Wal-Mart, Amex take on banks with Bluebird debit card
Feb 28, 2013, 10:57 am
#7576
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: TUS and any place close to a lav
Programs: UA 1.6MM
Posts: 5,423
I used "Citibank Credit Card" for my Citibank Dividend Visa, Citibank World MC, and Citibank HHonors Visa.... and all 3 work fine.
Feb 28, 2013, 11:18 am
#7577
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 267
Had the exact same thing happen to me. Cashier said he wasn't sure why it was giving him that error, so I called up Chase and they said that they didn't see any charges come through from C V S. Ended up giving up.
Then, like 5 days later, I get a call from the fraud department about the $506 (VR and chapstick) charge I was trying to make at C V S. Not sure if it was because I was out of town for a trip to CA when I tried to buy it or what, but it was definitely the fraud alert, not C V S.
Then, like 5 days later, I get a call from the fraud department about the $506 (VR and chapstick) charge I was trying to make at C V S. Not sure if it was because I was out of town for a trip to CA when I tried to buy it or what, but it was definitely the fraud alert, not C V S.
Same thing happened to me when I was in CA. But it was with my 2 Citi HHonors cards. I did get the fraud alert text when I got back to the hotel and plugged my dead phone in. I had no problems with the Chase card. I gues I should not of been so lazy and tool some time to call the CCs and tell them the travel plans.
Feb 28, 2013, 11:19 am
#7578
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 1,727
I got this also. Trying to enter the account number of my local light & power company (which was supposedly in their system). I tried removing dashes, spaces, etc. No luck. Figured I'd just pay it from my checking account. My local cable internet provider was in their system and I had no problem setting them up.
Feb 28, 2013, 12:20 pm
#7579
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 672
Just sent a payment off for my student loans to the US Dept of Ed/ FedLoan Servicing. It has 25 days to get there but I've got my fingers crossed that it makes it there okay and doesn't get lost somehow. I had no problem with my rent, Chase CC, or Florida Power and Light so it should be all good. Man if I can pay student loan payments with this thing it can be a gold mine for me. haha.
Feb 28, 2013, 12:23 pm
#7580
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 543
Just sent a payment off for my student loans to the US Dept of Ed/ FedLoan Servicing. It has 25 days to get there but I've got my fingers crossed that it makes it there okay and doesn't get lost somehow. I had no problem with my rent, Chase CC, or Florida Power and Light so it should be all good. Man if I can pay student loan payments with this thing it can be a gold mine for me. haha.
Feb 28, 2013, 3:36 pm
#7581
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 1,727
Can someone do me a favor and try to add a new bill payment for a credit card with USBank and see if it gives you the error message I receive:
"Sorry, it looks like the account number or the zip code you entered is incorrect (you may need to enter 5 or 9 zip code numbers). Please try again."
It only asks for an account number which I entered correctly and a nickname. So I'm wondering if the saved information is screwed up.
"Sorry, it looks like the account number or the zip code you entered is incorrect (you may need to enter 5 or 9 zip code numbers). Please try again."
It only asks for an account number which I entered correctly and a nickname. So I'm wondering if the saved information is screwed up.
Feb 28, 2013, 3:52 pm
#7582
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,396
I had kind of a funny experience today.
I went to buy a VR at CVS, and it was pretty busy in the middle of the day. There was a decent line stacking up so sure enough just before I get to the front of the line the supervisor opens a register and takes me as her first transaction. I hand her the VRs, and she turns to the other (non supervisory) employee to ask 1) if it can be loaded as high as $500 and 2) if it can be purchased with CC. The employee answered in the affirmative for both, the supervisor thoroughly checked my ID, completed the transaction, and I was on my way.
Clearly, if there was any instruction to limit purchases to cash, debit, etc, the management at this location was not paying attention.
I went to buy a VR at CVS, and it was pretty busy in the middle of the day. There was a decent line stacking up so sure enough just before I get to the front of the line the supervisor opens a register and takes me as her first transaction. I hand her the VRs, and she turns to the other (non supervisory) employee to ask 1) if it can be loaded as high as $500 and 2) if it can be purchased with CC. The employee answered in the affirmative for both, the supervisor thoroughly checked my ID, completed the transaction, and I was on my way.
Clearly, if there was any instruction to limit purchases to cash, debit, etc, the management at this location was not paying attention.
Feb 28, 2013, 4:17 pm
#7583
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,767
Can someone do me a favor and try to add a new bill payment for a credit card with USBank and see if it gives you the error message I receive:
"Sorry, it looks like the account number or the zip code you entered is incorrect (you may need to enter 5 or 9 zip code numbers). Please try again."
It only asks for an account number which I entered correctly and a nickname. So I'm wondering if the saved information is screwed up.
"Sorry, it looks like the account number or the zip code you entered is incorrect (you may need to enter 5 or 9 zip code numbers). Please try again."
It only asks for an account number which I entered correctly and a nickname. So I'm wondering if the saved information is screwed up.
If you feel you can risk a paper check, then set it up manually as a check payment and pay a small amount paper check WAY AHEAD of your due date to see how it goes.
But I would suggest you to forget about using BB to pay US Bank as nobody has success setting it up as a Payee for electronic payment (much quicker and safer, no hassle no headache ACH versus a manual check which seems to have a hit or miss result.)
Feb 28, 2013, 4:30 pm
#7584
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Long Beach
Programs: HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 1,171
Just 5 1/2 hours until a new month starts and i got 4 new cards to meet spend on last week
Feb 28, 2013, 4:32 pm
#7585
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
Me and the wife just each received a scary email:
During a recent review, we noticed unusual/irregular activity on your Bluebird Account.
For your security and protection, your Bluebird Account has been suspended while we conduct further investigation.
Please contact us immediately by calling Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454.
When I try to login at bluebird.com I get the notification:
Your account is locked.
As a security precaution we’ve locked your account. Please contact us by calling Customer Service at 1-877-486-5990 to unlock your account.
My wife called, was put on hold for 20 minutes or so and they verified her phone number and then unlocked her account shortly afterwards. She can login to BB online without issue.
My BB experience: currently loading 5K on my account with VRs for the last 2 months.
- Pay my mortgage with BB
- Pay for regular expenses like Costco or groceries
- Have paid off one credit card which I did not use to make VR payments
- Yesterday I requested $1000 to be transferred to my linked bank account
- I have loaded my wife's BB with VR after hitting my 5K limit and had her transfer money to me 2 times.
I think either the money transfer from my wife or me requesting $1000 transfer into my linked bank account probably triggered some type of suspicious activity warning.
I am now on hold with customer service for the last 12 minutes. Will keep you guys updated. I'm feeling a bit nervous.
EDIT: OK just got off the phone with customer service. They checked out my "funding source" whom was my wife, everything checked out fine, and they released the hold on my account. I'm going to tread lightly with BB for now.
During a recent review, we noticed unusual/irregular activity on your Bluebird Account.
For your security and protection, your Bluebird Account has been suspended while we conduct further investigation.
Please contact us immediately by calling Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454.
When I try to login at bluebird.com I get the notification:
Your account is locked.
As a security precaution we’ve locked your account. Please contact us by calling Customer Service at 1-877-486-5990 to unlock your account.
My wife called, was put on hold for 20 minutes or so and they verified her phone number and then unlocked her account shortly afterwards. She can login to BB online without issue.
My BB experience: currently loading 5K on my account with VRs for the last 2 months.
- Pay my mortgage with BB
- Pay for regular expenses like Costco or groceries
- Have paid off one credit card which I did not use to make VR payments
- Yesterday I requested $1000 to be transferred to my linked bank account
- I have loaded my wife's BB with VR after hitting my 5K limit and had her transfer money to me 2 times.
I think either the money transfer from my wife or me requesting $1000 transfer into my linked bank account probably triggered some type of suspicious activity warning.
I am now on hold with customer service for the last 12 minutes. Will keep you guys updated. I'm feeling a bit nervous.
EDIT: OK just got off the phone with customer service. They checked out my "funding source" whom was my wife, everything checked out fine, and they released the hold on my account. I'm going to tread lightly with BB for now.
Interesting.
Was the funding source for both accounts (yours and your wifes) your wifes bank account? In your original post (before edit) you did not notate this issue, but this could certainly draw 'auto systems' attention.
This is a good datapoint for others that may have questions about linking their BB account to a bank account (or funding source) that is not in their name. I don't believe anyone has reported trying/testing this in the past.
It appears your funding source being in a name that did not match yours threw up a red flag.
Glad it worked out for you.
Feb 28, 2013, 4:42 pm
#7586
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MCI
Programs: AA, DL, WN, HHonors Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott, Hyatt
Posts: 249
Feb 28, 2013, 4:44 pm
#7587
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 731
Interesting.
Was the funding source for both accounts (yours and your wifes) your wifes bank account? In your original post (before edit) you did not notate this issue, but this could certainly draw 'auto systems' attention.
This is a good datapoint for others that may have questions about linking their BB account to a bank account (or funding source) that is not in their name. I don't believe anyone has reported trying/testing this in the past.
It appears your funding source being in a name that did not match yours threw up a red flag.
Glad it worked out for you.
Was the funding source for both accounts (yours and your wifes) your wifes bank account? In your original post (before edit) you did not notate this issue, but this could certainly draw 'auto systems' attention.
This is a good datapoint for others that may have questions about linking their BB account to a bank account (or funding source) that is not in their name. I don't believe anyone has reported trying/testing this in the past.
It appears your funding source being in a name that did not match yours threw up a red flag.
Glad it worked out for you.
After I hit the 5K VR load for this month, I continued to buy some VR, then I loaded my wife's account with them.
I had my wife send the funds from her BB account directly to my BB account afterwards, and I think this is what triggered the "unusual / irregular activity" on our accounts. Both our accounts were locked the next day. I'm glad BB was able to get both our accounts unlocked without too much hassle.
Next time I'm just going to leave her BB account alone and use her BB account to pay for our mutual bills, etc. Lesson learned.
You make a great point about bank account funding source matching BB account name.
Feb 28, 2013, 6:09 pm
#7589
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Texas
Programs: AA Gold, Starwood Gold
Posts: 125
Must have missed the news on this one. Have paid both my US Bank bills (Carlson and Travel Rewards) with BB. No issues with payment not arriving.
US Bank does not work. It has been reported multiple times in January already.
If you feel you can risk a paper check, then set it up manually as a check payment and pay a small amount paper check WAY AHEAD of your due date to see how it goes.
But I would suggest you to forget about using BB to pay US Bank as nobody has success setting it up as a Payee for electronic payment (much quicker and safer, no hassle no headache ACH versus a manual check which seems to have a hit or miss result.)
If you feel you can risk a paper check, then set it up manually as a check payment and pay a small amount paper check WAY AHEAD of your due date to see how it goes.
But I would suggest you to forget about using BB to pay US Bank as nobody has success setting it up as a Payee for electronic payment (much quicker and safer, no hassle no headache ACH versus a manual check which seems to have a hit or miss result.)
Feb 28, 2013, 6:15 pm
#7590
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 672
Depending on where you live it might not even be an issue. I live near PBI and I've never had a problem finding them, purchasing them, or anything else. (Yes I'm knocking on wood right now).