Jan 7, 2016, 8:18 am
Last edit by: RedSun
This is the 2016 and onwards Bluebird thread.
The original discussion. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread. The previous 2015 megathread.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the wiki before posting a question.
The most recent huge wave of shutdowns occurred in May 2019.
Most accounts used for MS were shut down on Jan 8, 2016. Another wave of shutdowns occurred on March 4, 2016. Using Bluebird for MS is very likely to lead to account closure. There is no clear pattern as to how to avoid the account shut-downs. Some of the dormant accounts were not shut down.
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.
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.
The original discussion. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread. The previous 2015 megathread.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the wiki before posting a question.
The most recent huge wave of shutdowns occurred in May 2019.
Most accounts used for MS were shut down on Jan 8, 2016. Another wave of shutdowns occurred on March 4, 2016. Using Bluebird for MS is very likely to lead to account closure. There is no clear pattern as to how to avoid the account shut-downs. Some of the dormant accounts were not shut down.
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.
For information on switching from BB to Serve, see the Serve thread wiki.
Bluebird Load Limits:
- Cash loading: $2,500 ($1,999.99 at Walmart) per card per day; $9,000 per day all BB cards combined; $5,000 total per calendar month each card; $10,000 calendar month and $100,000 per year all BB cards combined for each SSN.
- Direct Deposit: $100,000 per year
- Online Debit Card Load* - $200/day and $1,000/month
- Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
- Mobile Check Capture by Ingo® Money - $5,000/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 master thread (2016 onwards)
Jan 11, 2016, 11:46 am
#106
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,072
If trying to simply maintain the old $5,000/month BB limit, people would be dropping $60,000 per year in money orders. Unless one has an income well north of $60,000 — and let's face it; people who do probably aren't wasting time on MS — then that's an awful lot of money to be depositing on a monthly basis.
Jan 11, 2016, 11:55 am
#107
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 910
Anyone else attempted to sign up for a different AmEx prepaid product, post BB shutdown?
I just attempted to sign up for RC (to meet a monthly min. debit card purchase requirement) and recd the following message:
"Unable to sign up - Sorry, we are unable to approve you for an Account at this time.
Thank you for your interest in Target Prepaid REDcard® by American Express."
Wondering if this is a possible blacklisting by AmEx; or maybe I just need to wait a couple of days after closing my BB account?
I just attempted to sign up for RC (to meet a monthly min. debit card purchase requirement) and recd the following message:
"Unable to sign up - Sorry, we are unable to approve you for an Account at this time.
Thank you for your interest in Target Prepaid REDcard® by American Express."
Wondering if this is a possible blacklisting by AmEx; or maybe I just need to wait a couple of days after closing my BB account?
Either way, you can try to call REDcard cust service, they will likely tell you if the reason was due their computers seeing another prepaid Amex acct as open with your name/ssn.
Jan 11, 2016, 1:20 pm
#108
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,837
If trying to simply maintain the old $5,000/month BB limit, people would be dropping $60,000 per year in money orders. Unless one has an income well north of $60,000 — and let's face it; people who do probably aren't wasting time on MS — then that's an awful lot of money to be depositing on a monthly basis.
Some of the heavy hitters I heard had 9 total:
so that's 45k per mo, 540k/yr.
Jan 11, 2016, 1:24 pm
#109
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,072
Right. It's astonishing that was allowed to happen, and it might have been illegal under various financial-reporting laws. But good luck trying to dump $45,000/month in money orders without attracting scrutiny.
The whole BB thing looks like an example of Walmart and Amex trying to do a good thing for the unbanked and then being surprised by how it was exploited by people outside the target demo.
The whole BB thing looks like an example of Walmart and Amex trying to do a good thing for the unbanked and then being surprised by how it was exploited by people outside the target demo.
Jan 11, 2016, 1:54 pm
#112
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Cincinnati
Programs: AA, Hyatt
Posts: 371
If it isn't cash into a bank account, it's not structuring.
If I use a CC to buy VGCs and load them on to BB to pay off the CC, I don't use cash ANYWHERE in the transaction.
Jan 11, 2016, 1:55 pm
#113
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,072
What do you think debit-card deposits and/or money orders count as?
Jan 11, 2016, 1:59 pm
#114
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 92
If your bank limits deposits into a specific account to 2,000.00 per day, but you have 12,000.00 that you need or want to deposit... I fail to see structuring.
Structuring is splitting deposits that could be done at once, or could be perceived to have been done at once, AND that looks like you are avoiding the SAR.... is it not?
Jan 11, 2016, 2:01 pm
#115
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,072
Structuring. How so? The account's rules DISALLOW more than a set amount so then one would have to put the rest in a different account or find an alternate route.
If your bank limits deposits into a specific account to 2,000.00 per day, but you have 12,000.00 that you need or want to deposit... I fail to see structuring.
Structuring is splitting deposits that could be done at once, or could be perceived to have been done at once, AND that looks like you are avoiding the SAR.... is it not?
If your bank limits deposits into a specific account to 2,000.00 per day, but you have 12,000.00 that you need or want to deposit... I fail to see structuring.
Structuring is splitting deposits that could be done at once, or could be perceived to have been done at once, AND that looks like you are avoiding the SAR.... is it not?
LOL.
Jan 11, 2016, 2:03 pm
#116
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: JRF
Programs: AA Gold, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, National Executive Elite
Posts: 1,784
Two Serves shutdown, bought temp BlueBird registeration not approved. Now temp bluebird can't even be loaded at WM same error as the disabled Serves
Jan 11, 2016, 2:06 pm
#117
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Cincinnati
Programs: AA, Hyatt
Posts: 371
Feds - Not cash, because it isn't cash, and also not cash, because it isn't cash. Also, not a deposit because its not a demand deposit account.
BB - who cares? Will they take you to Wal-Mart jail?
Cash, deposit, and bank accounts all have very strict legal definitions. This is why they go to great lengths to tell you that it isn't ademand deposit account (below) and they never use the word "deposit" when referring to adding money to your account.
Structuring only applies to demand deposit accounts, and cash (currency) deposits to those accounts.
BB - who cares? Will they take you to Wal-Mart jail?
Cash, deposit, and bank accounts all have very strict legal definitions. This is why they go to great lengths to tell you that it isn't ademand deposit account (below) and they never use the word "deposit" when referring to adding money to your account.
Not a Demand Deposit Amount
Except as otherwise provided by Applicable Law, when you sign up for Bluebird, you do not get, and neither the Account, the Family Accounts nor the SetAside Account is, a demand deposit (checking) account, savings account, or other consumer asset account with us or with any bank partner. You receive a prepaid access Account and Bluebird Card, or as applicable, a Family Account and Family Account Card and SetAside Account, through which you may store, spend and manage your money, pay for goods and services at merchants, withdraw money from ATMs, and make payments using electronic payment networks and certain other electronic and other methods. We will hold and move funds in accordance with Applicable Law.
Except as otherwise provided by Applicable Law, when you sign up for Bluebird, you do not get, and neither the Account, the Family Accounts nor the SetAside Account is, a demand deposit (checking) account, savings account, or other consumer asset account with us or with any bank partner. You receive a prepaid access Account and Bluebird Card, or as applicable, a Family Account and Family Account Card and SetAside Account, through which you may store, spend and manage your money, pay for goods and services at merchants, withdraw money from ATMs, and make payments using electronic payment networks and certain other electronic and other methods. We will hold and move funds in accordance with Applicable Law.
Jan 11, 2016, 2:09 pm
#118
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Cincinnati
Programs: AA, Hyatt
Posts: 371
Not cash = Not structuring
LOL
Jan 11, 2016, 2:11 pm
#119
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,072
Feds - Not cash, because it isn't cash, and also not cash, because it isn't cash. Also, not a deposit because its not a demand deposit account.
BB - who cares? Will they take you to Wal-Mart jail?
Cash, deposit, and bank accounts all have very strict legal definitions. This is why they go to great lengths to tell you that it isn't ademand deposit account (below) and they never use the word "deposit" when referring to adding money to your account.
Structuring only applies to demand deposit accounts, and cash (currency) deposits to those accounts.
BB - who cares? Will they take you to Wal-Mart jail?
Cash, deposit, and bank accounts all have very strict legal definitions. This is why they go to great lengths to tell you that it isn't ademand deposit account (below) and they never use the word "deposit" when referring to adding money to your account.
Structuring only applies to demand deposit accounts, and cash (currency) deposits to those accounts.
Jan 11, 2016, 2:12 pm
#120
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Cincinnati
Programs: AA, Hyatt
Posts: 371
Structuring. How so? The account's rules DISALLOW more than a set amount so then one would have to put the rest in a different account or find an alternate route.
If your bank limits deposits into a specific account to 2,000.00 per day, but you have 12,000.00 that you need or want to deposit... I fail to see structuring.
Structuring is splitting deposits that could be done at once, or could be perceived to have been done at once, AND that looks like you are avoiding the SAR.... is it not?
If your bank limits deposits into a specific account to 2,000.00 per day, but you have 12,000.00 that you need or want to deposit... I fail to see structuring.
Structuring is splitting deposits that could be done at once, or could be perceived to have been done at once, AND that looks like you are avoiding the SAR.... is it not?
But SARs are only for banks, which BB is not so............