Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs > Manufactured Spending
Reload this Page >

Serve - Another Paypal/Amazon payments (2015)

Old Jan 10, 2015, 8:55 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: ericdabbs
The previous megathread is here.

Read the wiki before posting a question.
It's a literacy test that's easy to pass.


As of April 16, 2015 regular Serve cards will only accept American Express network cards for online credit card loads.
Softcard Serve accounts are apparently grandfathered in the old system and continue to work as before, being able to load Mastercard, Visa, and Discover (see below).


Serve loads count towards minimum spend on AmEx-issued cards, including SPG.

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.


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

Regular 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 [B]
  • Online Credit Card Load (AmEx only) - $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.

Softcard Serve
Softcard has shutdown and there is no longer any way to apply for this version.
  • 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
  • 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.

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.

OneVip Card: (Mucho gracias, AndrewTheMan)
This card is essentially just like the regular, fee-free, "old" serve. You may reload this card up to $2,500/day; $1,000/transaction at Walmart (not impacted by Blue Bird daily limit change). Have not tested FD or anywhere else. KATE takes this no problems..
You can use this to load the FIDO AMEX up to 1k a month.

Limits for online debit card and credit card loads reset at 9 PM PST/12 AM EST

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

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.

A few report no problems 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.

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. One person with a Serve/Softcard account reported being sent to the main Serve number for this process.

https://www.serve.com/help/#add-money-5

Regular Serve Credit Card Loading

Regular Serve can only load from American Express network cards. In addition to those issued directly by American Express, this includes the following:
  • AAA Rewards AmEx
  • Alitalia AmEx
  • Bank of America Accelerated Rewards AmEx
  • Bank of America Asiana Airlines AmEx
  • Bank of Hawaii AmEx Card with MyBankoh Rewards
  • Bloomingdale's AmEx
  • Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select AmEx
  • Citi Dividend AmEx (not obtainable unless specifically requested)
  • Citi Thank You Preferred AmEx (not obtainable unless specifically requested)
  • Dillard's AmEx
  • FNBO AmEx
  • FNBO Graphite AmEx
  • FNBO Platinum AmEx
  • Macy's AmEx
  • Penfed Premium Travel Rewards AmEx
  • SavingStar AmEx
  • Travelocity AmEx
  • US Bank Flexperks AmEx
  • USAA Cash Rewards/Rewards Plus AmEx
  • Wells Fargo Propel World/365 AmEx

Softcard Serve Credit Card Loading

If you are fortunate enough to be grandfathered into a Softcard Serve Account, you can also load other credit cards beside American Express cards. Softcard Serve is not available to new applicants anymore so you'll need to get one of the other Serve options if you don't already have one. In general, Mastercard and American Express cards post as purchases. Visa cards transact as a cash advance and, therefore, require available CA limit; although most cards post as a purchase.

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
  • Wells Fargo (American Express)

Treated as purchase, but doesn't earn points/miles:
  • American Express issued (Counts toward minimum spend -- see post #434) but does not earn points. Example: For the Delta Amex card, Serve counts towards min spend DL miles sign-up bonus, but that spend and subsequent trials of spend on Serve will not earn points. Don't do it, man!

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

A few report being unable to add the Chase IHG MC.

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
Helpful instruction post, latest. Thanks raeneye.

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

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.

Switching from Redbird is presumably similar. See the RedCard thread for more information.

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 #7
Print Wikipost

Serve - Another Paypal/Amazon payments (2015)

Old Apr 7, 2015, 10:09 pm
  #961  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: California
Posts: 264
Originally Posted by mrmandel
You're missing something.
Please clarify.
sbft77 is offline  
Old Apr 7, 2015, 11:43 pm
  #962  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 392
Originally Posted by frudd38
Contrary to the Reddit and BA posts, was able to switch to a new Citi MC for online load today. It seems Citi and Chase seem ok while the only reports so far being denied are Barclay.
Check address carefully. Barclaycard has always been awful. I found if you just put in the first word/number of the first line they have listed in your profile, it will get approved. (But maybe its changed...)
miadeals is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 3:23 pm
  #963  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Originally Posted by miadeals
Check address carefully. Barclaycard has always been awful. I found if you just put in the first word/number of the first line they have listed in your profile, it will get approved. (But maybe its changed...)
Yes, there is a post somewhere about how Barclaycard screw up two-line addresses (addresses with an apartment or suite number). After a few failures, I followed the advice in the post (setting address line 1 to be "Apt" without the number, and leaving line 2 blank)
VegasGambler is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 3:31 pm
  #964  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MDT
Programs: DL, AA
Posts: 390
Does anyone typically use the billpay from the Serve app? For the longest time it would deliver the payment a day earlier than if submitting a payment from their desktop site. But the last few billpays I've done from the app are taking two days. Has anyone else noticed this?
mh1361 is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:29 pm
  #965  
formerly mattrendell27
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: DFW
Posts: 162
can anyone confirm that loading Serve online with an AMEX credit card (such as SPG) will count towards minimum spend?
PeaceandPost is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:53 pm
  #966  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 613
Originally Posted by mattrendell27
can anyone confirm that loading Serve online with an AMEX credit card (such as SPG) will count towards minimum spend?
Yes.
JATR4 is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:55 pm
  #967  
formerly mattrendell27
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: DFW
Posts: 162
Originally Posted by JATR4
Yes.
thanks
PeaceandPost is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 4:58 pm
  #968  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 29
Originally Posted by mattrendell27
can anyone confirm that loading Serve online with an AMEX credit card (such as SPG) will count towards minimum spend?
Can anyone confirm the same for minimum spend for status, ie 20k spend/yr for Amex Hilton gold (the no AF card, not sunpass)
cbe20e is offline  
Old Apr 8, 2015, 7:04 pm
  #969  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
Originally Posted by cbe20e
Can anyone confirm the same for minimum spend for status, ie 20k spend/yr for Amex Hilton gold (the no AF card, not sunpass)
Why would the Amex Hilton be any different than the previous post (post #966) for the Amex SPG card? It was answered with "Yes". Any Amex CC should help meet min spend for the online CC load.
ericdabbs is offline  
Old Apr 9, 2015, 2:26 am
  #970  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 392
Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Yes, there is a post somewhere about how Barclaycard screw up two-line addresses (addresses with an apartment or suite number). After a few failures, I followed the advice in the post (setting address line 1 to be "Apt" without the number, and leaving line 2 blank)
Yeah...that was my post from when I figured that nonsense out...and exactly what I was referring to.

So I take it they still work if you get your address "right"?
miadeals is offline  
Old Apr 9, 2015, 11:23 am
  #971  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AA, UA, SPG
Posts: 105
Thumbs up

I'm really eager to see what we are able to do in the second half of the month.... left a little room against my limit to see if WF Amex or Citi AA Amex work out....
ycrimi is offline  
Old Apr 9, 2015, 11:54 am
  #972  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 29
Originally Posted by ericdabbs
Why would the Amex Hilton be any different than the previous post (post #966) for the Amex SPG card? It was answered with "Yes". Any Amex CC should help meet min spend for the online CC load.
Apologies, thought previous post referenced min spend to obtain bonus, not min spend for status. Wasnt sure if they classified them differently.
cbe20e is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2015, 12:51 am
  #973  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 202
Originally Posted by ycrimi
I'm really eager to see what we are able to do in the second half of the month.... left a little room against my limit to see if WF Amex or Citi AA Amex work out....
How did you get a Citi AA Amex? Thanks, kindly.
christof is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2015, 5:13 am
  #974  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 361
Originally Posted by christof
How did you get a Citi AA Amex? Thanks, kindly.
Most likely an old citi AA AMEX. Citi AA cards used to come in AMEX and Visa flavors
fr33b13 is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2015, 7:50 pm
  #975  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 43
I currently have and old credit card tied to my Serve account. Is it too late to remove that card and add another? I heard a few people claim it was no longer possible to add new cards, even though it's not April 16th yet.
flyerboi69 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.