Multiple reports on Flyertalk and Reddit indicate that most/all people trying to load REDbird at Target with a debit card are not working. The issue has nothing to do with prepaid gift card loads; all debit card loads are not working. (1, 2)
Cash loads are working (1) which is bad news since that means that there may actually be a new limitation that does not allow us to load REDbird cards with a debit card at all.
Further, it’s been noted that the language on the screen now comes up slightly differently than it used to. Previously, the system popped up with a notice for the cashier, “no Target gift cards or 3rd party credit cards“. Now it says, “no Target gift cards or third party cards“. The word “credit” has been removed from the message. (1)
It’s really surprising that Target would go so fast from cracking down on accepting credit cards to cracking down on debit cards. Furthermore, with regards to the credit card demise, the Target employees were largely very aware of the new change whereas this alleged change seems to have slipped under the rug. Honestly, I wouldn’t have given it much thought if not for the above-mentioned screen change which would indicate a new policy.
In any case, keep in mind that currently you’re likely to have issues trying to load Redbird. (Unclear if this issue is affecting Amex for Target loads as well.) Let us know your own experiences from 10/12/15 and onward in the comments. We’ll try to update this as new information becomes available.
Developing…
Update: REDbird is dead
HT: milestomemories
Has any one tried if the american express for target card is dead too?
Thanks
As per the memo it’s dead as well. Only the fee can be paid with debit or credit.
I loaded one $500 VGC From GC.com at Target to my Redcard. The transaction went through initially but then got declined and i got both receipt of initial transaction and decline that the agent at target gave to me.
Now my Target redcard account does not show that balance of $500 added, as well as when i dial to check balance on my $500 VGC, it shows balance as ZERO DOLLARS. Meaning those $500 have disappeared somewhere in virtual world…………what is the BEST WAY TO GET THAT MONEY BACK?
Did anyone else have this kind of situation? Who do i call and what do i do?
Will appreciate a prompt reply.
P.S This Transaction was done on 10/5/15
May be worth waiting a few days to see if the money reappears automatically
Not working for bay area…daly city to be exact.
Sorry to break the bad news, but at least knowing for sure is better than the stress of uncertainty: As of October 13, 2015 Redbird is officially dead (so is American Express for Target): http://goo.gl/A6Q8NE
Does anyone know if Walmart, Target and Family Dollar actually lose money on these “purchases”? If so, why do (did) they allow it?
I had same experience as other. After reading all this, I tried at store that has never blinked an eye in any of my previous loads had same error message. I hate to believe that game is over at Target.
Last night I speculated this means Redbird is dead for good: http://goo.gl/ZpvzQn
I sure hope to be wrong though, Redbird has been really good to me, not just for MS but also by selling the temporary cards online.
Having said that, I’ve seen frantic emails and posts on blogs of people wanting to jump ship right now, and asking where to. It won’t kill us to wait a couple of days until our educated guesses are proven to be right or wrong. There’s plenty of time to switch to Serve or Bluebird in a couple of days.
I do follow your google plus page and it is quite informative. I think once the POS systems recognize the difference between chip and non chip card, things could come back to normal. Or maybe by the end of the year Metabank will switch its gift cards to chip cards. We shall see how it turns out once the dust settles.
Won’t adding a chip to disposable prepaid cards make them more expensive? The metal can’t be that cheap.
That’s good that Target initiated this rather than Amex. Do you post about other topics besides Redbird?
I’ve thought about it a few times but Redbird has kept me pretty busy as far as activating and selling temporary Redbird cards online (MS-ing with the 3 Redbirds was painless for me). While still profitable, it was recently such a pain to activate them because the registers would freeze after the POS updates (they then had to be rebooted) and it took a lot more legwork and time.
I might start to post on other topics from now on.
Let me know if you add a feature to subscribe to email alerts.
Not Frantic but 99.9% sure its dead. The Redbird site says cash-only for loads while Bluebird states cash & debit. Appears to me it a retailer choice on how it can be loaded so jumping to Serve tomorrow; Hopefully Walmart & FD won’t follow Target’s lead
I just tried with a vanilla and my personal debit card with two different redbirds and it didn’t work. This is really depressing. 🙁
I am stuck with like $10k of vgc
lol?…….
Three days ago, the Target where I live (upper East Tennessee) now only allows debit card loads up to $250.
I will try again today and post my results.
Has anyone linked a “debit card” ? What does the transaction look like on the debit side?