Bluebird Shutdowns
Feb 24, 2016, 6:07 am
#616
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
2. no
at this point, it's 50/50 chance on those who got their accounts shutdown whether re-registration to any other am3x prepaid will get approved or not.
Feb 25, 2016, 2:44 am
#617
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHX & AGP
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,456
Feb 25, 2016, 9:37 am
#618
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: HOU, IAH
Posts: 194
Yes, for one of the two BB's in my household. Plus, it had scattered small purchases at WM each month.
Last edited by ChrisFlyer66; Feb 25, 2016 at 1:19 pm Reason: fix formatting
Feb 25, 2016, 9:42 am
#619
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: HOU, IAH
Posts: 194
I was careful over 3 years to mix billpays, manual checks for charity, small WM purchases and WM savings catcher deposits/spends to not show that I was exclusively MSing. Didn't matter as I still got shut down. The only consistent thing is that I never linked a bank account, direct deposited, or my ATM card - always added funds via VGC's in varying amounts. That forms the basis for my supposition above.
Feb 25, 2016, 1:00 pm
#620
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Houston, TX
Programs: UA Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 149
I was shut down in Jan. and was approved for an amex business card last week. I also got a targeted amex prg application in the mail yesterday even though I had the card about 3 years ago. So far for me at least it seems just a bluebird shutdown, but only time will tell.
Feb 25, 2016, 9:47 pm
#621
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: ATL
Programs: AA, AGR, DL, MR, WoH, UA
Posts: 951
While they could know, Walmart is not passing any information about the transaction to AmEx except the amount to load.
Feb 26, 2016, 12:39 am
#622
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 84
Mar 2, 2016, 6:29 am
#627
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 39
Everyone is trying to open new serves, but has anyone tried to re open bluebirds? It seems to me and i could be completely wrong, but the people getting cards again are applying for the exact same card they got shut down on, not going from say BB-Serve or vise versa.
Mar 2, 2016, 8:56 am
#628
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: ORF
Programs: SPG, SWR
Posts: 50
Luckily the OneVIP I had in my son's name is still working.
Mar 4, 2016, 8:35 am
#629
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 10
In summary:
- BB opened pre-shutdown wave, but never used.
- Purchased and loaded 4K in SMGCs towards the end of January 2016 to meet minimum spend.
- Used another CC to purchase and load 4K in SMGCs in February 2016 for minimum spend.
- Used BB Bill Pay to pay off the 2 CCs.
- Still no account closure notice, but the month isn't over...
Stay tuned.
- BB opened pre-shutdown wave, but never used.
- Purchased and loaded 4K in SMGCs towards the end of January 2016 to meet minimum spend.
- Used another CC to purchase and load 4K in SMGCs in February 2016 for minimum spend.
- Used BB Bill Pay to pay off the 2 CCs.
- Still no account closure notice, but the month isn't over...
Stay tuned.
Conclusions from this experiment;
- Loading GCs is not necessarily the trigger as I did not get shut down in February after loading 4K in GCs in January.
- Loading GCs and then using Bill Pay to pay off your CC definitely triggers account closure the month following the use of Bill Pay.
- BB will only work for a very limited time for MS after the account is opened, so if you are able to open one, hit it HARD by loading in month 1 up to the max allowed, then load hard again in month 2 and finally bill pay in month 2 to meet your minimum spends and await shutdown notice.
Mar 4, 2016, 8:41 am
#630
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: NYC
Posts: 365
Just got shut down email (March 4th)
I've maxed 2.5K only in December and completely stopped depositing or withdrawing anything after first reports/wave. Thought I was spared, and I didn't MS much.. Only for meeting minimums on redcard which was converted to Serve. Never loaded anything online..
Is there any chance having them look in to it again?
update: I haven't even log in to my serve online account after first reports or withdraw
I've maxed 2.5K only in December and completely stopped depositing or withdrawing anything after first reports/wave. Thought I was spared, and I didn't MS much.. Only for meeting minimums on redcard which was converted to Serve. Never loaded anything online..
Is there any chance having them look in to it again?
update: I haven't even log in to my serve online account after first reports or withdraw
Last edited by avagyan; Mar 4, 2016 at 8:52 am