then transfer the credit balance to my linked checking and pay back the Amex credit card balance from there.
That works too!
I know this card is great for meeting minimum spend on new credit cards, but as a category bonus type card, which card/cards would be best. I don’t see many great grocery store category bonus cards for Visa/MC that would work as generous as AMEX. Also wondering if Target’s own credit card might work.
Great question, Frequent Miler’s post from this morning might be able to answer your question: http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2015/01/26/the-best-card-for-reloading-redbird-3/
How timely!
Great minds think alike (you and FM).
Hi Grant,
Does RedBird has “send money” feature as Bluebird? I just used this feature yesterday and it is a wonderful feature so can send money from your Dad/Mom or your kids BB account to your account and the money coming instantly when you accept it.
Yes, Redbird has the exact same feature for sending money from your account to any Bluebird, Redbird, or Serve account.
Do they sell these anywhere in Orange County? Thanks.
Not that I know of. I haven’t seen any temp Redbird Cards at any OC Target stores.
RedBird allows $2,500 load per day. Lots of people break that into three transactions as $1,000, $500, $1,000. And I found it a bit suspicious if the CC bank sees repetitive same charges over and over. So I break them into three transactions like $738.21, $809.32, $952.47. And show the numbers on my smartphone’s calculator to Target staff to proceed. Although it’s more hassles for me to arrange numbers, I rather do it this way. While I already put spending notes in advance by calling my CC that large amount transactions are coming through, one of the several MS transactions was declined which it happened to be the even amount of $500. I’m not 100% sure about if CC company has an algorithm to catch any suspicious $500 or $1,000 charge being repeated. But I will continue my approach to make those “purchases” look more “natural”.
That is a good strategy, do the cashiers ever ask you why you want those dollar amounts?
Never. They are all very friendly and proceed without any hesitation. I put my smartphone screen on their desk and they just confirm the amount for each transaction I specify as their standard of procedure. Some of them even ask me if I can do them a favor to leave a nice feedback on the survey. Target is awesome.
I will go back to Target later tonight when the other shift starts, the cashiers in the evening seem nicer than in the morning. Glad you are on a roll with your reloads.
I did all my transactions at customer service. I know registers/cashier can do it but I prefer CS area which I don’t feel holding up the line if something happens. There are always multiple staff at CS desk and I don’t need to wait for more than 2 minutes to get served. Standing in line at register might remind me the WM nightmare last year. LOL!
I always go to customer service. They told me twice that I couldn’t use my AMEX GC to load my Redbird. So annoying!
I always go to customer service. They told me twice that I couldn’t use my AMEX GC to load my Redbird. So annoying!
I have been having great success with buying Amex gift cards with CC first, then unloading the Amex GC to Redbird. I did $1000, $1000, $500 with the same cashier last time and no problems with bank flags or declined CC. I did get a little bit of a funny look from the cashier but she did not ask questions. Don’t use Citibank to buy the Amex GC though as they charge cash advance fees. I used my Amex Platinum to buy them so far with no problems.
I tried to do that twice today but twice I was told that I could only use a credit card, not an AMEX GC. I’ll drive a few miles and try another Target. Glad your Target is more cooperative.
Sorry you are having trouble Grant. Yeah try another Target. Hopefully that is not a new trend.
I’ve had plenty of luck at other Target stores, but the Target that is really close to me started enforcing it today.
No problems loading Redcard in NYC. Customer service workers are familiar with them Have loaded from gift cards and credit cards. A good idea to vary amounts on the credit card reloads using odd amounta like $355, $785 etc.
Thanks for the data point. Glad Redbird can be loaded in NYC.
Grant, Do you know anyone whose loaded several (or lots) of Staples Visa rebate cards at one time (or in succession)? Did he/she have any issues? I used one card to make my first load when I got the card. I’ve got several of these low denomination cards to load and I don’t want to set off any alarm bells when I start loading one after the other.
Technically, you should not have any issues using the small denomination Visa Gift Card rebates to load your Redbird. I have tried these in the past with AMEX for Target and sometimes I had an issue, but I haven’t tried recently. If you stay under 5 swipes total per load, you should be ok.
Thanks again Grant! I appreciate all of your responses and articles.
No problem, have a great day!
Grant — so when loading $1000 worth of $200 VGC from Staples, do you do five separate $200 transactions or do you tell them that you want to load $1000 at once but have five cards? I know when I go to walmart, I try and hide the fact that I’m using GCs as they do not like that. Hence, if I wanted to do 5 consecutive $200 GC swipes, they would obviously know.
At Target, I tell them I want to load $1000. I then swipe the first GC. If they let the first one go, I say “I have a few more cards and I’m sorry for all the trouble.” It really depends on the cashier you get, some are cool with GCs but others are not.
Hi , l have one question: l just got my serve card but l didn’t activate it yet, can still l apply target redbird or l have to cancel my serve accout first?
Thank you
You will have to close your Serve Card before you can register a temp Redbird Card.
Hi Grant , l closed my serve account but how soon can l apply target Redbird? Thank you….
You can register your temp Redbird Card after 24 hours have passed after closing your Serve Card. Do you have a temp Redbird Card?
Hi Grant,I am going to get one through eBay.
Good idea, make sure it is an activated Redbird Card from a reputable Ebay seller.
As a frequent MS person living in a state where I can’t buy the Redbird card, I cancelled my serve and had NoonRadar send me the information for a small fee. Anything with MS is 15 steps, and it is frustrating to miss one of those steps and have the process fall apart. I think the reason why I am ready to write this positive review was the email feedback was exceptional from NR. Here’s to hoping this Redbird cards stays alive for the remainder of the year… nothing lasts forever, but it will be good while it does. – Brian, Boise ID
Thank you Brian. I’m glad NoonRadar was able to help you with your Redbird Card.
Message I saw from Frequentmiler’s “The complete guide to REDbird: The Target Prepaid REDcard.” discussion thread. And also posted in this article “REDbird credit card loads: here today, gone tomorrow? Developing…”.
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2015/05/05/redbird-credit-card-loads-here-today-gone-tomorrow-developing/
I hate spreading unconfirmed rumors, but this one is important, if true. A few people via comments on this blog have reported a memo that supposedly went out to all Target stores saying that credit cards will no longer be an allowed form of payment as of tomorrow May 6. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it at first since it is common for memos to be described as corporate wide when they are store specific, but then Dan of Dan’s Deals claims to have confirmed the memo himself.
Assuming this is true, there is no word yet on whether this will be hard coded in the register or left to employees to enforce. There is also no word yet on whether or not debit card payments will be allowed.
I tried to verify this memo at my local Target, but the overall store manager knew nothing about it. Maybe there’s hope? Maybe the memo is store specific, after all? I’ll post again once more is known.
Why publish now, without proof?
I wanted to give everyone a heads up in case this is true. If you can, it would be worth running out to Target today for what might be your final credit card load.
—————————————————————————————————————
Just got word from sources that Target employees received a memo to NOT accept credit cards for Red Card prepaid loads anymore, starting 5/6/2015.
This is very, very bad news. Let’s see if it is true…
It’s OFFICIAL unfortunately. The demise of RedBird finally becomes true. What a horribly sad news for MSers. For us west coast RedBird holders, the cut off time is tonight before 9pm to run the last batch of CC loading. HURRY!!! Don’t wait till last minute.
By the way, someone mentioned to join Square Up for 180 trial for free and can load CC up to $2,000 per month. I’m not sure about how this thing works. Any advice?
https://squareup.com/
I’m guessing square will start shutting people down pretty fast. It is indeed a sad day for Redbird.
I wonder if Amex gift cards will be banned too. Hopefully they and other gift cards will survive.
It will probably be just Visa and MasterCard gift cards and debit cards, just like Walmart. :/
I will test the waters tomorrow. I have another $2000 Amex GC to burn through.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes. What state are you in?
I am in California. I will report back if it works or not. I should get my GC in the mail tomorrow or Thursday.
My local Target confirmed CC and AGC for that matter won’t be accepted for loading Redbirds. I am buying VGC’s at Walgreens with my AGC then loading Redbird with the VGC. So far so good. I will continue to buy AGC’s so I can get my 4% cash back on Ebates to offset the VGC fees. I can still make over $60 per $2000 AGC I buy, plus 2000 points from the CC spend used to buy the AGC. As long as Redbird takes GC with pin I will continue this process for my MS.
Good strategy Brad, but what do you do when AGC payouts are less than 4% cash back?
I get the 4% from Ebates regular 1% and using their Ebates card for another 3% to buy the AGC. So actually, I would get just cash back with this method. If I use my Citibank AA card to buy the AGC I would just break even on the VGC fees since I would not get the 3% from using the Ebates Visa. I miscalculated above but this is still acceptable to get 2000 points in spend for no cost. More trips to Walgreens though increases the hassle factor a bit. I drive by one on the way home from work so it works ok for me.
Ahh the Ebates Credit Card. That explains it.
Forgot to add, Ebates never seems to credit the cash back unless I file a “missing cashback” claim every time. They pay eventually but it is annoying to have to do that every time. I don’t know if it’s AMEX stalling or Ebates.
Hmm could be either company. Do you use your Ebates Credit Card at any other Ebates merchants?
Yes, I was using it on Ebay also and those purchases seemed to post the cash back without me chasing them down. My guess is Amex wants to stall in the hopes that they won’t have to pay the cash back to Ebates. I think I will buy my next AGC on
Top cashback since they offer 1.5% and I had less hassles with them in the past.
Gotcha, thank you for the data points.
Ok so I know I can’t buy the variable VGC/MCGC at OD with a card, but if I purchase a $500 VGC online at somewhere like gift cards.com will they work to load my Redbird card?
Yes, all online purchase VGCs will work fine to load to Redbird. Good luck!
I have been buying the Agricultural Federal GC’s as they are $1 less and free shipping to the house saves gas.
Yes, I buy AgFed VGCs often. I find GCs.com with the G-Money rewards are even cheaper.
Exactly! With a 2% cash back card and the g-money rewards you can make $20.32 every time you purchase 4 X $500 VGCs.
At least that’s my math. I could be wrong though.
I think your math looks about right, but I would have to double check and it depends how many G-Money points you start with :)
You know it!
Well last night I tried loading my redcard with one of the $500 VGCs from giftcards.com. Unfortunately the register kept saying “only ably to load $0 with this payment source.” I used it as a debit so I’m not sure what the issue was. Hopefully a different target will work. I’ve loaded the $200 VGCs at this target before so I’m not sure l. I’m in VA so shouldn’t be the NC issue (I hope)
I believe there is a technical glitch preventing GCs to be loaded to Redbird. Do not try to load Redbird for a few days until we get confirmation that GC funding is working again.
Well that would just suck! Hopefully it’s just a temporary glitch and gets resolved.
We will just have to wait and see…
I went to Target this afternoon and nobody knows about it. Unfortunately nobody stopped today and she and her co-worker did not work yesterday so they did not see any issues. However, I read NoonRadar and I guess RedBird is RIP.
I saw a memo that says cash only as of Oct 13.
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Worst case I suppose I will just have to switch to bluebird. I’m definitely not as big a fan of Wally World which was why I went with Redbird in the first place.
Redbird will definitely be missed it is indeed dead.
goodbye Redbird…hello bluebird.
Updates from NoonRadar.com
http://www.noonradar.com/blogs/news/70367683-redbird-target-prepaid-redcard-is-dead-as-of-october-12-2015
Thanks for the link to NoonRadar’s updates.
Terrible timing for sure. I have $2K in GCs on hand and 17500 more spend to take care of in the next 90 days. 75,000 Avios and 75,000 AA miles on the line.
Yikes, that’s a tough situation you’re in :/
MO at Wally or BB?
Does Wall Mart take debit GCs to buy money orders? If so that would solve my problem.
It does but it also depends on the stores. My friend who lives in OC said none of Wall-Mart accept GC for MO. My area one store accept and other does not. Kate also works with BB. I am going to switch back to BB. My sister in-law who lives in Austin can buy MO in a grocery which nearby “Simon Mall” using GC from Simon.
Hope it helps.
I’m by no means a bluebird expert, but why not just get a bluebird card and go that route?
Thanks Hoang for the info. I will try money order route first at my local WM’s I will probably switch back to Bluebird also. Only problem is the closest WM with Kate is kind of far from my house. Serve is dead too right since they don’t allow CC load anymore?
Yep serve is dead. Unless you use a 3rd party Amex cc to load your serve card.
One of my cards to minimum spend is Amex gold so that could help, although I hate to be tied to just one form of loading which is too restrictive. Bluebird is calling.
Yes it is, I’m just waiting for my redcard cancellation to process so I can sign up for bluebird.
I cancel RB and as soon I got email said it was cancelled I apply BB right away, waiting for new card coming
Nice, hopefully your new BB card arrives soon.
Grant for Nationwide Buxx cards, can you be “parent” and teenager both or do the names have to be different? I signed up as parent in my name already. Hopefully I did not mess up.
I use the same name for the parent account and all teen cards.
Ok good to know, thanks Grant.
Just an update on my situation. I dumped Deadbird and have a Bluebird card on the way. For my collection of AgFed gift cards they convert nicely at a Walmart by my house into money orders. For my Amex gold I had to buy Vanilla GC’s at CVS and they don’t work at Walmart for money orders at all. VCG do still work at the post office however. There is still MS post Redbird but more fees involved.
Thank you for the update, Brad. I’m glad you can liquidate your VGCs conveniently and cheaply.