May 27, 2015, 12:00 am
Last edit by: iflyjetz
Read the wiki before posting a question.
Check your BB load limits BEFORE asking in this thread about "tender not allowed" or any other errors.
Bluebird website. There's no need to buy a Bluebird kit in-store; sign-up free on the website.
The original discussion. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread.
For information on switching from BB to Serve, see the Serve thread wiki.
Bluebird Load Limits:
The cash load limit for a temp card is $1,500 total.
*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. Your account will be flagged upon first/second attempt. If blocked, call Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454 to clear it (9am-8pm EST, Mon-Fri).
The day currently resets around midnight Eastern/11pm Central/10pm Mountain/9pm Pacific.
For online bill pay
Loading with debit card at Walmart
Self checkout does not work for loading.
Many Walmart stores are enforcing a rule against the use of gift 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. Otherwise, you may be asked by management to never visit the MC again to load with gift cards.
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.
If your card doesn't say "debit" on the front, it isn't a debit card.
Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html for additional information on using prepaid debit cards.
Training a WM cashier:
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.
Check your BB load limits BEFORE asking in this thread about "tender not allowed" or any other errors.
Bluebird website. There's no need to buy a Bluebird kit in-store; sign-up free on the website.
The original discussion. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread.
For information on switching from BB to Serve, see the Serve thread wiki.
Bluebird Load Limits:
- Cash loading via VR or WM load: $2,500/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
- Cash loading up to $1999.99/day at Walmart registers (tested by PedroNY in Post #525 and showed to not be enforced. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1501215-bluebird-prepaid-debit-now-fdic-insurance-paper-checks-2015-a-35.html#post25611848 )
- Online Debit 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
The cash load limit for a temp card is $1,500 total.
*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. Your account will be flagged upon first/second attempt. If blocked, call Account Protection Services at 1-800-660-2454 to clear it (9am-8pm EST, Mon-Fri).
The day currently resets around midnight Eastern/11pm Central/10pm Mountain/9pm Pacific.
For online bill pay
- You can pay the credit card that you used to buy reloads
- 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
Loading with debit card at Walmart
Self checkout does not work for loading.
Many Walmart stores are enforcing a rule against the use of gift 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. Otherwise, you may be asked by management to never visit the MC again to load with gift cards.
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.
If your card doesn't say "debit" on the front, it isn't a debit card.
Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html for additional information on using prepaid debit cards.
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.
Bluebird prepaid debit, now with FDIC insurance and paper checks (2015)
Oct 15, 2015, 2:10 pm
#451
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 783
Cheers,
PedroNY
Oct 15, 2015, 4:28 pm
#452
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: Marriott/SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 887
Everyone has a different method to ease transfer. MINE is that I always change the email and phone of the account I'm about to close. I change it to an email I rarely use, and my office number. Then I close it. This frees up my favorite email and phone number. I wait an hour and then register my new temporary card. This has worked for me BB->Serve, and later Serve->Redbird, and just worked a few days ago for Redbird->BB. Full circle!
I'm back to BB because it's better recognized and respected at WM. BB added ability to sync Amex Offers, and Serve lost ability to online load from my Chase card, so there's no real advantage to me for Serve. I realize some people online load the Fidelity Amex but I'd rather not lose 1 of my 4 Amex CC slots, there are lots of more attractive Amex cards than Fidelity.
Last edited by ElPresidente; Oct 15, 2015 at 4:35 pm
Oct 16, 2015, 8:27 am
#453
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,784
Everyone has a different method to ease transfer. MINE is that I always change the email and phone of the account I'm about to close. I change it to an email I rarely use, and my office number. Then I close it. This frees up my favorite email and phone number. I wait an hour and then register my new temporary card. This has worked for me BB->Serve, and later Serve->Redbird, and just worked a few days ago for Redbird->BB. Full circle!
I thought the other posts said you have to use the same email and phone number on the RB account when changing to BB? You seem to be saying to use a different one?Also, does anyone know if the address matters? Does it need to be the same address as used with RB. And does it have to be the address registered at a CB, or can you use a different address, like a work address, etc. ?
Oct 16, 2015, 8:33 am
#454
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MDW
Programs: WN (CP 6x, A+ 2x), Marriott (LT Titanium), Hyatt Explorer, Hertz PC, UA/*A Silver
Posts: 425
It is confusing, but you can upload docs one at a time. That's how I ended up doing it; three pictures (one document, plus one each for front/back of DL).
Oct 16, 2015, 11:45 am
#455
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
Mod please update Wiki, according to BB FAQ it's now $1999.99 daily load limit at WM
Oct 16, 2015, 12:14 pm
#456
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: Marriott/SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 887
I thought the other posts said you have to use the same email and phone number on the RB account when changing to BB? You seem to be saying to use a different one?Also, does anyone know if the address matters? Does it need to be the same address as used with RB. And does it have to be the address registered at a CB, or can you use a different address, like a work address, etc. ?
And I wait about an hour before registering my new temporary card, just because I work in IT and I know that sometimes database batch processing can take a bit for changes to propagate.
They key items are the email and phone, that is what Amex seems to use as it's "index" or key values in the database. The other stuff like physical address etc. don't create conflicts so don't worry about them.
If the other method works also, great. But I am reporting that this one does work too. I believe a lot of problems for people switching products, are not actually about email/phone data but about financial transactions still unfinished, and the account is not "settled" yet. Requesting to cancel an account, only gives you website closure. Actual closure of the account from the bank standpoint, may take some more time. If you wrote some last-minute billpay checks that had to be mailed, expect a longer wait.
Good luck!
Oct 16, 2015, 1:02 pm
#457
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: Marriott LT Tit; Hyatt Explorist; Hilton CC Gold; IHG CC Plt; Hertz (MR) 5 star
Posts: 5,536
You should have the ability to change the Wiki.
Nice catch; I found it buried as a double asterisk item in the Fees and Limits section of BB's webpage.
Oct 16, 2015, 1:05 pm
#458
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,837
no wonder I wasn't able to load my 4th vgc to the same card (I waited after 12 minutes), but was able to do so on a different card.
Oct 16, 2015, 1:13 pm
#459
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: Marriott LT Tit; Hyatt Explorist; Hilton CC Gold; IHG CC Plt; Hertz (MR) 5 star
Posts: 5,536
It's funny that it's the exact same figure - $1999.99 - as Kate's 10 minute velocity limit.
The Limits section doesn't mention Kate, unless it's also considered a Walmart 'register'.
Here's a copy/paste from the FAQ Limits section:
Cash (includes Swipe Reload) $2,500 per day**
. . . $5,000 per month
**Up to $1,999.99 per day at Walmart registers.
Last edited by iflyjetz; Oct 16, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Oct 16, 2015, 1:13 pm
#460
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
It came up because in the Serve thread someone mentioned a cashier quoting a new policy of supposedly limiting to $1500 per day. I figured a change like that would be official in the FAQ but turns out it's $1999.
Oct 16, 2015, 1:19 pm
#461
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: KSTP KSPG
Programs: AOPA
Posts: 974
was able to load 2k on 10/15.
Oct 16, 2015, 1:19 pm
#462
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,837
I think I saw that post, but couldn't remember where and I thought it was referring to Kate's velocity limit!
Oct 16, 2015, 2:03 pm
#464
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: HNL,HI,USA
Posts: 256
The cashier's experience was probably that 3 x $500 worked and 4 x $500 didn't, so came up with that response.
Oct 16, 2015, 5:45 pm
#465
Join Date: Jul 2015
Programs: SW,SPG,Hyatt
Posts: 87
They emailed me about it the next day. Despite what the email implies about needing 2 separate documents their "secure upload" facility only prompts for one filename. So I took a photo of my DL atop the first page of bill with name and address showing. Both documents could be seen clearly in the one photo. Then I uploaded it and got a reply of approval in about 4 hours.
Everyone has a different method to ease transfer. MINE is that I always change the email and phone of the account I'm about to close. I change it to an email I rarely use, and my office number. Then I close it. This frees up my favorite email and phone number. I wait an hour and then register my new temporary card. This has worked for me BB->Serve, and later Serve->Redbird, and just worked a few days ago for Redbird->BB. Full circle!
I'm back to BB because it's better recognized and respected at WM. BB added ability to sync Amex Offers, and Serve lost ability to online load from my Chase card, so there's no real advantage to me for Serve. I realize some people online load the Fidelity Amex but I'd rather not lose 1 of my 4 Amex CC slots, there are lots of more attractive Amex cards than Fidelity.
Everyone has a different method to ease transfer. MINE is that I always change the email and phone of the account I'm about to close. I change it to an email I rarely use, and my office number. Then I close it. This frees up my favorite email and phone number. I wait an hour and then register my new temporary card. This has worked for me BB->Serve, and later Serve->Redbird, and just worked a few days ago for Redbird->BB. Full circle!
I'm back to BB because it's better recognized and respected at WM. BB added ability to sync Amex Offers, and Serve lost ability to online load from my Chase card, so there's no real advantage to me for Serve. I realize some people online load the Fidelity Amex but I'd rather not lose 1 of my 4 Amex CC slots, there are lots of more attractive Amex cards than Fidelity.