RIP Bluebird/Serve
Serve and SoftServe and Bluebird cardholders just got an email sent out stating that they can no longer add funds to the prepaid card due to unusual usage patterns.
The email was sent out to anyone who has been manufacturing spend on the card. Those who have not used it at all (or used it sparingly, presumably) did not get any such email.
For the most part, both those who did just online loads or just in-store loads or both – all got the shutdown email. And even those who have not used it recently. Newer accounts have not (yet?) gotten shutdown for the most part.
This will affect both loading in store at Walmart, Rite Aid, etc, and loading online with a credit or debit card, or even loading online with a bank account. This is what I got when trying to do a credit card load and a bank account load (initiated from the Serve account):
Questions
- Can I load funds with a credit card or debit card? No.
- Can I load funds with a bank account (load initiated from my prepaid card)? No.
- Can I load funds at Walmart, Rite Aid, etc? No.
- Can we still use the card for purchases, bill payments, or withdrawals? Yes, it’s pretty clear in the email that way and I tested it out as well.
- Can we still send money between Serve/Bluebird accounts? Yes, this works (both ways).
- Can we still use the card for Amex Offers? Yes, no reason why that won’t work. The only hurdle is getting funds on the card to be able to make the purchase.
- Can we still ACH-push money from a bank account onto the prepaid card? Unknown. If it works, it will be very useful for Amex Offers.
- Will Amex eventually shut down the account completely or can I use it for Amex Offers indefinitely? Unkown. It doesn’t sound like they are shutting it down soon, but they do say: “Once your balance reaches $0, please close your Account online via your Profile page accessible here. Scroll down to the Close Account section and click “Close Account.”
- Can I close this account and open another one? Unknown. If this works, it would be very useful for the sake of Amex Offers since we’d be able to load funds in non-MS ways and keep using the cards for Amex Offers. It would also be useful for the 5% off at Target for those who don’t have/want a Target credit or debit REDcard.
What’s Left?
How to liquidate Visa and Mastercard debit/gift cards now?
- The GoBank card. It does have a $3k monthly limit though (see more here and here), and at some points in time, they were shutting down accounts as well for heavy usage.
- There may be other prepaid cards that can be loaded in Walmart.
- Kmart bill-pay.
- Buy money orders.
- Spend it down with regular purchases.
Definitely a huge hit for the hobby. It was fun while it lasted.
RIP Bluebird/Serve
What’s the update on this? I have been using both from staples gift cards the past two years, so it still works at family dollar, where else?
My serve was ‘shut down’ a while back, it still works but I can’t loan $ with a credit card or debit card. I want to do a ‘direct deposit’ to Santander Bank, do you know if I can deposit a check to my Serve account, then then do a ‘withdrawal’ to my Santander Bank, so that it will be a direct deposit. Do you know if this will work? Or is there a better way or any way to accomplish this?
Thanks,
Lea
Assuming yours is shut down the same as mine is then – no you can’t direct deposit money into it. Only way to get money there is to send from another Serve card (e.g. from a friend).
Ok, thanks.have you tried to deposit a check via the mobile app?
Once I have $ in the account, how do I ‘direct deposit’ to Santander? By linking my Santander account and withdrawing $ to the account?
Thanks.
Not sure sorry
OneVIP shutdown today. It was open since November. Sounds like the second wave of shutdowns has begun.
I have my Bluebird Acct still. In fact, 2 days ago, I was able to load a little bit of money on it wiht my bank card. They also just sent me checks as well.
So Perhaps they are just trying to trim the Fat a little bit.
Hmmm… I was wondering if this could be FICO score related… I mean they say that this card is made for low income users, I would think if you have a high FICO, they would know your not low income for sure… AMEX started giving you your core every month on some cards… so I feel like that may be a common link…
Got hit with 4.95 maintenance fee. Emptied account and closed. As it is I never got any good offers on this card and why would I pay any maintenence fee on card that is just not gonna work.
Isn’t it supposed to be $1 a month? Why is yours more?
It was softserve.
I’ve had this card for 2 years now, since Walmart introduced it shortly after starting Walmart’s Savings Catcher program started. My only purpose for the card at the time was just for Savings Catcher because Walmart and Amex partnered with each other, Savings Catcher and the BlueBird Card.
Back then, the promo was if you got the card, and you scanned your Walmart receipts for Savings Catcher, you received double the Savings catcher dollars if you transferred them to BlueBird. The relationship worked VERY well. In just over a year’s time, I was able to net a combined total of $230.
Now the promo is over for double the Savings Catcher dollars, but I’m still able to transfer my Savings Catcher Dollars to the BlueBird Card.
Did anyone else reap benefits with this previous promo?
does the walmart’ SC work on Serve card?
How does one use the send money feature on bb?
The P2P send that was mentioned that is now blocked is different from sending money back and forth from the same network. The latter continue to work sending money from an active account to a dead account which I’ve done several times since 1/9.
For anyone that got their Serve shut down have you tried to transfer money from your bank account to Serve to see if the transfer goes through? If this works wouldn’t that waive the $1 monthly fee for the time being? Have you tried to remove the linked bank account and add a different one?