Maybe a stupid question, but some of the wording in the wiki confused me a little.

Can you purchase your Serve and do the initial $500 load at walmart using a credit card? Or is it cash only? If you can't use CC at WM for that initial load, is there anywhere that will let you?

FWIW, my local WM has about 20 Serves out on display right now. Roughly 3/4 of them are the old Serves, with no fees. The WG down the street had 6 cards, all the old (no fee) version. So look around - there's a very good chance you've got some available near you.

Disregard that activation email. When you actually receivethe card, activate it. Then you're good to go.

BB also now loads up to $2500/day.

Any update on this? Hope they didn't get rid of the $1500!

Evidently some folks still have trouble reading/researching...

OneVIP is not available in stores. You must apply online. https://www.serve.com/onevip/

All other Serve are variously available at retail centers. There are 4 versions:
"old" blue (free loads): Same terms and conditions as the OneVIP
"new" blue (fee$ to load): https://www.serve.com/direct-deposit-prepaid-card/
green (free loads): https://www.serve.com/cash-reload-prepaid-card/
silver (cash back): https://www.serve.com/cash-back-prepaid-card/

Note about "old" blue Serve - the T&C changed on 8/5/15 and the cards were renumbered.
If your blue Serve starts 3727 41 - it's an "old" one.
If your blue temporary Serve starts 3751 71 - it's an "old" one.
If your blue Serve starts 3727 42 - it's a "new" one.
If your blue temporary Serve starts 3777 72 - it's a "new" one.

All of this information has been previously discussed in this thread, and is available on the various Serve sites, such as: https://www.serve.com/legal.html

FWIW, I manage one Green and two OneVIP. The green T&C specify there is a monthly service fee ($4.95), however it was waived for September. I do not know if it will be waived for October at this time. OneVIP will waive monthly service fee ($1) if you direct deposit or load $500/month (calendar).

Is this $2500 load limit only at the register? Or does it apply to Kate too?

I manage two Serve accounts in addition to my own. Is there any harm in having the same CC payee on more than one of these accounts?

I know you can't have the same card on more than one account when adding funds but wanted to know about the bill pay feature. Thanks.

Thanks for the rundown.
I look forward to your findings on the Reloadits and One VIP.

I do not have a pic but yes, the $0 fee is printed on the packaging in large yellow.
But will check them again based on what @Gimpyknee and @Carl said.

Question- any other Softserve people able to add a new, non Am Ex card to their account recently?

I removed a Chase Southwest Visa and have been unable to add a new Visa or Mastercard since then.

Any help is appreciated.

I did this with Redbird for most of its life with no issue.

If it matters, the cc weren't Amex. Mentioning this b/c some people advise caution with paying Amex credit cards with an Amex prepaid acct. They are not the same databases (credit and prepaid) but being that they are both owned by Amex, the thought is that if flags are raised, Amex can connect the dots. Not sure if there's data points about people getting in trouble for doing this, aside from this recent Redbird data point on Reddit, which is circumstantial (it, or something else, could have been the reason for the shutdown) since Amex didn't tell them why they shut down their Redbird acct; they prob don't tell people most of the times.

I changed my loading CC from a MC to a Visa at the beginning of this month. Have loaded 3x $500 (but all done by the 5th or so).

Thanks!

Works fine with Kate.

Hm. I seems to have hit a bit of a wall with it for some reason; going to try again with my new credit cards next month.

I would hate to only get to use Am Ex cards on Serve.

I went to load my new OneVIP Serve card at WM. I have an "old" blue Serve too so am familiar with the process. When I loaded, I to do $1500 (with three $500 debit cards) and when the cashier put in the amount, the register told her only $1000 can be done at a time.

Doing $1000 first then $500 worked (so it was $1000/transaction not per day or something) and the CSR was more than helpful and she definetly knew what she was doing.

Is the per transaction limit lower on OneVIPs than Blues?

I have a $500 visa gift card and 2 x $200 MC gift card and all from US BANK. Tried loading these last week via KATE at Walmart and got the message "DEBIT NOT AVAILABLE". I verified all 3 cards and the balance is there on each one. I tried again yesterday and got the same error message. I have been using the $500 visa card to pay for some other purchases.

Today I tried to do another load on a different visa card and got the error message 'DEBIT NOT APPROVED" on both mine and my DH BB cards. Pretty positive that both BB cards have not reach the $5K/month load.

Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

No. same as serve or BB. 1k/transaction, 2.5k/day

I switched from my Chase Ink to my new Citi Prestige MC a couple of weeks ago. Successfully added funds twice so far since the switch. no issues.

I thought only AMEX cards could load onto Serve?

It has to be a soft serve.

I noticed today that all the $500 VGC at my local WM are now issued by greendot instead of the sunnies. Does Kate take those for serve load? Thanks!

I been using serve for awhile now by load from credit card to serve then pay bill to other credit cards with no problem at all.

Now i want to link my bank account and transfer out from serve after i loaded with credit card. Is it safe to do? because i dont want them to close my account.

Thanks in advance

Loaded my One VIP Serve today at WM. Worked like a charm. Also did a $200 CC load online. Awesome.

I assume you loaded an AMEX? Is there any benefit to credit card loads to Serve OneVIP other than to hit spending requirements?

It was indeed an AmEx.

I actually am way passed my minimum spend for my SPG card and although I know it doesnt earn points, if I hit $30k in spend for the calendar year, I'll get SPG Gold status. So there os that.

Third-party Amex cards still earn points. A common example is the Fidelity Amex for $20 in cash back each month.

At least in this thread, there haven't been any confirmations about whether Serve counts for those kinds of minimums. The ones that have been asked about are the Delta medallion qualifying miles and the Blue Cash $6500 minimum to get 5% back.

Please let us know if you have data either way.

I forgot about that one!

I missed the answer-- do Serve loads count toward that $6500?

I had said in my original message I didn't know. I looked back at the OBC thread and saw these comments.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...l#post24565952

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...l#post25543359

So apparently no.

Interested in answer too.

FYI - I know for a fact that the serve loads didn't count towards the $30K to hit SPG gold when I tried it a couple of months ago (still had soft serve then) but now after the redcard demise back on VIPserve. Loaded a couple of times using my SPG card..hopefully they count towards the $30K spend but based on my experience I doubt it. (If you look at your pdf statement towards the end they clearly state how much of your spend has qualified towards the $30K for SPG gold)

Someone else asked about serve loads counting towards $6500 minimum towards OBC - based on my experience it didn't count (again this was a few months ago so not sure if it is different now)

Is there any workaround for not being able to do online loads while waiting for your permanent card to arrive? It looks like mine may not get here until the 29th or 30th, which means I wouldn't be able to hit my $1000 for the month.

Thanks neony77, I'll be sure to come back here and post if it indeed counts toward the 30k annual spend. I'm close to it, so I can just purchase GC's but want to see this data point.

Again, will report back here once my next statement hits (around 28th/29th of this month)

Anyone having trouble adding Paypal debit card to Serve? I just moved my wife's account from RedCard to Serve and when i try to add her paypal debit card which is an AU card from my account it says "The card entered is not available for registration." It was registered just fine on her RedCard a week ago.

NO there isn't. Amex just like RB or BB won't allow you to do online debit loads without activating your permanent card.

True. Serve loads didn't count toward the $6500 spend on the OBC before the 5% kicks in, as recently as last month. Caveat emptor...

Why load with CC when you can just buy a VGC and load with that which will count for your SPG gold mark?

The difference between RB and new flavors of Serve cards is that you can do 1k in CC load online, using an AmEx issued CC only. Thing is, the data points are that you will not earn points/miles using an AmEx issued CC, however CC's not issued by AmEx, but are branded AmEx, do earn points/miles/cash back - an example of this is Fidelity AmEx.

This info is all in the Wiki, if you take the time to read it. And please, don't yell at the folks at WallyWorld like you did at Target - and don't berate CS folks there either, and don't call AmEx and complain that WallyWorld/Kate isn't taking your VGC's. Please do that for us. I remember you did something like that and put in a post in the RB thread. Good grief.

Anyways, back on topic - I am going to check my SPG AmEx statement once it posts on the 28th/29th and see if my CC loads are counting towards the 30k annual spend to achieve SPG Gold status - if it does, great. If it doesn't, which I am inclined it doesn't, then I will get the Fidelity AmEx and start utilizing that for $20 cash back each month for my 1k CC loads to Serve.

I was going to say that AU debit cards can't load AMEX prepaid cards online, but you said it was fine on RB a week ago, so I don't know what to say. I've been able to load my BB and then RB card with my PPBDMC, but I've read many stories of people not being able to load with that.

Is that a common or known issue? The debit card was added to the RedCard last feburary. Maybe since then they have enforced this check and hers was just grandfathered in for awhile. If i cant get it added i should still beable to get her her own paypal debit and use that fine?