indietrav

How often have you done this? Feel free to PM me

nwflyboy

The point is to conduct your own activities in such a way that avoids having them shut down you.

It's not about maintaining the Bluebird business model.

MileageUpdate

I think the model of slow and steady is gone in this day and age. Deals are widely publicized and talked about. Maybe 10 yrs ago a slow milking pace would have been a good idea.

volkswankin

I can guarantee you the best way to avoid a shutdown is to have direct deposit loads on it.

nwflyboy

So you suggest everyone just go all-in, try and throw everything they can at any opportunity, and see how hard they can push it before they're shut down?

WhateverDude

Am i the only one using it to pay off the credit card charges from the company that is involved in marketing the BB? I don't even wait until the bill comes. Usually once the charges post, i make an electronic payment. Is that unusual?

ctbarron

No, you are not, although I just wait for the statement to generate. I do this for both my wife's and my AMEX. That said, I do not have the "proper" Hilton drugstore AMEX, so I don't run much through these cards. Just bit here and there for min spends.

JW008

Exactly. All of us are speculating based on prior experiences with different products; none of us has real information about Bluebird specifically (since there's not been an instance of shut down that we know about). The goal here is to give up some point earning potential for what we think is activity that will encourage BB to keep our accounts active.

Again, this is just speculation, but this also feels like the best way to avoid shutdown. I couple this with different types of spending (card swipes and bill pays) and not withdrawing things directly to my checking account.

wise2u

A thread made for the worrywarts in the community. What a waste of time since nobody has ever had thier BB account shut down, there are no BB cardnials, and you need to stop spending money for tinfoil hats.

Might as well have a thread about what to do to make sure the easter bunny doesn't get shot by santa claus. Of course some people love to stir the pot, claim the sky is falling, and worry about non-issues...so if thats you, enjoy

MileageUpdate

Not exactly. But I wouldnt think of it in terms of slowly adding to your balances. I would move quicker but certainly within your own limits and pace. I just wouldnt expect things to last. This is with no special knowledge just an observation of whats taking place now vs 5-10 yrs ago.

prasha11

I like to cash out (ATM + MO) BB, what are the safe limits for doing that? based on your experience without raising any Alerts. I am aware bill pay is popular but I feel at times bit unreliable.

DCBob

There are no limits. No one has ever reported having Bluebird shut down their account. Why Amex Bluebird would care is beyond me. If anyone is going to shut this points-earning scheme down it will be the MERCHANTS accepting credit cards for payments of VR cards and other prepaid cards or the CC ISSUERS giving points/miles for the credit card purchase of VR/debit/gift cards.

Lemma

It is possible that Amex receives some sum less than $500 from Vanilla when you do a reload, and makes it back in float and breakage, and therefore loses money when all you do is load $500 and immediately use it. They would prefer you to use it as a checking account. That is why they give you free ATM withdrawals if you direct deposit. That probably also costs them money when you game that by doing a $1 transfer from Paypal every month. If they required $500/month like most banks for free checking it would still be worth it to split direct deposit between that and real accounts for those interested in miles so that's probably why they don't limit it.

But, as there are no reports of shutdowns and they are limiting any possible losses with the $5k/month limit, I will continue to max it out as long as they allow. The only thing I do really to 'avoid' a shutdown is pay off other CCs first before the ones I use to buy VR because it costs me no extra effort. Sometimes I pay the same CC if that's what's left to pay but not the majority of the dollars since I usually have some reimbursed business travel expenses on a different card to pay. I don't buy VRs with Amex cards, but that's just because I have better rewards elsewhere. I also pay my rent with it and withdraw $500-1000 from an ATM each month. I give them a little float, but not much.

I have no way of knowing if these minimal efforts make any difference, but they have negligible cost to me. If anyone out there is not maxing out the full $5k potential of this card out of fear of being shut down, you are probably acting irrationally with all the other people who do it with no problems. When eventually you can't buy VR with a CC you will be locked out just like everybody else only you won't have earned as much while the gravy train was rolling. And if by some chance Amex did start closing Bluebird accounts, you have no way of knowing if your measures are going to be enough. This is why the Cardinals prefer to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt and won't tell you directly what the limits are to trigger things like an FR, and probably also have some random element to it. If they tell you the limit, you will do just under it. If they leave you guessing, you're likely to restrain yourself more than they would have made you. I think some on this forum and other websites related to maximizing rewards might also have a motive to spread FUD given what happened to the Mint deal.

chemist661

I switched over to PPO insurance and I got a medical bill for $327 and they do not take CC's. I wonder if I can use BB to pay that bill.

I just spent 9 days in the hospital 100 miles from home with a fractured hip. I just got released to go home!!! I hadn't posted on FT since the hospital had wifi but blocked FT. I just activated BB and now 5+ weeks of being home having home physical therapy, I will have to make my Vanilla ($1K daily, $5K monthly) deposits to my BB at my local Wal-Mart. (wife will have do the reload for me @Walmart). I have $1500 of Vanilla at home that I need to load to BB.

Logistics will be difficult but I will manage. When I get my wheelchair, my wife can drive me to Wally world and I can do the BB reloads.

Bottom line: My first priority is getting healed up and will not take undue risk to do the above.

sk8uno

I accept your guarantee. Thank you much.