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)
May 23, 2019, 9:41 pm
#721
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: EWR/PHL/BWI
Posts: 4,412
I have an unused BB that I can debit card load, but I can't load at WM. Do not know what is happening....
May 23, 2019, 11:45 pm
#722
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
Not true at all. You buy the temp card by putting $20 or so on it then go on line and register the card to an account and you can put up to $1K on it until you get the permanent card in the mail. This is not new as I have done this with just about every Serve or BB I have used with the exception of the One VIP Serve I ordered online.
Last edited by danhouston; May 24, 2019 at 12:56 am
May 24, 2019, 4:38 am
#723
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Northeastern United States
Posts: 597
If you get a temp card you can use it for purchases without even registering it provided you're not making large purchases. I generally load $20 on them and if I'm unable to register them for some reason I just use them to buy a $20 GC for gas or food.
May 24, 2019, 9:47 am
#724
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
I have a CVS a minute from my house and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to register anymore accounts in my name so I just bought a Serve there to test out. After I was able to register it I went to WM to get a BB since the CVS near me doesn't carry BB cards. Once both were registered successfully I loaded the BB at the WM I bought it at and the Serve at the FD on my way home as I have not been able to load Serve at WM with VGCs for a couple weeks now.
If you get a temp card you can use it for purchases without even registering it provided you're not making large purchases. I generally load $20 on them and if I'm unable to register them for some reason I just use them to buy a $20 GC for gas or food.
If you get a temp card you can use it for purchases without even registering it provided you're not making large purchases. I generally load $20 on them and if I'm unable to register them for some reason I just use them to buy a $20 GC for gas or food.
mine was shut down yrs ago, not this month's wave... will buy / test a BB temp card to see if can get registered; i've been using gobank accts
May 24, 2019, 10:10 am
#725
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,408
I have a CVS a minute from my house and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to register anymore accounts in my name so I just bought a Serve there to test out. After I was able to register it I went to WM to get a BB since the CVS near me doesn't carry BB cards. Once both were registered successfully I loaded the BB at the WM I bought it at and the Serve at the FD on my way home as I have not been able to load Serve at WM with VGCs for a couple weeks now.
If you get a temp card you can use it for purchases without even registering it provided you're not making large purchases. I generally load $20 on them and if I'm unable to register them for some reason I just use them to buy a $20 GC for gas or food.
If you get a temp card you can use it for purchases without even registering it provided you're not making large purchases. I generally load $20 on them and if I'm unable to register them for some reason I just use them to buy a $20 GC for gas or food.
Why waste the time and money?
thx for the details... were u able to get the new acct registered with the same shut-down email & phone #, or different ones?
mine was shut down yrs ago, not this month's wave... will buy / test a BB temp card to see if can get registered; i've been using gobank accts
mine was shut down yrs ago, not this month's wave... will buy / test a BB temp card to see if can get registered; i've been using gobank accts
May 24, 2019, 10:25 am
#726
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 35
IMO, having a BB or Serve account is far more valuable than one thinks, especially when one is banned from getting one.
When I had my BB account, I actually used my BB as a checking account, depositing money in the form of GCs and then writing checks or paying bills (not credit card statements either). The problem with me was that the bills being paid were large (in the thousands of dollars in some cases). I suspect that my payment activity was several standard deviations above what Amex considered a "standard BB user" (which means that someone with my level of activity should easily qualify for a standard bank checking account) and therefore they chopped my head off in the massacree of 2016.
If I knew then what I know now, my fiscal behavior would have been light-years different with my BB account.
As with most things, you rarely get more than one shot in life
When I had my BB account, I actually used my BB as a checking account, depositing money in the form of GCs and then writing checks or paying bills (not credit card statements either). The problem with me was that the bills being paid were large (in the thousands of dollars in some cases). I suspect that my payment activity was several standard deviations above what Amex considered a "standard BB user" (which means that someone with my level of activity should easily qualify for a standard bank checking account) and therefore they chopped my head off in the massacree of 2016.
If I knew then what I know now, my fiscal behavior would have been light-years different with my BB account.
As with most things, you rarely get more than one shot in life
May 24, 2019, 12:52 pm
#727
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
in addition to gobank, do folks know of any similar prepaid acct that can load at WM? Thx
May 24, 2019, 1:46 pm
#728
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: EWR/PHL/BWI
Posts: 4,412
I'd recommend other MS routes. BB/Serve and MO are coming its crashing ends.
May 25, 2019, 4:28 pm
#730
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,408
I would love to hear if people who have been previously banned are actually able to get either a new BB or Serve without cheating with a phony SS#. Different email or address is okay.
I have tried online twice (but not recently) and get all the way to the funding page when it tells me to GTH
So, if if others are successful, I would love to know.
Unfortunately, I think I know the answer
I have tried online twice (but not recently) and get all the way to the funding page when it tells me to GTH
So, if if others are successful, I would love to know.
Unfortunately, I think I know the answer
May 25, 2019, 7:03 pm
#731
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
I would love to hear if people who have been previously banned are actually able to get either a new BB or Serve without cheating with a phony SS#. Different email or address is okay.
I have tried online twice (but not recently) and get all the way to the funding page when it tells me to GTH
So, if if others are successful, I would love to know.
Unfortunately, I think I know the answer
I have tried online twice (but not recently) and get all the way to the funding page when it tells me to GTH
So, if if others are successful, I would love to know.
Unfortunately, I think I know the answer
listen, mine was shut down yrs ago... periodically tried many times in the past up til now after this recent wave but can't get back in; really don't know any trick how some ppl are able to get approved or back in again; if any folks know a way / trick of how to, will much appreciate a msg; there will be a reward, haha...
May 26, 2019, 1:12 am
#732
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,408
listen, mine was shut down yrs ago... periodically tried many times in the past up til now after this recent wave but can't get back in; really don't know any trick how some ppl are able to get approved or back in again; if any folks know a way / trick of how to, will much appreciate a msg; there will be a reward, haha...
So I would like some details on who exactly is getting a second chance.
Specifically, did these people get the infamous email or did their card just stop working?
Are all the application details identical or changed and what did you change?
If Amex is able to track my GC purchases at SM and deny credit for them, then I would be surprised that they could not track GC deposits at DG or WM for BB or Serve and punish those who abuse the system.
So for me, getting another BB may be of little value even if they let me in again.
May 26, 2019, 11:40 am
#733
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
I am in the same boat. Shut down in 2016 and unable to sign up since
So I would like some details on who exactly is getting a second chance.
Specifically, did these people get the infamous email or did their card just stop working?
Are all the application details identical or changed and what did you change?
If Amex is able to track my GC purchases at SM and deny credit for them, then I would be surprised that they could not track GC deposits at DG or WM for BB or Serve and punish those who abuse the system.
So for me, getting another BB may be of little value even if they let me in again.
May 26, 2019, 3:41 pm
#734
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Maui
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 199
I was shut down in that first wave (serve). Randomly applied for both serve and bb over the years since and just got an ap for bb accepted. No trick that I know of...at least nothing special done intentionally.
May 27, 2019, 12:58 pm
#735
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,408
Can you load your card?
