How Good is One VIP Serve?

We wrote about the various versions of Serve and which option is best, see Six Different Flavor of Serve and How to Remain Fee-Free. Briefly, most of the Serve options charge either a monthly fee or a Serve loading fee. The only option left which is currently available and can be fee-free is the One VIP Serve card. The card does not have a fee to load at Walmart and the monthly fee of $1 is waivable.

How does the monthly fee get waived?

In the original post, we wrote that the fee is waived by loading $500 to the card using any load method, including credit card loads or Walmart loads; it’s not limited to direct deposit loads.

Those were the details showing at the time on the One VIP site.

serve_one_vip_details

This is great because most of us will be loading $1,000 per month with an Amex credit card and will be free of any monthly fees.

Shawn at FrequentMiler picked up on a subtle change in the tune of the One VIP website which seems to indicate that you now need a $500 direct deposit in order to waive the $1 monthly fee, indicating that other load methods won’t exempt the monthly fee.

One_VIP™_Serve_Prepaid_Card_from_American_Express

Interestingly, the legal section on the Serve site still lumps One VIP together with the Old BlueServe and indicates that both have the rule of any $500 load exempting you from the monthly fee. This made me skeptical that direct deposit is really necessary to get the fee waived.

Reader Horace recently got the One VIP Serve and confirms for us that any $500 load is working to waive the monthly fee; no need for direct deposit or ACH transfer.

We don’t know how long these terms will last (probably until the contract between One VIP and Amex get renewed), but the current terms of One VIP apparently remain the same as the Old BlueServe and any VIP Serve obtained now will likely get grandfathered in under those terms even if the terms change in the future.

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26 Comments
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nereyda perez
nereyda perez (@guest_1647087)
July 4, 2023 13:13

this card is terrible please don’t get this card, they will steal your money when you need it most.

Tammy
Tammy (@guest_640647)
September 10, 2018 00:00

Hey Doc, i have BB, can i apply/approve and get Serve also and use both BB and Serve at same time, and will not be shutdown for having both BB and Serve at same time? PLEASE CONFIRM ASAP

T
T (@guest_417325)
June 8, 2017 19:47

What’s the status on this in 2017? Anyone still tinker with it?

Katie
Katie (@guest_394524)
April 23, 2017 19:04

Dear Charles,

My BB was also shut down in first wave……..i just tried applying for ONEVIP Serve and was declined. Says system cannot approve me.

Any reason why and how i can get it approved? Call serve customer service and they were useless on phone.

William Charles
Admin
April 23, 2017 19:08

If you were shut down, don’t think you can get another card.

Katie
Katie (@guest_394589)
April 23, 2017 22:48

I was not shut down, what i meant was in Feb 2016, BB said i could not load funds to my card otherwise my account wwas open with alll other features active. I opted to close my BB account completely 2 weeks ago.

However BB agent on phone said Opening up Serve card has no relationship with BB card (it can still be kept open and would not hamper opening of Serve).

Lisa
Lisa (@guest_393412)
April 21, 2017 15:15

Hi I got One VIP serve card. Few questions:-

1) Can i load $500 VGC/MC GC’s at WM or CVS to this One VIp serve card like i did with BB before BB shut me down? Is it fee free or there will be a Fee to Load $500? How much fee, both for WM and CVS and Dollar Store?

2) If i load $500/month, will it save the $1 monthly fee charged by Serve? And how much can i load per month/monthly limit?

3) Can i use AMEX credit card to load money online to serve? if yes how much per month and any fee for that? Which is best card to use, and does it count as purchase/give points/rewards?

knightpuddin
knightpuddin (@guest_273454)
July 6, 2016 18:04

i do not want my ss # nor home address nor dob on the internet why can’t i get one application mail to me

William Charles
Admin
July 6, 2016 21:53

You’d need to contact American Express directly to ask why, we’re just a blog.

R
R (@guest_210121)
December 19, 2015 18:37

Does Walmart charge $3.95 for gift/debit card reloads?
Because
OneVIP home page under “nohiddenfees” state:
“Cash Reloads are up to $3.95 (fee varies by retailer)”

LWT
LWT (@guest_186257)
October 15, 2015 23:03

Is it still the case that true Amex credit card loads won’t earn rewards but will count towards minimum spend? It’s not clear to me why the post says, “most of us will be loading $1,000 per month with an Amex credit card”. What is the benefit of doing so?

LWT
LWT (@guest_186466)
October 16, 2015 07:14

If the point is that Amex cards issued by other banks will earn rewards, like the Fidelity Amex, then I understand the benefit. It would be a free $20 per month. Beyond the Fidelity Amex card, are there any other options worth considering?

LC
LC (@guest_398801)
May 1, 2017 14:45

BBVA compass especially during NBA finals for 5%. Dont think you can apply for this card anymore though

Paul
Paul (@guest_186146)
October 15, 2015 18:58

so can we load the gift cards 100, 200 500 on this card? Thanks

MLH
MLH (@guest_185687)
October 14, 2015 22:34

Does OneVIP have the option for subaccounts and Amex Sync?

MLH
MLH (@guest_185715)
October 15, 2015 00:01

I just signed up tonight and logged in to my account (without the card) and noticed that it did mention Amex Offers on the screen. So that’s promising for Sync. No idea about subaccounts.

MLH
MLH (@guest_187805)
October 20, 2015 19:24

Chuck,
Do you know what rules there are for subaccounts? Should I avoid using the same address for a sub that I have on the main account (for my wife’s sub, for example)?

MLH
MLH (@guest_187975)
October 21, 2015 10:34

And it appears that email needs to be different than their Serve card email (signed my wife up for her own Serve, tried to add her as a sub to my account, couldn’t use the same email for both).