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For those who worry about paying credit cards with Bluebird, consider the following:

I was going through my USAA World Mastercard T&C’s to try and find some info on refunding credit balances. Instead, I stumbled upon this language in the Payments section:

All checks and other payment instruments must be in U.S. Dollars and drawn on funds on deposit in a federally insured institution in the United States (emphasis mine). Bluebird FAQ’s specifically state that Bluebird is not FDIC insured. I’m not sure if they have any other type of federal insurance.

It goes on to state that USAA may accept a non-conforming payment that does not meet this (or a few other) requirements, but that USAA is not obligated to. I have paid my USAA credit cards with Bluebird several times and have never had an issue. I found the above language strange.

I checked T&C’s on other cards after I found this. US Bank was fine – payments are accepted from “a financial institution in the U.S.” Citi had different wording across different cards, but again seemed fine. My two Chase cards say “[payments] drawn on a U.S. Bank or foreign bank branch in the U.S.” This also sounds a little off for Bluebird as well – I don’t think it qualifies as a bank.

Any thoughts on this?

And if anyone knows how USAA handles credit balances, feel free to post this as well.