Reloadable Prepaid Card

American Express Serve Reviews

Posted on August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by admin

American Express Serve is Reloadable Prepaid card that has exclusive features. By using full of these features, you can save money when shopping and use it for manufactured spending. First off, these are some unique features for loading Serve.

Load with Credit Card

You can load Serve with your credit card. It can only be done online. First, you have to choose a credit card and link to your Serve account. You can link only one credit card. You can change credit cards, but you need to remove the current card and then link another card. The limit is $200 a day, $1000 a month.

Load with Debit Card

The rule is the same as credit card’s. Only one debit card can link to Serve account and limit $200 a day, $1000 a month. If you have a point earning debit card, use it. As for me, I have PayPal Business Debit MasterCard that offer unlimited 1% cash back on purchases. Every month, I earn $10 cash back by loading $1000 to Serve with PayPal debit card.

Load with Visa/MasterCard Gift Card

Visa/MasterCard gift cards have a feature of debit card. You can load Serve with debit cards at Walmart ATM. As long as gift cards have PIN, you can use them at Walmart ATM for loading Serve. Limit is $1000 a day. I’m not sure about monthly limit, but combined with all types of loads should be less than $10,000. You can consolidate all Visa/MasterCard gift cards you purchase at the time of promotions, to meet requirement of sign-up bonus, etc. I can use my PayPal debit card for loading at Walmart, but PayPal doesn’t offer cash back for PIN purchase (transaction as a debit card). So, there is no meaning to use regular debit cards for loading at Walmart ATM.

These are not all the ways to load Serve, but the useful ways for manufactured spending. Once you load Serve, you have many ways to unload it.

Transfer to your bank account

With your bank account linked to Serve, you can transfer money between them. It is not only adding money to Serve, but also withdraw money from Serve to your bank account.

Pay Bills

You can pay bills of your credit cards linked to Serve account, used for purchase of Visa/MasterCard GCs, etc.

Please note that you should avoid unloading right after you load Serve. American Express may close your account if the transactions obviously show that you use Serve for manufactured spending. For example, load $1000 with a credit card and then pay exact $1000 credit card’s bill. Leave the money in Serve account for a while then unload it. More favorably, you should use some money in the account for regular purchases. Unlike reward credit cards, you can’t earn cash back or travel points through regular purchases, but Serve can sync with Amex Offer.

Save Money by Amex Offer

Serve is an eligible to sync with Amex Offer, and BlueBird is not. BlueBird is another American Express reloadable prepaid card, which has very similar features of Serve. You can’t have both of them. You have to choose one between them. If you change your mind, you can switch them, but you need to close the current account and then open another. I chose Serve over BlueBird because of Amex Offer. You can earn statement credit by using the card at certain stores. For example:

Get a one-time $10 statement credit by using your connected Card to spend a total of $50 or more in-store and online at The Sports Authority by 8/31/2014

There are always many offers, and new offers frequently keep adding. If you are not interested in any items in the store, but they sell other store’s gift card, buy a gift card to get statement credit.

About Fees

There is no fee when you do anything described above. They charge $1 as monthly maintenance fee, but you can waive the fee by loading $500 or more. So, I believe that no one is ever worried about it.

Summary

American Express Serve is a must for manufactured spending. Online load with credit and debit cards are very convenient. Plus, loading with Visa/MasterCard GCs at Walmart ATM makes it possible to create more manufactured spending. Amex Offer helps you unload Serve and makes it less obvious what you are doing (using for manufactured spending) and gives you savings at the same time.

The features on this post are key features that I think it is useful and important. Of course, there are more features that is general or may be useful to you. Please visit www.serve.com for full information.

Amex Offer amazon already $20 back for $20+ Purchase

Posted on July 14, 2014September 6, 2014 by admin

Get a one-time $20 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $20 or more online at Amazon.com by 8/31/2014

I received this offer in July 2014. I purchased $20 Amazon E-Gift Card with AmEx card synced with this offer (Blue Cash Preferred). Usually, AmEx sends a confirmation email (picture below) in a minute, but I didn’t receive one this time.

I wondered e-gift card might not have been eligible for the offer. So, I logged in my AmEx account to double-check its terms and conditions. Then I noticed that $20 had been already credited to my account. ^^

I purchased the e-gift card on July 10th, and the credit was posted on the next day. Since amazon gift cards are eligible items for this offer, just buy a $20 gift card for a future purchase if you don’t find anything you want right now.

Another great offer became available at the same time. It’s for Staples.com

Get a one-time $15 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $100 or more on qualifying purchases online at Staples.com by 7/31/2014

I purchased $100 Sears gift card with the card. For this purchase, I received a confirmation email (2nd picture) right after the check-out. Please note that Staples offer is valid online only, and e-gift cards are not eligible items.

And today, I see another offer added. It’s for BestBuy. (sync up with Serve, too)

Get a one-time $25 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $250 or more at Best Buy by 9/2/2014

What generous offers! Thank you, American Express!

Serve Can’t Redeem AmEx GC Offer

Posted on July 11, 2014October 3, 2015 by admin

American Express Serve is a reloadable prepaid card. One of its benefits is that you can sync up with Amex offers. Currently, there is an offer of $10 statement credit on the purchase of $200 or more American Express gift cards online. (expires on 07/30/2014)

The offer was able to add to my Serve card, but you can’t redeem the offer because American Express doesn’t accept prepaid cards as payment for purchases of AmEx GCs.

After I had placed an order, I received an email from AmEx network. It said:

Thank you for using your synced American Express® Card

ending in xxxxx at AMEX GIFT CARDS!

Look out for a statement credit within 90 days.

Soon after, I received another email from AmEx. It said, “Your Card order cannot be completed.” Here are the details.

Thank you for placing your order for prepaid American Express Card(s). Unfortunately, we cannot fulfill order #1114xxxx at this time.

Your order was not fulfilled for the following reasons: At this time we do not accept gift cards as a form of payment.

It’s not big deal, but money I tried to use for AmEx GC has been on hold for a long time. It’s been three days after the check-out. The money is still on hold.

And here is how the page at BeFrugal.com (online shopping portal) show this transaction.

I kind of knew that AmEx wouldn’t accept prepaid cards for the purchase of AmEx GCs. However, Serve synced with this offer. So I thought it would be worth a try. I missed one thing. I didn’t expect Serve kept the money on hold for so long time. ~~You’d better not try to use prepaid cards for AmEx GCs~~.

Visa GCs issued by Bancorp Declined by Walmart MoneyCenter Express

Posted on July 3, 2014July 3, 2014 by admin

On June 29th 2014, I went to Walmart MoneyCenter Express (ATM) to reload Serve with the following four gift cards:

(1) $500 Visa GC issued by MetaBank, I bought at a grocery store
(2) $200 MasterCard GCs issued by U.S. Bank, I bought at Staples
(1) $100 Target Visa GC issued by Bancorp, I bought at Target.com

Except for a Target Visa GC, the others were successful to reload Serve. I tried twice and also tried to reload another card (Walmart MoneyCard Preferred) with Target Visa GC, but all attempts failed. ATM seemed to recognize the card as a debit card and even prompted me to enter PIN. But, they declined the transaction in the end.

At first, I thought it was a temporary problem. It did happen to me before. A Visa GC had declined one day, but the same GC accepted on the other day. However, after I went home and searched about this on the internet, and I saw the websites here and there. It seems Walmart started being picky on types of debit card for reloading BlueBird/Serve/Walmart MoneyCard.

According to the websites, Vanilla Visa GC and OneVanilla Visa GC are no longer accepted at Walmart ATM. Both GCs are issued by Bankcorp, which also issues Target Visa GCs. Many people experienced the same problem, so probably, these GCs are no longer available for Walmart Swipe Reload.

When I go to Walmart next time, I will give it another try.

American Express for Target Reviews

Posted on June 25, 2014June 25, 2014 by admin

Since I started saving money by using gift cards, I always check a rack of gift cards in every store I visit. In Target, I found something different from other gift cards. It’s called American Express for Target. Its package is relatively big and large. It says, “$3 Loads & ATMS, NO OTHER FEES”

AmEx for Target is not a gift card, but Reloadable Prepaid Card. Key features are the following:

Reloadable by credit card
Withdraw cash at ATM
No monthly fee

You can directly reload the card with your credit cards at Target stores. This was very appealing. I thought it would help my manufactured spending. And there is no monthly fee. So, I just bought it without simulating a usage of this card. I tried to come up with a method for manufacture spending, but it seems AmEx for Target is not for those who are collecting cash back or travel reward. Because the fee is inevitable.

$3 Fee for Reload

Online, you can load the card from your bank account, and there is no fee. However, if you want to load with your credit or debit cards, you will need to go to Target store and have them swiped. They charge $3 fee. The amount of each load is from $0.01 to $1,000. If your credit card has a great reward program, it may be worth it, but when you take money out of the card, they also charge a fee.

$3 ATM Fee

You can withdraw up to $400 per week. The first withdrawal in each calendar month is free, and later $3 fee per withdrawal. This fee is charged by AmEx. The ATM owner fee is charged on every withdrawal. The website says the maximum withdrawal is $400, but the paper included the package says $200 max. I don’t know why. It may be because of the place I live or buy. But, it doesn’t matter $200 or $400, every withdrawal cost and reduce the value of the reward points you earned when loading the card with a credit card.

No Amex offer, No Target offer

Unlike American Express Serve, the card can’t sync with Amex offers. I expected some special features when you shopped at Target with the card, but there is nothing. It is just Target sells the cards and reload them. That’s it.

Conclusion

AmEx for Target may be good for those who want to use it in a plain way, meaning that simply you don’t want to carry cash, or parents want to control and watch their children’s spending, etc. But it’s not recommended to people who don’t have a bank account. No fee when you load the card online from your bank account, but whether you load the card with cash or check, you have to go to Target and pay $3 fee per load. As long as you use the card on purchases at stores or online, there is no fee. Loading from your bank account and spending at stores or online charge no fee, and there is no monthly fee, either. American Express for Target is a great item for those who use it in a simple way, but it can’t be used for manufactured spending.

Fee or Error? Being Charged $3.95 on Every Walmart Swipe Reload

Posted on June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 by admin

On June 15th, 2014, I reloaded my Serve with 3 Visa gift cards at Walmart. I have been doing many times, and it seemed there was no problem to complete 3 reloads. The receipts show the exact amount I loaded. At a glance of them, I couldn’t see any problem, but when I logged in Serve account and saw the transaction history, I noticed there was something wrong. The amount of each reload is $3.95 less. I checked the receipts carefully. Although the amount of the debit load is correct, the beginning balance and the ending balance don’t match each other. The beginning balance on all three receipts is somehow $3.95 less.

As soon as I got home, I searched on the internet. Instantly, it was a hit. There were many people experiencing the same problem. Something in common was that they happened recently and only to Serve, not BlueBird. In terms of time and place, it probably happened at random.

Someone’s post on flyertalk forum says “It was probably a glitch only affecting on Serve. Wait for the next few days to see if it is just a glitch or a new policy.” I was convinced by this post, and I just waited.

I have been waiting for a few days, but there is no change in my Serve account. I went back to the forum and continued to read pages. On page 5, I found the resolution. I should have read this page on the first day. It had been already resolved 4 days before.

There is a link in the forum and visited blog post. As it says, I called the number on the back of the card and spoke to an account manager. In a few minutes, $3.95 x 3 was credited to my Serve account. It shows up as Good Faith Credit.

If you recently reload your Serve at Walmart, you should double check if there is a hidden deduction of $3.95 for each reload.

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