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Old Oct 25, 2013, 11:21 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JAXBA
Read the wiki before posting a question.
It's a literacy test that's easy to pass.

This is the Serve thread. Post questions or information concerning other topics in the appropriate threads elsewhere in this forum.

For additional information on using prepaid debit cards, see PIN available now for Visa/MC prepaid debit cards.

Mentions of Softcard (formerly ISIS) are purely incidental to setting up and using Serve/Softcard. Softcard does not hold money, and you cannot load to it.


You cannot make an ACH pull from Serve. The direct deposit account and routing numbers are for deposits only.

https://www.serve.com/#/add-cash

If your card doesn't say "debit" on the front, it isn't a debit card.


Loads at 7-11 and CVS are cash only. Debit cards are NOT allowed.

Loads at Walmart have been confirmed with debit cards. Self checkout does not work for loading Serve. Many Walmart stores are enforcing a rule against the use of prepaid debit cards when loading, even though the register and the MCE do not enforce. Do not make your prepaid debit cards visible. Show them a bank debit card if asked, then discreetly use your prepaid card when asked to swipe. Otherwise, you may be asked by management to never visit the MC (Walmart Money Center) again to load.

Debit loading at Family Dollar appears to be limited to $500 per day per store total (not per person or per account). Whoever gets there first gets the load for the day. Troubleshooting loading problems at FD


Normal Serve
  • Serve loading via VR/MP or WM/FD load: $2,500/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
  • Online Debit Card Load - $200/day and $1,000/month (NOT a gift card with a PIN that some people call a "Debit card")
  • Online Credit Card Load - $200/day and $1,000/month
  • Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
  • Checks - $2,000/day and $10,000/month
  • ATM Withdrawals - $750/day and $2,000/month

You can combine the three methods above and load a total of $7k/month to a single Serve account for miles/points earning purposes, but beware that you're also subject to a $10,000/month add money limit which also includes check deposits, ACH transfers, and Serve transfers.

Serve/Softcard Check if your phone/network is compatible
  • Serve loading via VR/MP or WM/FD load: $2,500/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
  • Online Debit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month (NOT a gift card with a PIN that some people call a "Debit card")
  • Online Credit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month
  • Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
  • Checks - $2,000/day and $10,000/month
  • ATM Withdrawals - $750/day and $2,000/month

You can combine the three methods above and load a total of $8k/month to a single Serve account for miles/points earning purposes, but beware that you're also subject to a $10,000/month add money limit which also includes check deposits, ACH transfers, and Serve transfers.

The SD card in the iPhone case used for Softcard is account specific. Once an account has been registered to a card, it cannot be used for another.

Temp Serve
You can only load a maximum of $500/day, $1000/month on a temporary card. Once you get your permanent card, then you can load more. The initial $500 when you purchase the temp card doesn't count against the $5,000/month load limit.


Online Credit Card Loads
Only one card can be linked at a time.

As of 10/09/14, coding of credit card loads changed. In general, Mastercard and American Express cards post as before; see below for information on point earning. Visa cards transact as a cash advance and, therefore, require available CA limit; although most cards post as a purchase.

The Chase Ink Bold is a charge card and has no cash advance ability.

Treated as purchase, earns cashback/points/miles:
  • Bank of America (FIA) (MasterCard, American Express)
  • Barclaycard (Mastercard, Visa)
  • Capital One (Mastercard, Visa)
  • Chase (MasterCard, Visa)
  • Citi (MasterCard, American Express)
  • Discover

Treated as purchase, but doesn't earn points/miles:
  • American Express (May count toward minimum spend)

Posts as a cash advance:
For online CC/DC loads, the name on the Serve account is supposed to match the name of the primary or joint cardholder. So using someone else's CC/DB card to load a Serve account is not allowed.

Several people have reported no problems with loading with an AU card in the Serve account holder's name. Increase your chances by making sure the AUs social security number is on file with the Credit Card. YMMV.

When adding a new card you will usually need to call Serve Account security (1-800-555-4318) for verification of the new card on the second load try. This verification usually requires uploading of a photo of your ID and the credit card. You may pre-emptively avoid the error by going to the above website, logging in, and uploading a scan of a photo ID and the card you are trying to add. You may call back to expedite approval.


Online Debit Card Loads
For online debit load, only use of bank-issued cards is allowed. The use of pre-paid debit cards (Netspend, Paypower, Univision, Paypal*, etc.) and VGC/MGC/AGCs is not allowed. While initial transactions may work, your account will eventually be flagged.


Switching to Serve or Serve/Softcard
Helpful instruction post, latest. Thanks raeneye.

Also see this thread: Switching from Serve to BlueBird - 31 day wait???

Switching to Serve/Softcard
  1. Call up Bluebird or Serve and close account. Make sure your account is at $0.00 before calling. Just close it, don't ask for a temp Serve or anything. CSR will say account is now closed and you have 30 days to change your mind should you decide to re-open it.
  2. Download the Softcard mobile app from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. If you're an iPhone user you have to buy the NFC CashWrap case from your carrier store.
  3. Launch Softcard Mobile App and create Softcard account. You'll be asked if you want to open a Serve account; Yes you do. Start the registration through Softcard mobile app for a Serve account, once you are finished you will be told you will receive an Email from Amex with your account approval. I waited a few hours and called Serve customer service like the wiki says and completed the registration.
  4. Once I got off the phone with Serve I received an email from Serve where I verified my account and email; at this point Amex Serve is open.
  5. Launch Softcard Mobile app again click add new
  6. Activate card with Softcard and select Amex Serve. Follow the instructions & you're good to add. Once this is complete a Serve Card will populate in Softcard. Must activate physical card to get full load limits. Check account status and it automatically credits to your serve account based on who you signed up with. (Verizon - $25, T-Mobile - $50, AT&T - $30 (For AT&T: Get $15 w/activation. Earn additional $15 w/account replenishment))

Switching from BB to Serve
  1. Login to BB account, bring account balance to Zero, (By Bill Pay, Send money, etc..)
  2. Call BB, tell them that you want to open a serve account and close your current BB account. after they check everything they will say something like: "Your account will be permanently closed after 31 days, you can reopen it within 31 day if you change your mind, and you can apply for your new Serve account now, just make sure use the exact same register info from BB."
  3. at this point BB is closed. next morning, goto CVS and get a temporary Serve card (only with cash), load $500, ($2.95 waived, Yeah!!)
  4. get back home, register temporary Serve online, First error: "phone number already registered, please try a different number" could be the my BB's ghost account still showing up on their system, could be my info is not match my BB's registration? i'm not really sure at this point. What I did is keep the same number but change from Cell phone to home phone. and registration went through
  5. after the register and login, second error: "We're still processing your application. Please check your email for an update"
  6. I have see people on the thread reported waiting for weeks for the same message, So, I pickup the phone and called them, ask them to speed up the process.
  7. CSR, told me that my account went to "account security protection department" transfer me to them.
  8. at account security protection department, they told me need to call back on my phone number which I registered to verify.
  9. after the call back of verification, CSR told me that my new Serve account is active now, email address verification will be send with in 5 minutes, permanent card will be received within 7-10 days.
  10. CSR also told me the I can load and spend on the temporary card, but not bill pay.

The number to call to approve your registration after closing Bluebird: Serve Account security 1-800-555-4318



Loading with debit card at Walmart register
Loads at register over $500 will sometimes trigger ID requirement. There is a limit of four swipes per transaction; this means your card plus three payments.

Training a WM cashier:
  • If the WM cashier doesn't know how to load the card, advise them to enter "70" then press "action code".
  • If you are using a temp card that doesn't have your name on it, you can swipe the card from your side of the terminal. The WM rep never has to touch any of your cards. The screen will say "enter account." That is your prompt to slide the card.
  • The terminal will ask the WM employee if you are loading in multiples of $2000. Advise them to enter "no."
  • Avoid saying gift card. Always refer to your card as a debit card.

Error Messages:
DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE
Received when I used a card I thought I had activated but hadn't.

DEBIT NOT APPROVED
Received when the card's monthly load limit had been reached.

TENDER NOT ALLOWED
Card was incorrectly read, or wrong PIN entered.

HOST TIMEOUT
Connection problems. The GC may be drained but the transaction should reverse itself, and funds will become available again. Try again later.


Using Serve
For online bill pay
  • You can pay the credit card that you used to buy VRs/GCs
  • Error 1302 means that you have 1 pending payment the same amount as the one you just submitted. For example, 1000 bill pay to sapphire preferred from Friday and then on Saturday you submit another bill pay for 1000 to sapphire preferred, you will get this error.
  • Tip: if using online bill pay to the same place multiple times, vary your amounts by $0.01 to make it easier to track since your confirmation number does not match the tracking number on your credit card statement



For bank transfers
Under Settings --> Funding & Transfers --> Bank & Cards --> U.S. Bank Account, you can add your bank info and transfer funds from your Serve card directly to your bank. The bank account must be verified, either by the standard "deposit 2 small sums into your account, such as $0.23 & $0.42" method, or doing an "instant verification" by actually logging into your bank account while still logged into Serve.
===

People with an apartment address can find helpful information quoted in post #8530
Print Wikipost

Serve - Another Paypal/Amazon Payments.

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Old Oct 8, 2014, 1:48 am
  #7081  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 775
Originally Posted by kd1000
I got this from Amex Serve .. Anyone else seen this before?

During a recent review, we noticed irregular activity on your American Express ServeŽ Account. For your security and protection, some features on your Account have been suspended while we conduct further investigation.

In order to restore these account features, please help us verify your identity by sending a readable copy of the following documents within ten days of the date on this email:

Valid Picture ID
A valid driver's license card OR
A valid state issued ID OR
A valid Government ID Card (e.g. Green Card)OR
A valid United States Passport

A copy of your Bank Statement from XX Account Ending in N/A, which is dated within the last 3 months, and shows your name, address and account number.
A copy of the front of your card OR the Credit Card Statement of the Credit Card Ending in XXX . If sending a Statement, it must be dated within the last 3 months, and show your name, address and last four digits of your account number

A copy of the front of the Debit Card or Payroll Card Ending in N/A.

For your convenience, these documents can be sent in one of the following three ways:

Secure Document Upload:
You can securely send your documents using your desktop or supported mobile device by:

Clicking here
Logging in with your account credentials and
Uploading your documents

OR Fax:
Fax your document(s) to 1-855-415-7125.

OR Mail:
American Express Customer Relations
4315 South 2700 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84184

Please call Account Protection Services at 1-800-555-4318 if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

The American Express Serve Team

Do you need to do this every time you remove a credit card so that you can ad the new credit card?
- does everyone get this or others have switched around cards without sending new documents ?
SPLP007 is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 6:54 am
  #7082  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,273
Originally Posted by ChunkyLover53
Hello,

I'm totally new to prepaid cards, but I was wondering about Serve. I saw on the website that it says you can load $200/day to a maximum of $1,000 per month online from a credit card.

If someone loaded $1,000/month for their son/daughter who is away at school for them to spend would this cause any problems with the credit card company?
No. That's legit spending and use of the card. I load and pay bills.
ZzzzX is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 7:43 am
  #7083  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
Originally Posted by SPLP007
Do you need to do this every time you remove a credit card so that you can ad the new credit card?
- does everyone get this or others have switched around cards without sending new documents ?
I get that email each time I use a new CC or DC while DH never got any of those. I'm used to it so I've saved the email with the secure link and upload the card even before I call. Soon as I call and CPS sees the card upload and verifies it, the block on my card is removed in 5 minutes. It must be random but if you're one of those "VIPs", you may be getting those memo more often when you load with new cards.
Mamibear is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 8:56 am
  #7084  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 130
holy crap, I just noticed that my $1500 from INK card is treated as cash advance.
Am I screwed? Call them to change it back as purchase?
istroke is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 9:04 am
  #7085  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 565
Originally Posted by istroke
holy crap, I just noticed that my $1500 from INK card is treated as cash advance.
Am I screwed? Call them to change it back as purchase?

Have you been actually charged a CA fee? If not, just sit tight. If you have, then you would be the first one actually charged such a fee.

Even if you have been charged a CA fee, Chase isn't going to change it back. The reality is that you did do a CA to Serve, it's just that haven't been coded as such.

So just sit tight, and don't go calling Chase. Oh, and read more about Serve and Cash Advance.
Lumpylump76 is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 9:34 am
  #7086  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 130
Originally Posted by Lumpylump76
Have you been actually charged a CA fee? If not, just sit tight. If you have, then you would be the first one actually charged such a fee.

Even if you have been charged a CA fee, Chase isn't going to change it back. The reality is that you did do a CA to Serve, it's just that haven't been coded as such.

So just sit tight, and don't go calling Chase. Oh, and read more about Serve and Cash Advance.
Actually it's only $1,000 so far, I just did another $500 credit load this morning. But the $1,000 transaction doesn't show up on most recent transactions and my cash advance limit went down by $1000. That's how I know it's coding my $1000 credit card load as cash advance.
istroke is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 9:37 am
  #7087  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: AA, TY, UR, UA, US, WN, MR, SPG
Posts: 1,453
Originally Posted by istroke
Actually it's only $1,000 so far, I just did another $500 credit load this morning. But the $1,000 transaction doesn't show up on most recent transactions and my cash advance limit went down by $1000. That's how I know it's coding my $1000 credit card load as cash advance.
There are numerous reports of Serve changing the temporary authorization to show as a cash advance, while the transaction actually posts as a purchase and no fee is charged.

Hang tight, don't call, and see how it posts. To my knowledge, no one has reported an actual cash advance fee.
roki is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 9:45 am
  #7088  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 137
Originally Posted by istroke
Actually it's only $1,000 so far, I just did another $500 credit load this morning. But the $1,000 transaction doesn't show up on most recent transactions and my cash advance limit went down by $1000. That's how I know it's coding my $1000 credit card load as cash advance.
Nope, that's not how you know. You know if you're actually assessed a CA fee, not by helicoptering over your CA limit.

There's a thread dying a slow death on page 2 of this forum, you can read about what others have experienced. Please let the thread continue its spiral downward and don't post on it. Don't post on it.
0limits is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 10:06 am
  #7089  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: BOS
Posts: 105
Loading from Tmo

I recently transitioned over to Serve from BB. When I was using BB, I took
advantage of its online DC load (unloading my Tmo card) and it worked great.

Now that I'm on Serve, I'm trying to do the same -- I already sent in my Tmo card info to AmEx for verification. However, when I attempt to add money, I get the error msg
"We're sorry, your card issuer declined this transaction. Please call the number on the back of your Visa card for additional information."

I know my Tmo card is not blocked -- I've used it to do purchases, and was able to
load more onto it.

1. I'm keenly aware of the fact that I should NOT call Tmo -- I'm certainly going to increase
my chance of being blocked if someone eyeballs the recent transactions.
2. After perusing some msgs on this thread, some say to don't do this (loading from Tmo) for fear of getting banned -- truth or FUD? I've done without problems it for several months with BB.

One thing I haven't tried is to remove the DC from serve and add it in again (just in case the dc # was mistyped) -- I'll probably have to go thru verification again.

What would you do?
PM me if you wish.
nopoints is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 10:10 am
  #7090  
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 145
Cash advance for Citi cards?

Hate to start a new alert. However, the serve load via my Citi AA Platinum card today shows up in the category of MORTGAGE CO/NONFINANCIAL INST/TRAVEL CHK albeit still as a pending transaction. The load from yesterday was in the category of BUYING/SHOPPING SERVICES CLUBS. Something is brewing ...
Force is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 10:19 am
  #7091  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 747
Originally Posted by Force
Hate to start a new alert. However, the serve load via my Citi AA Platinum card today shows up in the category of MORTGAGE CO/NONFINANCIAL INST/TRAVEL CHK albeit still as a pending transaction. The load from yesterday was in the category of BUYING/SHOPPING SERVICES CLUBS. Something is brewing ...
Showing different on my Citi DoubleCash, was showing as the BUYING/SHOPPING SERVICES CLUBS however today it now shows the following:

POI FUNDING TRANSACTIONS(EX MC MONEYSEND

Thinking the wind is changing at Citi
nrdk is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 10:55 am
  #7092  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1
Facebook?

I saw here: https://gigaom.com/2012/02/28/amex-l...onal-payments/

that Serve used to let you pay friends through FB contacts. Anyone know if that still works or what they replaced it with? I tried clicking the link in the article but it gave me an error page.

Thanks!
rivkid is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 11:00 am
  #7093  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 35
AT&T Credit with ISIS Still Offered

Is the AT&T sign-up offer mentioned in wiki still valid or is being replaced by the other promo? Went through whole process to switch from Serve to to Softcard Serve successfully, but no credit showing in my account. Sorry if this has already been documented somewhere else. I flipped through about 50 pages of this thread but didn't see any mention of it.

Edit: Perhaps I didn't understand the wiki correctly. For AT&T $15 with Activation mean Activation of Serve card? The account itself is "active" and Serve card shows in Softcard app but there's still obviously a step left to activate the physical card. Thanks.

Last edited by Parkerthon; Oct 8, 2014 at 11:06 am
Parkerthon is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 11:04 am
  #7094  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by nrdk
Showing different on my Citi DoubleCash, was showing as the BUYING/SHOPPING SERVICES CLUBS however today it now shows the following:




Thinking the wind is changing at Citi
Not really...this is what I've got.

10-05-2014 AMERICAN EXPRESS SERVE 8009540559 FL BUYING/SHOPPING SERVICES CLUBS
Transaction Type:
Posted Date :
Reference Number:
Merchant Country:
Purchases
10-05-2014
United States
ivanist is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2014, 11:08 am
  #7095  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 76
CITI charge not going through

Hello

Luckily I had set cash advance limit to Zero on my citi Forward card.

Starting today, serve load is not going through.

I am assuming that it is treating as cash advance and so system is rejecting it.
liveforflying is offline  


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