PayPal Business Debit Card

Amex Serve card arrived, enough time to load fully this month

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I received Amex Serve card yesterday. This is my second card. It has a new design (see picture below.) I closed Serve account at the end of last year and opened Redbird. Redbird had been a great tool for MS until May 6th. But now, I can’t use it for MS at any Target stores in my neighborhood. So, I closed early this month and re-opened Serve.

amex serve card

I activated the card and linked my bank account and debit card. For a bank account, I need to wait for probably a few days to see a small deposit that Serve will make to my bank account. And then I will need to verify it. For a debit card, I linked PayPal Business Debit card. The debit card is linked to my PayPal account in which its balance is always zero. I set PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card as a backup funding source. When I use the debit card, an amount is automatically charged to PP Extras credit card. However, it didn’t work with Redbird, I think that’s because a type of transaction is not a regular purchase, rather like a cash advance. So, PayPal declined transactions, I guess. If you have enough money in your PayPal account, it goes through.

I thought I would be the same result for Serve, but I just wanted to try adding $200 with PP debit card that is linked zero-balance PayPal account. As I thought, the website showed the same error message as Redbird. And soon after, I received an email that told me to upload copies of my ID and the debit for a security reason.

link debit card with serve account

When I have money in your PayPal account, there was no problem to online-load both Serve and Redbird. Although the transaction is only a transfer of your money from PayPal account to Serve account, you can earn 1% cash back from PP debit card.

Serve sent an email that I need to upload photocopy of ID and debit card. During the investigation, some features can’t be used. Whenever you change linked cards, they always request photocopies. Usually, the investigation will be done next day.

I see some changes on the website from last year. Amex Offers are visible on the website. You can see a list, details of offers and add them without leaving for Twitter or Facebook. However, you’d better check all of them because numbers of offers are different in websites. Currently, I see 35 offers at Serve.com, but there are 49 offers at Facebook. So, check all of them not to miss good offers.

amex offer at serve dot com

Activate A Permanent Target Prepaid REDcard

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A permanent Target Prepaid REDcard (AKA Redbird) has arrived today. It took less time than I had expected. There are more than five days left in this month. So, I was happy because I could online-reload $1000 ($200 x 5) with a debit card in December, but there was a problem.

After linking my bank account, I linked my PayPal Business Debit MasterCard (PPBDMC). The link was successful, but I couldn’t add money. It shows the following message,

We’re sorry, your card issuer declined this transaction. Please call the number on the back of your MasterCard for additional information.

I assumed that $200 is too much for the first transaction. So, I changed the amount to $20, but it was the same result. I don’t know what else to do. So, I called the number on the back of PPBDMC.

They told that the transaction was declined by the line of PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card, which I set for backup funding source when there is not enough money in PayPal account. The rep also told me that if I changed backup funding source to my bank account, it should go through. The rep was trying to connect my call to credit card department for me, but I told him I was going to change backup source to my bank account and hanged up. Because I didn’t want to talk with them about the details of this transaction.

I set backup funding source to my bank account and then tried reload $200. But it was still all the same result. The last option was to use PayPal Balance. However, I keep the balance of this PayPal account zero all the time so I can use linked credit or prepaid gift cards for purchases through PayPal, such as eBay.

I transferred only $50 from my other PayPal account. Then I tried to reload $20. Finally, it went through. I guess I will need to reload from PayPal account for a couple of times, and then they may allow to use backup funding source for Redbird reloads.

$50 PayPal Business Debit MasterCard Promotional Credit Received

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Today, I received an confirmation email that I earned $50 PayPal credit of this promotion. The terms of the promotion was simple. Use PayPal Business Debit MasterCard (PPBD) for purchases of more than $5000 between around end of September and November 15th. Only signature purchases are eligible for the promotion.

I’ve spent at least $5000 during the promo period, but an amount I actually spent for *normal* purchases is $1500 or so. For the rest of it, I used for online reloads to American Express Serve and Chime Prepaid Card. I’ve reloaded Serve for $1000 each in Oct and Nov. And for 15 days from the beginning of this promo, I load Chime Prepaid card  for $100 each day. Back then, Chime didn’t charge a fee for reloading the card with PPBD. But after Oct 8th, they charge 3% fee. I haven’t been using PPBD for Chime reloads since then.

By only online reloads to Serve and Chime, I would earn $30 credit by online reloads. So, $1500 is a spending to get extra $20 credit. It is like 1.3333% cash back. It doesn’t sound great, but you can also earn 1% of PPBD’s regular cash back.

And, since I set PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card as funding source of PPBD, I also earned 1500 points (worth $12.50 for cash back=0.83%, $15 for gift card on sale=1%.)

What’s more? What I bought was $2000 American Express Gift Card. Topcashback offered 3% cash back for AmEx GCs at that time.

Considering all cash back, this was a very good offer. But I haven’t seen any other offers from PPBD. Unlike PPBD, PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card often sends me special offers, such as “Get $10 free GC for $50 or more purchase on eBay” and “Earn 3 x $10 statement credit for $50 or more purchase on eBay.” You can easily redeem these offers by purchasing GCs from the sellers “giftcardmall” or “paypal_digital_gifts.”

Changes took effect on Chime Card on Oct 8th

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As all cardholders of both of Chime and PayPal Business Debit (PPBD) card expected, Chime started charging 3% fee for loading Chime card with PPBD card. An email that Chime sent last month says:

“Some” debit card transfers may also incur a fee of up to 3% that will be assessed to yourChime Card account. This will not affect a majority of bank issued debit cards and we will exclude fees on debit cards from “major banks” including; Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Comerica Bank, and USAA.

It turns out that PPBD is one of “Some” debit cards incurred a fee, but I wonder what are “Some” other cards they charge a fee.

chime no fee with debit card transterPPBD is issued by The Bancorp Bank, which is also the issuer of Chime. And I have another card issued by the same bank, PayPal Prepaid MasterCard. I added this card to Chime account and found out that they don’t charge a fee.

Next, I added Mango Money card. And there is no fee. Mango is issued by First Bank & Trust. I believe this isn’t a major bank. I actually added money with two cards and made sure that they didn’t charge a fee.

Is there other card they charge a fee? I guess not (at least not so many.) It seems that purpose of this change is Chime needed to stop manufacture spending with PPBD and its own card. PPBD offers 1% cash back. Every load (add money to Chime with PPBD) is eligible for 1% cash back. If you set PayPal Extras MasterCard (credit card) as back up funding source of PPBD, you can also earn 1X reward points from credit card, which is equivalent to 0.83% cash back. That is why a fee is 3%. (I guess.)

chime reload with debit cardYou can link up to three debit cards. I removed PPBD and linked Walmart Money Card issued by Green Dot Bank. And there is no fee, either.

You won’t be able to use Chime for manufacture spending, but adding money with debit card online is still useful. Mango Money and PayPal Prepaid card have a savings account. I want to withdraw the interest earned every month because they offer lower APY to deposit exceeded $5000. (Read “Mango Money Card Reviews” and “PayPal Prepaid Reviews” for more details.) I don’t have to take the cards out of a drawer to unload the cards. It will be all done in a minute without leaving home.

The rule of a maintenance fee of $5.00 hasn’t changed. It’s charged ONLY AFTER 180 consecutive days of no purchases, withdrawals, or deposits on your account. Chime offers are less frequently updated than before, but I found it still beneficial. So, I will keep the card, check and redeem Chime offers from time to time.

Get $30 or $50 PayPal Credit by Using PayPal Business Debit MasterCard

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paypal business debit card offerToday, I received an email. It is about an offer for PayPal Business Debit MasterCard users. Every signature purchases made between now and November 15th:

  • Earn a $30 PayPal account credit for signature purchases totaling $3,000 or more
  • Earn a $50 PayPal account credit for signature purchases totaling $5,000 or more

Purchases have to be made with a signature, which is also necessary to earn a regular 1% cash back. Purchases with using PIN and cash withdrawals are not counted as a qualified purchase for this offer.

My regular spending

I exclusively use PayPal Business Debit MasterCard for reloading American Express Serve and Chime prepaid card. For AmEx Serve, the limit is $1000 per month. I have already loaded Serve this month. So, I will be able to load $1000 each in Oct and Nov, totaling $2000. For Chime prepaid card, I can load $100 per day until Oct 8th and $200 after Oct 8th. However, after Oct 8th, Chime will start charging a fee for loading the card with some debit cards. PayPal Business Debit MasterCard is probably one of the debit cards that Chime will charge a fee. If so, I’m not going to use PayPal debit card for loading Chime card. I have already loaded today. So, I can load Chime card with PayPal debit card for 15 times (days), totaling $1500. By the date the offer ends, the total of purchases made with my regular spending would be $3500. It qualifies for $30 credit!

Should I do extra work for $50 credit?

You can take either one of $30 or $50 credit, not both of them. And they are both 1% cash back. There is no bonus even if you spend more ($5000). So, it is not necessary to do extra spend to get $50 credit. However, I will have spent $3500 until the offer ends for sure, and it is only $1500 short for $50 credit. So I will probably use PayPal debit card somewhere else to get $50 credit. I should be careful with using the card as Credit, not Debit when I use at stores.