The Offer
- Signup for a new Serve prepaid account and receive a $25 credit after spending $25.
The offer doesn’t show there on the link, but it’s a unique signup link being sent out via email with the $25 offer mentioned in the email.
The Fine Print
- Must sign up for a new Serve account, verify email, activate card, and spend $25 – all before July 31, 2016
- $25 must be spent in a single transaction
- $25 credit will normally post immediately; may take up to 30-days
- Subaccount is not eligible for $25 credit
- New Serve cardholders only
Our Verdict
This offer is being sent out in the email telling us about the shuttering of the Amex for Target prepaid card, suggesting that users switch over to Serve. However, the link in the email appears to be generic and the terms don’t specify that the bonus will only work for AFT cardholders. I suspect that it will work for anyone.
Given that many people have had their Serve/Bluebird accounts frozen, some will try to get a new Serve account to use for sending money or Amex Offers, etc, and this $25 can be an extra few dollars made on the deal. [I have no info on whether it’s possible to open a new Serve account after shutting down the frozen one.]
Note, that this offer won’t work for the OneVIP Serve card, only the main three versions of Blue, Green, and Silver. If you aren’t using this for loading, there isn’t much advantage of OneVIP over Blue Serve, but if you intend to load it in-store, the OneVIP is better as there is no load fee. See Six Different Flavor of Serve and How to Remain Fee-Free for more info.
Would I qualify as a “New Serve cardholders only”? I closed out my Serve account like a year ago.
I’m guessing any new account will be eligible, but that’s just a guess.
I already have a bluebird account. Can I apply for a new Serve? Thanks.
i got denied, just closed my serve account yesterday
Even if they had $25 bonus mentioned before the doomsday, it’s gone now. Doubt very much that the product survives next 3-4 months. It’s doomed for a complete self-destruction.
I have tried twice to open a serve account after having been closed down and have been denied
That doesn’t mean very much. There was ALWAYS a 30-day waiting period between closing one prepaid AMEX product and opening another (whether the same or a different one), regardless of the recent shurdown. So your denial could be easily just because of that, nothing to do with the fact that you were recently shutdown. The real question is- if someone who got nailed in the shutdown then goes ahead and manually closed the account- then waits 30 days, will he/she be able to open a new account? We will find out I’m sure in about 27 days.
There wasn’t any 30-day wait rule when I changed my Bluebird to Serve a few months ago and I don’t think there ever has been one. I just closed the Bird online and immediately opened my Serve no problem. (Maybe you’re confusing it with the 30-day option of re-opening the closed account if you change your mind.) But now I’ve heard several people not being able to open up a new account after being told their old account is shutdown for loading. Hopefully this is because now they actually are imposing this 30-day wait period or whatever it may be, so those of us who actually want to use these accounts beyond MS will be able to.
Can’t find any reference of that $25 on either pages provided. By the way I closed by BB manually just 2 day before the mass shut down and converted to Serve right after. My card is on the way to me already… Am I possibly getting matched to this offer?
Probably not, but you can always ask if you want to.